End Yo Yo Dieting With The Glycemic Index

Are you fed up with diets that make you think about nothing but food?

I'm talking about the ones that forbid you to put a fork to your mouth before you've counted up the points, calories, carbs or fat grams you're about to consume. Who can live like that? Isn't there a way to eat healthy without having to obsess over it?

Well, today we're going to talk about how to choose the things you should be eating -- without counting anything ever again.

I said before, and I'll reiterate again, that the key to losing weight and keeping it off is to keep our blood sugar in check. Any time there is more glucose in our blood than our body can use for energy, it will be stored as fat.

Grains and sugar are the chief culprits when it comes to spiking those blood sugar levels, so we've eliminated those evil items from our diet.

But there's a whole world of food out there beyond grains and sugar. Some of it is good for us (and our waistline) and some of it isn't. How are we supposed to tell the difference?

Well, you may or may not have heard of a very handy tool called the Glycemic Index. The GI is a method of measuring how much glucose certain foods produce in your blood stream.

Foods that spike your blood sugar, like white rice, potatoes and even table sugar itself, have a high Glycemic Index number.

Foods that raise your blood sugar moderately have a medium GI. And those that cause little or no elevation in your blood sugar levels are said to be low GI.

The whole thing can be pretty complex, but basically it goes something like this:

Foods with a High GI include: Refined grains, potatoes, sweets, breads and pastas

Foods with a Medium GI include: Whole grains (like brown rice and barley), some beans

Foods with a Low GI include: Most fruits and vegetables (except potatoes) proteins (like fish, chicken, turkey, beef) and nuts

You want to concentrate on foods that have a Medium-Low to Low GI. Beans, fruits, veggies, and meats. You want natural foods instead of highly processed ones, as the more something is processed, the higher the GI.

And you want to be very sparing with anything on the higher ends of the GI chart.

This is why there's no need to count points, calories, or grams of anything ever again. Just by sticking to the foods that will not spike your blood sugar, and eating until you're full, you'll lose weight.

Lisa Packer is one of the founders of GetOffTheYoYo, a website dedicated to ending the cycle of Yo-Yo dieting forever! Find a wealth of information on what works and what doesn't, and how to lose weight sensibly and permanently. Visit http://www.GetOffTheYoYo.com today!