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Low GI Diet: Does it help you in losing weight?

When you want to lose weight, it’s probable you’ll look for diets that can help you lose the excess weight easily. One diet you may see in your search is the low GI diet. What kind of diet is this? It’s a diet that focuses on changing a person’s eating habit so that they consume foods that are only in the low GI group. Foods located in this group take a bit longer in the body to break down into glucose. This helps do two general things. They are:

• Creates a level glucose amount that helps to stop levels of high glucose quickly followed by slumps of low glucose levels.
• Prevents hunger cravings from occurring as often.

These two components allow the person following the low GI diet to eat a well-balanced meal without experiencing moments of energy slumps. When you eat foods made from whole grains or unprocessed foods, the body spends more to trying to convert it thus allowing you to stay full for longer periods of time. When you are “full”, cravings that you feel in between meals don’t occur, which keeps you from overeating or eating foods that are not in the low GI diet plan.

Should you always stick to foods that are on the low GI foods diet plan without taking in other foods? Keep in mind that not all diet plans, by themselves, are healthy. The low GI diet plan will need some adjustments added to it because some of the foods on this plan are not all that healthy for people. When you decide on foods to purchase and eat, look at the nutritional values. Does it look healthy?

There are a number of factors that affect the glycemic index. They include:

• Foods’ nutrient content
• How foods are processed
• How they are cooked
• How foods are combined
• How ripe vegetables and fruits are

For instance, some high in fat products will fit in a low GI diet plan because the foods won’t break down near as easy as foods that are high in carbohydrates. However, it’s not healthy to eat foods high in fat all the time. Keep in mind that skim/low-fat/fat-free milk rank higher than whole milk on the glycemic index.

Looking at the glycemic index, you’ll notice that foods without any carbohydrates are not listed/ranked. These include: cheese, chicken, eggs, fish and fresh meat. Yet, any foods that are processed are included.

Want to go with a low GI diet that’s healthy? Then consider meats that are low fat or lean (with no visible fat), fish, low-fat dairy foods and poultry with no skin on them.

Always be aware of the nutrient content in foods too. For example, you have a watermelon, dates and a bag of chips. What would you go for based on nutrient content? You’d go with the fruit because you get more nutrients out of it. However, if you based it on the index, the watermelon is high GI content due to the sugar it contains and the chips would be considered low GI due to their fat content and slow absorption process.

When you look at the glycemic index, you’ll notice that there are no whole meal foods ranked, only individual foods are ranked. This means that combination of foods when they are being cooked will change the GI value, meaning there is no accurate assessment. However, the basic premise is to include foods in meals that are already low in GI value.

Never assume that the low GI diet will let you quickly lose weight. In fact, results are often steady and constant. Any person who decides to go with the low GI diet plan will find himself or herself with more energy and are likely to increase exercise routines.

So which is the low GI diet plan? Is it a diet plan or is it is lifestyle? The majority of dieticians and experts say that the low GI diet plan is just that but changes into a lifestyle for the person who uses it. If you want to lose weight, maintain it and have high energy levels, it’s a good idea to eat low GI foods.