Losing Weight With The Glycemic Index Chart

By Kathleen Adams


When losing weight, you need all the help you can get. Choosing food wisely is key, and a glycemic index chart is a very useful tool. Knowing how a food impacts your system is as important as portion size, freshness, whether it's organic, or how much fiber it contains. The chart will tell you how each food impacts your blood sugar levels.

The process of metabolism is complex, but the basics can be simplified. When you eat a food, it is digested and the resulting glucose is released into the bloodstream. If a lot of glucose is released at once, the 'blood sugar level' rises dramatically. In response, your pancreas releases insulin, which causes this sugar to be stored in the body. Later, if needed, it will be burned for energy. Extra sugars are stored in fat cells, maybe forever.

Some foods are digested more quickly than others, which is why you can't simply count calories. A bagel, for instance, contains mainly white flour and water, so it's digested easily and its glucose is rapidly released into the blood stream. The resulting insulin release is greater than if you ate a chocolate chip cookie, a more complicated food. A Snickers bar has a lower glycemic ranking than popcorn. Since the object of any weight loss program includes limiting the insulin response, you need to make choices.

Of course, eating a peanut candy bar is not a good choice. Just eat the peanuts, avoiding tooth decay and addiction to sweets. Choose the dry roasted kind that are seasoned with a moderate amount of sea salt.

For any weight reduction program, you need to know how each food impacts your system. Using the chart, you can select low-glycemic foods. After also checking their fiber and protein content, and making sure they are additive and pesticide-free, you may choose to include them in your diet. This way you lose weight while boosting health and energy.

You'll find that most of the foods you already know to avoid are high on the scale. Ice cream, candy, baked goods, french fries, and sodas are ranked in the 'over 70 points' range that you need to avoid. The foods ranked below that but above 55 should be strictly limited. This section includes things that you might think healthy, like orange juice, raisins, rice, and granola bars. Foods ranked at 54 or lower are so numerous that you needn't feel deprived.

That's one reason these charts are so helpful. You can avoid mistakes (like thinking a plain baked potato is OK, or a slice of watermelon) while getting menu suggestions. You may have forgotten about lentils, sweet potatoes, and hummus. Planning a week's worth of meals off the chart is fun, and you can eat a lot of hummus before you derail your weight loss momentum.

The index is a useful tool that can make this your most successful diet ever. Knowing more about the foods you eat can also help you avoid conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.




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