You may be familiar with the term "glycemic index" from Nutrisystem's advertising campaign.  Nutrisystem parlayed this fancy term into an entire marketing campaign.  Unfortunately, for the average consumer or person trying to lose weight the glycemic index is fairly useless.

What is the glycemic index?  The glycemic index is an index originally designed approximately 30 years ago for diabetics.  The glycemic index simply rates how quickly an individual food will raise a person's blood sugar.  As diabetics have to be concerned with their blood sugar, this information is very useful.  For the nondiabetic person, the benefit is minimal at best.

The usefulness of the glycemic index becomes even worse when you combine foods instead of eating them in isolation.  The index is only valid when foods are consumed by themselves.  If you eat more than one food at a time the index is of no value.  Unless you're planning on eating a Nutrisystem meal in stages to isolate the different foods, the glycemic index will be of no value.

Be careful with any marketing campaigns that involve medical jargon or supposed physician approval.  They are often just tactics to part you from your hard earned money.  Even though it's not glamorous, research has consistently shown that the only way to lose weight and maintain weight loss is portion control and exercise.