One of the biggest things people worry about when they start any kind of diet is: What kind of foods can I eat? It's not always possible to go home and cook a good meal for dinner either. If your life is hectic, you may find you're forced to pick up fast food or eat in restaurants more often than you'd like. And with most diet plans, this can make weight loss much more difficult and complicated.
With low to moderate carb eating plans however, it's much easier to eat than most people realize.
Home is of course the easiest place to eat, because you can control what is or isn't in your household usually. If you don't have a lot of sweets, pastries, breads, doughnuts, cookies, pasta rich meals and so on, you won't have as many temptations to eat those kinds of foods.
It is a good idea to keep some kind of low carb sweet on hand though, because if you get cravings for something it will help you to avoid the really bad stuff when you have something sweet on hand. This is most important for women, because they tend to get cravings for sweets and chocolates during their menstrual cycle. If there are no low carb treats on hand to satisfy those cravings, you're more likely to go on a sugar binge and destroy all the work you've done so far.
There are plenty of low carb treats that can be kept on hand too. If you like to cook, you can create low carb peanut butter or chocolate cookies for instance. A quick snack is to create low carb cheesecake pudding or sugar free jello and whipped cream. Even strawberries and cream is an excellent snack that can help curb a sweet tooth, and there are sugar free fudgesicles and popsicles available at most grocery stores these days too, so keep some of those on hand in your freezer too.
Realize that just because it's ok to eat with your chosen weight loss plan thought, unrestricted amounts of anything can cause you to stall, or even start gaining weight again. Many "sugar free" products still have something in them which can cause you to gain weight if you eat too much of them. Sugar free ice cream for example, still has small amounts of natural sugars from the milk used in the ice cream. So eating unrestricted amounts of that food will almost guarantee you'll start gaining weight again, even if it's just very slowly.
Whether you're at home or out on the town and you need to eat though, it's usually fairly easy to do. All you need is some meat and vegetables. Depending on where you are for instance, you could order a large salad with a variety of meats, cheeses, and vegetables in it. Just leave off the crutons and you have a wonderfully healthy, satisfying low carb meal.
If you're not in the mood for a salad that's usually not a problem either. Just try the seafood platter, a juicy steak, or a nice thick salmon. As long as the meats are unbreaded, you're able to eat your fill of them without having to worry about how many carbs there are. Instead of eating potatoes, french fries or other starchy side dishes, ask for a double serving of vegetables, or a side salad, or some cottage cheese.
Fast food eating is not usually too difficult either. The main thing you need to do is throw away the breading. Some restaurants will let you order hamburgers without a bun for instance, but if that seems silly to you then just order it normally and ask for a fork. Then toss out the bun and eat the meat and vegetables instead. Grilled chicken or fish is fine too, as is most types of salad. Avoid the sodas and various potatoe offerings of course, and usually you end up with an excellent, filling meal that doesn't have nearly the same amount of carbohydrates, sugars and starches as it normally would.
There are so many wonderful, natural, and healthy ways to lose weight quickly these days - and keep it off too - that we can't begin to cover them in depth with just one book. Thankfully there are many excellent resources already in print though, and several of those have been mentioned throughout this one. So visit your local book store or your favorite online book spot, and choose one or two to start with. Even if you decide not to follow the specific diet plan in the book you've chosen, you'll open up a wonderful world of knowledge which will help you with your overall weight loss efforts.
8.28.2008
General Restricted Carb Tips and Creating Your Own Custom Diet
Anyone who has tried one type of low carb diet or another may have found themselves not quite satisfied with the eating plan. Generally, when you have to pay attention to how much of something you eat, you tend to get tired of it after awhile. With low carb diets you're not counting calories or restricting portion sizes, but you are encouraged to be very aware of - and sometimes even restrict - the amounts of carbohydrates you're eating each day.
In the early stages of The Atkins diet for instance, you're supposed to limit yourself to just 20 grams of carbs each day. On The South Beach Diet, you're supposed to strive for no more than 30 grams of carbs each day. As each of these diets progress and you move up in stages, those levels increase. But at the end of the day you're still counting something... carbs. And some people just get tired of counting things.
Thankfully though, it's fairly easy to create a custom low to moderate carb eating plan of your own without having to count every single thing you choose to eat. Now, most people who choose to do this may not lose weight, or they may lose very slowly. This is because when you're not fully aware of every single gram of carbs you put into your mouth, you can easily end up eating more than you realize each day. And this will have an effect on your weight loss efforts.
Every body is different too. Some people can easily continue losing a pound or two of weight each week even when they're eating as much as 100 grams of carbs each day. Others however, will find their weight loss efforts stalled when they try to eat just 40 or 50 grams of carbs. This is an unfortunate fact of life: We're all different. Our bodies each respond to the foods we eat in various different ways. So the first step in creating your own low to moderate carb eating style is to know your body.
If you have not tried one of the best low carb diet plans yet, it's usually best to start with those before creating your own. This allows you to really see how your body responds to different foods you eat. Some people for instance, can eat certain types of bread without any weight gain problems, but the minute they eat rice they gain five pounds. Other people can eat rice or pasta without any evidence of problems, but they're unable to touch bread or milk products without stalling or gaining weight. So, knowing how your body personally reacts to specific foods will go a long way towards helping you develop your own personal eating style.
Another major benefit to trying one of the existing low or restricted carb diets though, is because they allow you to reteach your body to know when it's actually hungry. Because of the large amounts of junk food most of us eat today, and the high and low blood sugar swings those foods cause, many people don't actually know how to recognize when they're truely hungry. And most also have no idea when their body is telling them they're full. Diets like The South Beach or Atkins will help you start learning how to recognize what your body is telling you, and that is a major step towards being able to lose weight easily.
In general of course, as part of your custom diet plan you'll want to cut out all regular sugar products such as candy, cookies and soda. Substitute artifical or natural sweeteners instead, and put a strict limit on how much simple starchy foods you eat. Instead of eating plain white bread for instance, try eating whole grain. And try wild or brown rice instead of white if you must have rice. Try to limit yourself to these types of foods only a few times each week though, unless you know your body can still lose weight when eating them daily.
In the early stages of The Atkins diet for instance, you're supposed to limit yourself to just 20 grams of carbs each day. On The South Beach Diet, you're supposed to strive for no more than 30 grams of carbs each day. As each of these diets progress and you move up in stages, those levels increase. But at the end of the day you're still counting something... carbs. And some people just get tired of counting things.
Thankfully though, it's fairly easy to create a custom low to moderate carb eating plan of your own without having to count every single thing you choose to eat. Now, most people who choose to do this may not lose weight, or they may lose very slowly. This is because when you're not fully aware of every single gram of carbs you put into your mouth, you can easily end up eating more than you realize each day. And this will have an effect on your weight loss efforts.
Every body is different too. Some people can easily continue losing a pound or two of weight each week even when they're eating as much as 100 grams of carbs each day. Others however, will find their weight loss efforts stalled when they try to eat just 40 or 50 grams of carbs. This is an unfortunate fact of life: We're all different. Our bodies each respond to the foods we eat in various different ways. So the first step in creating your own low to moderate carb eating style is to know your body.
If you have not tried one of the best low carb diet plans yet, it's usually best to start with those before creating your own. This allows you to really see how your body responds to different foods you eat. Some people for instance, can eat certain types of bread without any weight gain problems, but the minute they eat rice they gain five pounds. Other people can eat rice or pasta without any evidence of problems, but they're unable to touch bread or milk products without stalling or gaining weight. So, knowing how your body personally reacts to specific foods will go a long way towards helping you develop your own personal eating style.
Another major benefit to trying one of the existing low or restricted carb diets though, is because they allow you to reteach your body to know when it's actually hungry. Because of the large amounts of junk food most of us eat today, and the high and low blood sugar swings those foods cause, many people don't actually know how to recognize when they're truely hungry. And most also have no idea when their body is telling them they're full. Diets like The South Beach or Atkins will help you start learning how to recognize what your body is telling you, and that is a major step towards being able to lose weight easily.
