Glycemic Index Diet For Dummies
Overview
Get proven results from this safe, effective, and easy-to-follow diet
The glycemic load is a ranking system for carbohydrate-rich food that measures the amount of carbohydrates in a serving. The glycemic index indicates how rapidly a carbohydrate is digested and released as glucose (sugar) into the bloodstream. Using the Glycemic Index is a proven method for calculating the way carbohydrates act in your body to help you lose weight, safely, quickly, and effectively.
The second edition of The Glycemic Index Diet For Dummies presents this system in an easy-to-apply manner, giving you the tools and tips you need to shed unwanted pounds and improve your overall health. You'll not only discover how to apply the glycemic index to your existing diet plan, but you'll also get new and updated information on how to develop a healthy lifestyle.
- Recommends foods that boost metabolism, promote weight loss, and provide longer-lasting energy
- Features delicious GI recipes for glycemic-friendly cooking at home
- Includes exercises for maintaining glycemic index weight loss and promoting physical fitness
- Offers guidance on shopping for food as well as eating at restaurants and away from home
Glycemic Index Diet For Dummies, 2nd Edition is for anyone looking for an easy-to-apply guide to making the switch to this healthy lifestyle.
Read More
About The Author
Meri Raffetto, RD, is the founder and developer of Real Living Nutrition Services, providing online weight loss programs to empower people to make small changes to achieve lasting results. Meri specializes in weight management and heart disease prevention and is a member of the American Dietetic Association.
Sample Chapters
glycemic index diet for dummies
CHEAT SHEET
Following a low-glycemic diet for weight loss isn't about deprivation; it's about making better choices and swapping high-glycemic foods for ones that have a lower glycemic index or glycemic load. Once you get the hang of figuring out which foods are the best choices, you can easily shop, cook, and snack the low-glycemic way.
View Cheat Sheet
View Cheat Sheet
HAVE THIS BOOK?
View Book Companion Site
Access practice tests
Additional Book Resources
Articles from
the book
Selecting low-glycemic foods rather than high-glycemic ones is always a good tactic for weight loss. And many low-glycemic foods also provide great health benefits because many are packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and healthy monounsaturated fat. Eating a wide variety of healthy low-glycemic foods means you get the unique benefits that each food can provide.
Plenty of myths are floating around about the glycemic index these days. It seems like just about everyone knows something about it and is happy to tell you which foods to eat as well as which high-glycemic foods to avoid. The truth is that measuring the glycemic effect of foods is a highly precise and scientific process that requires specific testing.
Glycemic Index Diet
Selecting low-glycemic foods rather than high-glycemic ones is always a good tactic for weight loss. As you begin to make some changes it can feel overwhelming, but your best bet is to take just a few steps forward by making small changes.Eat rice wisely.Choose the types of rice that offer a lower-glycemic load like brown rice, Uncle Ben’s converted white rice, or (if you can find it) Bangladesh rice.
Whether you are a solid home cook or you've never boiled water, it's always helpful to have a few sample throw-together meals handy. Preparing and cooking healthy meals at home isn't necessarily time consuming.
Many home-cooked meals take less time than it takes to go through the drive-through or make a boxed mix like Hamburger Helper.
Research continues to accumulate showing the health benefits of eating a low-glycemic diet. At this point, health professionals see the value in following a low-glycemic diet, along with other healthy nutrition guidelines such as consuming less saturated fat and cholesterol, choosing high-fiber foods, and maintaining a lower sodium intake.
What makes a food low- or high-glycemic? First off, only foods that contain carbohydrates can be considered low-, medium-, or high-glycemic. Foods such as meats, poultry, fish, and fats (think oil and butter) don't contain carbohydrates, which means you have to rely on your nutrition know-how to determine what kinds and how much of them to eat.
Carbohydrates are a big topic in the world of weight loss and a glycemic index diet. Numerous diets call for modifying your carbohydrate intake in some way. The problem is, not all carbs are created equal, so you can't treat them equally. You've probably heard or read about simple versus complex carbohydrates, fiber content, white versus whole grain, and so on.
