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Glycemic Index Meal Calculator

See the overall glycemic impact of everything on your plate.

How it is calculated

You enter up to three foods, each with its glycemic index (GI, 0 to 110) and its carbohydrate in grams. The meal GI is the carb-weighted average: GI = (GI1×C1 + GI2×C2 + GI3×C3) ÷ (C1 + C2 + C3). The glycemic load is GL = GI × total carbs ÷ 100. The GI is shown as a whole number and the GL to one decimal. The category is based on the unrounded GI: up to 55 is Low, up to 69 Medium, above that High. Food 1 needs both values. Foods 2 and 3 are optional and ignored when left empty or at 0 g, but a carb amount for food 2 or 3 without its GI gives no result, as does any GI above 110, a negative value, or total carbs of 0.

Worked example

A plate has white rice (GI 73, 45 g carbs), lentils (GI 32, 15 g) and a salad dressing item (GI 15, 10 g). Total carbs = 45 + 15 + 10 = 70 g. Weighted sum = 73×45 + 32×15 + 15×10 = 3285 + 480 + 150 = 3915. Meal GI = 3915 ÷ 70 = 55.9, shown as 56, which is just over 55, so the category is Medium. Glycemic load = 55.9 × 70 ÷ 100 = 39.2.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering the weight of the food instead of its carbohydrate in grams. The weighting and the load depend on grams of carbohydrate, not grams of food.
  • Typing a carb amount for food 2 or 3 and leaving its GI blank. The tool shows no result until the GI is filled in.
  • Averaging the GI values by hand. A food with 45 g of carbs counts far more than one with 10 g, so a simple average gives a wrong number.
  • Reading the category as a statement about the load. Low, Medium and High are based on the weighted GI alone; a Low-GI meal can still have a large glycemic load if the portion is big.
  • Entering a GI above 110, or a GI taken from a table made for a different reference food (bread instead of glucose). Values above 110 give no result, and mixed scales distort the average.

Sources

About this calculator

The glycemic index (GI) ranks individual carbohydrate-containing foods from 0 to 100 by how quickly they raise blood glucose relative to pure glucose, a scale developed by Dr. David Jenkins at the University of Toronto in 1981. A single food's GI, however, says nothing about a real plate of food that mixes several ingredients, so this calculator computes a carb-weighted average GI across the foods in a meal (up to three) — each food's GI is weighted by the share of total carbohydrate grams it contributes — and then derives the meal's glycemic load (GL), which factors in portion size (GL = GI × carbs in grams ÷ 100).

Dietitians and diabetes educators use meal-level GI and GL to explain why pairing a high-GI food like white rice with fiber, protein, or fat tends to blunt the overall blood-sugar spike, and endurance athletes use similar logic in reverse — favoring higher-GI carbs right before or during exercise for fast glucose availability, and lower-GI carbs beforehand for sustained energy.

Meals with a weighted GI of 55 or below count as low, 56 to 69 as medium and 70 or above as high.

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