In general of course, as part of your custom diet plan you'll want to cut out all regular sugar products such as candy, cookies and soda. Substitute artifical or natural sweeteners instead, and put a strict limit on how much simple starchy foods you eat. Instead of eating plain white bread for instance, try eating whole grain. And try wild or brown rice instead of white if you must have rice. Try to limit yourself to these types of foods only a few times each week though, unless you know your body can still lose weight when eating them daily.
8.22.2008
Atkins New Diet Revolution
The Atkins Diet is the one that brought low carb dieting to the forefront of the general public's eyes. This is because it works extremely well, and it can often be a very fast way to lose weight too. Many people who follow the Atkins diet properly can lose as much as ten to twenty pounds of body fat each week in the beginning. The very first week though, is usually water weight loss. After that however, the fat starts shedding extremely quickly in some cases, and many other health problems start clearing up as well.
Now the Atkins diet has been quite controversial from the beginning. It made it's first appearance to the world over 30 years ago, but it wasn't until approximately five to ten years ago that it started resurfacing quietly on the Internet. And that caused it to become quite popular with mainstream society for the past several years. The controversy this diet caused though, ended up creating an entire industry of spin off diets. Several similar diets have been launched since Atkins, and many of them are quite similar, but they try to deal with the parts of Atkins that are so controversial.
The most controversial part of the Atkins diet is that it seems to fly in the face of everything healthy people have been taught for a couple of generations now. It says to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast for instance, and that fat is actually good for you but carbs are bad.
There are reasons behind these statements though. It's a bit complicated to explain with just this brief space, but the summary goes something like this: When your body has an overabundance of carbs coming into it constantly, it will burn those carbs for energy. If you don't use all the carbs with your daily activities though, they'll be converted to fat and stored for later use. But since you're constantly adding excessive amounts of carbs to your body, the fat keeps piling up and never gets a chance to burn off.
By drastically reducing the amount of carbs you're eating though, your body is forced to actually start using it's stored fat for energy instead. And once it's able to start using that stored fat, the fat starts being burned very quickly. The reason Atkins says to eat more fat though, is because that helps you to feel full faster, and stay feeling full for longer periods of time. So you're not constantly feeling hungry and deprived, and you're not likely to have the sugar cravings either. According to Atkins, eating fat also "trains" your body to start burning fat instead of carbohydrates, which it no longer has an abundance of.
Some people mistakenly think that Atkins is a no carbohydrate diet though, and that is not the case. Like the South Beach Diet, you restrict your carbohydrate intake dramatically in the beginning - to about 20 grams of carbs each day. This allows your body to cleanse itself of the excess carbs it has on hand, kills the sugar cravings, and gets you into full fat burning mode. As time goes on however, you start adding more carbs back into your daily meals, and like The South Beach diet, carbs in the form of vegetables and fruits are strongly encouraged over breads, pastas and sweets.
Now the Atkins diet has been quite controversial from the beginning. It made it's first appearance to the world over 30 years ago, but it wasn't until approximately five to ten years ago that it started resurfacing quietly on the Internet. And that caused it to become quite popular with mainstream society for the past several years. The controversy this diet caused though, ended up creating an entire industry of spin off diets. Several similar diets have been launched since Atkins, and many of them are quite similar, but they try to deal with the parts of Atkins that are so controversial.
The most controversial part of the Atkins diet is that it seems to fly in the face of everything healthy people have been taught for a couple of generations now. It says to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast for instance, and that fat is actually good for you but carbs are bad.
There are reasons behind these statements though. It's a bit complicated to explain with just this brief space, but the summary goes something like this: When your body has an overabundance of carbs coming into it constantly, it will burn those carbs for energy. If you don't use all the carbs with your daily activities though, they'll be converted to fat and stored for later use. But since you're constantly adding excessive amounts of carbs to your body, the fat keeps piling up and never gets a chance to burn off.
By drastically reducing the amount of carbs you're eating though, your body is forced to actually start using it's stored fat for energy instead. And once it's able to start using that stored fat, the fat starts being burned very quickly. The reason Atkins says to eat more fat though, is because that helps you to feel full faster, and stay feeling full for longer periods of time. So you're not constantly feeling hungry and deprived, and you're not likely to have the sugar cravings either. According to Atkins, eating fat also "trains" your body to start burning fat instead of carbohydrates, which it no longer has an abundance of.
Some people mistakenly think that Atkins is a no carbohydrate diet though, and that is not the case. Like the South Beach Diet, you restrict your carbohydrate intake dramatically in the beginning - to about 20 grams of carbs each day. This allows your body to cleanse itself of the excess carbs it has on hand, kills the sugar cravings, and gets you into full fat burning mode. As time goes on however, you start adding more carbs back into your daily meals, and like The South Beach diet, carbs in the form of vegetables and fruits are strongly encouraged over breads, pastas and sweets.
8.18.2008
Low Carb Weight Loss Overview
Low carb dieting was thought to be a fad just a few years ago. Today however, although the term "low carb diet" is not used as often as it once was, the actual eating style is in full swing. In fact, many dieticians are now recommending variations of low carb diets to people with Diabetes, because it's an excellent way to help control and balance blood sugar levels in the body.
Evidence has been mounting over the years too, that a lower, or restricted carb eating style is an excellent, and easy way to lose weight. Most people who lower the amount of simple carbohydrates and sugars they eat on a daily basis can lose weight quite quickly in fact, and the weight often comes off of the stomach and belly area first. And there are solid, medical reasons why this is the case.
When we eat too much sugar and starch, our bodies react in a specific way. The amount of sugar and starch we feed out bodies directly affects how quickly our blood sugar levels rise. When we eat sugary or starchy simple carbohydrate foods, our blood sugar levels actually rise quite quickly. Our bodies respond to this rise by releasing extra insulin from the pancreas to deal with all that extra sugar circulating in our blood stream.
Now, when our bodies are relatively healthy, the extra insulin our body produces will usually take care of the extra high blood sugar levels fairly quickly. The problem though, is that the extra blood sugar levels are decreased very fast. And when our blood sugar levels take a drastic drop from the effects of the insulin at work inside us, the body will immediately think it's hungry. In fact, it will think it's starving and you will get immediate desparation triggers that tell you to eat something fast. You'll actually crave sugary, sweet things too, because the body knows that is what will bring the blood sugar levels back up and give the extra insulin something to work with.
This extreme high and low swinging of our blood sugar levels creates a cycle that's pretty difficult to break. And the cycle keeps us constantly eating. Not just eating for nutritional sake either, it keeps us eating all the wrong things, which cause the cycle to come full circle again.
When you start lowering the amount of simple sugars and carbs in your daily eating however, you start to take control of your blood sugar levels. The blood sugar actually balances out and stays fairly even throughout the day. This makes you less likely to have sudden hunger pangs and cravings, and less likely to binge on all the fattening foods we seem to have on hand all around us. And once you have those cravings and binges under control, it's much easier to lose weight.
There are several specific diet plans which work on the low carb or restricted carb principles...
The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet is a relatively new diet that's become quite popular in recent years. And it's become so popular because it works so well.
The South Beach Diet is thought to be a low carb diet, but in reality it actually isn't. Part of the diet involves cutting carbs and simple sugars yes, but that's not the entire story. The South Beach Diet doesn't actually advocate eating no carbohydrates each day. Instead, it focuses on teaching you the difference between good carbs and bad carbs.
Bad carbs are those that cause your blood sugar to rapidly spike very high, and leave you with hunger pangs and cravings within just an hour or two of eating them. Good carbs on the other hand, are more nutritious, filled with fiber, and leave you satiated for longer periods of time.
