The glycemic index is a tool used to describe how fast a source of sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream.

The typical baseline of glycemic index uses white bread as 100. High glycemic numbers mean the sugar is absorbed faster.

Note different researchers use different bases. In a pleasant quirk of nature, over ripe fruit has a higher glycemic index than under ripe fruit, its sugar is absorbed faster. This is due to the starch changing into free sugars, therefore the body wont need to do as much digesting.

Stick to the sugars for fast absorption and starches for slow.

The general rules are:

• The smaller the individual item of food, e.g. small shaped pasta higher (faster) than large spaghetti
• The longer you cook the food, rice or spaghetti cooked for five minutes has a much lower index than if cooked for fifteen minutes
• The riper the food is the higher the glycemic index is for that food