Health & Medical Nutrition

Use The Glycemic Index List To Get Rid Of Those Pounds

Bodies are affected differently by carbohydrates. The affects are seen by the subsequent fluctuations on insulin and glucose levels. To know about the glycemic index list is to know how to reduce the chances of developing diabetes and heart disease as well as having information on losing and maintaining weight.

The glycemic index, GI, ranks carbohydrates according to how they affect blood glucose levels. If a person is overweight or does not have a lot of exercise then a GI is important to recognize. This is because typically these people typically have a high level of glucose in their blood. This can be detrimental to health as well as be the reason for being overweight.

Eating foods that are lower on the GI scale means that a more steady but slower trickle of glucose gets put into the bloodstream. This stability makes people fill more full for longer periods and means that they will eat less.

To switch to a more healthy GI diet is easy. There is no counting involved or any extreme dieting. One only has to substitute foods. For example, although breads and cereals can still be eaten they should be replaced with whole grain, bran, or barley based products. Also, eating more fruits and vegetables while reducing potato intake is another way of using the GI to keep an ideal weight. People can still enjoy pasta and noodles and even rice that is Basmati or Doongara.

This switch of carbs does not even need to happen every time a person eats. This is due to the second meal effect. What this means is that the benefits of one meal carry over to the next. However, at least one meal per day should have a low GI.

Somebody might ask if an increase in meal size increases GI. For instance, a person might wonder if doubling a meal doubles the GI. It does not since amount is relative.

Alcohol has been said to have a lot of carbohydrates so people might wonder if it increases glucose levels. The truth is wine and liquor have no carbs. Beer does but only a little bit so a person does not have to skip on drinking to maintain glucose levels.

With all this information people might think to have a no carbohydrate diet and thus avoid all the negative associations. This can be dangerous. There are more nutritional information to consider. Something like an Atkins diet, as appealing as it might sound at the moment, might lead to a person eating foods that are high in saturated fats and this ultimately lead to weight gain and heart issues.

For athletes that do a lot of endurance work carb intake is a special consideration in regards to performance. Contrary to how it might seem, athletes should eat foods that are low in the GI. This is because these are the kinds of food that will provide a steady stream of energy. Other foods will give all or more of the energy all at once.

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