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Category: Health/Fitness
Description: The skinny on the glycemic index. Research has proven that the best way to lose weight is to watch the glycemic load, which is measured by the glycemic index rating of each food. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss provides readers a solid foundation for understanding how and why a glycemic index diet works and controlling counts, along with activity and stress levels. Also includes recipes and a glycemic index. The perfect solution for anyone at risk for Type II diabetes or anyone ready for a change from the low-carb diet. 64% of adults over the age of 20 in the US are overweight or obese. Offers information on supplements, basic easy recipes, food lists, and sample meal plans. A full appendix with glycemic index counts and loads for all sorts of foods.
eBook Publisher: Penguin Group/Alpha,
Books By Dames Release Date: June 2007

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Available eBook Formats [Secure Mobipocket/Microsoft Reader/eReader (recommended) - What's this?]: SECURE MOBIPOCKET FORMAT [748 KB], SECURE MICROSOFT READER FORMAT [1.8 MB] - Requires Microsoft Reader 2.1.1 for PCs, SECURE EREADER (RECOMMENDED) FORMAT [571 KB]
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In This Chapter

• Appreciating how the glycemic index is different

• Managing blood sugar levels

• Learning scientific research studies

• Accepting the glycemic index worldwide

If you've heard of the glycemic index, you may have already begun to use it as a guide for eating and for weight loss. Good for you. If you haven't heard about it, you're in for a treat—and not just the kind of treat you eat. Instead, it's the kind of treat that makes losing weight easy and knowing what to eat fail-proof.

The glycemic index is just plain brilliant because it's based on the science of how foods, specifically carbohydrates, work in your body. But the glycemic index isn't merely someone's good idea or an interesting intellectual theory. The glycemic index has been research-tested on real people who have the same kinds of weight-loss and health issues as you. That's how we know it works.

Beyond Other Diets

Glycemic index weight loss goes beyond any diet program you've ever tried and does what all the other programs have tried to do. For starters, it explains why you've gained weight from both biological and behavioral points of view. It teaches you how to eat adequate amounts of healthy food. It keeps your body from storing new fat by keeping your blood sugar levels and insulin levels healthy. It even lets you eat treat foods from time to time without gaining weight.

Glyco Lingo

Blood sugar levels are considered healthy when the fasting level is between 70 and 120. Healthy insulin levels are between 4 and 27. To find your blood glucose or your insulin levels, check with your physician. Insulin resistance occurs when there is a decrease in the ability of the body's cells to readily uptake glucose for energy. In other words, insulin can no longer effectively transport glucose into the cells. This condition can occur more readily when one is overweight and as one ages. In addition, some individuals may have more insulin resistance due to their genetic makeup.

Perhaps you've tried some of the diets listed next. Here's why they don't work long-term:

• Strict low-carbohydrate diets. They encourage you to eat large quantities of meats and fats, while limiting vegetables and fruits. Overeating all by itself encourages insulin resistance, which leads to weight gain.

• Extreme low-fat diets. Your body needs between 20 and 30 percent fat intake per day to maintain good health. This is considered low fat, but it is not extreme, and it will allow one to get adequate amounts of the essential fatty acids. Without adequate fat, your body can't release stored fat. Plus, these diets encourage us to gobble lots of low-fat, processed foods that are high in carbohydrates. Eating them can lead to insulin resistance and weight gain.

• Extremely low-calorie diets. Because they ignore the balance of what you need, they can be unhealthy. A person might stay within the limited calorie restrictions by eating too many high-glycemic foods, and the results will be disappointing. Calories do need to be restricted for weight loss, but it is not healthy to eat less than 1200 calories a day. This is about the minimum amount of calories needed to obtain adequate amounts of nutrients needed by the body. Indirectly, a low-calorie diet can lead to insulin resistance and weight gain.

• Fad diets. Diets such as the cabbage-soup diet, the liquid diet, or food combining, aren't based on scientific research and biological studies. As such, they don't offer safe and reliable long-term weight loss. Plus, they don't offer a reasonable approach to lifelong healthy eating.

Is the glycemic index just another fad? The answer is a resounding No! It's a medically sound, scientifically tested explanation for how the body reacts to the foods we eat. Although we still have much to learn, the glycemic index has been researched since the 1980s and is used by nutritionists around the world to guide people—especially those with eating challenges, such as persons with diabetes.

Glycemic index weight loss keeps you out of insulin resistance, allowing you to lose weight steadily and safely while eating plenty of food. You definitely won't go hungry while following a glycemic index weight-loss program. In all fairness we should mention that you won't be eating stacks of donuts, muffins, or bagels any more. You can, however, eat them sometimes. Besides, you probably weren't eating them—except on the sly—on any other program either.

Glycemic Index for You

With this book in your hand, you have the power to lose weight safely and assuredly. Plus, the glycemic index can improve your overall health, maintain or increase lean muscle mass, and balance your moods.

Copyright © 2005 by Lucy Beale.