Glycemic Index Diet
If you want to keep your body working at peak performance to ensure an increased metabolism, improved health, and success with long-term weight loss, then you need to make the foods you eat work for you. In other words, aim to get the most nutritional bang for each bite.
Choosing lots of fruits and vegetables
Two food groups are generally safe to eat in greater amounts when you want to lose weight: vegetables and fruits.
Glycemic Index Diet
Following a low-glycemic diet isn't a stand-alone solution for weight loss. Like it or not, you still need to pay attention to the amount of calories you take in each day.
If you eat a low-glycemic diet that's still high in calories, you aren't going to get very far with your weight-loss goals. A low-glycemic diet is an important piece of the weight-loss puzzle, but it's not the solution to the puzzle.
Glycemic Index Diet
The glycemic load, which is based on the idea that a high-glycemic food eaten in small quantities produces a blood sugar response that's similar to the response produced by low-glycemic foods, is a much more useful tool for your day-to-day use. It allows you to have more food choices than the glycemic index does alone.
Glycemic Index Diet
You may want to begin a low-glycemic lifestyle, but is that lifestyle appropriate for other members of your family? A low-glycemic diet can be a good solution for parents looking to help their children with weight loss.
Childhood obesity is on the rise, and with that comes a risk of diabetes and heart disease at an incredibly young age.
Glycemic Index Diet
A low-glycemic diet is such a great choice for pregnant women because you don't have to restrict calories, you get better control of your blood sugar, and you take in lots of high-nutrient foods that are important for your baby. It also allows you to not be too restrictive during your pregnancy, which no pregnant woman ever wants to have to do.
Glycemic Index Diet
Convenience foods have a place in your day-to-day life as an easy substitute to a home-cooked meal on extra-busy days. The original idea behind frozen foods, TV dinners, and other convenience foods was to have them "once in a while." Now convenience foods have become so common that it's easy to get dependent on them, and cooking a home-made meal begins to feels too time consuming or difficult.
Glycemic Index Diet
Determining whether a food is high- or low-glycemic is pretty straightforward. The glycemic index is broken into high-, medium-, and low-glycemic foods. High-glycemic-index foods have the quickest blood sugar response; low-glycemic-index foods have the slowest. Here are the measurements on a scale of 0 to 100:
Low glycemic index: 55 or less
Medium glycemic index: 56 to 69
High glycemic index: 70 or greater
Keep in mind that high-glycemic foods aren’t necessarily unhealthy foods.
Glycemic Index Diet
Figuring out if a food is low glycemic takes human testing, so it's not so simple to get every food tested. As of now, you can find most of your common single foods, but what about mixed meals like lasagna or macaroni and cheese? How can you tell where they lay on the glycemic scale?
The good news is some of these mixed meals have been tested, making it easy to determine if it's a good choice for you.
Glycemic Index Diet
Sometimes finding other individuals who're also working on weight loss using a low-glycemic diet can be helpful, especially if they're people you already know. Then again, it's also a great way to make new friends. Either way, there's something to be said about really understanding the pitfalls that may occur and celebrating the wins with someone who's going through the same types of experiences.
Following a low-glycemic diet is about managing your blood sugar so you avoid large insulin spikes throughout the day. Fiber is a natural part of this process. Along with its other weight-loss benefits, fiber helps control the rise of blood sugar in your body after a meal.
This effect is found specifically in soluble fiber, which dissolves and becomes gummy.
Glycemic Index Diet
Snacking is one of the biggest challenges people face with weight loss. You may find yourself grazing throughout the day because of time, or you may discover that you tend to wait too long to eat, which can affect your metabolism. Finding the right snacking balance will help you stick to your low-glycemic guidelines and reach your weight-loss goals.
Glycemic Index Diet
Learning a few good flavor combinations can make meal preparation quite easy. You don't have to cook long, drawn-out recipes to make simple sides with lots of flavor. Using fresh herbs, strong cheeses, citrus, and spices can dress up the simplest foods.
Pairing flavors can be something as basic as lemon juice and salmon to something very technical like oysters and kiwi fruit.
