Low glycemic foods that keep your energy steady

Lentils are the easiest place to start with foods with low glycemic index. The Harvard list puts them at 32, and the University of Sydney database shows Canadian lentil varieties testing as low as 10 to 23, with canned brown lentils at 42. The spread is preparation: canned and long-simmered lentils are softer, so their starch digests faster.

A cooked cup has 16 grams of fiber and 18 grams of protein for 230 calories, which is why lentils show up in our guide to High-protein, high-fiber meals for GLP-1 appetites. How to eat them: simmer brown or green lentils 20 to 25 minutes and spoon them under roast chicken.

Chickpeas score 28 on the Harvard list, just above kidney beans at 24 and soybeans at 16. Canned chickpeas tested at 35 to 38 in Sydney, still comfortably low. A cooked cup has 12 grams of fiber and 15 grams of protein, and at 269 calories it is the densest food here, so measure the cup if you track.

How to eat them: rinse a can, pat dry and roast at 400°F with olive oil and cumin until crisp, about 25 minutes. Hummus tested at 15 to 22.

Black beans are missing from the Harvard list, so we won't invent a number. Their closest relatives there are kidney beans at 24 and soybeans at 16. The best direct evidence is a 2017 trial in Nutrients that fed 12 women white rice alone or the same carbohydrate as rice with black beans. The bean plate gave a lower blood sugar rise at 60, 90 and 120 minutes.

A cooked cup brings 15 grams of fiber and 15 grams of protein for 227 calories. How to eat them: warm them with cumin and lime and split the rice on your plate with a half cup of beans.

The oatmeal glycemic index depends on how far the oat was cut. Steel-cut oat porridge tested between 48 and 57 in the Sydney database, with the US test at 52. Rolled oat porridge scores 55 on the Harvard list, and instant oat porridge 79. Same grain, three different mornings.

The reason is particle size. A chopped whole oat takes longer to break down than a flake that was steamed, rolled thin and precooked. A quarter cup dry, about 152 calories, cooks into a full bowl with 4 grams of fiber. How to eat them: simmer 1/4 cup in 1 cup of water for 20 to 25 minutes and stir in Greek yogurt or peanut butter.

Barley is the lowest GI grain on the Harvard list at 28, far under brown rice at 68. Sydney's tests on boiled whole grain and pearled barley run 21 to 41 by variety. Much of the credit goes to beta-glucan, the gel-forming soluble fiber oats share, which we cover in Fiber for a low glycemic diet terms in our fiber guide.

A cooked cup of pearled barley has 6 grams of fiber and 44 grams of carbs for 193 calories. How to eat it: swap it for rice or simmer it in chicken soup. It takes 35 to 45 minutes, so cook a batch and freeze it in cups.

The quinoa glycemic index sits at the top of the low range. Sydney tested white quinoa at 50, red at 54, and cooked, chilled and reheated quinoa at 53. That is low, but barely, and a cooked cup still carries 39 grams of carbs. Its edge over rice is protein, about 8 grams per cup, with 5 grams of fiber.

How to eat it: rinse, simmer 15 minutes, and build a bowl with a cup of quinoa, a protein and a pile of vegetables.

The apple glycemic index is 36 on the Harvard list, 39 on Oregon State's table and 44 in a 2020 Sydney test, which shows how much variety and ripeness matter. All three are low. Apples lead most lists of low glycemic index fruits because the sugar comes wrapped in 4 grams of fiber, most of it in the skin.

Apple juice scores 41, but a glass has no fiber and goes down in a minute. How to eat them: slice a medium apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter or an ounce of cheese.

Pears are the clearest lesson in how the glycemic index of fruits shifts as fruit ripens. Sydney tested an underripe Williams pear at 24 and a ripe one at 33, and Oregon State's table lists pears at 38. As starch turns to sugar on the counter the number climbs, and it stays low at every stage.

A medium pear brings 6 grams of fiber, the most of any fruit here, for 101 calories. How to eat them: a firm pear with a handful of almonds.

Berries make every list of low glycemic fruits, and the carb count is the bigger reason. Fresh strawberries tested at 40 and wild blueberries at 53 in Sydney. A cup of strawberries has only 12 grams of carbs for 49 calories, and a cup of blueberries 21 grams for 84. Even the higher number does little when the portion carries so little carbohydrate.

How to eat them: keep a bag of frozen berries and drop a cup over Greek yogurt or oats. The fiber is the same as fresh.

Oranges score 43 on the Harvard list, 42 on Oregon State's table and 45 for navels in Sydney. Orange juice scores 50, and the bigger problem is volume: one glass holds the sugar of two to three oranges with the fiber strained out.

A medium orange has 15 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber and 62 calories. How to eat them: peel one and eat it whole.

Plain yogurt is one of the lowest GI foods in the dairy case. Sydney lists natural low-fat yogurt at 35 and a no-added-sugar natural yogurt at 17, while fruit yogurt scores 41 on the Harvard list. Greek yogurt is strained, so a 6 ounce low-fat container has only 7 grams of carbs with 17 grams of protein for 124 calories.

The catch is the flavored kind, where added sugar replaces what straining removed. How to eat it: buy plain and add berries and cinnamon.

Almonds have no official GI, and the reason is a good one. A GI test needs 50 grams of digestible carbohydrate from a single food, and an ounce of almonds has about 6 grams of carbs with 3.5 of them fiber. You would have to eat well over a pound in one sitting to run the test. The nuts Sydney has tested, cashews at 22 and mixed nuts at 21 to 24, all land low.

An ounce, about 23 almonds, has 6 grams of protein and 164 calories. How to eat them: pair them with fruit. The fat and protein slow the fruit's sugar, and the ounce keeps the calories honest.

Peanuts are a legume, and they test like one. Oregon State's glycemic index table, built from the 2008 international tables, lists peanuts at 18. An ounce has 7 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber and only 5 grams of carbs for 161 calories.

How to eat them: a tablespoon of natural peanut butter on apple slices or stirred into oats. Check the jar for added sugar.

Broccoli has no GI for the same reason almonds don't. A cooked cup holds 11 grams of carbs, 5 of them fiber, so you would need about eight cups to reach the test portion. That makes non-starchy vegetables the one food group you can fill half the plate with and not think about blood sugar.

How to eat it: roast florets at 425°F with olive oil, salt and garlic until the edges brown, about 20 minutes, and give them half the plate.

Spinach, kale, chard and romaine are the lowest carb foods on this list and the easiest to add. A cooked cup of spinach has 7 grams of carbs with 4 grams of fiber for 41 calories, and a cooked cup of kale about 6 grams of carbs with 5 grams of fiber. There is nothing here to test, and nothing to spike.

Their job is volume beside the foods that do carry carbs. How to eat them: wilt a bag of spinach into eggs or soup, or build lunch on a bed of greens with lentils and a protein on top.