The South Beach Diet doesn't just focus on carbs alone though. It also teaches you about good fats and bad, plus good and bad protein sources too. It goes on to give you an introduction to the Glycemic Index, and explains how that simple system can play a major role in weight gain or loss.
Now, the South Beach Diet does start out as a lower carb diet plan. It is not as restrictive as some, and the entire goal of the beginning is to help you start losing weight, and to help you kill the everyday sugar cravings. Because once you've gotten rid of the worst of your sugar cravings, it's much easier to choose the foods you eat more sensibly.
So the first stage of The South Beach Diet does restrict carbohydrates. In general, you're allowed approximately 30 grams of carbs per day during this stage of the diet plan. Normal eating based on the standard United States food pyramid usually involves a daily carbohydrate intake of more like 300 grams, so this can be a major change for some people. The hardest part though, is cutting out the sweets and snacks. Some people are addicted to cakes and cookies, while others have a weakness for breads and pastries instead. And letting go of these types of foods even for a temporary period can be quite difficult.
Over time though, you're allowed to add them back into your daily meals sensibly. By the time you get to that point however, you'll know a lot more about good carbs and bad, as well as how each works within your particular body.
Contrary to popular belief, The South Beach Diet does not advocate getting rid of vegetables. In fact, that is one food type that is strongly encouraged with this eating plan right from the beginning. Some vegetables have more carbs that others of course, but it's the type of carb that's most important... not the amount.
Evidence has been mounting over the years too, that a lower, or restricted carb eating style is an excellent, and easy way to lose weight. Most people who lower the amount of simple carbohydrates and sugars they eat on a daily basis can lose weight quite quickly in fact, and the weight often comes off of the stomach and belly area first. And there are solid, medical reasons why this is the case.
When we eat too much sugar and starch, our bodies react in a specific way. The amount of sugar and starch we feed out bodies directly affects how quickly our blood sugar levels rise. When we eat sugary or starchy simple carbohydrate foods, our blood sugar levels actually rise quite quickly. Our bodies respond to this rise by releasing extra insulin from the pancreas to deal with all that extra sugar circulating in our blood stream.
Now, when our bodies are relatively healthy, the extra insulin our body produces will usually take care of the extra high blood sugar levels fairly quickly. The problem though, is that the extra blood sugar levels are decreased very fast. And when our blood sugar levels take a drastic drop from the effects of the insulin at work inside us, the body will immediately think it's hungry. In fact, it will think it's starving and you will get immediate desparation triggers that tell you to eat something fast. You'll actually crave sugary, sweet things too, because the body knows that is what will bring the blood sugar levels back up and give the extra insulin something to work with.
This extreme high and low swinging of our blood sugar levels creates a cycle that's pretty difficult to break. And the cycle keeps us constantly eating. Not just eating for nutritional sake either, it keeps us eating all the wrong things, which cause the cycle to come full circle again.
When you start lowering the amount of simple sugars and carbs in your daily eating however, you start to take control of your blood sugar levels. The blood sugar actually balances out and stays fairly even throughout the day. This makes you less likely to have sudden hunger pangs and cravings, and less likely to binge on all the fattening foods we seem to have on hand all around us. And once you have those cravings and binges under control, it's much easier to lose weight.
There are several specific diet plans which work on the low carb or restricted carb principles...
The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet is a relatively new diet that's become quite popular in recent years. And it's become so popular because it works so well.
The South Beach Diet is thought to be a low carb diet, but in reality it actually isn't. Part of the diet involves cutting carbs and simple sugars yes, but that's not the entire story. The South Beach Diet doesn't actually advocate eating no carbohydrates each day. Instead, it focuses on teaching you the difference between good carbs and bad carbs.
Bad carbs are those that cause your blood sugar to rapidly spike very high, and leave you with hunger pangs and cravings within just an hour or two of eating them. Good carbs on the other hand, are more nutritious, filled with fiber, and leave you satiated for longer periods of time.
The South Beach Diet doesn't just focus on carbs alone though. It also teaches you about good fats and bad, plus good and bad protein sources too. It goes on to give you an introduction to the Glycemic Index, and explains how that simple system can play a major role in weight gain or loss.
Now, the South Beach Diet does start out as a lower carb diet plan. It is not as restrictive as some, and the entire goal of the beginning is to help you start losing weight, and to help you kill the everyday sugar cravings. Because once you've gotten rid of the worst of your sugar cravings, it's much easier to choose the foods you eat more sensibly.
So the first stage of The South Beach Diet does restrict carbohydrates. In general, you're allowed approximately 30 grams of carbs per day during this stage of the diet plan. Normal eating based on the standard United States food pyramid usually involves a daily carbohydrate intake of more like 300 grams, so this can be a major change for some people. The hardest part though, is cutting out the sweets and snacks. Some people are addicted to cakes and cookies, while others have a weakness for breads and pastries instead. And letting go of these types of foods even for a temporary period can be quite difficult.
Over time though, you're allowed to add them back into your daily meals sensibly. By the time you get to that point however, you'll know a lot more about good carbs and bad, as well as how each works within your particular body.
Contrary to popular belief, The South Beach Diet does not advocate getting rid of vegetables. In fact, that is one food type that is strongly encouraged with this eating plan right from the beginning. Some vegetables have more carbs that others of course, but it's the type of carb that's most important... not the amount.
8.15.2008
The Glycemic Index Food Rating Scale
Many people are looking for more natural ways to help keep their blood sugar levels under control because they've learned that it helps them lose weight, manage their hunger, and manage common medical problems such as diabetes. And some of those people have discovered the Glycemic Index. Previously we looked at eating changes you can make to integrate GI principles into your lifestyle, and now we'll look at specific foods.
Remember, the glycemic index is a food chart which rates the effect various foods have on your blood sugar levels. All glycemic index (GI) ratings are computated based on either standard white bread, or straight glucose. Because two methods are used, some GI charts will vary slightly based on which base food item was used for the computation.
Using the Glycemic Index, you can get a general idea of how quickly your blood sugar levels might rise after eating certain foods. Anything with a GI rating of 54 or less is considered a low GI food, which means it will raise your blood sugar levels slowly. Very low GI foods have a rating of less than 39, medium GI rated foods range from 55 to 69, high GI foods are at 70 or above.
Glucose and white bread have a base rating of 100 on either type of GI food chart - which is high of course - and all other foods are compared against them. There are many foods with higher GI ratings, and many with lower ones.
But this rating system is where things can get confusing. If you try to eat foods based on their standard GI rating only, then you may find you're not having much success with controlling your blood sugar levels or weight loss efforts. You might also feel that some of the ratings make no sense at all. Many people mistakenly assume they're supposed to avoid everything with a GI rating of 70 or higher, and some even think they're supposed to avoid any foods which rate higher than 55. What they don't know is that the base food GI rating can change given different variables.
Not all oatmeal is the same for instance. Instant oatmeal has a higher GI rating than old fashioned cooked oats does. But that's not the most confusing part... sometimes how you cook your foods will change the GI rating too. Pasta for instance, that's eaten while still firm has a lower GI rating than fully cooked soft pasta does. And if you boil one inch cubes of potatoes, you'll have one GI rating, but simply mashing those cubes with your fork will increase the glycemic load of the very same potatoes.
Many fruits have low glycemic loads, but if you cook or chop those fruits, you're often increasing the glycemic load they'll produce. And some fruits are naturally high in glycemic load. Watermelon for instance, has a GI rating of 72.
So glycemic index charts are simply a starting point to use for controlling your blood sugar levels naturally.
Once you start using the glycemic index to help control your blood sugar levels naturally, you'll start learning which foods tend to be the best choices for your personal body response. There are several commonalities with many foods though, which can help you get started with using the Glycemic Index.
1. High fiber foods. Foods high in soluble fiber tend to naturally be lower on the glycemic index. This is because fiber isn't absorbed by our body, and eating foods with fiber in it will help slow the absorption of simple carbohydrates, sugars and starches. This is very helpful to know if you have a few favorite foods which have high GI ratings. By adding some fiber to the meal, you can help reduce the overall impact that higher GI food will have on your blood sugar levels.
