Understanding the glycemix index for weight loss and better health

Understanding The Glycemix Index - For Weight Loss and Better Health

Whether you want to lose weight, or are simply interested in eating to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, understanding the glycemic index is important. This article describes how the glycemic index works, what it means for dieters in terms of being able to stick with a diet, and some tips fo

glycemic index, weight loss, lose weight, heart health

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a way of rating carbohydrate foods according to how quickly the carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, and thus how quickly that glucose enters the bloodstream. The reasoning behind this is that carbohydrates that enter the bloodstream quickly raise blood sugar levels rapidly, causing a spike in energy, that is followed by a drop after the effects of insulin are triggered.

Insulin is one of the hormones that help regulate blood sugar levels, and tries to keep them stable. When too much glucose enters the bloodstream at a time, the body reacts by releasing insulin to remove some of that glucose back out of the blood and into our cells. Its simply a way of keeping the balance. However the effect is that when all the glucose we just ate, in the form of carbohydrates, is removed from the bloodstream, we feel tired and hungry, often craving more carbohydrates. Thus a cycle is created, where we eat more than really necessary.

Carbohydrate containing foods are rated from a scale

 

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