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. Controlling your blood sugar is the key to enduring fat loss - NOT dieting.
Simply put, the glycemic 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 are assessed at a high index trigger an undesirable, increased 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!
Your fat cells don't go away - they just repopulate and more are created when you go back to eating high glycemic foods. That's why you get fatter after dieting.
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 obsessive about it but just use it as a guide to make
healthier food choices. Rather than looking up the index for each food it's simpler and more effective for weight management to eat foods that you know are low glycemic.
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.
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. They have learned we can eat good fats in moderation (30% of your food intake) and stay thin when we don't eat high glycemic foods.
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.
* 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.
For a complete list of low and high glycemic foods and more about the glycemic index see the articles below!
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!
Return from Glycemic Index to Lifetime Fat Loss home page.
Like Lifetime Fat Loss? Please tell a friend!
Subscribe to our Free monthly newsletter, "Nothing to Lose But Fat!"
Learn the latest tips for losing fat, get recipes to balance your blood sugar and find out how so many others are losing weight permanently!
April 17, 2014 "At Last...Healthy Snack Foods" - issue 029
December 22, 2013 "Lose Weight During the Holidays?" - Issue 028
November 5, 2013 "Biggest Barrier to Losing Weight?" - Issue 027
September 2, 2013 "Fresh Peach Smoothie Recipe" - Issue 026
August 5, 2013 "Cold Gazpacho soup - A Perfect Summer Recipe!" - Issue 025
July 18, 2013 "Drinking Water to Lose Weight" - Issue 024
June 5, 2013 "Thai Coconut Chicken Soup, Are Saturated Fats Ok Now?" - Issue 023
May 9, 2013 "When Are Foods With a High Glycemic Index Ok?" - Issue 022
April 17, 2013 "Do Calories Count?" - Issue 021
March 28, 2013 "A Tabouli Recipe" - Issue 020
February 3, 2013 "Low Fat Fish Soup Recipe" - Issue 019
January 6, 2013 "Get Skinny With Detoxing!" - Issue #018
December 17, 2012 "What's For Christmas Dinner? - Issue #017
November 19, 2012 "Low Glycemic Breakfast Burrito" - Issue #016
October 26, 2012 "Juicing For Weight Loss" - Issue #015
September 30, 2012 "Healthy Munchies for the Low Glycemic Plan" - Issue #014