Glycemic Index
Diabetes patients are encourage to take food with low glycemic index while avoiding those with high glycemic index.

Glycemic index indicates the response your body to a particular food compared to a standard amount of glucose. It is a fairly complex meal planning tool. Because different people's blood sugars can react differently to low and high glycemic index foods, this in particular has limited the usefulness of the index in teaching patients with diabetes how to manage their food in order to keep their blood sugars under control. However, the glycemic index may be be used as an additional tool together with a patient's meal planning. Dietitians often encourage patients to determine their own individual glycemic index of foods based on how their blood sugar responds to the various meals and snacks they tend to eat.

Selecting foods with a low glycemic index may help to manage diabetes. Increasing the number of low glycemic index foods such as legumes, barley, pasta and whole grains in your meal plan may have real benefit in controlling blood glucose levels. In general, fiber-rich foods are low glycemic foods and have less effect on blood sugars. Sucrose or table sugar also has a lower effect on blood sugars than some starches, such as potatoes. Below are lists of "high" and "low" glycemic index foods.

Low Glycemic Index foods - GI less than 55
Medium Glycemic Index foods - GI index between 55 and 70
High Glycemic Index foods - GI more than 70

Glycemic Index Food Chart