Exercise is a vital component in weight loss and healthy body weight maintenance, but an equally important aspect is diet. Diet is not necessarily a bad word, and through the years it has lost its true meaning. Diet is simply a way of eating. There is, in fact, a ?diet? that you can stay on for a lifetime. There is a true healthy diet that can last. We don?t mean a low carb diet or a grapefruit diet, or any of the others on the market that promise rapid weight loss. One of the most important factors in proper weight loss and weight maintenance is balance.. Your body needs fat, your body needs carbohydrates, and your body needs protein. A true healthy diet is a combination of all three of these. The key is to eat the right fats, the right carbohydrates, and the right proteins.
So how do the right carbohydrates impact weight loss? There are complex carbohydrates that usually contain a lot of fiber and are normally wheat or whole grain products. They are normally less refined and hence, more complex. There are also simple carbohydrates that are more processed products like white bread and simple table sugar. Complex carbohydrates take longer for the body to break down than simple carbohydrates. The molecules are more complex and it takes more time and energy (calories) to break down. So your body will expend more calories in the digestion of complex carbohydrates. Because it takes longer to digest complex carbs, your body will have a longer ?window? of time to burn these calories. Calories that aren?t burned when they become available can be stored as fat. So, if you eat a simple carbohydrate, your body will break it down quickly and you will have only a short period of time to burn those calories. Remember, calories not used are stored for later use. That storage mechanism is body fat. Eating the right carbs prevents spikes in blood glucose levels and therefore reduces or eliminates the need for the pancreas to secrete insulin. Basically the right carbs can create a steady blood sugar level.
The Glycemic Index is simply a numerical value that is placed on foods based on their effect on blood sugar levels.
?Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels - is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss.? http://www.glycemicindex.com/
The Glycemic Index makes it very easy to eat the right carbohydrates. The lower the GI, the better the carbohydrate. For successful weight loss and weight maintenance, eat foods with low GI values and avoid foods that have a high GI.
Christopher Daniel
CEO http://www.insiderfitness.com