Glycemic Index Diet
Research has shown that when a person is told not to eat something she tends to fixate on it, have more cravings, and wind up binging on that food item. Focusing on what you can eat rather than what you can't eat is an important strategy in successfully making lifestyle changes. It's part of the mental game you need to play to stay on track.
Glycemic Index Diet
In the early days of the glycemic index's popularity, experts appeared on television screens next to a table full of foods, talking about which ones were good and which ones were bad. Almost always they came to high-glycemic foods such as potatoes and watermelon and announced them as being equivalent to pure sugar.
Glycemic Index Diet
What you eat can certainly impact how well you feel during your exercise routine. It can also determine whether you're getting the most out of your workout. Eating a nutritionally balanced low-glycemic diet gives you a great foundation for adequately fueling your exercise routine.
However, if you prefer a little more direction, follow these tips to improve your workout:
Consume an adequate amount of carbohydrates.
Glycemic Index Diet
Following a low-glycemic diet for weight loss isn't about deprivation; it's about making better choices and swapping high-glycemic foods for ones that have a lower glycemic index or glycemic load. Once you get the hang of figuring out which foods are the best choices, you can easily shop, cook, and snack the low-glycemic way.
Programs related to the glycemic index, such as classes and conferences, are win-win scenarios: You receive information you can trust, and you build a new support group with fellow participants. Finding glycemic index classes and conferences isn't always easy.
Group classes
Group classes occur either as series or one-time affairs.
The information here is designed to provide you with some insight into how the glycemic load varies among popular food choices. As you can see, fruits and vegetables typically end up on the low end whereas the more starchy foods, such as potatoes, rice, and pasta, end up on the medium to high end.
Your goal is to pick low- to medium-glycemic foods most of the time.
Eating a low-glycemic diet can help in the fight against heart disease. Heart disease takes many different forms, all of which affect the heart in different ways. The one common thread? If serious enough, any form of heart disease can interfere with your heart's life-sustaining pumping.
One example of how the low-glycemic approach can help heart health relates to triglycerides.
Glycemic Index Diet
Did you know you don't have to hit your goal weight to gain health benefits? You don't need to eat a perfect low-glycemic diet to lower your risk of disease either. Research shows you can improve your overall health just by incorporating simple dietary and exercise changes.
A low-glycemic diet works well for most people because it focuses on eating high-nutrient, plant-based foods.
Low-glycemic foods stimulate a slow increase in blood sugar; high-glycemic foods (as in the ones people tend to crave), on the other hand, trigger a fast spike in blood sugar. Excess intake of high-glycemic carbohydrates sets you up for a vicious cycle in which your blood sugar and, consequently, your insulin levels spike, leading to a blood sugar crash soon after a meal.
Glycemic Index Diet
The Mediterranean diet has been studied for more than 60 years with evidence linking it to decreased heart disease, diabetes, and mortality. A recent study published in the journal Diabetologia found that people who followed a traditional Mediterranean diet along with a low-glycemic diet were 20 percent less likely to develop diabetes than those who didn't follow these eating patterns.
Glycemic Index Diet
Experiencing long-term weight loss on a low-glycemic diet means creating some new dietary habits. That's right, habits. Try not to look at this diet as a temporary plan; if you do, be prepared for weight regain down the road. Seek out ways to make a low-glycemic diet work in your lifestyle. After the new changes become habits, maintaining your weight loss becomes much easier.
Emotional eating is usually unconscious eating, meaning you don't really think about what you're eating or why. You can score a major blow to your emotional-eating habit by being mindful of the foods you choose throughout the day. This awareness allows you to make choices instead of just going on auto-pilot and eating whatever's around.
Whereas calculating the glycemic index requires human clinical trials, the glycemic load is a little simpler to determine. As long as you have some key pieces of information, you can calculate the glycemic load number and then see whether that number fits into the low, medium, or high category.
Doing the math
The glycemic load uses a specific calculation.
Glycemic Index Diet
Most people like eating sweets, especially after dinner. This behavior is actually a ritual for some folks, something they've been conditioned to do since a young age. However, most treats and desserts equal high sugar, high fat, a high glycemic load, and high calories, contributing to the consumption of excess calories, erratic food-craving cycles, and emotional eating.
