There’s so many fad diets your head will spin. If you are wondering about what a low glycemic diet is, you may want to familiarize yourself with the glycemic index possibly even glycemic load. It won’t hurt to educate yourself.
What GI is, is a ranking of foods that contain carbs and how quickly they affect your blood sugar levels. If they are ranked low, the absorption (glucose) is slower than if ranked higher.
There are exceptions to the rule, like the watermelon. It has a high GI but low GL, but it’s OK to eat. It is best to try to choose low levels in each chart. But, you don’t necessarily have to, if you stick to eating plant based whole food.
Whole foods have fiber, which helps slow sugar absorption. Real whole food takes care of the guesswork for you, so you don’t have to worry about blood sugar.
It seems every fad diet on the market seems to alter its macronutrient proportions. In other words, their recipes raise or lower protein, carbohydrates and/or fat content. These diet food businesses have been juggling fats, carbs and proteins for decades. But, unfortunately this method will never work! Just look at all the top selling books on protein, fats and carb diets that have come and gone through the years!
Although, I am no expert in the dietary or nutrition field, I can say without doubt I am an expert as far as my own health and weight loss is concerned. Furthermore, if I live long enough I will also prove to be an expert on my own longevity.
I just might write my own diet and health book! We'll see. Time will tell. But, for now I have this site to share how I lost almost fifty pounds, got healthier in the process and will likely live a lot longer than I would have.
I believe keeping blood sugar highs stable on a low glycemic diet is healthy for the long-haul. You don’t want to get diabetes or heart disease. We want a natural diet which suits our metabolism and genetics. This is a diet just like the great apes have long adapted themselves to!
We have been eating whole foods for hundreds of thousands possibly up to and beyond a million years. What hurt our health was processed and refined foods with the recent advent of farming and the industrialized society. Our bodies have not adapted to this radical change within a mere few hundred years.
Our bodies were not designed to eat foods denatured by heat or added ingredients and preservatives. Plant based whole food has protein, fat and carbs in the correct proportions, so there is no need for portion control. No guesswork required!
A low glycemic diet is actually the precise road to improved health, permanent weight loss and longevity. I am living proof of that. When I cut out high glycemic foods, (namely anything refined or processed including chips, tortillas, pies, cookies, crackers, cakes, bread, snack and junk foods) I lost weight steadily, my blood pressure went way down and I immediately began feeling healthier and stronger with energy to spare throughout each day.
If you believe you must have your grain, eat it whole like steel cut or rolled oats. Avoid refined wheat, as it’s a weight gainer, health destroyer and extremely addicting because of relatively high levels of gluten. Modern day wheat is unlike the much more wholesome breads of the not too distant past.
To conclude, the lower glycemic index foods are most often but not always unprocessed. Lists below are not all inclusive. Include pulses for healthier eating: which include peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas [1 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]. A few examples…
Low Glycemic
- Almonds
- Beans (always eat your beans!)
- Lettuce
- Onion
- Broccoli
- Apple
- Orange
- Carrots
- Cantaloupe
- Peanut butter
- Tahini
- Tomato
- Mushroom
- Blueberries
High Glycemic
- French fries
- Crackers
- Chips
- Junk and snack food
- Corn
- Baked potato
- Brown rice
- Peas
- Refried beans
- Dried fruit
- Fruit juice
- All bread
- Cold cereal
- Tortillas
- Pancakes
- Popcorn
- White rice
- Ketchup
- Sugar
- Molasses
- Vegetable juice
Source- 1 URL ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12498625
Website Title The British journal of nutrition.
Publication Month December
Publication Year 2002
Article Title Health benefits of low glycaemic index foods, such as pulses, in diabetic patients and healthy individuals.
Date Accessed February 04, 2018
Note- before you change your diet contact your doctor.
