The meal index · Lunch · Japanese

Salmon sushi rolls, 12 pieces

By GyroscopeNumber 89 of 248Updated November 15, 2026

Twelve pieces of salmon sushi carry about 67 g of carbs from the rice. Salmon sushi tested at a GI of 48, so the load is in the middle of the index.

Digestible carbs

67 g

GI

48

Glycemic load

32

In cans of cola

1.4

Sushi rice on its own tested high, a GI of 85 in an Australian study. Salmon sushi, tested whole, came in at 48.

Twelve pieces is still about one and a half cups of rice. Sashimi with miso soup is the same fish without the rice, and it's near the bottom of the index.

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 48 from the dish tested whole.

• Sticky rice x 1.5: 66.6 g digestible carbs from USDA Nutritive Value of Foods, item 636, p. 50: Cooked, 1 cup (158 g).
• The whole dish tested at a GI of 48: Sydney GI database, Sushi, salmon (Australia 2001).
• Also on the plate, with little or no digestible carbs: salmon, nori, vinegar.

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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