Over the last decade the tide has changed from low fat to low carb diets. Unfortunately, neither is correct. Research confirms the best diet to drop those extra pounds is a diet that consists more of what I like to call “slow” carbs.
SLOW-Carbs are carbohydrates that rate low to moderate on the glycemic index.
People who follow a low to moderate glycemic diet do better at taking the weight off and keeping it off for one simple reason. They keep their blood sugar stable, which keeps them in their ‘fat-burning” zone throughout the day.
The glycemic index rates food according to how fast they cause your blood sugar to rise. Foods that cause a rapid rise of your blood sugar are rated high to very high. Whereas foods that cause a slow, gradual rise are classified as low to moderate on the glycemic chart.
The reason we look at how fast foods cause your blood sugar to rise is because sugars (carbohydrates) trigger your body to release a hormone called insulin. We are most familiar with insulin working to pull the sugars from your bloodstream into the cells for energy. Unfortunately insulin also works as a storage hormone. When you trigger a huge amount of insulin in response to a high carbohydrate or high glycemic meal, it triggers your body to store all those extra carbs as fat.
Common high glycemic foods to stay away from are anything made with refined white flour or refined sugar. Many of the processed, frozen, and packaged foods are made with refined flours and sugar. Things like bagels, muffins, breads, pastas, cereal, pancakes, crackers, pretzels, rice cakes, tortilla chips, cookies and the list goes on are classified as high glycemic foods. These foods need to be avoided because they trigger a large surge of insulin and cause your body to store all those extra calories as fat.
Low glycemic foods are almost all your fruits and vegetables, as well as, nuts, seeds, beef, chicken, fish, eggs and most of your whole grains. As you can see we are talking about all the natural foods the good Lord gave us dominion over.
The problem is that more people are eating more processed, fast food and not enough of the foods the good Lord gave us. It’s like an epidemic, people are eating so much refined, processed, fast foods that they are triggering an overabundance of insulin which is causing problems such as obesity, cravings, hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, ADD and depression. All these problems have become so prevalent and associated with elevated insulin that they have been grouped together and called Metabolic Syndrome.
Read the Ingredient List
The worst offender, and ingredient we should stay away from are foods and drinks that use “high fructose corn syrup” as a sweetener. This includes all your soft drinks, fruit drinks, candies, health bars and shakes. Manufacturers will disguise high glycemic sweeteners with names like; maltodextrin, dextrose, maltose, and sucrose. Please don’t make the mistake and trade in one evil for another and choose foods made with artificial sweeteners to make it low fat or low glycemic. That’s like trading in a broken leg for a broken arm. Neither is good!
Balance is the Key
The key to successful weight loss comes by staying in your ‘fat-burning zone’ throughout the day. High glycemic foods or high carb meals take you out of your fat burning zone because your blood sugar is constantly racing up and down and trigger the wrong hormones. Insulin is not a good or bad hormone, it does what it is designed to do. When you produce a lot of it your body will store those extra carbs as fat, as well as, inhibits the production of glucagon, a hormone that works to breakdown fats. Continue >>
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