2. Protein foods. Like fiber, foods which are high in protein are quite low on the glycemic index and these can also help slow the absorption of carbohydrates into your system.
3. Acidic foods. Yes, like both fiber and protein, adding acidic foods to your meal such as lemon juice or vinegar can also help slow the absorption of carbohydrates. Try using vinegar based salad dressings, squeezing some lemon on your chicken or fish, or just mixing up a fresh tall glass of homemade lemonade to go with your meals.
4. Longer cooking foods are often lower on the GI scale. This is a difficult concept for many people to understand, but essentially any quick cooked or "instant" foods usually have much higher GI ratings than "old fashioned" foods do. This is because manufacturers must strip out most of the bulk from a food in order to make it possible to cook it in a minute or two.
Instant oatmeal for instance, has much less natural fiber and bulk in it. This is how the manufacturer is able to help you cook it so quickly. Natural old fashioned oatmeal however, has much more bulk and natural fiber - not to mention nutrition - because it hasn't be processed as highly as the instant variety has.
This same concept applies to any quick and easy, or instant foods. Instant potatoes for instance, have a higher glycemic index rating than boiled potatoes do. Easy processed boxed meals will also be more likely to have higher GI ratings than a home cooked meal does. So just by knowing how a food has been cooked can help you eat foods with lower glycemic impact.
5. Raw foods usually have the lowest GI. Eating fresh salad greens, brocolli, and celery is going to have a much lower glycemic impact on your blood sugar levels that cooking those foods will. Cooking is a form of processing. It's purpose is to break down foods partially, because they're considered more palatable. This partial breakdown of the food however, gives your body less work to do in order to use the various parts of that food. So it's easier for your body to extract the sugars, and thus your blood sugar levels can rise faster if your food has been cooked.
Now, not everything can be eaten raw of course. It's not likely you'll find someone who will eat raw oatmeal for instance. But having this general knowledge can help you with managing your blood sugar levels naturally, because it helps you make better eating choices.
Now just in case you've missed this point along the way, we'll restate it because it's so critical to your weight loss success: Anything which helps your body regulate it's blood sugar levels will help you lose weight. Because regulated blood sugar allows your body to start burning it's excess fat stores, and regulated blood sugar levels also help kill cravings for the sugary foods which cause you to gain weight.
If the Glycemic Index system seems a bit too complicated or overwhelming to you, don't despair. A much more straightfoward approach to leveling out your body's blood sugar levels is to simply restrict the amount of simple carbohydrates you eat. So now we'll look at those options in detail...
Remember, the glycemic index is a food chart which rates the effect various foods have on your blood sugar levels. All glycemic index (GI) ratings are computated based on either standard white bread, or straight glucose. Because two methods are used, some GI charts will vary slightly based on which base food item was used for the computation.
Using the Glycemic Index, you can get a general idea of how quickly your blood sugar levels might rise after eating certain foods. Anything with a GI rating of 54 or less is considered a low GI food, which means it will raise your blood sugar levels slowly. Very low GI foods have a rating of less than 39, medium GI rated foods range from 55 to 69, high GI foods are at 70 or above.
Glucose and white bread have a base rating of 100 on either type of GI food chart - which is high of course - and all other foods are compared against them. There are many foods with higher GI ratings, and many with lower ones.
But this rating system is where things can get confusing. If you try to eat foods based on their standard GI rating only, then you may find you're not having much success with controlling your blood sugar levels or weight loss efforts. You might also feel that some of the ratings make no sense at all. Many people mistakenly assume they're supposed to avoid everything with a GI rating of 70 or higher, and some even think they're supposed to avoid any foods which rate higher than 55. What they don't know is that the base food GI rating can change given different variables.
Not all oatmeal is the same for instance. Instant oatmeal has a higher GI rating than old fashioned cooked oats does. But that's not the most confusing part... sometimes how you cook your foods will change the GI rating too. Pasta for instance, that's eaten while still firm has a lower GI rating than fully cooked soft pasta does. And if you boil one inch cubes of potatoes, you'll have one GI rating, but simply mashing those cubes with your fork will increase the glycemic load of the very same potatoes.
Many fruits have low glycemic loads, but if you cook or chop those fruits, you're often increasing the glycemic load they'll produce. And some fruits are naturally high in glycemic load. Watermelon for instance, has a GI rating of 72.
So glycemic index charts are simply a starting point to use for controlling your blood sugar levels naturally.
Once you start using the glycemic index to help control your blood sugar levels naturally, you'll start learning which foods tend to be the best choices for your personal body response. There are several commonalities with many foods though, which can help you get started with using the Glycemic Index.
1. High fiber foods. Foods high in soluble fiber tend to naturally be lower on the glycemic index. This is because fiber isn't absorbed by our body, and eating foods with fiber in it will help slow the absorption of simple carbohydrates, sugars and starches. This is very helpful to know if you have a few favorite foods which have high GI ratings. By adding some fiber to the meal, you can help reduce the overall impact that higher GI food will have on your blood sugar levels.
2. Protein foods. Like fiber, foods which are high in protein are quite low on the glycemic index and these can also help slow the absorption of carbohydrates into your system.
3. Acidic foods. Yes, like both fiber and protein, adding acidic foods to your meal such as lemon juice or vinegar can also help slow the absorption of carbohydrates. Try using vinegar based salad dressings, squeezing some lemon on your chicken or fish, or just mixing up a fresh tall glass of homemade lemonade to go with your meals.
4. Longer cooking foods are often lower on the GI scale. This is a difficult concept for many people to understand, but essentially any quick cooked or "instant" foods usually have much higher GI ratings than "old fashioned" foods do. This is because manufacturers must strip out most of the bulk from a food in order to make it possible to cook it in a minute or two.
Instant oatmeal for instance, has much less natural fiber and bulk in it. This is how the manufacturer is able to help you cook it so quickly. Natural old fashioned oatmeal however, has much more bulk and natural fiber - not to mention nutrition - because it hasn't be processed as highly as the instant variety has.
This same concept applies to any quick and easy, or instant foods. Instant potatoes for instance, have a higher glycemic index rating than boiled potatoes do. Easy processed boxed meals will also be more likely to have higher GI ratings than a home cooked meal does. So just by knowing how a food has been cooked can help you eat foods with lower glycemic impact.
5. Raw foods usually have the lowest GI. Eating fresh salad greens, brocolli, and celery is going to have a much lower glycemic impact on your blood sugar levels that cooking those foods will. Cooking is a form of processing. It's purpose is to break down foods partially, because they're considered more palatable. This partial breakdown of the food however, gives your body less work to do in order to use the various parts of that food. So it's easier for your body to extract the sugars, and thus your blood sugar levels can rise faster if your food has been cooked.
Now, not everything can be eaten raw of course. It's not likely you'll find someone who will eat raw oatmeal for instance. But having this general knowledge can help you with managing your blood sugar levels naturally, because it helps you make better eating choices.
Now just in case you've missed this point along the way, we'll restate it because it's so critical to your weight loss success: Anything which helps your body regulate it's blood sugar levels will help you lose weight. Because regulated blood sugar allows your body to start burning it's excess fat stores, and regulated blood sugar levels also help kill cravings for the sugary foods which cause you to gain weight.
If the Glycemic Index system seems a bit too complicated or overwhelming to you, don't despair. A much more straightfoward approach to leveling out your body's blood sugar levels is to simply restrict the amount of simple carbohydrates you eat. So now we'll look at those options in detail...
8.13.2008
Glycemic Index Eating Tips
If you'd like to try the glycemic index diet, or you'd simply like to try eating foods based on their glycemic load to see how well it can help you naturally manage your blood sugar levels and weight loss efforts, there are many ways to get started. The first thing you'll need to do is get a copy of a Glycemic Index (GI) food chart to use for reference. There are many GI chart resources available freely on the Internet too, so you might be able to simply print those out and stick them on your fridge.
