Healthy Weight Loss and Carbohydrates
Probably the most misunderstood aspect of healthy weight loss is in the area of carbohydrates. After all, we are constantly told to eat lots of grains, breads and other carbohydrate laden foods, to do otherwise is not healthy.
In reality, your weight loss goal should determine how many carbohydrates you should consume as a part of your meal plan.
A focus of virtually all healthy weight loss diets is to reduce your intake of bad carbohydrates. Once you attain your proper weight you can then increase the amount of carbohydrates.
You’ll notice I used the term “bad carbohydrates”. Your goal is not to eliminate all carbohydrates; it’s to eliminate carbohydrates that raise insulin levels – a big difference. A better approach is to select nutrient rich foods that fill you up, are low in calories and are absorbed slowly so that hunger is reduced.
Carbohydrates are made up of simple sugars, starches and fiber (and any other non-absorbable sugars, such as sugar alcohols). Simple sugars and starches have an effect on insulin and blood sugar levels. Fiber, while also a carbohydrate, cannot be broken down and has no effect on insulin and blood sugar level.
One key to a healthy weight loss is to reduce your intake of the simple sugars and starches and increase your intake of fiber by using the glycemic index to help you select good carbs and avoid the bad ones.
Healthy Weight Loss and the Glycemic Index
The glycemic index evaluates foods according to how quickly the body converts the carbohydrates in the foods into glucose, or blood sugar.
Foods that are low on the glycemic index promote healthy weight loss by creating a slow, moderate rise in your blood sugar that is optimal for energy efficiency. As an individual trying to create a healthy weight loss eating plan, you want to choose low GI foods, which lead to lower insulin levels following your meals. This will help keep your hunger at bay and help you feel full longer. Additionally, the slower the conversion of carbohydrates into glucose, the more efficiently your body can dissolve fat and convert it into energy. It’s a win-win situation!
You do need to read labels though, so that you can separate the good carbohydrates from the bad – the bad being those that effect insulin and blood sugar levels. Also getting to know the Glycemic Index Food Chart can go a long way to help you separate the good carbohydrates from the bad. For more information about the Glycemic Index Food Chart, see my article Getting To Know The Glycemic Index Food Chart.
A simple healthy weight loss rule of thumb is to stay away from high sugar, low fiber carbohydrates and focus on eating carbohydrates that are fiber rich. Select those foods that have lots of fiber, some protein and less sugar. When you read a label, subtract the amount of fiber from the total carbohydrates to determine how many “bad carbs” are in the foods that you eat.
For example: a cup of mashed potatoes has approximately 35 grams of carbohydrates, 5 of which are fiber. This would count as 30 grams of bad carbohydrates (35 – 5 = 30). A cup of broccoli has 10 grams of carbohydrates, 6 of which are fiber, so this would count as only 4 grams of carbohydrates (10 – 6 = 4). Which do you think is the healthier choice?
When it comes to healthy weight loss, grandmother was right when she told us to eat your greens and go easy on the potatoes, bread and sweets.
Another key ingredient to healthy weight loss is cleansing your body of chemicals and toxins. This will be covered in a later post.
This article focused on the relationship between healthy weight loss and carbohydrates. In our next permanent weight loss article, “Permanent Weight Loss – Protein and Weight Loss” we will discuss why eating the right amount of protein every day is a must and how to determine how much you should eat on a daily basis.
Note: One of my favorite resources of healthy weight loss information is Peter Glickman’s Raw Foods Website.
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