The meals at the top of this list share one thing: a lot of fast starch or sugar in one sitting. Number one, large cheeseburger, large fries and a 32 oz cola, carries a load of 128, about 6 cans of cola. 6 of the 100 are drinks, since liquid sugar is the fastest way to raise it. Each row says what it rests on.
The 100 that keep it steady · About the index · Watch any meal in the simulator
100 meals shown
A 32 oz cola alone holds about 100 g of sugar.
A foot of white roll plus chips and a can of cola.
Sweet sauce, batter and two cups of rice.
Garlic bread adds 40 g of fast carbs to the pasta.
Bun, fries and a can of cola: about 110 g of carbs.
Fried rice tested at GI 80 in China.
Batter, sugar sauce, pineapple and rice.
A sugary glaze on fried chicken over rice.
The juice adds another 24 g of sugar to an already sweet plate.
The fries and cola carry most of the load.
A big bowl of short grain rice under the toppings.
About 100 g of sugar in one cup, faster than any food.
Rice and naan together, about 100 g of carbs.
A large portion of fries plus batter.
Breading, bun and fries.
Glutinous rice is near the top of the table, GI 87.
About a cup and a half of sushi rice under the fish.
Sweet sauce and rice.
The bread bowl brings more carbs than the soup.
The slices and a can of cola together pass 95 g of carbs.
The combo plate: tortillas, rice and beans together.
Bun and breading plus fries.
Flour pancakes soaked in syrup: about 90 g of fast carbs before any protein.
A banana on top adds 25 g more carbs to a fast cereal.
Mashed potato and a biscuit are both fast starches.
Jasmine rice is one of the fastest rices, GI around 80.
Curry rice tested at GI 67 in Japan.
Stuffing, mashed potato and cranberry sauce stack up.
Rice cooked to porridge breaks down fast, GI 78.
A big tortilla wrapped around a cup of rice.
Battered rings add 30 g of carbs to the bun.
A cup and a half of rice carries the load.
A home stir fry with rice tested at GI 73.
A plate-sized pile of white rice.
Peanuts and chicken, with rice under them.
Rice plate with grilled meat.
Rice noodles and a sweet sauce, about 90 g of carbs.
Three starches on one plate.
The can of cola is the biggest carb on the tray.
Lots of fat slows the pasta, but the portion is big.
Basmati biryani tested at GI 52, but the portion is large.
A restaurant plate is two and a half cups of pasta.
Arborio rice tested at GI 69.
Two big waffles plus syrup land near 75 g of carbs.
Two pieces of naan, GI 71.
A large shake is a dessert-sized load in a cup.
Grilled meat and vegetables with one bowl of rice.
A cup of rice and a sweet sauce.
A pita meal with falafel tested high, GI 86, in an Australian study.
Three cups of sweetened tea, about 66 g of sugar.
A classic quick breakfast that is almost all fast carbs.
Two tablespoons of syrup add about 24 g of sugar on top of white bread.
Thick wheat noodles, a big bowl.
Cornflakes sit near the top of the GI table at 81, and a real bowl is two cups.
Fried white bread with almost 60 g of carbs, and syrup on top doubles down.
Fried rice vermicelli tested at GI 54.
Mayo slows it, but the roll still brings about 55 g of carbs.
Two cups of pasta plus the breading.
A big bowl of rice noodles in broth.
Bread, then a glass of juice: two fast carbs and little to slow them.
The drive-through combo: the juice and hash browns double the carbs.
Chickpeas sit at GI 28 and whole wheat roti at 52.
The bran helps, but sugar-coated raisins keep the carbs high.
Sugar with almost nothing to slow it.
Fried white dough with a sugar glaze.
Sugar-coated corn and oat rings, mostly sugar and refined starch.
The fat helps, but the potato is GI 85.
A baked russet is one of the fastest foods, GI 85.
Baked white flour, GI 84, almost 50 g of carbs.
A white sub roll carries about 50 g of carbs.
A light French-style roll, GI up to 78.
Lentil curry with rice tested at GI 60.
About 65 g of sugar.
Two cups of wheat noodles.
A fried flour burrito plus rice.
A cup of white rice and half a cup of beans.
Couscous is wheat cut fine, GI 65.
Potato filling in fried pastry.
Two orders of chips with beans.
About 65 g of sugar.
Grits are finely ground corn cooked soft.
Potato dumplings tested at GI 68.
Pure sugar and starch syrup, GI 76.
About 65 g of carbs, slowed somewhat by milk fat.
Cornbread, sweet beans and sweet sauce.
Tofu and a cup of rice.
Flatbread with chicken.
A full cup of granola is more carbs and sugar than it looks.
Vinegar and fish bring salmon sushi down to GI 48, but it is still rice.
A pastry crust holds most of the carbs.
White bread and jam, with peanut butter to slow it.
White bread is GI 75, and jam adds sugar.
A white-flour biscuit with 40 g of carbs, slowed a little by the fat.
Fried noodles in broth, a moderate GI but a big portion.
Fast oats plus a ripe banana: about 45 g of carbs.
Mashed potato plus breadcrumbs.
Sweet corn batter around a hot dog, about 56 g of carbs.
Brown rice is only a little lower than white, GI 68.
A 4 inch bagel is about three slices of bread.
The egg and cheese help, but the bagel carries about 46 g of carbs.
Blood sugar after a meal follows mostly how much sugar and starch you eat, and second, how fast it gets into your blood. The glycemic load puts both in one number: the food's glycemic index times the grams of carbs you digest in the serving, divided by 100.
The carbs for every meal come from the USDA's Nutritive Value of Foods, by item number, with the fiber taken out. The GI comes from the international tables (Atkinson 2008) or from the University of Sydney's GI database, with the study each value came from. When a dish was tested whole, like salmon sushi or chicken biryani, the index uses that number. Otherwise each carb food on the plate brings its own load, and the loads add up. Open "What it rests on" on any row to see the rows behind it.
Some foods have no GI test of their own, like a burger bun or a waffle. Those borrow the GI of the closest tested food and carry an "est." mark. Working out a meal from its parts tends to run high: in a study of 30 people, three meals with chicken, vegetables and sauce came out 22 to 50% lower when tested whole than the parts predicted. Meals with protein and fat probably make smaller hills than their load says.
The "in colas" column uses a 12 oz can of cola as the yardstick, a load of 22. People also differ a lot. In 800 people eating the same meals, the hills came out very different. The order is still a good guide to which meals push hardest, and a sensor worn for two weeks shows your own.
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