If you're a diabetic or hypoglycemic taking medications to help manage your blood sugar levels, you'll also need to inform your doctor that you'll be trying the GI diet, or integrating some of the GI principals into your eating plans. This way your doctor can help monitor your blood sugar levels, and adjust your medications as needed. Diabetics who take insulin regularly will need to keep a close eye on their blood sugar levels too, and call their doctor if you start noticing frequent blood sugar lows.
Now here are some simple tips for trying the glycemic index food charts in your daily eating plans:
1. Realize there is almost always an alternative food choice. If you happen to like having oatmeal for breakfast, you can lower the glycemic load and speed of blood sugar impacts by eating old fashioned cooked oatmeal instead of instant. You can try sweet potatoes, or yams, instead of white potatoes. Try boiled white potatoes instead of baked, and try pumpernickel or whole grain breads instead of white.
2. You don't have to avoid most high GI foods, you simply need to eat them in moderation. Eating smaller food portions will help lower the GI load on all foods, and only eating high GI foods occasionally will help minimize the overall impact those foods have on your everyday blood sugar levels.
3. Think in terms of meals instead of foods. If you choose to eat a food which has a higher GI rating, you can help minimize the overall impact on your blood sugar levels by having lower GI foods in the same meal. So if you want to have instant oatmeal for breakfast for instance, you can help balance it out a bit by sprinking some fiber bran on top and having strawberries.
Adding proteins, fiber, and good fat food sources can lower the overall GI load of your meal too, as can adding acidic foods such as lemons or vinegar. These foods help reduce the speed at which carbohydrates are absorbed into your body, thus creating a more gradual rise in blood sugar levels instead of quick high ones.
4. Realize that the Glycemic Index is a guideline to help you. It's not a set in stone diet that says what you can or cannot have. Some foods are very high in nutrition even though they may have a moderate to high GI rating. Don't avoid those foods, just eat them in smaller portions. You need the nutrition they provide.
5. Learn different cooking styles. The GI rating of many foods will change based on how it's prepared. Generally the longer something is cooked, the higher the GI rating is. Raw foods tend to have the lowest blood sugar impact, but not everything can be eaten raw. Many things can be cooked less though. Pasta for instance, can be made "al dente" style, meaning it's still firm when eaten. This will cause the pasta to have less of an impact on your blood sugar levels than fully cooked soft pasta will.
6. Realize your personal blood sugar responses. The best way to integrate the glycemic index into your diabetes, hypoglycemia, and weight loss management programs naturally, is to keep a diligent watch on how different foods affect you.
Some people can eat a food and has little to no major impact on their blood sugar levels, while others will see their blood sugar go through the roof. When the food effects you can be different as well. You might notice that when you eat one thing for instance, your blood sugar levels will start rising in less than an hour. Something else however, may not start a rise for up to four hours later.
There are some diabetics who can eat pizza for instance, and have little to no problem with their blood sugar levels afterwards. Others however, may find their blood sugar levels go extremely high just hours after eating the pizza. The same examples abound for people who eat breakfast cereals, rice, breads, pasta, and candy.
Part of the reason for these differences is likely due to portion sizes or cooking methods. There is no one exact universal pizza that everyone eats for instance. Some pizzas have very thick crusts, and that gives you a lot more simple carbohydrates when you eat it. Some pizzas have lots of vegetables on them, which can help balance your GI load. Some pizzas, sauces or toppings could have added sugar in them too. In many cases however, the response is based mainly on what kind of pizza you have. Some may just have cheese, while others have all meat, or a thin crust, and a whole variation of other differences. And all of these differences will affect your blood sugar levels as well as your weight loss progress.
That's why the glycemic index is not a hard and fast "diet" in the commonly accepted definition of the word. You have to understand how different foods make your own body respond, how portion sizes change those responses, and how your cooking methods affect you too.
Managing weight loss using the glycemic index can be a very complicated, sometimes overwhelming process. Given time however, and an understanding about how different food works in different people and situations, you can use it to successfully help manage your weight loss efforts much more naturally.
If you're a diabetic or hypoglycemic taking medications to help manage your blood sugar levels, you'll also need to inform your doctor that you'll be trying the GI diet, or integrating some of the GI principals into your eating plans. This way your doctor can help monitor your blood sugar levels, and adjust your medications as needed. Diabetics who take insulin regularly will need to keep a close eye on their blood sugar levels too, and call their doctor if you start noticing frequent blood sugar lows.
Now here are some simple tips for trying the glycemic index food charts in your daily eating plans:
1. Realize there is almost always an alternative food choice. If you happen to like having oatmeal for breakfast, you can lower the glycemic load and speed of blood sugar impacts by eating old fashioned cooked oatmeal instead of instant. You can try sweet potatoes, or yams, instead of white potatoes. Try boiled white potatoes instead of baked, and try pumpernickel or whole grain breads instead of white.
2. You don't have to avoid most high GI foods, you simply need to eat them in moderation. Eating smaller food portions will help lower the GI load on all foods, and only eating high GI foods occasionally will help minimize the overall impact those foods have on your everyday blood sugar levels.
3. Think in terms of meals instead of foods. If you choose to eat a food which has a higher GI rating, you can help minimize the overall impact on your blood sugar levels by having lower GI foods in the same meal. So if you want to have instant oatmeal for breakfast for instance, you can help balance it out a bit by sprinking some fiber bran on top and having strawberries.
Adding proteins, fiber, and good fat food sources can lower the overall GI load of your meal too, as can adding acidic foods such as lemons or vinegar. These foods help reduce the speed at which carbohydrates are absorbed into your body, thus creating a more gradual rise in blood sugar levels instead of quick high ones.
4. Realize that the Glycemic Index is a guideline to help you. It's not a set in stone diet that says what you can or cannot have. Some foods are very high in nutrition even though they may have a moderate to high GI rating. Don't avoid those foods, just eat them in smaller portions. You need the nutrition they provide.
5. Learn different cooking styles. The GI rating of many foods will change based on how it's prepared. Generally the longer something is cooked, the higher the GI rating is. Raw foods tend to have the lowest blood sugar impact, but not everything can be eaten raw. Many things can be cooked less though. Pasta for instance, can be made "al dente" style, meaning it's still firm when eaten. This will cause the pasta to have less of an impact on your blood sugar levels than fully cooked soft pasta will.
6. Realize your personal blood sugar responses. The best way to integrate the glycemic index into your diabetes, hypoglycemia, and weight loss management programs naturally, is to keep a diligent watch on how different foods affect you.
Some people can eat a food and has little to no major impact on their blood sugar levels, while others will see their blood sugar go through the roof. When the food effects you can be different as well. You might notice that when you eat one thing for instance, your blood sugar levels will start rising in less than an hour. Something else however, may not start a rise for up to four hours later.
There are some diabetics who can eat pizza for instance, and have little to no problem with their blood sugar levels afterwards. Others however, may find their blood sugar levels go extremely high just hours after eating the pizza. The same examples abound for people who eat breakfast cereals, rice, breads, pasta, and candy.
Part of the reason for these differences is likely due to portion sizes or cooking methods. There is no one exact universal pizza that everyone eats for instance. Some pizzas have very thick crusts, and that gives you a lot more simple carbohydrates when you eat it. Some pizzas have lots of vegetables on them, which can help balance your GI load. Some pizzas, sauces or toppings could have added sugar in them too. In many cases however, the response is based mainly on what kind of pizza you have. Some may just have cheese, while others have all meat, or a thin crust, and a whole variation of other differences. And all of these differences will affect your blood sugar levels as well as your weight loss progress.
