Posts Tagged ‘blood sugar levels’

Go Nuts with the Glycemic Load Index

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

If you are a nut lover, then you are in for some good news. Most nuts are low on the glycemic load index. Luckily for nut lovers, nuts are among the lowest foods on the GI. Peanuts, cashews and walnuts, for example, are some of the lowest glycemic index foods around, which is part of what makes them such a great snack.

Since many nuts are very low on the glycemic load index, they will not affect one’s blood sugar levels much at all. This means that some nuts can be eaten without having to worry about their impact on blood sugar levels. Part of the beauty of the GI is that the list clearly tells dieters, diabetics and health conscious people what foods will cause spikes in their glucose levels. By knowing this information ahead of time, it is possible to avoid foods that can cause sudden rises in glucose levels. This can be very important if one is looking to avoid the highs and lows that can accompany foods high on the glycemic load index.

Peanuts and the Glycemic Load Index

Peanuts are very low on the glycemic load index, are a great source of protein, high in fiber and contain numerous vitamins and minerals. Several B Vitamins, including thiamine, folate, pantothenic acid and niacin can be found in considerable concentrations in peanuts. Likewise, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc are all well represented. Yet, peanuts still have more to offer as this little “nut” also has antioxidants, coenzyme Q10 (an important brain and heart compound) and an interesting compound known as resveratrol.

One fact should be pointed to immediately for all those reading this that happen to be sticklers for fine details. Peanuts are not technically nuts, but are instead are technically a legume. However, the nut family has clearly adopted the peanut. Therefore, it is still considered to be a nut on the glycemic load index.

The Importance of Walnuts

Now one might think that peanuts have won the day as the ultimate low glycemic load index snack food, but walnuts can certainly give the peanut a run for its money. Walnuts are also loaded down with nutrition and antioxidants. Walnuts also have a trick up hidden “under their shell.” Walnuts are loaded down with essential omega-3 fatty acids, which are vital to brain health. There is some evidence that walnuts can fight cancer, and compounds contained within walnuts may even ward off breast cancer and heart disease.

Few foods are loaded down with, as much overall goodness as nuts, and this is doubly the case for those nuts that fall on the low side of the glycemic load index. Adding nuts, especially walnuts and peanuts, to one’s diet is an easy way of eating more foods that are low on the GI. Eating more nuts may even increase your lifespan and help ward off diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Jonathan is main contributor and co-creator of the new Glycemic Index info based web-site: http://the-glycemic-index-guide.com . Get lots more info there on the Glycemic Load Index and also check out our free 10-part mini-eCourse, “Glycemic Index Secrets”, it might be all you’ll ever need (and did I mention it was free!!)

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5 Tips to Lose Weight and Get Slim in 2010

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Now that the New Year is upon us it is time to make an extra effort to lose weight and get fit. Here we provide you with 5 simple tips to help you lose weight. These tips are really quite obvious, but sometimes we just need a reminder of how to lose weight and stay in shape.
How to Lose Weight and Trim Fat
1. Burn more energy than you consume.
We actually require much fewer calories every day than most people think. On average, all that is required to lose two pounds per week is to reduce daily calorific intake by 1000kcal. Although a calorie restrictive diet is not always the best solution in the long term, it can be an effective way to lose unwanted fat.
2. Keep a Food and Exercise Journal
Deep down inside most of us know when we are eating the wrong things, and we often live in denial of the truth – we are overweight because we eat too much junk food. By keeping a food diary, it is possible to look objectively at what we are eating everyday. This can really help to motivate you to stick to the diet plan, as often just the act of writing “today I ate a Big Mac” is enough to shake yourself out of your state of denial and start focusing on eating healthily again.

