The Creator of the First Glycemic Index for African and Caribbean Foods

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Watch this video, then we'll talk. Hi, I'm Mayra Jique Way and I made the first glycemic index for African and Caribbean foods because I am sick of people getting westernized, generalized nutritional advice that does not apply to them, so it doesn't actually help with their health conditions. Walk with me for a second. If you are from African or Caribbean culture, you probably no stranger to the conversation around people in your family being diabetic or pre-diabetic. Now, when you get that diagnosis, the one thing that they will tell you to do is make lifestyle changes. And the one lifestyle change that you need to make is obviously through food. If you didn't know, you can rank many foods on what we call the glycemic index. And this is the speed at which your blood sugars are affected from consuming a certain food. Now, if the problem is is that if you go and research glycemic index online, go to it for a second, right? You're not going to see any cultural staple foods on there.

[00:00:47]It's going to be very generic and basic.

[00:00:49]So, when someone is from a certain background and they go do this research or they get the leaflet and they're not sure what is a low GI, what is a high GI, what's a medium GI, they're basically left stuck hoping that they're making the right choices when really we could just understand our own foods better and this is exactly how you're going to use it. There is a huge gap of research on African, Caribbean, and even Southeast Asian foods. Now, usually on the glycemic index, it gets a ranked, it gets a number, but unfortunately, we don't have all this information. So, what I did is I researched each individual food and classified it to be a low GI, a medium GI, or a high GI. So, let me show you how this works. We have five columns: grains and starches, vegetables, fruits, dairy and proteins.

[00:01:31]If it has an L by it, it's a low GI. If it has an M by it, it's a medium GI. And if it has an H by it, it's a high GI.

[00:01:39]So, what do we do with that? It means we incorporate more of the low GI foods and portion control the medium to highs. And it is that simple. Once you know the food, you can make better health decisions, but the truth is the nutrition space is too lazy to do that, so I did it for you. If you want to screenshot or save this video, feel free. But if you want to copy of it so it doesn't lose its quality, just let me know and I can send you it over. My message stands. We need people more educated about their own cultural foods.

[00:02:08]We don't want more people going to the doctors or getting nutrition advice that doesn't actually apply or work to them.

[00:02:15]This is the type of stuff that we need and let me do more research and we'll finally find the rankings of these foods because that's one thing that not anyone in the nutrition space has done.

[00:02:25]First of all, brilliant, obsessed, love it. If you want more information, definitely go follow her. Link to where everything is below. Now, Aisha, I just want to take a moment to discuss a few of these before I jump onto another topic that is related to this very important but we're going to talk about this first. First of all, I do think that it's rude that watermelon is high has high is high on the glycemic index.

[00:02:48]Um, it's mostly water.

[00:02:50]Like, excuse me. That's my most refreshing all the time snack. And then my second most refreshing all the time snack, mango right here, medium? Medium?

[00:03:00]I mean, technically, it's very important information to know, but I do think that that's incredibly rude. Now, I do love that pomegranates are here along with tamarind. Here's my thing though. I currently don't like there's not Yeah, sure, they're here and I do like I could find tamarinds. Maybe that just means that I need to find more tamarind.

[00:03:20]It's just way easier to find watermelon and mango here where I currently live.

[00:03:24]But all right. Also, like it does make sense that most vegetables are on the lower end.

[00:03:30]And it does also make sense that there's very few there's very few grains. I love a grain and I love a starch. I would also like to ask, and this is truly a community question because I grew up in a very specific kind of home and by specific, I mean I'm pretty sure that my mom is autistic and we are Caribbean. So, when it comes to almond milk, I've only ever had unsweetened almond milk. And so, when I saw this, I said, "Oh, haha, I guess that's just like a thing that we all as black people tend to lean towards unsweetened." Is that Is that true?

[00:04:03]Is that true or are there some people that like live off of the sweetened almond milk? Please sound off in the comments. But now we're going to get into some science stuff. So, just to catch everybody up in case people don't know, what is glycemia? Glycemia refers to the concentration of glucose sugar present in the blood, often referred to as blood sugar level. It is a critical metric for monitoring energy availability, energy metabolism, and metabolic health, particularly in managing diabetes. Key terms include hyper-hypoglycemia, high-low blood sugar, and glycemic index, an example of which we saw a few seconds ago. So, why am I, Aisha, bringing this up right now on this kind of page? Because I had a fascinating conversation with a family member a few days ago. And in this conversation, this family member has diabetes. And this family member was telling me about how they finally stood up for themself.

[00:05:05]How they finally stood up for as long as I've known this family member, a couple days Well, I mean, technically, it was a while before that, but we had a conversation a couple days ago. They finally stood up for themselves.

[00:05:16]And they have diabetes. And they were like, "Aisha, like it was scary, it was a lot, da da da da da, people got very mad at me, and da da da da da, but Aisha, my numbers have never looked better."

[00:05:30]And I said, "That does not surprise me."

