Nothing spells delicious, comfort food to me quite like chili. My dad’s venison recipe could have won competitions if he’d bothered to enter. I’d come home from school on a wintry afternoon to the savory aroma of venison chili and couldn’t resist. Us kids didn’t even wait until dinner time. Our dad would ladle his perfect, authentic, bean-less chili into our bowls, sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top, and set us down to enjoy our after school “snack.”
Glycemic Index vs. Glycemic Load
Thanks to the low-carb craze and the rise in adult-onset diabetes, “glycemic index” is swiftly becoming a household phrase. The glycemic index of a food is the measurement of the effects of the carbohydrates in the food on blood glucose levels. But do you really know what it means?
Supposedly, foods that score high on the glycemic index should be avoided because they promote higher insulin levels. Increased insulin in the bloodstream, of course, makes your body stop burning fat as a fuel and store excess food-energy (calories) as fat. Common theory supposes that a low glycemic index makes a food good for you, and a high glycemic index makes a food unhealthy.