That's why the glycemic index is not a hard and fast "diet" in the commonly accepted definition of the word. You have to understand how different foods make your own body respond, how portion sizes change those responses, and how your cooking methods affect you too.
Managing weight loss using the glycemic index can be a very complicated, sometimes overwhelming process. Given time however, and an understanding about how different food works in different people and situations, you can use it to successfully help manage your weight loss efforts much more naturally.
8.11.2008
Natural Weight Management with The Glycemic Index
The glycemic index (GI) is a food chart which tells you how quickly certain foods raise your blood sugar levels after eating them. This method of controlling blood sugar levels is still a bit controversial, and it's highly misunderstood too.
When you eat anything - meals, snacks, drinks, anything - your body responds. If you eat or drink something with high levels of simple, quick sugars, your body will respond by quickly showing a rise in blood sugar levels. In healthy people, the body will immediately release insulin to lower those blood sugar levels fast. In diabetics however, the high blood sugar levels can be dangerous. And most people who have problems with obesity or insulin resistance are prone to diabetes, so these problems apply to them too.
Now the whole premise of the Glycemic Index is to learn which foods raise your blood sugar quickly, which raise it at more moderate levels, and which raise it slowly. The slower your blood sugars rise after you'e eaten, the better you're able to manage, maintain and regulate your body's weight. Foods which raise your blood sugar more slowly also tend to help keep you feeling full and satiated for longer periods of time, and are often lower in fat or higher in fiber too.
The most common misunderstanding most people have with the glycemic index, is that they think they're supposed to only eat certain things and avoid other things. Most diets and eating plans work this way. The glycemic index however, is designed to help you make better eating choices, not tell you what to eat or not eat.
Most people also don't realize that there are conditions which can change the glycemic load of certain foods. Boiled potatoes for instance, have a GI rating which is lower than instant mashed potatoes. But if you mash those boiled potatoes with a fork, you've instantly created a higher GI food. And when you want to control your body's blood sugar levels either to lose weight or to manage specific health conditions, then lower GI foods are generally best.
Glycemic index ratings are also based on certain portion sizes. Many people for instance, think they're not supposed to eat carrots when using the Glycemic Index to control their blood sugar levels, because carrots have a GI rating of 71. But that rating is for cooked carrots only. Raw carrots have a much lower GI rating, and you'd have to eat an entire pound of raw carrots to get that large of a glycemic load from them.
Another example is pasta. Most people think they're not allowed to eat pasta when using the Glycemic Index to regulate their blood sugar levels, but this is not always the case. How well you cook your pasta will change the Glycemic Index rating for it. Undercooked pasta, also known as "al dente" pasta, has a lower GI load then pasta that is cooked until fully soft. Instant rice has a much higher GI rating than long grain or wild rice, and instant oatmeal has a higher GI rating than old fashioned cooked oatmeal. Even the differences in ripeness of a banana can dramatically change the glycemic load from eating that fruit.
When you eat anything - meals, snacks, drinks, anything - your body responds. If you eat or drink something with high levels of simple, quick sugars, your body will respond by quickly showing a rise in blood sugar levels. In healthy people, the body will immediately release insulin to lower those blood sugar levels fast. In diabetics however, the high blood sugar levels can be dangerous. And most people who have problems with obesity or insulin resistance are prone to diabetes, so these problems apply to them too.
Now the whole premise of the Glycemic Index is to learn which foods raise your blood sugar quickly, which raise it at more moderate levels, and which raise it slowly. The slower your blood sugars rise after you'e eaten, the better you're able to manage, maintain and regulate your body's weight. Foods which raise your blood sugar more slowly also tend to help keep you feeling full and satiated for longer periods of time, and are often lower in fat or higher in fiber too.
The most common misunderstanding most people have with the glycemic index, is that they think they're supposed to only eat certain things and avoid other things. Most diets and eating plans work this way. The glycemic index however, is designed to help you make better eating choices, not tell you what to eat or not eat.
Most people also don't realize that there are conditions which can change the glycemic load of certain foods. Boiled potatoes for instance, have a GI rating which is lower than instant mashed potatoes. But if you mash those boiled potatoes with a fork, you've instantly created a higher GI food. And when you want to control your body's blood sugar levels either to lose weight or to manage specific health conditions, then lower GI foods are generally best.
Glycemic index ratings are also based on certain portion sizes. Many people for instance, think they're not supposed to eat carrots when using the Glycemic Index to control their blood sugar levels, because carrots have a GI rating of 71. But that rating is for cooked carrots only. Raw carrots have a much lower GI rating, and you'd have to eat an entire pound of raw carrots to get that large of a glycemic load from them.
Another example is pasta. Most people think they're not allowed to eat pasta when using the Glycemic Index to regulate their blood sugar levels, but this is not always the case. How well you cook your pasta will change the Glycemic Index rating for it. Undercooked pasta, also known as "al dente" pasta, has a lower GI load then pasta that is cooked until fully soft. Instant rice has a much higher GI rating than long grain or wild rice, and instant oatmeal has a higher GI rating than old fashioned cooked oatmeal. Even the differences in ripeness of a banana can dramatically change the glycemic load from eating that fruit.
8.10.2008
Herbal Treatments for Insulin Resistance
In addition to dietary and exercise changes, there are many herbs which can help to naturally treat insulin resistance. Some of these herbs will help regulate your blood pressure, others will help regulate your blood sugar levels, and still others will help make your heart healthier.
While herbs can be used to successfully treat insulin resistance however, if you don't make the committment to having an overall healthier approach to life through foods and activities, you may find yourself not responding as well as you might have hoped. Herbs are just one part of an overall whole body approach to healing, they are not miracle drugs.
With that said, let's look at several herbs you might like to try integrating into your insulin resistance treatment program.
Cayenne, also known as Capsicum, is an herb which will regulate your blood pressure in addition to helping your heart become healthier. And getting your blood pressure under control is one step in the process of treating your insulin resistance problems.
Garlic is another very healthy and powerful herb which does a number of things. One of these is to regulate and normalize both your blood pressure and your blood sugar levels. Both of these factor in to controlling and managing your insulin resistance.
Chickweed is an herb which can help you naturally reduce your appetite, and this can in turn help you to lose some of your excess weight. It works best when combined with another herb known as Echinacea, which helps cleanse the glands and entire lymphatic system. This herbal duo is an effective tool for helping you to lose weight, and it works by making you feel as if you've recently eaten. So you feel full and uninterested in food.
Dandelion is an herb most often used for cleansing and toning the liver, but it's also quite useful for weight loss too. When an overweight or obese person starts losing weight, their blood can become overly acidic, and this can stop or inhibit the weight loss. Dandelion destroys and the extra acids in the blood stream, so you're body is able to continue shedding weight.
The added liver cleansing effects can often help too. Since Dandelion strengthens and tones the liver, the liver is better able to remove toxins and wastes from your body, and the removal of those toxins can help aid in weight loss plus provide a variety of other health benefits in the end.
Keep in mind when starting any of the natural treatments for insulin resistance, that it took your body a lot of time and abuse to get to the point it's currently at, so it will take time for it to heal, repair, and begin functioning normally again too.
Now that we've covered some of the basic ways to manage insulin resistance that might be causing you to not be able to lose weight, we'll look closer at several specific ways to change your eating habits which will help too.
While herbs can be used to successfully treat insulin resistance however, if you don't make the committment to having an overall healthier approach to life through foods and activities, you may find yourself not responding as well as you might have hoped. Herbs are just one part of an overall whole body approach to healing, they are not miracle drugs.
With that said, let's look at several herbs you might like to try integrating into your insulin resistance treatment program.
Cayenne, also known as Capsicum, is an herb which will regulate your blood pressure in addition to helping your heart become healthier. And getting your blood pressure under control is one step in the process of treating your insulin resistance problems.
Garlic is another very healthy and powerful herb which does a number of things. One of these is to regulate and normalize both your blood pressure and your blood sugar levels. Both of these factor in to controlling and managing your insulin resistance.
