Glycemic Index- The Secret To Long Term Health

By now most of you would have heard the term Glycemic Index or “GI”. It is a term widely used in todays food product marketing and labelling and one which diabetics have come to know as a way of life. But what exactly does  GI mean and how does it fit in with the bodytrim program? Read on to discover why eating  a diet rich in low GI foods is the secret to long term health and the key to sustainable weightloss.

What is Glycemic Index?

Glycemic index or “GI” is a term used to rate how quickly a food is absorbed into your blood stream. Foods are either ranked as high, medium or low GI.  Those that are ranked high GI are foods which are rapidly digested and absoprbed into your blood stream, causing large flucuations (peaks and valleys) in your blood sugar levels and subsequently, your insulin levels. On the other end of the scale, foods that are low GI are slowly absorbed and digested, leaving a gradual rise effect on your blood sugar level therefore ensuring it stays fairly stable. To determine the GI rating of a food, a ranking of  0-100 is given according to how quickly the food raises blood sugar levels compared to pure sugar (sucrose), which has a GI rating of 100. Below is the scale for the GI categories :  

High GI (70 and above)       Medium GI (56-69)       Low GI (55 and under)

       

What’s all the fuss?

With all the other health warnings and label claims out there you may feel like this is just another hype term or feel too bombarded with all the circulating health messages to care. However, GI is extremely important, and in fact crucial, to diabetics living with their condition. More importantly, adopting Low GI eating is also needed to help prevent serious disease later in life. It has been shown that following a low GI diet can offer many benefits such as; reduced  risk of heart disease, improvement in blood cholesterol levels, reduced risk of diabetes, management of the symptoms of PCOS  and prolonged physical endurance/energy levels.

For those fighting the battle of the bulge,  a low GI diet will help you succeed as it reduces hunger and helps keep you fuller for longer.

Research has shown that blood glucose spikes caused by eating foods high in GI are damaging to your arteries and various bllod vessels. Over time, high GI eating puts strain on your body’s vital organs and can lead to the onset of several metabolic disorders such as impaired glucose tolerance, pre diabetes/insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. It pushes your body to extremes,and this effect is worsened if you are overweight or sedentary. More importantly, the result of those nasty blood sugar spikes mean that you’ll inturn have insulin spikes (to try to combat your overloaded blood sugar levels), and with insulin being the fat storgae hormone, your excess blood sugar is stored as excess energy- ultimately contributing to weight gain and obesity.

How can I choose low GI while following Bodytrim?
The good news is that mostly all of the foods you are consuming as part of the Bodytrim program are low GI! All of the protein options and mostly all of the vegetable and fruit options are low GI. However, there times where you are able to consume foods which may not fall into this category such as at breakfast time when a carbohydrate portion is allowable or when you move onto the maintenance program and start to introduce more carbohydrates back into the diet. To calculate the GI of your foods simply go to http://www.glycemicindex.com/