Lose Weight
Posted by: Diana Caswell on
Nov 11th, 2008 |
Filed under: lose weight, weight loss
Lose Weight with the GI Diet
Weight loss today has become a science. To be successful it seems that you have to know what the latest research studies have uncovered and be able to apply this information to your daily routine. Gone are the days of using our common sense to lose weight. Common sense referring to eating the right foods, eating the proper amount of the foods we need and following a moderate exercise plan. Regardless, if you need to lose weight then you must do what works for you. If it means keeping abreast of the latest research, or just doing all the common sense things, if it works for you then that is what you need to do.
There are so many theories as to the best way to lose weight. One of the most popular ways to lose weight is to choose foods according to their Glycemic Load (GL). All food has a glycemic index (GI) which is a qualitative measure that tells you whether the carbohydrate it contains is fast or slow releasing. The Glycemic Load tells you more about the effect that food will have on your weight, ie whether or not it will cause you to put on weight.
If we are to believe that the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off is to by stabilizing your blood sugar and insulin response to food, then we need to pay attention to the ways to achieve this. Keeping the blood sugar balanced depends not only on what we eat but also when we eat it. We need to reduce the amount of carbohydrate in our diets. We also need choose foods/carbohydrates with a low glycemic-load (GL), combine carbohydrates with protein and cut back on stimulants and stress.
When following any weight loss plan, you must be confident that it is the right plan for you as well as a healthy plan. To lose weight on this diet it is important to make sure that you eat no more than 40 GL a day and at main meals you should eat low GL carbohydrates with protein rich foods. How a food is processed, prepared or cooked is a key element in the GL of a food and therefore the effect it will have on your blood sugar. If you eat spaghetti if example your blood sugar levels and your insulin levels will rise quite gently until the body produces insulin and then they drop. However if you eat white bread they will rise twice as high and then drops down much lower. It is the peaks that damage your arteries making them less responsive to insulin and the troughs that leave you tired and sleepy and craving carbohydrates and or stimulants. It is strange that two foods made of roughly the same flour can have such different effects on the body. This is probably due to the fact that bread is cooked for longer than spaghetti. Needless to say eating white bread will do nothing to help you to lose weight.
It may sound a bit complicated but as you become more familiar with this information the clearer it becomes and easier to apply as you attempt to lose weight. The Glycemic Index levels to which different foods raise your blood sugar compared with the effect of pure glucose. The more complex the carbohydrate, the lower the GI, as it will take longer for the sugar to be broken down and released into the blood stream . For example apples and oats are slow releasing and raisins and puffed rice cereal are fast releasing. So the foods you choose to help you to lose weight should be from the Low Glycemic Index foods
As with most things in life, there are some exceptions and so there is with using the Glycmic Index. There is one small problem with using just the GI score as you will find that certain foods such as carrots and chocolate have similar scores and clearly it would be foolish to choose the chocolate over the carrots if you want to avoid the blood sugar highs and lows and ultimately lose weight. The Glycemic Load (GL) is a far better way of predicting the right foods to eat as it is an indicator of what a given serving of food will do to your blood sugar. Remember that balancing your blood sugar and insulin is the only sure way to lose weight and keep it off.
Janet Matthews
skype me: lindajanetmatthews
+44 7815614557
TriPower Team


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