The same rule applies to exercise. If you diary is blank for a week, it is glaringly obvious that you have not been exercising enough!
3. Don’t have your cake or eat it!
Simple reminder – cakes make us fat. And biscuits and sweet breads too. Cakes are full of refined flour (empty calories), sugar and fat. They may taste great, but they are certainly not good for those looking to lose a few pounds. And as they contain empty calories and sugars, your body will not be nutritionally fulfilled after eating, so will still crave more food, especially after the blood sugar levels drop again.
4. Grill meat rather than fry
This is really the easiest way to quickly cut a lot of fat from your diet without resorting to hiring a personal dietitian. Grilling does not require any additional fat to be added when cooking, and also allows fat from the meat to be drained during cooking. Also get into the habit of pouring off as much oil as possible before dishing up, or adding the meats to a stew.
5. The 20 minute rule
It takes approximately 20 minutes for your belly to feel full from the time you start eating. Many people eat their meals quickly, and then feel the need to eat more. Often by just waiting an additional 5 minutes people lose their appetite. Arnold Schwarzenegger follows this rule.

If you follow these simple rules you should start to lose some additional weight. To help with your weight loss plans, read up on our tips to lose belly fat. Learn more about losing weight in our weight loss section.

Exercising is essential to weight loss. We provide many celebrity workouts, home fitness workouts and strength training workouts, all of which will help you to tone up and lose weight. Attaining your ideal weight really is possible if you take a sensible approach to weight loss, using both diet and exercise to help to reduce and improve food intake, as well as train your body and tone up.

Jon runs MotleyHealth.com, a health and fitness community and also Medimise.com

Article Source: 5 Tips to Lose Weight and Get Slim in 2010

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Artificial Sweeteners – are they for Diabetic Persons

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Life was a lot less complicated at the time there have been two kinds of sweeteners, the white one and also the brown one. Nowadays, there are natural sweeteners (like honey), artificial sweeteners, semi-natural sweeteners, sugar alternatives, and so on.
Artificial sweeteners are in all food , from sodas to breakfast cereals and they are widespread among diabetics as a result of they will increase the sweetness of foods while not raising blood sugar levels. To a diabetic person who doesnýt want to give up on their most wanted soft drink or cake they can be a life-saver.

What are Artificial Sweeteners ?
Artificial sweeteners are chemicals that supply the sweetness of sugar while not the similar quantity of calories. Artificial sweeteners add sweetness while not not adding calories in two ways. First, they are so sweet ( approximately 160 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar) that you would use only a little bit to achieve the equivalent sweet flavor. You use up a small part of a calorie to get the sweetness of many more calories if you were using sugar instead . Second, because the body does not totally absorb them, it additionally does not totally absorb the little calories they hold. Therefore Artificial sweeteners are often used as part of a weight-loss arrange or as a manner to regulate weight gain.

Though FDA accepted, and widely utilized, lots of people wonder concerning the safety of sugar substitutes. But with few exceptions, they appear to create very little or no hazard when employed in self-control.

But for a diabetic person it is recommended to be doubtful since not all foods that utilizes artificial sweeteners would be healthy for him. This constitutes products that are tagged as sugar-free like cookies, yogurt and chocolates , but may well include sorbitol or mannitol that might activate an increase on the level of sugar within the bloodstream.

If youýre diabetic or not , you’re probably pleased with the concept of a sugar substitute. But did you understand that substitutes like artificial sweeteners could really do a lot of hurt than good?

There was a lot of exposure about artificial sweeteners. There are claims that these sweeteners bring about cancer and a variety of other medical illness. Several people would like to utilize artificial sweeteners, however they stay away from using them because they worry that they may be risky.

Saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose went through years of examining before the manufacturers were permitted to add them to foods. They need each been determined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be safe for use by almost all people.

The exemption is people who were born with a health situations known as phenylketonuria (PKU). These folks cannot metabolize foods that include a giant amounts of phenylalanine , which is one in all the ingredients in aspartame. Individuals with this health condition should avoid aspartame. Certain other individuals might state on headaches or other symptoms after consuming foods containing artificial sweeteners ,these individuals additionally ought to stay away from the artificial sweeteners .

So as for an artificial sweetener to be FDA permitted, it should be checked for safety. Though varied thorough investigation were arranged on artificial sweeteners and their relation to cancer, analysis has found no evidence to support such a link in humans.

The author is the owner of Artificial Sweeteners and the Diabetic Person web page.
He is retired From a communication company , and enjoys writing articles.For more information visit the web site http://www.the-diabetic-diets.com

Article Source: Artificial Sweeteners – are they for Diabetic Persons

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