Glycemic Load Calculator: Check Any Food in Seconds
Work out the glycemic load of a food from its glycemic index and the carbs in your serving. Quick, private and right in your browser.
By Ivaylo Zahariev, Founder & Engineer. Last reviewed .
This page is educational and is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or a dietitian before changing your diet or treatment.
How to use it
- Find the food’s glycemic index (GI). The table below has some common ones.
- Enter the grams of carbs in the serving you’ll actually eat.
- The calculator shows the glycemic load (GL) and whether it’s low, medium or high.
The formula
Glycemic load = GI × grams of available carbs in the serving ÷ 100
For a typical serving:
- Low: 10 or less
- Medium: 11 to 19
- High: 20 or more
Why GL beats GI on its own
A food with a high GI can still have a low GL if the serving has only a few carbs. And portion size counts: a small scoop of white rice (GI 73) with 20 g of carbs has a GL of about 15, while a big bowl with 60 g has a GL of about 44. GL looks at what’s on your plate, not just the food in theory.
With PCOS, many people have insulin resistance, so keeping big spikes down can make sense. A lower GL meal is one easy way to do that. Talk to your doctor or dietitian about what’s right for you.
GI of common foods
Average values from the international GI tables. Brands, ripeness and cooking change them.
| Food | GI |
|---|---|
| Kidney beans | 24 |
| Chickpeas | 28 |
| Lentils | 32 |
| Apple, raw | 36 |
| Milk, full fat | 39 |
| Orange, raw | 43 |
| Banana, raw | 51 |
| Porridge, rolled oats | 55 |
| Sweet potato, boiled | 63 |
| Brown rice, boiled | 68 |
| White rice, boiled | 73 |
| Whole wheat bread | 74 |
| White wheat bread | 75 |
| Potato, boiled | 78 |
| Instant oat porridge | 79 |
| Cornflakes | 81 |
Skip the math
The PCOS Scan app does this for you. Scan your meal and see an estimated blood-sugar curve for the whole plate, with swaps that bring it down.
Questions
What's the difference between GI and GL?+
GI tells you how fast a carb food raises blood sugar compared with pure glucose. GL also counts how much carb is in your serving, so it's closer to what actually happens when you eat.
Where do I find the carbs in my serving?+
On the nutrition label, under total carbohydrate. In the US, subtract fiber to get the available carbs. For fresh food, a nutrition database or app will tell you.
Scan your next meal
Point your camera at a meal, a menu or a label and see how it fits PCOS in seconds.
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