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Diabetics InformationThe Glycemic Index: Key To Weight Loss Or Simply Another Diet Gimmick?
by:
Tom Venuto
Copyright 2005 Tom Venuto
The glycemic index (GI) is a scale that measures how quickly saccharide foods are broken down into glucose. The innovational intention for the glycemic index was to help diabetics support their blood sugar under control. The glycemic index has recently attracted a lot of attention in the bodybuilding, fitness and weight loss earth and has even as become the central theme in many
best-selling diet books as a know-how
to choose the foods that are better for losing weight.
According to advocates of the glycemic index system, foods that are high on the GI scale such as rice cakes, carrots, potatoes, or grape juice are "unfavorable" and should be avoided because high GI foods are absorbed quickly, raise blood sugar quickly and are therefore much likely to convert to fat or cause health problems.
Instead, we are urged to consume carbohydrates that are low on the GI scale such as black eye peas, old designed oatmeal, peanuts, apples and beans because they do not raise blood sugar as rapidly.
While the GI makes have several useful applications, such as the use of high GI foods or drinks for post exercise nutrition and the strong emphasis on low GI foods for those with blood sugar regulation problems, there are flaws in strictly exploitation the glycemic index as your only criteria to choose carbs on a weight loss program.
For example, the glycemic index is based on feeding carbohydrates by themselves in a fasted state. If you are following effective principles of fat-burning and muscle building nutrition, you should be feeding small, frequent meals to increase your energy, maintain lean body mass and optimize metabolism for fat loss. However, since the glycemic index of various foods was developed based on feeding each food in the fasted state, the glycemic index loses several of its significance.
In addition, once
you are on a diet program aimed at up body composition (losing fat or gaining muscle), you wish normally be combining carbs and macromolecule together with each meal for the purposes of up your fat to muscle ratio. Once
carbs are consumed in mixed meals that contain macromolecule and several fat, the glycemic index loses even as much of its significance because the macromolecule and fat slows the absorption of the carbohydrates (as makes fiber).
Mashed potatoes have a glycemic index near that of pure glucose, but combine the potatoes with a chicken breast and broccoli and the glycemic index of the entire meal is lower than the potatoes by itself.
Rice cakes have a really high glycemic index, but if you were to put a couple tablespoons of peanut butter on them, the fat would-be slow the absorption of the carbs, thereby lowering the glycemic index of the combination.
A far much important and relevant criteria for selecting carbs - as well as all your another foods, proteins and fats enclosed
- is whether they are natural or processed. To say that a healthy person with no metabolic disorders should wholly avoid natural, unprocessed foods like carrots or potatoes just because they are high on the glycemic index is ridiculous.
I cognize galore bodybuilders (myself included) who eat high glycemic index foods such as white potatoes every day right up until the day of a competition and they reach single digit body fat. How do they do it if high GI foods “make you fat?” It’s simple – high GI foods DON’T necessarily do you fat – choosing natural foods and burning much calories than you consume are far much important factors. Though it’s not correct to say that all calories are created equal, a calorie deficit is the most important factor of all once
fat loss is your goal.
The glycemic index is clearly not a "gimmick" and should not be wholly disregarded, as it is a decidedly a legitimate nutritionary tool. Is it a nice idea to eat low GI foods in general? Sure. Is feeding high GI foods after your workouts a nice idea? Absolutely. But diet programs which hang their hats on glycemic index alone as the “miracle solution” are just another example of how one single aspect of nutrition can be used as a "hook" in marketing and aforesaid to be the "end all be all" of fat loss, once
it's actually only one small piece of the puzzle.
Eating Low glycemic index foods alone makes NOT guarantee you wish lose fat. You have to take in the bigger picture, which includes calories/energy balance, meal temporal arrangement and frequency, macronutrient composition, select of processed versus refined foods as well as how all these nutritionary factors act with your exercise program.
Simply about the author:
Tom Venuto is a certified personal trainer, natural bodybuilder and author of the ##1 better merchandising diet e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle. You can get information on Tom's e-book at http://www.burnthefat.com. To get Tom's free monthly e-zine, visit http://www.fitren.com
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