Glycemic Index Diet
Food cravings occur for many reasons, both physiological and psychological, but one core cause of food cravings is erratic blood glucose levels. When your body’s blood glucose levels go through high spikes throughout the day, you can wind up feeling hungry — hence the unwanted yet nagging food craving.
Imagine facing a busy day at work and getting the kids off to various appointments.
Glycemic Index Diet
One way to take control of your glycemic load is to get into the kitchen. Cooking at home can significantly improve your chances of following a low-glycemic lifestyle. Keep in mind, with cooking you can certainly make a recipe that is even higher in sugar than a store-bought convenience food, but in the same way you can also lower it.
Glycemic Index Diet
Discovering how to balance the nutrients in your meals is an essential part of losing weight successfully on a low-glycemic diet. For a diet to be truly balanced it must contain a mix of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. You can also think of balance in terms of food groups: starches, fruits, vegetables, meat and beans, and dairy and fats.
Beef has been a little taboo in the dieting and health world because of its higher fat content. Although many cuts of beef are high in fat as well as saturated fat, some cuts are relatively low in fat. The problem with these cuts is that they aren’t always the juiciest due to their lower fat content.
So although recommending these leaner cuts is easy from a health perspective, they may not be what you typically expect out of beef.
Casseroles are a great timesaving make-ahead lunch option, especially if you prefer a hot lunch to cold salads or sandwiches. Casseroles often take a little more time to prepare, but they're usually still quick and easy enough to put together on a Sunday as a way for your family to liven up its lunch menu.
The best part is you get a whole lot of food for the week, as you can see from the following recipes.
When you think of losing weight and eating chicken, does your mind go immediately to images of a tough, dry, baked chicken breast? Sure, white-meat, boneless, skinless chicken is the leanest way to go for a meal, but that doesn’t mean your meal has to be dry and boring! Numerous ways of enjoying flavorful poultry and still getting the benefits of a low-calorie, low-glycemic meal are out there.
Glycemic Index Diet
Being prepared for your lunches at the beginning of the week can actually save you more time during your busy weekdays and help you stay on track with your weight-loss plan. Make a batch of chicken or tuna salad on Sundays to use during the week. Both salads are simpler to prepare than other recipes and incredibly versatile, so you can change up your lunch each day.
Following a low-glycemic diet doesn't mean you have to forsake classic barbeque and picnic favorites like potato salad. True, russet potatoes have a higher-glycemic index than table sugar, making them a tough food to incorporate into your new plan. However, you can easily tweak potato salad to include some lower-glycemic ingredients.
Seafood isn’t just a lean protein source — it’s also the best way to get in your omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids are beneficial for heart health and your mood; they also work as a powerful anti-inflammatory. The big problem is many people don’t get enough omega-3s in their diet.
Although no recommended daily allowance for fats currently exists, an acceptable daily intake is about 1.
Glycemic Index Diet
Tacos and burritos are ideal for quick, healthy low-glycemic lunches. Tortillas, specifically the whole wheat and corn varieties, are lower-glycemic, making them a better choice than higher-glycemic breads. You can load tortillas up with healthy foods for a satisfying lunch, like in the two recipes that follow.
Food prep like chopping vegetables or marinating some chicken for your meal is really the most time consuming part of cooking meals at home. When you look at a meal like chili or stew, it's really so simple to cook. Just throw in the ingredients and let it simmer while you move on with your life.
You could also look at a simple meal of grilled salmon and vegetables.
Glycemic Index Diet
A low-glycemic diet helps regulate insulin and blood glucose levels that become unstable due to either a health condition or consumption of an excess amount of carbohydrate calories. Anytime you eat foods containing carbohydrates, your body naturally breaks those carbs down into blood glucose (blood sugar), releasing insulin in the process.
Glycemic Index Diet
It's possible to follow your low-glycemic lifestyle and find choices in restaurants by asking for a few (sometimes creative) modifications. Maybe you see that the restaurant serves a lower-glycemic brown rice with one dish but a higher-glycemic potato with the dish you want. Asking the wait staff whether you can make replacements is not only perfectly okay but also a simple way to work your way through a menu.
