Glycemic Index Carbohydrates

In the Glycemic Index carbohydrates play a major role. They determine how much of the food you eat is converted into fat and how much is used up immediately to satify the energy needs of your body.

The more excess calories are generated, the more fat is added to your body mass.

The glycemic index compares the potential of foods containing the same amount of carbohydrate to raise blood glucose.

However, the amount of carbohydrate consumed affects blood glucose levels and insulin responses. The glycemic load of a food is calculated by multiplying the glycemic index by the amount of carbohydrate in grams provided by a food and dividing the total by 100.

Dietary glycemic load is the sum of the glycemic loads for all foods consumed in the diet. The concept of glycemic load was developed by scientists to simultaneously describe the quality (glycemic index) and quantity of carbohydrate in a meal or diet.

It's all in the quantity: 

Although most candy has a relatively high Glycemic Index, eating a single piece of candy will result in a relatively small glycemic response.

Why? Well, simply because your body's glycemic response is dependent on both the type AND the amount of carbohydrate consumed. This concept, known as Glycemic Load, was first popularized in 1997 by Dr. Walter Willett and associates at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Use common sense when trying to lose weight. One apprach that is known to work well for people with some self discipline is this one: Tjhe Better choice diet:

The 4 Steps of the Better Choices Diet:

1. Make a daily record of everything you eat. Making a record of your diet can be a somewhat tedious task if you're using paper and pencil, but with a little practice it's easy! 
2. Determine which foods contribute the most Calories to your diet. The primary focus of the Better Choices Diet is to gradually replace some of the foods that you now eat with other foods that are more supportive of your goals. It makes sense to start with those foods that are contributing the most calories to your diet, since this is most likely to have the greatest positive impact on your progress.
3. Make Better Choice substitutions for those foods. For each item on your list, you'll have to determine what foods are better substitutions. Looking them up on the web is quite easy.
4. Repeat. Your goal is to gradually evolve your diet to include more nutritious and filling foods and less unhealthy and unsatisfying foods. Over time, as you incorporate more of these foods into your diet, the total calories that you consume will drop, and the overall nutrient density of your meals will increase.

Glycemic Index Carbohydrates