WHY LOW CARB DIETS
ARE BAD!
Your body needs
to maintain a certain glucose level in the blood to serve the brain and central nervous system. To ensure that glucose is
readily available, your body stores it in the muscles and liver. This storage is called glycogen. If you are not eating the
right amount of carbohydrates your body will take these glycogen stores, break them down, and convert them to glucose. Once
the glycogen is used up, then starts breaking down muscle protein to synthesize glucose for vital organs.
This will make you
feel irritable, headachy and sick, and it causes a loss of lean muscle, tissue and water, two things that your body needs.
It WILL NOT help you loose weight in the long run because the bodies fat stores can not be converted to glucose.
So it’s all about eating more of the “good”
(complex), low glycemic index carbs, rather than low amount of carbs that will keep the weight off for good!
“complex”
“simple”
______________________________________________
0
50
100
“So what are
the examples of the “good” types of carbs tat need to be included into my diet”?
ü 100% stone ground whole wheat bread (GI=51)
ü Multi-grain breads(GI=49)
ü Fruits (remember fruit acts as a simple carb when eaten alone, add a fat and protein for it to become complex!)
ü Vegetables
ü Bulgar
ü Beans
ü Lentils
ü Legumes
ü All Bran, or other high fiber cereals
ü Oatmeal
THE GLYCEMIC INDEX SCALE
“complex”
“simple”
______________________________________________
0
50
100
GI: low=1-55 mid=56-69 High=70-100
|
Glycemic Index |
|
Beans
baby
lima
32
baked 43
black 30
brown 38
butter 31
chickpeas 33
kidney 27
lentil 30
navy 38
pinto 42
red
lentils 27
split peas 32
soy 18
Breads
bagel
72
croissant 67
Kaiser roll 73
pita 57
pumpernickel 49
rye 64
rye, dark 76
rye, whole 50
white
72
whole wheat 72
waffles 76 |
Cookies
Graham
crackers 74
oatmeal 55
shortbread 64
Vanilla Wafers 77
Crackers
Kavli
Norwegian 71
rice cakes 82
rye 63
saltine 72
stoned wheat thins 67
water crackers 78
Desserts
angel
Food Cake 67
banana bread 47
blueberry muffin 59
bran muffin 60
Danish 59
fruit bread 47
pound cake
54
sponge cake 46
|
Grains
barley
22
brown rice 59
buckwheat 54
bulger 47
chickpeas 36
cornmeal 68
couscous 65
hominy 40
millet 75
rice,
instant 91
rice, parboiled 47
rye 34
sweet corn 55
wheat, whole 41
white rice 88
wh. rice, high amylose
59
Juices
agave
nector 11
apple 41
grapefruit 48
orange 55
pineapple 46
|
|
Cereals
All
Bran 44
Bran Chex 58
Cheerios 74
Corn Bran 75
Corn Chex 83
Cornflakes 83
Cream of Wheat 66
Crispix 87
Frosted
Flakes 55
Grapenuts 67
Grapenuts Flakes 80
Life 66
Muesli 60
NutriGrain 66
Oatmeal 49
Oatmeal 1 min 66
Puffed
Wheat 74
Puffed Rice 90
Rice Bran 19
Rice Chex 89
Rice Krispies 82
Shredded Wheat 69
Special K 54
Swiss
Muesli 60
Team 82
Total 76 |
Fruit
apple
38
apricot, canned 64
apricot, dried 30
apricot jam 55
banana 62
banana, unripe 30
canteloupe 65
cherries
22
dates, dried 103
fruit cocktail 55
grapefruit 25
grapes 43
kiwi 52
mango 55
orange 43
papaya 58
peach
42
pear 36
pineapple 66
plum 24
raisins 64
strawberries 32
strawberry jam 51
watermelon 72 |
Milk Products
chocolate
milk 34
ice cream 50
milk 34
pudding43
soy milk 31
yogurt 38
Pasta
brown
rice pasta 92
gnocchi 68
linguine, durum 50
macaroni 46
macaroni & cheese 64
spaghetti 40
spag. prot.
enrich. 28
vermicelli 35
vermicelli, rice 58
Sweets
honey
58
jelly beans 80
Life Savers 70
M&M's Choc. Peanut 33
Skittles
70
Snickers 41 |
THE GLYCEMIC INDEX SCALE
“complex”
“simple”
______________________________________________
0
50
100
GI: low=1-55 mid=56-69 High=70-100
**Just because a food in low in glycemic index, does not necessarily mean that it is low in fat! Make
sure to read your labels or refer to the index of food in the back of our manual for fat content in foods.