Setting desired weight-loss goals is easy, but the goals people come up with often aren't appropriate for their age or build. Reaching an unrealistic goal weight requires much more exercise and a far lower calorie level than is healthy. To maintain such an impractical goal weight after you hit it, you need to keep up this rigorous pace.
Glycemic Index Diet
Lifestyle changes, such as following a low-glycemic diet, don't affect just you; they affect your whole family. You may think “I don't want my family to have to make lifestyle changes just because I have to,” but that's the wrong mentality. Think of your new low-glycemic diet as a way of life that involves moderation instead.
Glycemic Index Diet
If you're not familiar with the class of foods known as legumes (which includes beans, lentils, and peas), you're missing out. The all-star legumes, beans, really have it all. Beans are low-glycemic, high-fiber, high-protein, and packed with important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. These little foods are also very convenient to cook or add to a meal.
Eating a low-glycemic diet counteracts hypoglycemia by maintaining an even level of blood sugar in your body throughout the day because you're not overindulging in high-glycemic foods.
In short, hypoglycemia is a condition that results when your blood sugar gets too low. Many people feel they have hypoglycemia, but an actual clinical diagnosis is rare and is most commonly seen in diabetics as a result of medications.
Thyroid hormones are in charge of your body's metabolism. People with hypothyroidism don't produce enough thyroid hormone, which means they have a slower-than-normal metabolism. Used in conjunction with medication, a low-glycemic diet can help normalize your body's metabolism if you have hypothyroidism.
The symptoms of hypothyroidism are numerous and include fatigue, depression, muscle pain and weakness, joint stiffness, and a puffy face.
Glycemic Index Diet
There are two common body shapes based on bone structure and how the body deposits fat — apple and pear. People who gain weight in their abdomen and chest have an apple shape, whereas people who gain weight in their hips and thighs have a pear shape.
Research has found that your health risk goes up as your waist size increases, which spells trouble for apple-shaped individuals.
After you begin a low-glycemic diet don't forget about one crucial piece of the puzzle . . . your drinks! Low-glycemic drinks like coffee or tea can become high-glycemic quickly. Although your favorite Starbucks latte may not be officially tested for glycemic index, you can be certain the more sugar added the higher the glycemic index will go.
Glycemic Index Diet
When you’re on a glycemic index diet, you can forget the traditional food lists and stringent calorie requirements. The low-glycemic way of eating isn’t a diet in the traditional sense — it’s a lifestyle change. A low-glycemic “diet” is about listening to and working with your body to achieve long-term weight-loss (and health!
You can make fish tacos for a fun evening dinner or a lunch. Use small corn or whole-wheat tortillas to assure you stay low to medium glycemic. Serve it up with your favorite low glycemic toppings!
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Specialty tool: Gas or charcoal grill, or grill pan
4 pieces (2 pounds) of cod or any other white fish
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus 2 teaspoons
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Salt to taste
2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons minced green onion
2 teaspoons chopped cilantro
Eight 8-inch whole-wheat flour or corn tortillas
Preheat the grill or grill pan to medium-high.
Glycemic Index Diet
Vegetables and animal protein are both low glycemic so combining the two makes for a great low-glycemic meal you can prepare quickly! The dark greens also give you a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C, not to mention fiber!
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 14 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Specialty tool: Gas or charcoal grill, or grill pan
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
One 5-ounce package baby spinach leaves
1 pound tomatoes (preferably heirloom) in assorted colors, cut into wedges
One 9-ounce container teardrop tomatoes (also called pear tomatoes)
1/2 cup halved and pitted Kalamata olives
1/4 cup feta cheese
Heat the grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.
Glycemic Index Diet
This low-glycemic recipe creates a moist and flavorful grilled chicken with tasty veggies all in one dish. Marinate, grill and you’re done! Don’t worry if it’s winter, this recipe works well on an indoor grill as well.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Refrigeration time: 30 minutes to 1 hour
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Specialty tools: 8 to 10 skewers, soaked in water for 1 hour; gas or charcoal grill, or grill pan
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
12 medium-large shiitake and/or portobello mushrooms (cut the portobellos into 1-inch pieces)
12 cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks
Combine the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper to make the marinade.
