Saturday, July 4, 2009

The Glycemic Foods Index - Your Route To Healthy Weight Loss?

By Dan Beckwith

The Glycemic Foods Index - if you're dieting, you've probably heard of it. If you are diabetic, it's almost guaranteed you've heard of the Glycemic Foods Index. It's a big deal and news is spreading in the healthy eating and weight loss circles. It's no longer confined to those 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...

Understanding the Glycemic Foods Index.

The blood sugar levels of diabetics needs to be controlled and prior to the development of the glycemic foods index, there was no effective tool to anticipate the effects of various foods on the blood sugar.

The glycemic foods index was developed to help diabetics understand the rapid roller coaster ups and downs of their blood sugar levels throughout the day.

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

Why does it work?

The idea is pretty basic. The glycemic foods index just lists foods in the order of how quickly they are digested. Digestion turns food into sugar (glucose) and then sends it into the bloodstream. The food is ranked from 0 to 100. The higher the number the faster the speed of the glucose hitting your blood stream.

The blood sugar spikes are because of the premise that your body can digest certain foods faster than others. The ones with the highest levels, cause the highest spikes.

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?

From soup to nuts...it's a list comprised of all the various foods you are likely to encounter - and their associated rating.

The great part is, that everything you are likely to eat is listed! From potatoes to beans, it's pretty easy to see where they fall on the list and how good (or bad) they are likely to be for your diet. Thinking about a cookie or an apple? Check the list.

It makes blood sugar management (and weight loss) very simple. Just use the easy to understand numbers. 82 is extremely high - 12 is low. Start trading out your high numbered food choices and start adding in the low numbered ones.

But why should I use the glycemic foods index? There's lot's of "miracle" diets out there!

Good question...whether to control diabetes or lose weight, why SHOULD I use the glycemic foods index? (Not to mention all the other health issues it can affect.)

To begin, the glycemic foods index was created and tested scientifically as a system for dealing with blood sugar issues. It isn't some random diet that was created by the tabloids just to sell a few more papers. The ability to lose as much weight as you want is just a terrific accident.

It's only recently that it has been found to be highly effective in weight loss. But, it IS effective. Not to mention easy and painless.

So, here's what we've covered so far:

-How your blood sugar levels are affected by various foods is important to our health. The glycemic foods index is a useful tool to understand how our bodies digest and use our foods.

-It's easy to understand how various foods compare. The glycemic foods index lists the values of the common foods we eat every day.

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

There is a ton of interesting information about the glycemic foods index and other weight control methods on my website. Check it out right away and you can still get a free enrollment to my "Fast Weight Loss Tips!" mini-course.

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