Low GL
Diet
Highlights:
The main key to the Low GL Diet is balancing blood sugar levels and low
GL foods are important in this. GL refers to the glycemic
load of foods. The glycemic load of a food is determined by
how much sugar from the food hits your blood stream and how
quickly it . The higher the number, the more sugar there will be
going through your blood veins. Generally, when foods are
highly processed, there is a higher GL especially with regard to
carbohydrate foods. White bread has a much higher GL than wheat and
brown rice is better than white.
A low GL diet is a long term
solution. Although you might see some short term results, the
most dramatic differences will come after 30 days. Many
people start to lose weight in just 7 days and in 20 days will see a
marked difference in their skin. After 30 days you can
“feel like a new you.” You do not feel
hungry like you do with some diets and the food is tasty and there is
good variety. This diet is safe. This diet is
designed to improve your health in the short term as well as the long
term. It is also easy. There are 5 main keys to
the Low GL diet:
1.
Balance Your Blood Sugar
This is getting the right flow of sugar into your system.
With too much sugar, your body reacts with greatly increased insulin
flow which results in lethargy or feeling low. Just cutting our
calories and getting very little sugar does not give your body enough
energy and you will also feel low on energy and hungry. The
goal is to get the foods that release sugar in a steady flow throughout
the day.
2. Eat
the Good Fats
Our bodies need the right kind of fats to produce all that it needs
to. Examples of good fats are Omega 3 and 6 fats as well as
monounsaturated fats like the type found in olive oil. Stay away from
saturated fats and especially, trans-fats and hydrogenated fats.
3.
Eliminate Your Hidden Allergies
Many of us are allergic to common foods and are not aware of
it. Food allergies can cause bloating and water retention for
example. It we are allergic to certain foods, after a 3 month
removal of allergic foods, we might be able to resume eating these
foods without any adverse effect.
4. Take the Right Supplements
We do not get all that our bodies need from what we eat. Also,
living in our modern, polluted environments, we need certain
supplements to help us to eliminate or guard us from pollutants and
harmful substances.
5.
Exercise
Patrick Holford recommends 15 minutes a
day which helps your body in so many ways. For this diet
specifically, exercise does a lot to stabilize your blood sugar levels
and actually reduces your appetite.
Summary:
I strongly recommend the Low GL diet. It is based on solid research and
the benefits will be long lasting. On this diet, your
energy level will improve, the weight that you take off will stay
off and it will have long term benefits to your overall health.
For more reading:
The
Holford Low-GL Diet by Patrick Holford
is an excellent book on this diet which includes a detailed rationale
of the diet and many tasty recipes.
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