Glycemic Index Diet
The good news for you meat lovers out there is all animal-protein is low glycemic. Build a meal with this star piece of beef grilled to perfection with a hint of lime and garlic. Serve with your favorite veggies!
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Refrigeration time: 24 hours
Cooking time: 22 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Specialty tool: Gas or charcoal grill, or grill pan
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons dried ginger
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin, well trimmed
In a large container, mix all the ingredients, minus the beef, until well blended.
Chicken Salad is a great low glycemic lunch or dinner that you can pair with a tossed green salad, a slice of sourdough bread or some rye crackers. Prepare it ahead and have it ready for lunch the next couple of days! ©Cristi Lucaci/Shutterstock.comPreparation time: 15 minutes Yield: 4 servings
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 green apple, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Mix the celery, mayonnaise, yogurt, green onions, tarragon, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a large bowl to blend.
The glycemic index ranks food on a scale of 0 to 100 based on how quickly they raise blood sugar levels. Foods that raise blood sugar quickly have a higher number, whereas foods that take longer to affect blood sugar levels have a lower number. Here are the three measurement categories:
GI of 55 or less = low
GI of 56 to 69 = medium
GI of 70 or more = high
Choose foods that are low- to medium-glycemic to keep your blood sugar stable.
Just because a food has a low-glycemic index doesn't mean you can eat as much as you want. The more you eat, the higher the glycemic level will climb, which is especially important for those foods that hover between low- to medium-glycemic or medium- to high-glycemic. Use this chart as a quick reference for appropriate portion sizes!
Glycemic Index Diet
The glycemic index and glycemic load are all about choosing carbohydrate-containing foods wisely and putting them to work for you. These recipes are a good start to eating the low-glycemic way, which results in weight loss, more energy, and better health!Lemon Chicken Salad©Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock.com
Chicken salad is a great low-glycemic lunch or dinner that you can pair with a tossed green salad, a slice of sourdough bread or some rye crackers.
Glycemic Index Diet
Fiber is an excellent weight-loss tool — in fact, it's one of the most important weapons in your weight-loss arsenal. When you chow down on foods that are low-glycemic and high in fiber, you're getting the best of both worlds.
What the low-glycemic/high-fiber combo can do for you
Choosing foods that are low-glycemic and high in fiber is your secret weapon for weight loss.
Glycemic Index Diet
Although store-bought snacks are handy to have on hand, you can actually prepare many low-glycemic snacks in the comfort of your home. The following recipes are some great ones to make for your family or to bring with you for munching at work.
Yummiest, Ugliest Black Bean Dip
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Refrigeration time: 3 hours
Yield: 16 servings
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 large green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1 teaspoon canola oil
Two 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 whole lime
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup medium salsa
In a large nonstick skillet, cook the garlic, green and red bell peppers, and onion in the canola oil over moderately low heat, stirring continually, until the onion is translucent.
To conquer negativity surrounding lifestyle changes, start thinking about all the benefits of your new diet plan. Doing so not only helps you feel better about your choices but also gives you the motivation you need to make real lifestyle changes you can live with for the long haul. The benefits work as long-term motivators that you can bring out when you need them the most.
Glycemic Index Diet
Metabolic syndrome (also known as Syndrome X or insulin resistance syndrome) is a cluster of symptoms that include high cholesterol, high inflammation markers, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, increased abdominal weight, and elevated insulin levels. This is a very tricky health condition, but diet can have a big impact on it if done in the right way.
Glycemic Index Diet
The glycemic index is being observed more and more in scientific communities. One small British study published in March 2009 found that eating a low-glycemic breakfast enhances the fat-burning effects of moderate exercise among sedentary women.
The study’s participants were assigned either a high-glycemic breakfast or a low-glycemic breakfast.
Glycemic Index Diet
Planning out healthy snacks is a solution to mindless grazing and waiting too long to eat. You may read this advice as a simple suggestion you've seen before, but it's a very important strategy and means the difference between staying stuck at a weight you don't like and seeing the results you're looking for.
