Can A High Carb Diet Make You Fat?
Can A Low Glycemic Diet Help?
The conventional wisdom about carbs and weight for
some time has been that to be healthy and slim we must be on
a low fat and high carbohydrate weight loss plan. However, with obesity levels increasing and an alarming
increase of diabetes, it seems that this approach has not worked. It may be that the high carbohydrate diet
may well be one of the reason why more and more people are becoming overweight.
Carbohydrates and Weight Gain
To better understand this issue, first you should know
that there are three kinds of nutrients - carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Fats and proteins are digested relatively slowly.
Carbohydrates, on
the other hand, are digested and absorbed quickly, thereby releasing
a large amount of glucose into the bloodstream; the level and speed dependent on the foods consumed. This
sudden rise in blood sugar triggers the release of insulin, a hormone whose function is to lower blood sugar
levels. Insulin lowers blood sugar by removing it from the blood and storing it as body fat. This, however, can
lead to feelings
of hunger, sleepiness or low energy. When that happens, many respond by consuming more carbohydrates, which the
body eventually turns into more body fat, as explained earlier. This then becomes a continuous vicious cycle that
is very likely to lead to overall weight gain.
Carbohydrates are changed in the body
to glucose. While some glucose in the blood is essential for energy and healthy functioning of the
brain, eating meals that are high in carbohydrates can increase the blood glucose over the appropriate
limit, leading to an insulin response. This response eventually converts the extra glucose
in the system into body fat. But don't get me wrong and think that all carbohydrates are bad. There are
some that does not have a lot to offer nutritionally. Then there are other carbohydrates that have a
lot of fiber and nutrients essential for a healthy body.
Can Low
Glycemic Index Diet Help?
The glycemic index measures
and calculates a rank number for various foods in relationship to their impact on an individual's
blood sugar level. A lower Glycemic Index diet
plan can help reduce your weight by reducing your hunger pangs and also reducing the
conversion of glucose to fat storage in your body. If you recall, it is the quick and sudden rise and fall of
blood sugar that makes your body crave for more carbohydrates. If you can disrupt that cycle, many of your food
cravings may well be reduced if not disappear.
Weight loss is all about achieving a better weight
through making fundamental changes to your current lifestyle and food consumption habits.
There is no one definitive way in using the
glycemic index. The GI way of eating for weight loss is a guideline. Portion size are important. Also, the
actual conversion to glucose and its level and speed can change by how individual foods are processed, cooked or
in the case of fruits how ripe they are.
Remember, not all high glycemic index foods are bad
and not all low glycemic index foods are good. There are some high or medium
glycemic index foods that are contain important and healthy nutrients, and there are some lower glycemic
index foods that are low fiber with poor nutritional content.
The challenge in a successful glycemic index way of
eating is to be sensible and to balance and moderate the intake of higher glycemic foods as well as
combine them with lower glycemic index foods so that the overall result is on the lower end of the
scale.
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