Category Archives: Food

Foods With Low Glycemic Index For a Healthier You

Eating foods with low glycemic index can facilitate both weight loss and a more energetic lifestyle. The glycemic index measures how quickly and markedly a given food will impact blood sugar levels. In other words, foods which score high on the glycemic index table will cause sharp spikes in blood glucose. On the other end, foods which are digested slowly, thus imparting a more measured impact on blood sugar, score low on the index.

Those with diabetes were the initial beneficiaries from the glycemic index. Diabetics have a special concern when it comes to regulating blood sucrose levels. However, later research has quantified that following the GI can provide manifold benefits for everyone. Erratic blood sugar levels trigger several unwanted effects.

When blood sugar levels drop after a spike it causes what is termed a “sugar crash”. These crashes are characterized by lethargy and reduced mental agility. Consuming foods which rank high on the GI chart (over 69) heightens the chance of these crashes occurring. The glycemic index ranks foods on a scale from 1 to 100. Those foods scoring under 55 are considered to rank low and not are prone to triggering sugar crashes. As indicated, foods scoring 70 or more are considered high and are to be avoided.

Sugar crashes have other adverse effects in addition to creating feelings of lethargy. When blood sugar suddenly decreases it fools the body into thinking that it must consume more food. This obviously works to the detriment of those seeking to shed unwanted pounds. Those seeking weight loss are advised to stick with low index foods. The good news is that there exist low GI ranked foods within virtually every food group.

Rice is a good example of a food group with both good and poor GI choices. Basmati rice scores a moderate 58 on the index, whereas white sticky rice scores a whopping 98. Referencing the GI chart is a simple step which can greatly assist in crafting a meal which won’t lead to a crash or quickly recurring hunger pangs.

The GI chart might appear complex at first glance; however it is easily learned and understood. The glycemic load (GL) index provides further guidance in addition to the main glycemic index. The GL gives direction while taking into consideration both the food’s glycemic index score as well as the portion of it consumed. This tool allows for further quantification of a meal’s expected impact upon blood sugar levels.

When one can’t avoid consumption of a high GI food there are techniques which can be used to dilute its impact upon blood sugar. Combining a high protein food along with a high GI food is one such technique which can avoid the intensity of increase upon blood sucrose levels. The first step towards controlling blood sugar is familiarizing yourself with both the GI and the GL.

Combined with regular exercise and good overall nutrition the glycemic index is an excellent tool to be used in the pursuit of weight loss, increased energy and better all around health.

Healthy Foods Can Help You With Your Weight Loss Goals

We have said that eating healthy foods will definitely help you lose weight. And someone may ask what constitutes healthy foods? My personal definition of healthy foods is the green vegetable foods and fruits. These I also call the clean foods as they are clean, low in calories and do not have any residues after eating them. Unlike the high calorie foods and its fatty cousins which always leave bad residues of waste in your system, fruits and vegetables do not leave such residues that are why I see fruits and vegetables as healthy foods. On the meaty side, clean foods include foods like chicken, turkey and fish.

These meats are lean on fat and calories compared to raw beef. Lentils, dry beans and peas are also passing as clean foods. When one starts eating from the green vegetable and lean meat foods listed above, they will start losing weight because of the fact that fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods have high concentration of complex carbohydrates and fiber in them which the body can slowly absorb them and thus cause our hunger pangs to be satisfied quickly and efficiently.

The case against processed foods is that because their nutritional values are low and the fact that they do not make us feel full easily like the natural foods, they do not make us feel satisfied and this like addiction causes us to want to eat more of it when we know for sure that it is against our weight loss or maintenance goals. I once read a book about natural foods and the author said in that book that bad foods like drugs leave behind their unhealthy residue of waste behind after eating them so that as the residues stay in our system, it causes us to want to eat more to cover up the poisoning effect of that residues. You see, when we are not eating, our stomach gets into the mode for cleansing and when that happens, the poisons are all bubbled up from the tissues of our stomach into the surface.

When that happens we start feeling sick or weak and this I have found out that when it happens will cause people to eat more foods to stop the stomach’s cleansing work thus stopping the poisons from coming up to the surface and with this stopping comes our relief from the weakness that the food residues now turning into poison causes us to feel. Usually, people who undergo long periods of fasting for detoxification purpose experience this effect but even if you are not fasting one can still experience a mild form of this experience which even that is not convenient. This explains why people who eat junk food tend to eat more and that as already mentioned above is to stop them from getting sick or weak from the poisons in their stomachs that the stomach is trying to evict at ever chance of not eating for a few hours of time.

Even though manufactures of food argue that there is a need to include preservatives into our foods to preserve them and make them last longer, the side effect of such practice is not good as it has caused many of industrialized world’s health to deteriorate as it stands now. Perhaps our biggest nutritional mistake has been turning away from foods in their natural state. We have replaced them with processed foods that have been modified to last longer, be easier to manufacture and distribute, and be more convenient to store and use.

For example, when I go to the grocery store, I see apple Juice that has no fiber at all and then when I go to a health food store, I see apple Juice with the fiber in them. Unfortunately the apple Juice with the fiber in them are expensive and they are not found any where except in health food stores so a great majority of the population do not get access to the healthy apple Juice except the one that has been heavily processed and all the fiber taken out from them. The apple Juice with the fiber in them are the good ones because they are full of fiber and are able to help aid weight loss and good health. The apple Juice with no fiber is usually full of added sugars and they tend to contain more calories than the regular apple or the apple Juice with the fiber. This is to say that process foods are not good that is why they are usually less expensive than the healthy unprocessed equivalents.

Natural foods are good for our health and can easily aid us in losing weight and staying healthy. It is full of vitamins, minerals and fiber and contains cancer fighting antioxidants that are contained in natural unprocessed foods. These foods help reduce the risk of suffering from diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer and even help us to reduce weight and stay fit and healthy.

The foods that are processed may be added to what I call the bad foods as they are usually not healthy for us and contain lots of salt, sugars, preservative, saturated and Trans fats. Most nutritionist will tell you that the outer skin of foods in general are more nutrients than even the part that we think we must eat but unfortunately the outer parts of foods is what is thrown away as unfit for food. Take potato for example, the outer skin is more nutritious than the inner food but yet most people will throw out the outer skin and eat the starch within it. Since processed foods do not have fiber in them and are full of additives and food dyes for color they are not healthy for us and in most cases can make one sick.

The human body needs clean environment to stay healthy and eating foods doused with foreign chemicals and ingredients will not help us at all but will make people worse off. But as suggested above, eating healthy natural foods with high natural fiber and nutrients are good for us and can help us to lose weight and remain healthy and thin. It will cause you not to be hungry needlessly but will help shield you from the hunger pangs and cause you to stay slim, healthy and enjoy your life fully. Always remember that it is not about taste or quantity of food that matters but it is the quality of the food and the health it promotes that matters and with no food residues left in our system will also mean that craving for the bad foods will be eliminated or drastically reduced.