Carefully choosing your snacks will help you stick with your low-glycemic plan and save you hundreds of calories.
Glycemic Index Diet
The exact reason polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) occurs isn't yet known, but scientists believe there may be a link between insulin resistance and PCOS, which is why a low-glycemic diet is helpful.
The hormones of women who have PCOS are out of balance, which leads to various problems, including ovarian cysts, irregular menstrual cycles, fertility issues, weight gain, acne, skin tags, excess body and facial hair, and thinning hair on the scalp.
Glycemic Index Diet
Moderation is more important than ever during special occasions such as holidays, parties, and vacations. Creating a balance of low- and high-glycemic foods on your plate when faced with these challenges can be difficult — but not if you have a strategic plan of action for achieving moderation.
Here's a step-by-step breakdown of how to find moderation with your meals on special occasions:
Scan the area and make a note of all the available high-glycemic, high-calorie foods you love.
Food cravings can occur for a variety of reasons, both psychological and physiological. After you know why your food cravings are happening (whether you are on a low-glycemic diet or otherwise), you can take steps to deal with them more effectively. Some common reasons for food cravings (as well as how to combat them) are as follows:
Addiction: Recent research points to the idea that eating high-glycemic foods stimulates the cravings and rewards regions of the brain.
Glycemic Index Diet
Even with all the science and numbers, starting a low glycemic diet doesn't need to be difficult. Actually you don't have to know the glycemic number of a food to follow an overall low-glycemic diet. Simply choose foods with a low or medium glycemic ranking, and you can be confident that you're making smart choices.
Glycemic Index Diet
Keeping your kitchen stocked with low-glycemic staples helps you adhere to a low-glycemic lifestyle. When you can easily make food in your own kitchen, you're more likely to make lifelong changes. Here is a master grocery list of low-glycemic foods to get you started.
Food Type
Low-Glycemic Options
Breads
Eze
Glycemic Index Diet
Replacing high-glycemic foods with low-glycemic ones is easier than you may think. The following table features some simple low-glycemic food swaps you can make.
Instead of
Choose This
Instant oatmeal
Steel-cut oatmeal
White rice
Brown rice or quinoa
Penne pasta
Cheese tortellini
Sugary cereal
Bran cereal
Whi
Snacking can be an important strategy for regulating blood sugar levels. Just make sure the snacks you choose are healthy and have a low-glycemic load. Keep several of these low-glycemic snacks on hand and you won't find yourself munching on popcorn or crackers.
Low-fat yogurt with a sprinkle of chopped nuts
Not a chef? Hardly ever boil water? No problem because you don't need to be a five-star chef! The idea that preparing whole foods has become down-right scary, if you're not used to doing it. The reality is you can make an amazing dinner in less time and with fewer steps than Hamburger Helper.
Really! The trick is to let go of the recipe mindset and start learning some simple ways to prepare whole foods.
Glycemic Index Diet
A low-glycemic diet doesn't restrict your food choices too much for special occasions. In fact, because a low-glycemic lifestyle is all about moderation, you can rest easy knowing that having a few medium- to high-glycemic items once in a while won't ruin your efforts.
Whether you're at a holiday gathering, on vacation, or at a party, you can almost always find some good choices.
Glycemic Index Diet
Have you noticed that lifestyle change is the hot new phrase these days? You see it in magazines, on television, and in the materials for popular diets. Plastering this phrase on products and touting it over the airwaves is a great marketing tactic because science shows that long-term weight loss is the result of healthy lifestyle changes.
The glycemic index is a tool you can use as part of your overall weight-control and healthy-eating strategies. What does every traditional weight-loss diet have in common? Each one promotes its own twist on losing weight, but at the end they all come down to one truth — eat fewer calories.
Paying attention to the amount of calories you consume and increasing the number of calories you burn each day through exercise and just moving around is crucial for achieving and maintaing a healthy weight.
Glycemic Index Diet
A glycemic load [GL] of 10 or less is considered low; a GL of 11 to 19 is considered medium; and a GL of 20 or more is considered high. Use the tables here to look up some of your favorite foods to see where they fall, as well as to select low-glycemic foods when planning your meals.
