The Weight Loss Digest

Using The Glycemic Index (Gi) To Help You Lose Weight Is Popular. But It Was Designed For Diabetics! Will It Work For You?

 

The Glycemic Index (GI) & Your Weight Loss Diet

• • The glycemic index (GI) is a scale from 1 to 100 that measures how quickly carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose.
  • GI does have some useful applications, such as the use of high GI foods or drinks for post-workout nutrition and the strong emphasis on low GI foods for those with blood sugar regulation problems.
  • The glycemic index is based on eating carbohydrates by themselves in a fasted state.
  • When carbs are eaten in mixed meals that contain protein and some fat, the glycemic index loses its significance because the protein and fat slow the absorption of carbohydrates (as does fiber).
  • A far more important and relevant criterion for selecting carbs for weight loss – as well as all your other foods, proteins, and fats included – is whether they are natural or processed.
  • A calorie deficit is the most important factor of all when fat loss is your goal.
  • The glycemic index is not a “gimmick” and should not be completely disregarded, as it is a legitimate nutritional tool.
  • Eating high-GI foods after your workouts is a good idea.
  • Eating Low glycemic index foods alone does NOT guarantee you will lose fat.
  • You have to take in the bigger picture, which includes calories – energy balance, meal timing and frequency, macronutrient composition, choice of processed versus refined foods, as well as, how all these nutritional factors interact with your exercise program.

 

Many diet programs revolve around the concept of Glycemic Index (GI). Some even say that the GI is the “key to fat loss.”

While the GI is one important aspect of fat-burning nutrition, using GI as your only criterion for choosing foods may not be the diet panacea that some “gurus” want you to believe.

 

 

The Glycemic Index (GI)
Key To Fat Loss Or Just Another Diet Gimmick
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

The glycemic index (GI) is a scale from 1 to 100 that measures how quickly carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose.

The original purpose of the glycemic index was to help diabetics keep their blood sugar under control.

The glycemic index has recently attracted a lot of attention in the bodybuilding, fitness, and weight loss world and has even become the central theme in numerous best-selling diet books as a method to choose the foods that are best for losing weight.

According to advocates of the glycemic index system, foods that are high on the GI scale such as rice cakes, carrots, potatoes, watermelon or grape juice are “unfavorable” and should be avoided because high GI foods are absorbed quickly, raise blood sugar rapidly and are therefore more likely to convert to fat or cause health problems.

Instead, we are urged to consume carbohydrates that are low on the GI scale such as black-eye peas, barley, old-fashioned oatmeal, peanuts, grapefruit, apples, and beans because they do not raise blood sugar as rapidly.

While the GI does have some useful applications, such as the use of high GI foods or drinks for post-workout nutrition and the strong emphasis on low GI foods for those with blood sugar regulation problems, there are flaws in strictly using the glycemic index as your only criteria to choose carbs on a weight loss program.

For example, the glycemic index is based on eating carbohydrates by themselves in a fasted state.

You should be eating small, frequent meals to increase your energy, maintain lean body mass, and optimize your metabolism for fat loss.

However, since the glycemic index of various foods was developed based on eating each food in the fasted state, the glycemic index loses some of its significance. you should be eating small, frequent meals to increase your energy, maintain lean body mass, and optimize your metabolism for fat loss.

However, since the glycemic index of various foods was developed based on eating each food in the fasted state, the glycemic index loses some of its significance.

In addition, when you are on a diet program aimed at improving body composition (losing fat or gaining muscle), you will usually be combining carbs and protein with each meal to improve your fat-to-muscle ratio.

When carbs are eaten in mixed meals that contain protein and some fat, the glycemic index loses even more of its significance because the protein and fat slow the absorption of carbohydrates (as does fiber).

Mashed potatoes have a glycemic index near that of pure glucose, but combine the potatoes with a chicken breast and broccoli, and the glycemic index of the entire meal is lower than the potatoes by itself.

Rice cakes have a very high glycemic index, but if you were to put a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter on them, the fat would slow the absorption of the carbs, thereby lowering the glycemic index of the combination.

A far more important and relevant criterion for selecting carbs for weight loss – as well as all your other foods, proteins, and fats included – is whether they are natural or processed.

To say that a healthy person with no metabolic disorders should completely avoid natural, unprocessed foods like carrots or potatoes simply because they are high on the glycemic index is ridiculous.

I know many bodybuilders (myself included) who eat high glycemic index foods such as white potatoes every day right up until the day of competition and they reach single-digit body fat.

How do they do it if high GI foods “make you fat?” It’s simple – high GI foods DON’T necessarily make you fat – choosing natural foods and burning more calories than you consume are far more important factors. Alth

It’s not correct to say that all calories are created equal, a calorie deficit is the most important factor of all when fat loss is your goal.

The glycemic index is not a “gimmick” and should not be completely disregarded, as it is a legitimate nutritional tool. Is it a good idea to eat low-GI foods in general?

Sure. Is eating high-GI foods after your workouts a good idea?

Absolutely. But diet programs that hang their hats on glycemic index alone as the “miracle solution” are just another example of how one single aspect of nutrition can be used as a “hook” in marketing and said to be the “end all be all” of fat loss when it’s only one small piece of the puzzle.

Eating Low glycemic index foods alone does NOT guarantee you will lose fat.

You have to take in the bigger picture, which includes calories/energy balance, meal timing and frequency, macronutrient composition, choice of processed versus refined foods as well as how all these nutritional factors interact with your exercise program.

 

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men, and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program.