The meal index · Dinner · American

Large cheeseburger, large fries and a 32 oz cola

By GyroscopeNumber 1 of 248Updated November 15, 2026

The biggest load in the meal index, about 200 g of carbs. Almost half of the hill is the 32 oz cola, about 100 g of sugar on its own.

Digestible carbs

202 g

GI

63 (est.)

Glycemic load

128

In cans of cola

5.7

This is the top of the index, and it isn't close. The bun, the large fries and a 32 oz cup of cola add up to about 200 g of available carbs.

Almost half of the load is the drink. A large fountain cola holds about 100 g of sugar. Swap it for water or a diet soda and the same burger and fries drop from first place to ninth.

What the hill looks like

Here's the meal next to its swap in our teaching model, drawn for a healthy adult from published averages. Your own curve will differ, but the gap between the two is the point.

What would flatten it

• Make it smaller. Half the starch is half the load, since the load is carbs times GI.
• Walk for 10 minutes after. In 41 adults with type 2 diabetes, 10-minute walks after each meal made the rise 12% smaller than one daily walk, and 22% smaller after dinner.
• Eat the protein and vegetables first. The same meal with the carbs 10 minutes later lowered the peak by more than 40% in 15 people with prediabetes.
• Swap the drink. Any sweet drink on the side adds its whole load, and water adds none.

Run this meal in the simulator, switch on a walk or carbs last, and watch where the sugar goes.

What the numbers rest on

GI worked out from its parts, a GI estimated from a similar food, no fiber listed, so total carbs.

• Large cheeseburger with mayo and vegetables: 38 g digestible carbs from USDA Nutritive Value of Foods, item 824, p. 62: Single patty with mayo type dressing, vegetables, 1 sandwich (219 g). GI 75, Atkinson 2008 Table 1, White wheat bread: stands in, the GI of white bread used for the bun.
• Fries, large: 61.1 g digestible carbs from USDA Nutritive Value of Foods, item 838, p. 62: French fries, 1 large (169 g). GI 63, Atkinson 2008 Table 1, Potato, french fries.
• Cola, 12 oz x 2.7: 102.6 g digestible carbs from USDA Nutritive Value of Foods, item 14, p. 14: Cola type, 12 fl oz (370 g). GI 59, Atkinson 2008 Table 1, Soft drink/soda.
• Also on the plate, with little or no digestible carbs: large cola, 32 oz.

This is about blood sugar for people without diabetes. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, your targets and meal plan come from your prescriber.

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