Excerpt: The Glycaemic Index 

Some CHO's release their glucose slowly, and others quickly. This is important e.g. if your glycogen stores are low, to top them up quickly you need to eat the quick release CHO.

The Glycemic Index is a ranking of CHO foods based on how quickly they release glucose. Just because something is sweet doesn't necessarily mean that it will break down into glucose quickly. CHO's that break down quickly have a high GI number.

Those that break down slowly have a low GI number. The numbers range between 0-120. Glucose =100 and all foods are compared to it. How can you tell the GI number of a food? You can't.

• High GI foods in recovery to top up glycogen stores quickly.
• High GI foods and fluids during training maintain glucose levels.
• Low GI foods 2-3 hours before events and training helps keep glucose levels going longer.

*See the table of foods and GI values.

To view the full article, please visit Swimming Trainining and Nutrition.