Weight Loss

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author Posted by: on date Feb 23rd, 2009 | filed Filed under: lose weight

Lose Weight with the GI Diet


For those searching for ways to lose weight, the task can be very confusing. There are so many different weight loss plans and diets that if one does not know what they are looking for, they simply could be just wasting their time. Without taking the time to do some research you could be buying into a plan that is ineffective or may even be harmful to your body. One of the most important pieces of advice you could ever take is to visit your doctor and so some research on your own as you try to decide which weight loss plan is for you.


If your doctor is staying current with the weight loss industry, he may direct you to this particular weight loss strategy. 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, i.e. whether or not it will cause you to put on weight.


There are certainly more ways than one to lose weight. And what works for one person may not work for another. If we are to believe that the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off is to by establishing 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. Firstly 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.
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.


We all know that foods lose some of their nutrients when they are cooked and as a result it ultimately alters somewhat their effect on the body. 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.


The GI diet may seem a bit complicated but if you take the time to learn and understand the concept it may be the plan you have been looking for. The Glycemic Index the 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


One “problem” with the GI diet is that you have to use your common sense with some choices. For example, just the GI score as a guide 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


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