Glycemic Index and [Anti-] Inflammatory Ratings

The Paleo/Hashimoto's diet is really an anti-inflammatory diet. The basic premise is that grains, sweeteners and dairy products create inflammation causing autoimmune triggers. In addition, low blood sugar is a by-product of the thyroid response so keeping your blood sugar levels steady is another important dietary goal.


A friend of mine sent me a great website that has every kind of food imaginable with nutritional values including glycemic index and inflammatory ratings: nutritiondata.self.com  When I say every food I'm serious! If you look up "apples" you'll find three pages of anything with an apple in it from apple juice to baby food to Burger King's Dutch Apple Pie. It focuses mostly on processed and junk food because that's what the Standard American Diet (SAD) is, but if you search hard enough you can find raw foods, well, in most cases. The healthier foods are the minority and hidden among the junk. How SAD! There is no indication of organic vs. conventionally-grown foods either which would be an interesting comparison.



To better understanding what I am eating, I did some searches. For instance, dark chocolate which is supposed to be the healthier of chocolates, has a glycemic rating of 46 with an inflammatory rating of -473. The lower the glycemic rating the better as it indicates sugar levels whether natural or processed. The target inflammatory number should be a total of at least 50 or more a day, and obviously, chocolate is evil. (Where have we heard that before?)

The Kharrazian protocol says to avoid high glycemic fruits such as watermelon (3 glycemic, -7 inflammatory) and mangoes (8 glycemic, -15 inflammatory), with no mention of bananas. Bananas are 18 glycemic and -115 inflammatory! Granted, not as bad as the devil of foods, but much higher than watermelon.  I'm not clear why berries are on the Kharrazian diet, but not watermelon. Blueberries are 4 glycemic and -16 inflammatory so sweeter than watermelon. If anyone knows, please comment.

Coconut milk is highly recommended on the Paleo/Hashimoto's diet because of its natural fat content which helps stablize blood sugar and helps you feel full. It rates 5 for glycemic and -435 for inflammation. Wow. It's inflammation rating is right up there with chocolate. When I first started the Paleo/Hashimoto's diet I was sucking coconut milk down non-stop. Oversaturation! I rarely cook with it or use it now.

Broccoli is 3 glycemic and 53 inflammatory so one serving of broccoli satisfies your daily target inflammatory totals! Salmon is 0 glycemic and 116 inflammatory. 




Pecans are 0 glycemic and 202 inflammatory and most nuts are low-glycemic and anti-inflammatory. Almond butter is really excellent with 0 glycemic and 601 inflammatory. Super foods! Garlic is 22 glycemic, oddly high in sugar (!) and 4863 inflammatory, or rather, the SUPER ANTI-INFLAMMATORY.



I've been eating a lot of avocados lately and I was really surprised to see WHERE a food is grown has an influence on ratings. Florida avocados have a 6 glycemic rating and a 49 inflammatory rating, but California avocados are 4 glycemic and 181 anti-inflammatory. I wonder why?


Most of these foods I checked the raw form, but the ratings can also change with preparation methods. Hard-boiled eggs, for instance, are 2 glycemic and -139 inflammatory, but scrambled eggs are 5 glycemic and -219 inflammatory. At first I thought it was because of the added oil and milk, but then I looked at a raw egg which is 2 glycemic and -224 inflammatory so the inflammatory rating goes down with preparation. Maybe the salmonella is cooked out of it? A raw apple is 3 glycemic and -21 inflammatory, but cooked without sugar becomes 4 glycemic and -33 inflammatory, both ratings higher.


Fascinating. I think I'll go eat some garlic.