How the Glycemic Index Helps You to Lose Weight
by Cora Penafiel
(Philippines)
If you have been researching how to easily and effectively lose weight and maintain a healthy body, then you need to learn about the glycemic index and how to apply it in your life. The glycemic index can aid in finding out how your blood sugar level will rise after you eat certain foods. If the food you eat spikes your blood sugar levels according to the glycemic index, that means the food you eat can make your weight loss and health efforts futile.
In the past, many people have tried a lot of diets that totally eliminate the body’s carbohydrate intake. Your body needs carbohydrates in order to have energy; however, not all of the carbohydrates can do the job. Weight control is a matter of selecting foods wisely which contain carbohydrates and not just cutting them out totally. Luckily, an unwise mentality has now been replaced with a more sensible way of thinking.
The
glycemic index is the tool that can help you quickly determine how food is going to affect your blood sugar. This system is not only essential for those who have diabetes, but it can also be crucial for anyone looking to lose weight. A lot of dieters these days have recently found out they can lose weight by eating foods that are based on the glycemic index, and it is extremely easy to try. After using this system for a short time, you will feel how highly pleasing it is to lose weight, and at the same time your health will improve. Avoiding the foods you want will become a thing of the past as you get to learn about the glycemic index meals which are truly appetizing, and it can also help promote considerable weight loss.
The glycemic index, also called the GI, is a ratings system for food that assigns a numerical value to every type of carbohydrate, depending on the carbohydrate itself and how it can affect the body's sugar levels. This is because all the foods we eat can impact our blood sugar levels differently. By determining the effect on our blood sugar levels, we can also find out what kinds of foods we should include in our diets.
The concept of the glycemic index was developed by Dr. David J. Jenkins and his colleagues in the ‘80s at the University of Toronto. Jenkins and other researchers realized that not all carbohydrates affect the blood sugar and insulin levels of the body. Their study also states that when you follow a diet that consists of foods with low GI levels, you can boost your weight loss as well as with a traditional low-fat diet.
The principle of the low-GI diet is very basic. All you will need to do is stick to eating food that does not give you a blood sugar rush. If there is no blood sugar rush, then the boost in insulin levels is unnecessary. However, to lose weight, you should also eat, along with your low-GI, foods with a calorie deficit, and you should increase your activity. Adding exercise to a low-glycemic index eating plan is an exceptionally powerful way to get the most out of your insulin sensitivity.
The glycemic index has changed the way people look at carbohydrates, and the foods they eat with a low-GI diet help prevent numerous risk factors such as diabetes. Take, for instance, the watermelon. Watermelon has a lot of vitamins packed into it, making it healthy and extremely low in calories. However, the glycemic index of a watermelon is 70, which can be considered in the high range. This is because watermelon is extremely high in natural sugar and this can elevate your blood sugar levels, and because of this, your body is forced to release insulin to help neutralize and lower your blood sugar levels. Although watermelon gives you a sugar rush at first, you will then feel tired afterwards since your blood sugar level quickly falls down.
The low-glycemic index levels are found in certain foods. Peaches and peanuts are some which have a GI score that is below 30. This makes these foods a better choice since they will not spike blood sugar levels, and your body may release energy slowly over a longer time, giving you more energy and keeping you satisfied longer.
Eating foods with low-glycemic index levels help you lose weight and keep it off. Since these foods help us feel full and satisfied longer, we will not struggle with snack cravings. Another factor you might consider is the frequency of meals. Try not to have your meals three times a day because your blood sugar levels will drop too far. It is suggested that you eat small meals every three to four hours.
By eating smaller meals throughout the day, you tend to eat less food. You can also control your blood sugar level by ingesting nutrients throughout the day because your body does not need to raise the levels of insulin in order to handle larger amounts of food. By doing so, you can maintain a more stable sugar level.
When we digest our food, sugar is another nutrient that our body normally releases. However quickly sugar is released in your body is also how fast your blood sugar will rise. An example of this concept is the bread we usually eat. White bread can break down to sugar extremely fast. It begins breaking down when you chew and mix it with the enzymes in your saliva. Whole-wheat bread, on the other hand, can be extremely tough to digest because of the layers of seeds that protect it from the digestive process. It will take more time to digest and bring out the sugar. That is why whole-wheat bread takes a longer time to raise the blood sugar of the body than the white bread.
Although the ideas and principles of the low-glycemic index diet makes tremendous sense and it can be perfectly healthy to try out, there is only slight evidence to suggest that by simply eating food that has a low-glycemic level you can also lose weight.
There are other factors that affect the quantity of food a person eats, and in this case, the number of calories and activity levels of the person are also considered. For example, if you are consuming foods that total about 3000 calories, even though they are real
low-GI foods, you will not lose weight because of the large number of calories you are consuming.