Chickweed is an herb which can help you naturally reduce your appetite, and this can in turn help you to lose some of your excess weight. It works best when combined with another herb known as Echinacea, which helps cleanse the glands and entire lymphatic system. This herbal duo is an effective tool for helping you to lose weight, and it works by making you feel as if you've recently eaten. So you feel full and uninterested in food.
Dandelion is an herb most often used for cleansing and toning the liver, but it's also quite useful for weight loss too. When an overweight or obese person starts losing weight, their blood can become overly acidic, and this can stop or inhibit the weight loss. Dandelion destroys and the extra acids in the blood stream, so you're body is able to continue shedding weight.
The added liver cleansing effects can often help too. Since Dandelion strengthens and tones the liver, the liver is better able to remove toxins and wastes from your body, and the removal of those toxins can help aid in weight loss plus provide a variety of other health benefits in the end.
Keep in mind when starting any of the natural treatments for insulin resistance, that it took your body a lot of time and abuse to get to the point it's currently at, so it will take time for it to heal, repair, and begin functioning normally again too.
Now that we've covered some of the basic ways to manage insulin resistance that might be causing you to not be able to lose weight, we'll look closer at several specific ways to change your eating habits which will help too.
8.08.2008
Natural Ways to Manage Insulin Resistance
The primary goals with managing insulin resistance naturally include a variety of things. You need to reduce your weight and body fat if you're obese, you need to improve your cholesterol levels and triglycerides, and you need to control your blood pressure. Additionally you need to make sure your heart is strong and healthy, and help your body relearn to use the blood glucose efficiently before your pancreas wears out and you develop type two diabetes.
Now we've talked a little about dietary changes that can help naturally manage and treat insulin resistance, and we've talked about how exercise plays a key role. We'll soon talk about herbal remedies and supplements that can be used to tie all these things together as well.
One thing we only touched on in previous sections, is the importance of getting additional fruits and vegetables into your diet. Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sugars, but high in fiber. And fiber has been shown to play a major role in how good or bad your cholesterol and triglyceride levels are.
Additionally, fruits and vegetables also tend to provide you with more nutrition, less calories, and help you stay feeling full and satiated for longer periods of time. So when you contemplate making changes to your dietary habits, be sure to add in extra servings of fruits and vegetables. This will help offset the foods you're reducing or removing, so you won't feel as deprived. And when your body starts responding well to the changes, you'll find yourself very happy as well.
Managing your blood pressure and stress levels can also play a major role in helping to manage and treat your insulin resistance. And while many people either don't realize it or don't believe it, these health issues can also be controlled, managed, and improved by the same changes in diet and exercise we've already mentioned.
Exercise is proven to release endorphins which make you happy. These endorphins in turn reduce your stress levels, and reducing stress levels turns around and reduces your blood pressure too.
Many simple changes in the types of foods you eat also help reduce blood pressure. Eating fruits and vegetables as we mentioned above, is a more natural food source which often doesn't have the preservatives and salts in them that packaged or fast foods do. So this one small change can help reduce your blood pressure, and that in turn can also help start to reduce your stress. Because when you're worried about health problems, you tend to have more pent up stress than the average healthy person does.
Now we've talked a little about dietary changes that can help naturally manage and treat insulin resistance, and we've talked about how exercise plays a key role. We'll soon talk about herbal remedies and supplements that can be used to tie all these things together as well.
One thing we only touched on in previous sections, is the importance of getting additional fruits and vegetables into your diet. Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sugars, but high in fiber. And fiber has been shown to play a major role in how good or bad your cholesterol and triglyceride levels are.
Additionally, fruits and vegetables also tend to provide you with more nutrition, less calories, and help you stay feeling full and satiated for longer periods of time. So when you contemplate making changes to your dietary habits, be sure to add in extra servings of fruits and vegetables. This will help offset the foods you're reducing or removing, so you won't feel as deprived. And when your body starts responding well to the changes, you'll find yourself very happy as well.
Managing your blood pressure and stress levels can also play a major role in helping to manage and treat your insulin resistance. And while many people either don't realize it or don't believe it, these health issues can also be controlled, managed, and improved by the same changes in diet and exercise we've already mentioned.
Exercise is proven to release endorphins which make you happy. These endorphins in turn reduce your stress levels, and reducing stress levels turns around and reduces your blood pressure too.
Many simple changes in the types of foods you eat also help reduce blood pressure. Eating fruits and vegetables as we mentioned above, is a more natural food source which often doesn't have the preservatives and salts in them that packaged or fast foods do. So this one small change can help reduce your blood pressure, and that in turn can also help start to reduce your stress. Because when you're worried about health problems, you tend to have more pent up stress than the average healthy person does.
8.05.2008
How Exercise Plays a Role in Insulin Resistance
Exercise can play a wonderful role in treating insulin resistance naturally. This is because exercise plays a wonderful role on our body overall. You see, having muscle mass will help you burn more fat and calories. Muscles require more energy to maintain than fat does, and this is why you'll burn more fat and calories when you have muscle. So simple strength training exercises can start you on your way to treating your insulin resistance.
Exercise also tends to burn more fat just because our bodies are moving around more. And the more active or strenuous your exercise is, the more fat you can burn. Burning fat is one of the fastest ways to treat insulin resistance, particularly if most of your fat is on your body.
When you combine exercise with dietary changes, you can see results much faster than you might expect. Following a low carb diet for instance, and working in exercise even just fifteen minutes a day, can show a drastic reduction in your belly fat within just a couple of weeks.
This is because the first several days of a low or restricted carb diet plan will flush out excess carbohydrates and sugars from your system. Once those extra carbs have been burned, your body will then start using its fat stores for energy instead of using carbohydrates. This starts fat burning automatically just from the change in eating habits.
When you also start exercising too though, you're automatically telling your body to consume more fat because you've drastically increased your energy requirements with the new activity. And since your body doesn't have an excess storage of carbohydrates for you to burn while exercising, it will start breaking down the stored fat for you to use for energy instead.
Exercise does not have to be a major chore either. In fact, many people simply look for ways to increase their activity each day instead. Going for a walk for instance, or taking your family for a bike ride, are both enjoyable experiences that give you more exercise.
If you want to build muscles so your body will burn extra calories and fat even while you're sleeping or watching tv, then try strength training or interval training. Interval training is actually the best of both worlds: It involves sudden, fast, heart pumping movements followed by more leisurely paced movements. This spurs your metabolism while also building the muscle strength too, and it can burn fat very quickly from your body.
Natural ways to get interval training into your day is to simple play some sports you enjoy. Things like tennis, raquetball, baseball and basketball are all examples of natural interval training.
Exercise also tends to burn more fat just because our bodies are moving around more. And the more active or strenuous your exercise is, the more fat you can burn. Burning fat is one of the fastest ways to treat insulin resistance, particularly if most of your fat is on your body.
When you combine exercise with dietary changes, you can see results much faster than you might expect. Following a low carb diet for instance, and working in exercise even just fifteen minutes a day, can show a drastic reduction in your belly fat within just a couple of weeks.
This is because the first several days of a low or restricted carb diet plan will flush out excess carbohydrates and sugars from your system. Once those extra carbs have been burned, your body will then start using its fat stores for energy instead of using carbohydrates. This starts fat burning automatically just from the change in eating habits.
When you also start exercising too though, you're automatically telling your body to consume more fat because you've drastically increased your energy requirements with the new activity. And since your body doesn't have an excess storage of carbohydrates for you to burn while exercising, it will start breaking down the stored fat for you to use for energy instead.
Exercise does not have to be a major chore either. In fact, many people simply look for ways to increase their activity each day instead. Going for a walk for instance, or taking your family for a bike ride, are both enjoyable experiences that give you more exercise.