[00:05:32]And sure, I was kind of speaking out of my booty when I said this, but I was like, "It would not surprise me if your cortisol levels have been so high for so long and that was why your diabetes has been out of control for so long and now you finally spoke up for yourself, dropped your cortisol levels, and now all of a sudden your diabetes are manageable for Not I don't want to say for the as long as I've known them.

[00:05:57]I don't want to say for as long as I've known them.

[00:06:00]But for a very, very, very long time.

[00:06:02]Like in the as far as my memory goes, I'm like, "I think this is my first time ever seeing you speak up for yourself."

[00:06:09]And I think your body was able to release some chemicals, flush them out of your system, and now look at this. So, I want to talk a little bit more about how when it comes to your glycemia levels, how that relates with stress. We will be getting even more specific when it comes to the black experience. Obviously obviously, stress raises blood sugar glycemia by releasing hormones like cortisol. Oh my god, I was right. And adrenaline, which can trigger glucose production, often causing hyperglycemia, especially in people with diabetes or severe illness.

[00:06:45]Chronic illness fosters insulin resistance and metabolic issues, while acute stress can trigger unpredictable fluctuations. Effective management involves exercise, meditation, and adequate sleep. And dare We're going to continue. Aisha, don't jump ahead. Let us continue reading. Key connections between stress and glycemia.

[00:07:05]Hyperglycemia, high blood sugar, stress hormones force the body to release stored energy glucose into the bloodstream, a state known as stress-induced hyperglycemia. Now, that might sound rare. That might sound like, "Oh, that's probably a thing that happens once in a while." Some people live in this state.

[00:07:24]Some people just continue to exist in this state of stress-induced hyperglycemia. And dare I say, I don't know this for sure. I am not a doctor. But this family member, I don't think like to the highest degree, but at a pretty stable state of stress-induced stress-induced Maybe not hyper, but I mean, maybe. Maybe. I don't know their levels.

[00:07:48]But a pretty constant state of stress affecting their blood sugar levels. We see here how that shows up with insulin resistance. Chronic stress keeps cortisol levels high, which can cause cells to become resistant to insulin, leading to leading to persistently high blood sugar and increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. You also have hypoglycemia. Paradoxically, stress can sometimes lead to a crash or sudden drop in blood sugar, partially caused by the erratic by erratic hormonal response. Your stress is not just a fleeting feeling. Your stress is not just in your mind. And then when you stop thinking that you're stressed, it doesn't just disappear. Your stress is a hormonal is a is a chemical response.

[00:08:37]And chemicals don't just poof. They exist in your body and then they have to be flushed out and they exist and they cause what? Chemical reactions. So, managing your stress and man man managing Oh my god. Managing your stress is also managing your glucose glucose levels.

[00:08:56]Bidirectional relationship. Stress can make it harder to manage diabetes, while the stress of managing a chronic illness can further raise blood sugar. Listen, we're talking specifically about diabetes within this. It's not solely for diabetes. This is saying a chronic illness. Your stress levels like we're Once again, your stress levels cause chemical reactions that don't just affect one thing. It affects the body as a unit. So, what are some of factors that affect glycemia and stress? Illness and surgery. I think that makes that's pretty straightforward if you ask me.

[00:09:29]Then we've got emotional stress and poor health behaviors. Now, the poor health behaviors, that was what we were addressing in the beginning of this video.

[00:09:39]That goes with poor diet, lack of exercise, missed medication, which exacerbates gly glycemic instability.

[00:09:49]You fix the poor health behaviors, you get a long way. But this emotional stress, anger, anxiety, fear causes the same so physiological response as physical stress includes increasing glucose. Oh my god, words are so hard right now. My angels, my love nuggets, especially if you are black, speak your truth today. Not just because it's the right thing to do. Not just because it'll make you feel good, which like those things are both important, but literally your life depends on it. Your health depends on it. You can technically do everything right. You can fix your diet, you could exercise, you could keep your medication together, but if you don't get your stress in order, like I know that a lot of us grew up with hearing oh stress is a silent killer and stress is a Yeah.

[00:10:43]Hello. And we as black people, more specifically black women, have been told and encouraged to swallow everybody else's problems, to be quiet, deal with it, power through it. You're strong, you're independent, uh keep your head down, don't be too loud, don't be too passionate, don't be too assertive, don't be too X Y Z. Have all of those feelings, suck it up, deal with it internally, and get stuff done. Listen, does it get stuff done?

[00:11:19]Yes. Is it also a trauma response? Yes.

[00:11:21]And guess what? Historically it is it was, is, and will continue to eat us alive.

[00:11:27]Eat us alive. Now listen, I also recognize every planet in existence is in Aries right now. There's a lot of energy in in the zeitgeist right now. I get that. I get that. Um am I saying to physically fight somebody? No. I am saying that there's a lot of go go go energy right now. Um and even if you're not an astro girly, you should be managing your stress.

[00:11:54]Dare I say this is a great time for a rage room. You don't have money for a rage room? Get all of your old broken electronics, things around the house, open your garage, and get a bat.

[00:12:04]Start there.