So What Is the Glycemic Index
and Why Is It Important?

The glycemic index is a fantastic tool to use to be thin for life, to live longer and to be in the best shape possible! All weight loss plans, if they are to be permanent, must be based on it to stabilize your blood sugar.

Simply put, this index is a clinical rating system that tells you how the body metabolizes food by noting if the hormone insulin is elevated by a particular food. It is a measure of how quickly glucose (sugar) enters the bloodstream. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar. When the body isn't making enough insulin to do this, or when the body is insensitive to the insulin that is generated, diabetes results. In the average person, consistent ingestion of foods having a high glycemic index causes an increase in fat storage and fat tissue and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. Foods and drinks that rate high on the glycemic index trigger an undesirable insulin response.

It's not hard to use this index once you understand how it works. It boils down to this: keeping your cells sensitive to insulin prevents weight gain and diabetes. This is a "sugar" index that tells you how a food affects your insulin and blood sugar. The reason diets don't work is because without blood sugar control you get weight gain rebound. That means when you go off the diet your fat comes back with a vengeance!

The key to the glycemic index being most helpful for losing fat is to think of it in a big picture way and not be too "number bound." Just as with calories, it's so important not to be obsessed about it but just use it as a guide to make healthier food choices. This information can be used for weight control but also to understand which are the safe diabetic foods.

It is for this reason that we do not put the actual index number on our low glycemic food list but in case you see these numbers on food products, here they are:

High Glycemic - GI over 70

Moderate Glycemic - 56 - 69

Below 55 is low glycemic

Eating low glycemic foods not only prevents obesity but it promotes your health in every way!

And since today the numbers of people who are obese or have diabetes have reached staggering proportions, it is more important than ever to understand the relationship between food and blood sugar.

This is the healthiest way for everyone to eat and the only way for us to lose fat permanently. This is not because you are following some rigid diet plan but rather because you are eating whole foods in their natural state.

During glycemic clinical trials scientists measure how much the food raises blood sugar and affects insulin. They determine if a food stimulates the enzyme responsible for storing fat, Lipase (LPL.) A low glycemic food is digested slowly and thus raises the blood sugar gradually helping you to maintain increased energy longer. This is why high fiber foods like beans, raw nuts, seeds, sprouted grains and pasta are low on the glycemic index; they take longer to break down and digest.

What does the glycemic index tell us about high glycemic foods? These are the highly refined foods, foods with high fructose corn syrup, white breads, white sugar, in fact most foods that are white! A high glycemic food metabolizes quickly and stimulates insulin to bring blood sugar levels down. It reduces energy and causes that "let down" feeling and triggers hunger. LPL, the fat enzyme is released when high glycemic foods are eaten.

Low glycemic eating is the most efficient and natural way to lose fat. According to the Glycemic Research Institute, high glycemic carbohydrates store in the fat cells.

For many years dieticians and nutritionists thought that it was the fats in our diets that made us fatter so low fat diets were very popular. However, after years of low fat dieting it is obvious that this is not the case.

According to Dr. Weinsier, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama,"The percentage of the U.S. population consuming low calorie, low fat foods increased fourfold from 1978 - 1991. During that period, the frequency rate of obesity increased by 33%." Since then we have gone from low calorie diets to low carbohydrate, high protein diets all of which keep making us fatter and less healthy too.

Now scientists have learned to differentiate between fat-stimulating and non-fat stimulating carbohydrates.

Instead of restricting all carbohydrates we can pay attention to the high glycemic carbohydrates and eat accordingly.

Thanks to the research done on this "sugar" index, we now know that low glycemic carbohydrates do NOT stimulate fat storage or elevate blood sugar and insulin levels.

The glycemic index list of foods can guide you to make the best food choices for your waistline and for your health. You can also keep this way of eating very simple by just keeping in mind these ideas:

The less processed the food is the lower it's glycemic index will be. Instead of refined grains choose the whole grains. Eat whole fruit instead of drinking fruit juices. Eat more healthy fats, high fiber foods and add protein to your meals to stay full longer and slow down your digestion. Apply these simple low glycemic principles so that you will be the right weight for YOU and healthy for life!

You don't need the diets, they don't work anyway.

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Treat yourself to a weight management consultation with a weight management advisor including a written, personal, low glycemic plan right for YOU to reach your healthiest weight. This is an aggressive, comprehensive plan. You will get three months of coaching so you can make the necessary changes.

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Glycemic Index List of Foods

The glycemic index list of foods includes foods that lower blood sugar and help you to lose fat!

Glycemic Load

Too much of a good thing can be a glycemic load. That means that too much of even low glycemic foods can raise your blood sugar!

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