Glycemic load of common bakery treats
Who doesn't enjoy a donut, muffin, or cupcake every now and then?
What's the healthiest low-glycemic beverage? If you answered water, you're right. Plain, unflavored water quenches your thirst without adding anything, including calories, and it's exactly what your body craves. Make plain water your primary beverage and enjoy other beverages, such as the ones listed here, in small amounts.
Glycemic Index Diet
A good rule of thumb is to keep your total daily glycemic load under 100. Begin by choosing low-glycemic foods for breakfast and nutritional dairy products. If you choose mostly low- and medium-glycemic foods, keeping your daily load under 100 shouldn't be a problem.
The glycemic load of common breakfast items
Tread carefully when it comes to choosing breakfast foods so that you incorporate low-glycemic foods as much as possible.
Fruit sometimes (and undeservingly!) gets a bad rap because it's a sweet, natural source of carbohydrates. That's unfortunate, because fruits are quite good for you — they provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals to promote overall health. The glycemic index and glycemic load can help you make sound decisions about the healthiest types of fruits to enjoy.
Glycemic Index Diet
Choose your grains carefully by searching out whole-grain food products that incorporate the lower-glycemic grains such as bulgur, buckwheat, quinoa, and wild rice. Replace higher-glycemic grains with lower-glycemic choices whenever possible by using the information in the following table.
Grains
Food Type
Portion Size
Glycemic Load
Amaranth
1 ounce
High
Buckwheat
1/2 cup
Low
Bulgur
1/2 cup
Low
Cheese tortellini
6-1/2 ounces
Low
Cornmeal (boiled)
1/2 cup
Low
Couscous
1/2 cup
Low
Fettuccini
1-1/2 cups
Medium
Grits
1 cup
Medium
Instant white rice
1 cup
High
Meat-filled ravioli
6-1/2 ounces
Medium
Pearl barley
1 cup
Medium
Polenta
3/4 cup
Medium
Quinoa
1/2 cup
Low
Spaghetti
1-1/2 cups
Medium
Split pea/soya shells
1-1/2 cups
Low
Uncle Ben's Converted White Rice
1/2 cup
Low
Uncle Ben's Whole Grain Brown Rice
1⁄3 cup
Low
Vermicelli
1-1/2 cups
Medium
Whole-wheat spaghetti
1-1/2 cups
Medium
Wild rice
1/2 cup
Low
Legumes, sometimes known as dried beans and peas, are an excellent low-glycemic source of protein and fiber.
Your mother was right: You really should eat more vegetables. The vast majority of vegetables provide plenty of vitamins and minerals along with a good dose of fiber and very few calories. As you can see, most vegetables even have a low-glycemic load (with a few exceptions).
You can definitely be creative in including more vegetables in your diet.
Glycemic Index Diet
Parents really can help their kids eat better — whether they’re following a low-glycemic diet or not — and the process doesn’t have to be unpleasant. In fact, it can actually be a blast for you and your kids. Following are some tips for increasing your children’s interest in healthy foods in a fun way:
Bring your kids grocery shopping occasionally.
Glycemic Index Diet
Whether you've hit a plateau after losing some weight or you've had a hard time getting your weight to budge in the first place, take the time to track your food intake and physical activity. You may feel like you're eating the right foods and exercising regularly, but until you track your food intake and physical activity for at least a week, it's hard to tell.
The glycemic index is a scientific way of looking at how the carbohydrates in foods affect blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels. Scientists know that all carbohydrates raise blood sugar, but the glycemic index takes this understanding one step further by figuring out how much a specific food raises blood sugar.
Glycemic Index Diet
For many people, the easiest form of support to find is professional help from a registered dietitian. You don't always need professional help, but when you have health issues, such as high cholesterol or a health condition commonly associated with insulin resistance, the advice and objective ear of a registered dietitian are worthwhile.
Load More Articles
Related Books
0:00
0:00
https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6630d85d73068bc09c7c436c/69195ee32d5c606051d9f433_4.%20All%20For%20You.mp3
Frequently Asked Questions
No items found.
