Tips To A Healthier Lifestyle: Let’s Go G.I. Low

To lose weight, a fat-burning workout routine needs to go hand-in-hand with a 'diet plan'.

Some of you may feel that you tend to eat more after you exercise, while others make the mistake of cutting back on their food consumption; which either inevitably leads to binge eating or a compromised health & vitality.

A low-glycemic index or low-GI diet, is a plan based on how quickly carbohydrate-rich foods are digested and absrobed into your bloodstream. Carbohydrate foods that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes. Their blood sugar response is fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes. Eating too much high-GI foods (see examples below) is the cause of excessive hunger because they pass rapidly through your system. You will feel a surge of readily available energy in your blood and your body will use this energy first rather than other stores of energy like body fat. This makes it harder to lose weight!

Eating low-GI foods means feeling satiated for longer and being able to control your cravings for food. The main thing is not to over-eat and the purpose of the GI diet is to help you achieve that. It is important that you watch the portion sizes of your meals and try to keep them down.

For a better understanding of low-GI & high-GI foods, here are some examples:

High G.I. Diet foods: (GI range 70 & above)

White bread, French bread, bagels, croissants, muffins, watermelon, dates, figs, ripe bananas, rice krispies.

Highly refined breakfast cereals, old potatoes, baked potatoes, beetroot, carrot, parsnips.

Cola, soda & ginger ale.

Medium G.I. Diet foods: (GI range 56 - 69)

Whole-wheat products (including whole-wheat bread), basmati rice, couscous, oatmeal cookies, pitta bread, rye crispbread, bran muffin, oatmeal cookies.

Sweet potato, table sugar, honey, ice cream, new potatoes, jam, potato chips, beans in tomato sauce.

Pineapple, mango, kiwifruit, raisins.

*     *     *     Low G.I. Diet foods: (GI range 55 or less) *     *     *

Most fruits, fresh fruit juices & vegetables (except potatoes & watermelon) such as apples, apricots, cherries, grapefruit, oranges, peaches, pears and unripe bananas.

Vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, celery, kale, cauliflower, red cabbage, sprouts, green beans, radish, peppers, salad vegetables.

Sweet potato, pasta, sweet corn, peas, chick peas, most type of beans ( soy beans), lentils, barley.

Grainy breads like rye & pumpernickel, brown rice, wild rice, buckwheat, porridge oats, muesli, bran cereal, peanuts, peanut butter, cashew nuts.

Dark chocolate, fresh strawberry jam, popcorn, yams.

Milk, soy milk, yogurt, eggs.

Low-GI foods will release glucose more slowly and steadily while a high-GI food causes a more rapid rise in blood glucose levels and is suitable for energy recovery after endurance exercise. A lower GI (glycemic index) suggests slower rates of digestion and absorption of the foods' carbohydrates.

Let me stress that the low-GI is not just a diet, it is a plan that leads to a healthier lifestyle. Unlike the Atkins diet - which is based on the philosophy that if the body does not receive carbs, it will end up breaking down fat instead (over the long term, Atkins has been linked to kidney damage, heart disease, and Alzheimer's), the low-GI diet is based on good carbs such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables and other foods that is nutritious and not only loaded with fiber, vitamins, minerals and other disease-fighting compounds, it also encourages you to eliminate saturated fat. It may also help with you achieve a healthier looking skin, improve acne and most importantly, gives you high-quality energy.

Shop for your low-GI foods today and start a healthier lifestyle now.