If you want to build muscles so your body will burn extra calories and fat even while you're sleeping or watching tv, then try strength training or interval training. Interval training is actually the best of both worlds: It involves sudden, fast, heart pumping movements followed by more leisurely paced movements. This spurs your metabolism while also building the muscle strength too, and it can burn fat very quickly from your body.
Natural ways to get interval training into your day is to simple play some sports you enjoy. Things like tennis, raquetball, baseball and basketball are all examples of natural interval training.
8.03.2008
How to Manage Insulin Resistance Naturally with Food
Managing insulin resistance naturally is fairly simple to do in a number of ways. Because it requires making some lifestyle changes however, it's not considered easy to do by most. One of the easiest things you can do to help manage insulin resistance however, is to simply change the types of foods you eat.
In most cases, insulin resistance can be managed by cutting out simple sugars, starches and carbohydrates from your diet. This often has an added effect of increasing the amount of fiber rich foods you eat - which helps improve your cholesterol levels and ratios - but it also tends to add in many more vitamin rich, highly nutritious foods too. These foods often help give you added energy so you actually feel like being more active, plus they're often lower in calories so you end up losing weight because of the changes too.
Now changing to a lower carb lifestyle is not easy for some people. The primary goal is to remove or drastically reduce the amount of simple sugars you put into your system though, and sometimes just taking this one step can be all that's needed for some people. By reducing the amount of simple sugars you put into your body, you reduce the amount of sugar circulating in your blood. And by having less sugar for your pancreas to have to dispatch to the cells, you're creating less work overall. You're also producing less insulin even while your cells are still insulin resistant, because there is less sugar for your body to have to deal with.
Reducing simple sugars from your diet can be done by simply stopping your intake of things like sugared sodas. If you drink coffee or tea, try changing to an artificial sweetener or better yet: Some natural sweeteners instead. Be aware that this one small change can sometimes take several days to get used to. For people who are used to having large amounts of sugar in their diet, there may be withdrawel symptoms such as feeling like you have a cold, or having a headache. These symptoms go away after a few days though.
The next step you can take is to reduce simple starches in your diet. You don't neccessarily have to eliminate breads though, sometimes you can see great results by simply switching from a regular white bread to a whole grain variety such as pumpernickel. You can also stop using instant rice, and use long grain cooked varieties instead. Each of these small steps help reduce the amount of blood sugar your system has to deal with, and can in time reduce the insulin resistance problems you're experiencing too.
In most cases, insulin resistance can be managed by cutting out simple sugars, starches and carbohydrates from your diet. This often has an added effect of increasing the amount of fiber rich foods you eat - which helps improve your cholesterol levels and ratios - but it also tends to add in many more vitamin rich, highly nutritious foods too. These foods often help give you added energy so you actually feel like being more active, plus they're often lower in calories so you end up losing weight because of the changes too.
Now changing to a lower carb lifestyle is not easy for some people. The primary goal is to remove or drastically reduce the amount of simple sugars you put into your system though, and sometimes just taking this one step can be all that's needed for some people. By reducing the amount of simple sugars you put into your body, you reduce the amount of sugar circulating in your blood. And by having less sugar for your pancreas to have to dispatch to the cells, you're creating less work overall. You're also producing less insulin even while your cells are still insulin resistant, because there is less sugar for your body to have to deal with.
Reducing simple sugars from your diet can be done by simply stopping your intake of things like sugared sodas. If you drink coffee or tea, try changing to an artificial sweetener or better yet: Some natural sweeteners instead. Be aware that this one small change can sometimes take several days to get used to. For people who are used to having large amounts of sugar in their diet, there may be withdrawel symptoms such as feeling like you have a cold, or having a headache. These symptoms go away after a few days though.
The next step you can take is to reduce simple starches in your diet. You don't neccessarily have to eliminate breads though, sometimes you can see great results by simply switching from a regular white bread to a whole grain variety such as pumpernickel. You can also stop using instant rice, and use long grain cooked varieties instead. Each of these small steps help reduce the amount of blood sugar your system has to deal with, and can in time reduce the insulin resistance problems you're experiencing too.
8.02.2008
What is Insulin Resistance
Insulin is a type of hormone your body uses to help turn sugars you eat into fuel. After you eat a meal, there are higher levels of sugar, or glucose, circulating through your blood. The pancreas releases insulin to dispatch that blood sugar into cells for use as energy.
For many people however, some say as many as one in four Americans, the tissues of the body stop responding to insulin. When you have insulin resistance syndrome, your body's muscle cells are unable to absorb the sugar properly, so your body will make more insulin to try and force the sugar into your cells.
Insulin resistance is part of another syndrome referred to as Syndrome X. This term actually refers to a number of multiple health conditions which tend to be present along with insulin resistance. Both Syndrome X and Insulin Resistance are indicators of people who have much higher risks of developing type two diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
The combination of symptoms commonly seen with Syndrome X and Insulin Resistance include high blood pressure, high triglycerides, obesity, decreased "good" HDL cholesterol and higher "bad" LDL cholesterol levels.
Most people with insulin resistance tend to carry fat around the middle of their body. This is referred to as having an apple shape, and people who have this shape often have much higher risks of developing other health problems over time. Fat cells around the middle of your body are said to release fat into your blood stream much more easily than fat cells located in other areas of your body.
When you carry excess fat cells around your middle, that fat can start releasing into your blood stream within three to four hours of eating a meal, instead of many hours later as happens when the fat is stored elsewhere. This additional and quicker release of fat cells can cause your triglyceride levels to raise, which in turn lowers your HDL, or "good" cholesterol.
While it's not fully known which problem causes which complication, it's generally agreed upon that losing weight is one of the first steps to treating insulin resistance. Some say that insulin is unable to reach the muscle cells as easily because the fat is actually in the way and blocking it. So your body must release more insulin to force the sugar through the fat to where it's needed. If this is the case, then it's another good reason to start losing some of that extra fat.
Exercise is one of the biggest recommendations for helping insulin resistant people to lose weight, because the muscle mass accumulated from exercise helps to burn excess fat from your system as much as the additional activity does.
So in the following sections we'll look at the various treatment approaches and options for insulin resistance.
For many people however, some say as many as one in four Americans, the tissues of the body stop responding to insulin. When you have insulin resistance syndrome, your body's muscle cells are unable to absorb the sugar properly, so your body will make more insulin to try and force the sugar into your cells.
Insulin resistance is part of another syndrome referred to as Syndrome X. This term actually refers to a number of multiple health conditions which tend to be present along with insulin resistance. Both Syndrome X and Insulin Resistance are indicators of people who have much higher risks of developing type two diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
The combination of symptoms commonly seen with Syndrome X and Insulin Resistance include high blood pressure, high triglycerides, obesity, decreased "good" HDL cholesterol and higher "bad" LDL cholesterol levels.
Most people with insulin resistance tend to carry fat around the middle of their body. This is referred to as having an apple shape, and people who have this shape often have much higher risks of developing other health problems over time. Fat cells around the middle of your body are said to release fat into your blood stream much more easily than fat cells located in other areas of your body.
When you carry excess fat cells around your middle, that fat can start releasing into your blood stream within three to four hours of eating a meal, instead of many hours later as happens when the fat is stored elsewhere. This additional and quicker release of fat cells can cause your triglyceride levels to raise, which in turn lowers your HDL, or "good" cholesterol.
While it's not fully known which problem causes which complication, it's generally agreed upon that losing weight is one of the first steps to treating insulin resistance. Some say that insulin is unable to reach the muscle cells as easily because the fat is actually in the way and blocking it. So your body must release more insulin to force the sugar through the fat to where it's needed. If this is the case, then it's another good reason to start losing some of that extra fat.
Exercise is one of the biggest recommendations for helping insulin resistant people to lose weight, because the muscle mass accumulated from exercise helps to burn excess fat from your system as much as the additional activity does.
So in the following sections we'll look at the various treatment approaches and options for insulin resistance.
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