Glycemic Index 101

In Conclusion

Chapter 18:

Following the guidelines recommended by the Glycemic Index is effortless once you become familiar with it. You will soon come to realize that it doesn’t prohibit you from eating any food that you choose, it only recommends that you make the best choice you can in most situations because your body deserves it.

In the perfect scientific conditions the Glycemic Index is infallible. However, our lives are not as regimented as a laboratory. This means that in many outside factors can influence the Glycemic Index. As stated earlier in the report, eating foods together with other foods can change the Glycemic Index. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. It works for the good, too. If you choose a higher rated item and eat a low rated food with it, you will lower the Glycemic Index value of the higher rated food.

In fact, rather than eat a high GI food by itself either as a meal or as a snack, it would be better to add a low index food to it in order to slow your digestion down and help your system deal with the higher blood sugar.

Also, the way in which food is prepared can skew the Index. But the basic premise is there and the Glycemic Index does not lose its value because it is still providing us with invaluable information.

Even if the Glycemic Index values become “off” by a few points, they are still letting you know which foods are better for your system then others. And the whole purpose of the GI is to help you live your life while effortlessly choosing the best foods and becoming healthier every day.

There are still going to be some of you who will need a little bit more structure. That is fine and very understandable. It is going to be hard to make some of these changes and break some of the lifelong habits that have been formed.

If, in the beginning you find that you want to spend more time and become even more aware of how your food choices affect your blood glucose levels you could purchase a blood glucose meter and test your glucose levels at the same time after every meal. These meters are the same ones that diabetics use to test their blood sugar levels. They can be a little expensive and they aren’t really necessary, but if you would feel better knowing exactly how certain foods affect your system it may be a worthwhile investment.

But do not rely on this sort of behavior for a long. Learn what you need to know and move on. Lifelong changes will not happen if every time you have to eat it is a chore. Eating should just be a natural response to hunger. That is probably the hardest thing to learn. Food is so wrapped up with emotions and social situations that it will be hard for our brains to disconnect these bonds.

If you are going to spend a lot of time exerting tons energy on anything related to following the GI recommendations, it would be best to focus all of your energy on dealing with the emotions that you will encounter when you try to break established habits. This is where we sabotage our own actions. Invest in books or videos that will help you to deal with the anger and stubbornness that you will begin to exhibit once you start making changes.

There are many good books and websites and support groups that will help you to overcome these emotional issues. And always remember that no matter how hard it seems to be to live a healthier lifestyle (at least, at first) instead concentrate on how much harder it is on your body to fix itself if you continue making the food choices that you are currently making.

The best thing you could ever do is to start now and learn how to control your Glycemic Index and then pass these recommendations on to your family. By starting these habits with your children while they are young you will be instilling in them a lifetime of good health. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that your children may not ever have to struggle with weight issues or the threat of diabetes? And as they age and continue in this lifestyle they may avoid so many other diseases and serious health issues.

Now you are aware of what the Glycemic Index is and the terrible effects that an overload of glucose can do to your body. You have also learned what insulin is and what function it performs and how we can actually wear it out.

Additionally, you read how momentous the threat of diabetes is and how serious and complicated the disease can be. Along with that, you learned that heart disease is prevalent and even more so among women.

The good news is how easily all of these serious situations can be improved or even eliminated. And maybe the sweetest benefit of all is that along with a healthy body on the inside, comes a beautiful body on the outside!

After learning all of this, it is only natural that you will want to do everything that you can to improve your health and assist your body to function more naturally. It only takes a little bit of exertion at first and after that controlling your Glycemic Index is truly – effortless!

I hope this works well for you,
Dale Maple

Go to Top of In Conclusion

Go to Glycemic Index 101 Chapter Index

Go to the Home Page