Important benefit of controlling the glycemic response of the diet
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After researching all existing data suggesting a link between obesity, disease, and diet,the GNLD Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Global Science Network (GSN) discovered a disturbing trend. Over the past several decades there has been an alarmingly increased intake of “insulin-inducing” carbohydrates in the average adult’s diet. This trend was strongly correlated with a dramatic increase in excess weight and obesity, as well as diabetes.
Further investigation showed that the body’s “glycemic response” to carbohydrates (meaning how quickly blood glucose levels rise, and in what amounts, as a result of consuming a carbohydrate), was the culprit. High glycemic response diets set people up for weight gain, even when calories were not excessive. Armed with this knowledge, they concluded that if one could control his/her glycemic response to foods, one could control the way the body uses energy and creates and stores fat, and possibly help avoid disease.
At the foundation of the program is an in-depth understanding of how the body produces, uses and controls glucose. The body recognizes blood glucose as both an essential partner of energetic health and a potentially lethal adversary as well. The reason is that glucose is the basic carbohydrate energy unit that circulates through the bloodstream to our cells. However, it also has the potential to damage that same circulatory system if levels remain too high for too long. Thus, when blood glucose levels exceed certain predetermined upper limits, the body needs to lower those levels rapidly. To do that it secretes insulin, which enters the bloodstream and causes glucose to be lowered.
As we have learned more and more about how the body responds to carbohydrates, many leading scientists have come to believe that specific advantages can be gained by keeping the body’s glycemic response as controlled as possible. Eating a lower glycemic response diet results in lower, less dramatic elevations of blood glucose. This in turn means less insulin needs to be secreted. Secreting less insulin helps reduce the risk of diabetes because the body’s ability to make insulin is not continually overtaxed. Additionally, secreting less insulin is associated with more heart-healthy blood lipid levels, in particular lower triglycerides and higher HDL (good) cholesterol. Thus, it is thought that lower insulin secretion helps reduce the risk of heart disease.
One of the most interesting aspects of low glycemic response foods is that because they are converted to glucose and enter the bloodstream more slowly, they also provide more even and more lasting energy. Because they cause less insulin to be secreted, blood glucose levels stay within “safe” parameters and leave the blood more gradually and over a longer period of time. The result is a longer period of satiety (the state of hunger satisfaction) before hunger signals return. The advantage is that the longer one remains in satiety, the lower the amount of food that is eaten overall.
There is another important benefit of controlling the glycemic response of the diet when it comes to weight loss. The main line of reasoning for this relates to the “secondary” effects associated with glycemic response events.
Whenever a high glycemic response event occurs, blood glucose levels exceed the “controlled glycemic response zone” monitored by the body’s biochemical guard posts. When blood glucose value exceeds the upper limits of this zone, the body responds by secreting insulin. Frequently this causes a glycemic “roller coaster” as blood glucose levels move from high (hyperglycemia) to low (hypoglycemia).
Aside from causing a near constant demand for insulin secretion, two important secondary signals are sent out.
The first signal causes the body to go into fat storage mode. As the insulin secretions cause glucose to be cleared from the blood, the body must have a place to store it. It can’t just leave the glucose lying around somewhere. It must do something with it. It is left with no choice but to convert it to fat and store it.
The second signal causes fat utilization for energy purposes to be curtailed. With blood glucose levels running high and fat storage signals occurring, the body knows there is no need for more energy to be provided and thus shuts down fat utilization for energy purposes.
If you visualize this as a warehouse, materials would be coming in at a more rapid pace than they would be leaving. As you cannot stop this process, the warehouse has no choice but to expand. In other words, with your body as the warehouse, you leave it no choice but to grow larger with stored fat.
When this process repeats itself over and over throughout the day, week after week, month after month, year after year, the body is predisposed to gaining fat. It has no choice.
The advantages of Glycemic Response Control to the average person in everyday life are obvious, and significant. When it comes to weight loss, however, it can make a huge difference.
About the Author
Joe Golson - a Health and fitness / Home Business Marketing enthusiast.I work at home promoting my business and write articles and reviews of products related to Health and Fitness.Being a Diabetic myself,I read and research a lot of health related materials to stay informed.Visit our website : http://healthyherbalalternatives.gnld.net/
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