glycemic index and weight gain
High Glycemic Index foods quickly increase the insulin output from the pancreas and causes the body to store the sugar contained in those foods as fat, often belly fat. A low-glycemic diet may be the best diet for long-term weight loss and heart disease prevention when combined with exercise. The lower the glycemic food, the more calories are used for energy, thus resulting in more weight loss.
Glycemic Index Numbers: LOW Foods - 1-55; MEDIUM Foods - 56-69; HIGH Foods - 70-100
For optimal health, the Glycemic Index Foundation recommends keeping your daily glycemic load under 100.
The glycemic index (a scale from 0-100) is a great indicator of how likely your body is to store the food you consume as fat. The higher the food is rated on the scale, the higher the chances are of it turning into belly fat.
Belly Fat in Women Over 50
Ways to Lower the Glycemic Index
- Eat lower-glycemic foods like whole grains, nuts, legumes, fruits, vegetables without starch.
- Eat fewer foods with a high glycemic index, like potatoes, white rice, and white bread.
- Eat less sugary foods, including candy, cookies, cakes, and sweet drinks.
- Cool starchy foods, such as potatoes, beans, and pasta overnight in the refrigerator before eating them.
- Even though oatmeal is a good source of resistant starch, letting your cooked oats cool for several hours or overnight could increase the resistant starch even more. Try uncooked oats soaked in yogurt, milk, or a non-dairy milk and refrigerate overnight (often called overnight oats).
- Always eat carbs with protein, extra fiber, healthy fats and/or non-starchy vegetables.
- Add vinegar to high carb meals (like a vinaigrette dressing to a salad or pickled vegetable, like sauerkraut).
- As a partial flour replacement try green banana flour, plantain flour, cassava flour, or potato starch. Resistant starch will be lost when baking or cooking with these flours. You can also supplement with a small amount (1-2 teaspoons) sprinkled on your food.
- Add lentils to a salad or soup.
- Add natural peanut butter to a slice of whole meal bread.
- Eat more Resistant Starch foods.
- Go for a walk or do some exercise 30 minutes after eating a high-carb meal
What is Resistant Starch?
According to the John Hopkins Patient Guide to Diabetes, resistant starch is not digested in the small intestine so it doesn’t raise glucose. Gut health is improved as fermentation in the large intestine makes more good bacteria and less bad bacteria. Healthy gut bacteria can improve glycemic control. Other benefits of resistant starch include increased feeling of fullness, treatment and prevention of constipation, decrease in cholesterol, and lower risk of colon cancer. Resistant starch is fermented slowly so it causes less gas than other fibers.
The amount of resistant starch changes with heat. Oats, green bananas, and plantains lose some of their resistant starch when cooked. Another type of resistant starch is made in the cooking and cooling process.
According to Myfitnesspal.com, if you’re looking to lose weight, consuming more oats, beans, lentils, peas, plantains, seeds and unripe bananas could help. These foods are all high in resistant starch, a type of prebiotic fiber shown to slow digestion, reduce abdominal fat, and aid weight loss.
3 steps to burn belly fat with glycemic index
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Glycemic Index Charts
Here is a Glycemic Index Chart listing Low, Medium and High glycemic foods. This printable chart is a good reference when gradually converting your higher glycemic foods toa lower glycemic diet.
Low Glycemic Index Chart (GI and GL)
Mayo Clinic offers more info on Low Glycemic Index Diet
Online Low Glycemic Index Products
Glycemic Index Foundation
Sydney University's table of GI (glycemic index) values also include a Glycemic Index Data Base where you can do a food search. The GL values are divided into:
How to Calculate the Glycemic Index from a Nutrition Label
To assess how a packaged food will affect your blood sugar, find the carbohydrate number in the label, subtract the grams of fiber and sugar alcohols. Your result will be the grams of digestible carbohydrates. The higher the number the bigger the effect on blood glucose.
Online Low Glycemic Index Products
Glycemic Index Foundation
Sydney University's table of GI (glycemic index) values also include a Glycemic Index Data Base where you can do a food search. The GL values are divided into:
- Low GL: 1 to 10
- Medium GL: 11 to 19
- High GL: 20 or more
How to Calculate the Glycemic Index from a Nutrition Label
To assess how a packaged food will affect your blood sugar, find the carbohydrate number in the label, subtract the grams of fiber and sugar alcohols. Your result will be the grams of digestible carbohydrates. The higher the number the bigger the effect on blood glucose.