Glycemic Index: Expert Guides and Resources

Mango salsa is the perfect accompaniment to this low-glycemic grilled salmon recipe. It complements the little kick the salmon gets from the cumin and chili powder. Of course, if you prefer less spice in your meal, simply omit the cumin and chili powder; the salmon is still wonderful with the mango salsa.Preparation time: 15 minutesCooking time: 8 minutesYield: Four servingsIngredients: One 1-pound salmon fillet, skinned Juice of 1 lemon 1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped 1 jalapeño chile, minced 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 2 tablespoons orange juice Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon chili powder Nonstick cooking spray Instructions: Place the fish on a large sheet of aluminum foil on a oblong dish or pan.

Cooking low-glycemic foods is a wonderful tool for overall health, but it's especially beneficial for weight management and insulin resistance. Understanding the glycemic index and glycemic loads of foods, using appropriate portion sizes, sprucing up your favorite recipes, and using low-glycemic cooking techniques can start you on your way to successfully meeting all your health goals.

To make these low-glycemic blueberry oatmeal muffins, you just add oats to a traditional recipe. The result is a wonderful, tasty muffin that’s perfect as part of your low-glycemic breakfast or as a healthy snack. The oats, oat flour, and blueberries provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer.

Sautéing vegetables is a step up from boiling and steaming them. And you can keep this carrot dish low on the glycemic scale with a bit of olive oil and not too much butter. You don’t necessarily need a recipe to sauté veggies; for example, you can sauté some asparagus or spinach in a little oil and just sprinkle a little salt on top.

Vegetables are a major component of a low-glycemic diet, so eats lots of them. This low-glycemic recipe for wilted spinach with pine nuts perks up your palate with a bright lemon-dijon dressing. Prevent food boredom by trying new recipes like this one! The dressing in this recipe has lots of pizzazz — so much that you may not need to add all of it; the lemon flavor is strong.

Half a cup of quinoa has a glycemic load of around 9, making it a great and tasty low-glycemic option. Quinoa is a protein-rich grain that has a creamy texture and a nutty taste, which makes it a great base for this veggie-and-pine-nut recipe. It cooks as easily as rice and is one of the only plant-based foods that provide a complete protein (including all nine essential amino acids).

Potatoes au gratin is a creamy, cheese-spiked potato dish that may not sound compatible with a low-glycemic diet. You just need to know how to choose and eat your potatoes to make them a little lower in the glycemic department. Russet potatoes have one of the highest glycemic loads of any plant-based food, but potatoes in general are also loaded with healthy nutrients like fiber and vitamin C.

Polenta is a basic Italian dish of cooked cornmeal mush — a versatile food that forms the base for a variety of flavor-packed toppings. Polenta is low-glycemic and has some fiber and a small amount of B vitamins. This recipe for Baked Polenta with Tomatoes isn’t too difficult to make, but it does take some time (and gives your arm a workout since you have to stir for about 30 minutes!

Pasta is one of the toughest foods to incorporate into a low-glycemic diet because most pastas fall into the high-glycemic category. But you can go low-glycemic and still enjoy pasta if you’re smart about it: Use low- to medium-glycemic pastas like whole-wheat spaghetti, tortellini, and vermicelli in place of some of the higher-glycemic choices like penne, linguini or fusilli.