Here is why you should choose Low GI ..
Choosing a Low GI Diet over Fad Weight Loss Plans
Choosing a Low GI Diet over Fad Weight Loss Plans
By Shari Lieberman
Get Off the Diet Roller Coaster and Kick Fad Weight Loss Plans
If you are like most people, you’ve tried the majority of the weight loss plans available, only to be back at square one. There are reasons why this happens. But even more important, you need to know that you did not fail — the diet failed you! For most people who have struggled with healthy weight loss, a low GI diet is an effective alternative to traditional calorie-restrictive diets that just don’t work.
Calorie restriction is what just about all weight loss plans have in common. One of the major reasons calorie restriction doesn’t work is that it slows metabolism, unlike a low GI diet. Studies have shown that calorie restriction can slow your metabolism by as much as 10-15 percent. This is due to a survival mechanism that takes care of us during times of famine. In our hunter-gatherer days, when we would suddenly stop eating the same amount of calories, it was a signal to our bodies that food was scarce and we may be facing starvation. So, to preserve calories, our body adapted to this situation by slowing down our metabolism. It doesn’t matter that you have enough food in your refrigerator to feed yourself for a month — there is really no way to bypass this survival mechanism. If calorie-restricted weight loss plans aren’t the answer — then what is?
What is the Glycemic Index (GI)?
The answer is a low GI diet that focuses on the glycemic index (GI) rather than restricting calories. The GI is a measurement of the impact that a carbohydrate food has on your blood sugar — white bread has a high GI while beans and lentils have a low GI. The most complete list of the GI of foods can be found in Transitions Glycemic Index Food Guide. High GI foods cause a rapid rise in blood sugar (glucose) that in turn causes a rapid rise in insulin. When these two events happen, the body will store body fat. The great news is that when you follow a low GI diet, you don’t have to count calories because most low GI foods are healthier, more nutrient dense and have fewer calories than foods with a high GI.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, one of the most respected scientific publications, compared calorie-restricted weight loss plans to a low glycemic ad libitum (non-calorie-restricted, low GI diet). The authors concluded that the decrease in total cholesterol was significantly greater with low GI diets when compared to calorie restricted diets, as was the change in LDL-cholesterol. The authors also concluded that overweight or obese people on a low GI diet lost more weight and had more improvement in lipid profiles than those on calorie-restricted weight loss plans. Body mass, total fat mass, body mass index, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol all decreased significantly more in the low glycemic index group. In studies comparing non-calorie-restricted, low GI diets to conventional restricted calorie low-fat diets, participants fared as well or better on the low GI diet, even though they could eat as much as desired. Lowering the glycemic load of the diet appears to be an effective method of promoting weight loss and improving lipid profiles and can be simply incorporated into a person’s lifestyle.
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About the Author
Shari Lieberman, PhD is the Founding Dean of New York Chiropractic College’s Master of Science Degree in Applied Clinical Nutrition; an industry consultant; a peer reviewer for scientific publications; and a published scientific researcher. Dr. Lieberman is a frequent guest on television and radio and her name is often seen in magazines as an authority on nutrition. She has been in private practice as a clinical nutritionist for more than 20 years. Dr. Shari Lieberman has partnered with Market America to develop the Transitions Lifestyle System.
