July 2, 2009

Lose Weight The Easy Way - The Glycemic Foods Index…

by Dan Beckwith

You may have heard of the Glycemic Foods Index if you are trying to lose weight. If you’re a diabetic you’ve heard of it for sure! The glycemic foods index is truly a big deal in the worlds of healthy eating and weight loss. It’s no longer only being used by diabetics needing to control their blood sugar levels.

Let’s face it, the foods you eat right now ARE on the glycemic foods index. So it DOES affect you every day. Rather than just picking random foods to eat, wouldn’t you rather know how to get the most benefit? You need to know how the list works…

Getting to know the Glycemic Foods Index.

Various foods have various affects on the blood sugar. Prior to the development of the glycemic foods index, there was no reliable tool to predict what blood sugar effects would be realized. This is important since diabetics need to control their blood sugar levels.

Diabetics blood sugar levels seemed to both mysteriously jump up and plummet down FAST throughout the day! The glycemic foods index was developed to help diabetics understand why.

Finally, with this handy tool, both diabetics and doctors could know what the patient was eating and how it affected their blood sugar levels.

How does it work?

The Glycemic Foods Index simply rates foods on a scale from zero to one hundred. It measures how quickly various foods are digested (turned into glucose) and enter the blood stream.

Your body is able to digest certain foods faster than others. It’s this concept that is at the base of the index. The highest levels of blood sugar spikes come from the foods that are digested the fastest.

Foods that take longer to digest and be turned into glucose are at the other end of the spectrum and enter the bloodstream more slowly and at a steadier pace.

To help control and lose weight, many completely healthy people are starting to use the index. This is an important issue…it’s not just for type 1 and type 2 diabetics. It helps with many health issues, like heart disease, diabetics and weight.

What is the actual Glycemic Foods Index list?

Well, no stunning revelation, it’s a list of all the various foods you are likely to encounter - from breads and cereals to fruits and vegetables are listed with their associated rating.

Can’t decide between eating a piece of celery or an ear of corn? Check the list! The amazing benefit is that it lists everything you are likely to want to eat - in order of how it will affect your blood sugar and by extension your diet and weight loss efforts. It’s pretty easy to see where they are on the list and which one is the better choice.

Weight loss and blood sugar management doesn’t get any more basic. The higher the food is ranked the worse it is. It’s weight control by the numbers. Trade high numbered foods for lower numbered options and watch the weight start to effortlessly fall away.

Yah,yah…Another “miracle” diet. There’s tons of them out there, why should I use the Glycemic Foods Index?

For a lot of us, that’s a huge question. Why SHOULD I use the Glycemic Foods Index instead of any other diet? Whether as the management of diabetes, the trimming of our waistlines or the prevention and cure or many other ailments why?

The initial consideration is that this isn’t the latest weekly fad diet… created just to sell a few tabloid newspapers. It is a system created to control blood sugar levels - the weight loss (if desired) is just a happy side affect.

As a weight loss method, it’s easy, painless and fast - but all these benefits have only recently been discovered.

To summarize what we’ve learned:

-Not all food affects our blood sugar (and waistlines) the same. The glycemic foods index is a terrific tool to understand how our bodies process and use the foods we eat.

-The values of the most common foods - ones we eat every day - are listed in the glycemic foods index. It’s a snap to compare various food choices.

-Though developed for diabetics, it is highly effective in weight loss and improving your health.

To learn more about the glycemic foods index - and other weight loss aids, check out my website. There are tons of weight loss articles and you can enroll in my “Fast Weight Loss Tips!” mini-course while it is still free.

About the Author:

Last 5 posts by Dan Beckwith

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netvouz
  • DZone
  • ThisNext
  • MisterWong
  • Wists

Filed under Food and Drink by Dan Beckwith

Permalink Print Comment

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to comment

Made with WordPress and a healthy dose of Semiologic • Fire Brick skin by Denis de Bernardy