Understand Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load: 5 Key Principles for Better Blood Sugar Control

Managing blood sugar levels is crucial for overall health, especially for those with diabetes or prediabetes. Two important concepts to understand to manage health and wellbeing when making food choices especially if you want to manage diabetes are the Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL). Here are five principles to help you make better food choices based on these concepts: 1. Prioritize Low Glycemic Index Foods The Glycemic Index (GI) measures how quickly a food raises blood sugar levels. Foods with a low GI cause a slower, more gradual rise in blood sugar, which is beneficial for maintaining stable energy levels and avoiding spikes. Examples of low GI foods include non-starchy vegetables, beans, and certain fruits like apples, pears, pomegranate and berries. 2. Consider Glycemic Load for a Comprehensive View Glycemic Load (GL) takes into account both the quality (GI) and quantity of carbohydrates in a food. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of a food’s impact on

10 Tips to prevent skin infections

Lack of cleanness hygiene and clumsiness can breed in some serious skin infections that can spread to different parts of the body and disrupts the normal living, but the important and good thing is that these can be prevented easily by taking into consideration of the following 10 valuable skin health tips to prevent infections:


  • Wash hands frequently or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer in case absence of soap and water especially before taking food or after contact with others’ potentially infectious wounds, skin, or soiled bandages or handling/feeding a baby.
  • Take bath after Gym/workout or any other social sports activity as there are chances for spreading of infection from one to another through touch/contact or the usage of shared equipment.
  • During Gyming, Use a clean towel as a barrier between your bare skin and shared surfaces such as exercise equipment, sauna benches, or physical therapy tables and equipment etc.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with your hands to help prevent the spread of infections. People tend to develop serious eye infection due to this self-damaging habit.
  • Also Do not try to rub, squeeze o itch skin sores, which can worsen an infection and possibly spread it to others.
  • Try to Avoid skin getting dry, cracked, especially during the winter as healthy skin helps keep bacteria, viruses, and fungi on the surface of the skin from causing an infection underneath the skin.
  • Do not share towels, washcloths, soap, razors, blades toothbrushes, or topical preparations (including deodorants, lotions, ointments, gels, or creams) as they act as the medium for transmission of infection.
  • Try to use cotton clothes as apart from their body comfort they absorb excess sweat as well as allow fresh air to breathe in and hence prevent early odor formation.
  • Keep your environment clean by washing or disinfecting things around such as bed sheet, pillow cover, yoga mat, personal and shared athletic gear and equipment.

References and Further reading:

  1. https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/athletic_skin_infections/hand_washing.htm
  2. http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/health-tools/search-by-symptom/skin-rashes.printerview.all.html
  3. http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/cdc/antibiotic/mrsa-skin-care.pdf
  4. http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Tinea