How to Use Glyc: Extract Any Recipe and See Your Glycemic Load in 60 Seconds
Start with a recipe
Glyc works with almost any recipe you find online. It can also handle content you paste in directly — useful for recipes from cookbooks, handwritten family cards, or sites that block automated access.
There are two ways to get started:
Option 1: Paste the URL
Find a recipe you want to analyse — on any cooking site, food blog, or news outlet.
Copy the URL from your browser address bar.
Paste it into the input field on the Glyc homepage.
Press Extract Recipe.
Glyc will fetch the page, extract the recipe using AI, and return a full breakdown within 15 to 30 seconds. Most major recipe sites are supported. If a site blocks automated access (you will see a 403 error), use Option 2.
Option 2: Paste the recipe text
Copy the recipe text — ingredients list, quantities, and instructions — from anywhere.
Click Paste Content on the Glyc homepage.
Paste the text into the field.
Press Extract Recipe.
This works for any text — rough notes, a photo of a recipe card you transcribed, or a cookbook excerpt you typed out. Glyc is forgiving with formatting and will parse the ingredients even if the layout is imperfect.
Reading the results
Once extraction is complete, you will see:
Glycemic load per serving — rated low, medium, or high, with the numeric GL value.
Nutrition summary — calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, fibre per serving.
Ingredient breakdown — how each ingredient contributes to the overall GL.
Show the Math — a full calculation breakdown if you want to see exactly how each number was arrived at.
Show the Math
This is one of the most useful features in Glyc for anyone managing blood sugar. Click Show the Math to expand a per-ingredient table showing:
The quantity parsed from the recipe
The weight in grams
The GI value used
The GL contribution from that ingredient
This tells you at a glance which ingredients are driving the glycemic load — and which swaps would make the biggest difference.
Saving recipes
If you are signed in, extracted recipes are saved automatically to your recipe library. You can favourite recipes to mark the ones you cook regularly, and the Glyc trending section surfaces community favourites over time.
Extracting the same URL a second time updates the existing record rather than creating a duplicate.
What if the extraction looks wrong?
AI extraction is very accurate but not perfect. If the serving count looks off, or an ingredient quantity seems misread, the extracted recipe is editable before you save it. You can also re-extract — Glyc will reprocess the source and update the result.
For the glycemic load calculation specifically, accuracy depends on the ingredients being matched in the GI database. If Glyc cannot find an exact match for an unusual ingredient, it will note this in the calculation breakdown. Common ingredients and their variants are well-covered.