In this article, we will be covering important aspects and facets as to why
a low-carb diet is considered, nowadays, a much more healthy diet that promotes
weight loss, energetic life and most importantly a long-term healthy life.
We will introduce the concept of glycemic index, different hormones roles, and
finish by citing different low-carb diets.
The misconception is that we've always thought that a calorie is just a calorie
and we only gain weight by eating food items that are high in calories, such
as fat.
While this concept looks true, we have obviously missed many other factors that
contribute to increasing one's weight and demoting one's health.
Science is now showing that the key to a balanced life is the balance between
the different hormone secretions and functioning. For every food type (carbohydrates,
protein, fats) there are one or more responsible hormone. Each food item has
an effect on the production or activity of the equivalent hormones. Now it is
more convincing to study the effect of each food type on the hormonal secretion
and functionality and how they play a role in one's diet.
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Other Factors affecting Glycemic Index
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| Fiber Content | Fiber, especially soluble fiber, slows down the digestion of starch, therefore high fiber foods have lower glycemic index. For instance, apples with skin have a lower glycemic index than apples without skin. |
| Fat, Protein | Fat and protein slow down foods from leaving the stomach, therefore foods containing fat and protein such as beans and milk have lower glycemic index values. |
| Acid content | Lemon juice, vinegar or lime juice can also lower the glycemic effect of a meal. |
| Maturation | Unripened fruits have lower glycemic index values than ripe fruits. |
| Particle size and natural packaging form | For instance cracked grains produce a lower glycemic
index that coarse flour, which in turn produces a lower glycemic index than
finely milled flour. The larger the particle size, the lower the GI. It is noted that the lowest glycemic indexes are associated with the whole grains. |
| Processed food | Studies showed that when a grain is cooked, it
becomes gelatinized thus increasing its susceptibility of the starch to
enzymatic digestion. The less the food is processed the lower its GI. |
High glycemic index foods include glucose, sugar, honey, pineapple, raisins,
ripe bananas, baked/mashed potato, parsnips, carrots, rice, regular bread, Cornflakes,
muffins, dates.
Low glycemic index foods include legumes/pulses, beans, whole wheat pasta, barley,
whole wheat, apples, dried apricots, peaches, grapefruit, oranges, pears, avocados,
leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, broccoli, yogurt, milk and nuts.
The role of different hormones
Now that we have defined GI, we will now explain the glycemic effect of a meal
on the secretion and functioning of different hormones.
There are three general food items: Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats.
In layman's terms, carbohydrates are the food items that grow in the grounds,
immobile, such as grains, fruits, pasta, bread, etc... whereas protein moves
around, mobile, such as animal products (of course many non-animal food items
also have protein), and fats in its different forms is found in both animal
and vegetable products.
Whenever we eat carbohydrates, our body secretes insulin hormones. Insulin hormone
is known as "the storage hormone", it is produced by the beta-cells
of the pancreas. It tells the body to store incoming nutrients in the cells,
excess storage will be stored as fat and glycogen for later usage. If there
weren't enough insulin secretion, then our cells would starve to death. Not
only excess insulin will make you fat, but will also:
You don't have to stop eating high GI foods! But it may be better to eat them
with some low GI foods, as part of the same meal.
High GI food can give you so much sugar and potential energy that a lot can
be left over to turn to fat.
However, when we eat protein, our body secrets the glucagon hormones. Glucagon
hormone is known as "the mobilization hormone", and is also produced
in the pancreas.
As opposed to insulin (which is known as storage hormone), glucagon is the stored
nutrients mobilization hormone, it encourages the breaking down of stored fat
so that it may be used again as blood glucose.
Glucagon also plays a role in preventing hypoglycemia (low level of blood sugar),
whenever the blood sugar level is too low, the pancreas will release glucagon
which will break stored glycogen into glucose.
Whenever blood sugar level is low (not enough insulin) the glucagon is present,
and when the insulin is present the glucagon is absent. Both play a complementary
role for balancing the blood sugar level.
In short, glucagon is responsible for:
By now you may be wondering about the role of fat. Fat have no direct effect
on insulin nor on glucagon. Fat has an effect on another group of hormones called
eicosanoids, and these hormones also help control insulin levels. The eicosanoids
hormones are master hormones, just like a computer, they orchestrate the functions
of a wide variety of hormonal systems in the body.
So far we have covered how different hormones affect our system and how different
food items affect the hormones, we will now be covering how to use this information
in favor of weight loss, health and optimal body functioning.
When a person eats carbohydrates based meal, after digestion and absorption,
glucose level will increase. Accordingly, this will trigger insulin release,
which will cause the storage of fat. When blood sugar falls too low, glucagon
is triggered causing the release of stored fat into glucose, again balancing
the blood sugar.
We can see that the overweight person probably has increased insulin production
because of excessive stimulation of the pancreas through overeating or genetic
tendency towards insulin resistance (originally referred to as Syndrome X in
1988 by Dr. Gerald Reaven).
It is very difficult to lose weight when even low levels of circulating insulin
exist.
If a person becomes obese, then he might have high risk of developing insulin
resistance. Insulin resistance is a condition of decreased responsiveness to
insulin, whereas a larger than usual quantity of insulin is needed to balance
the blood sugar level. And as we know already, any increase of insulin level
is not healthy.
The question now is, how and what to eat to prevent high insulin secretion?
The key answer is "Balance". You need to balance your insulin against
your glucagon secretion. This is done by eating a balanced meal that will allow
the body to release little insulin and an appropriate counter amount of glucagon
hormones.
Many diet systems are devised to provide one with guidelines as what, when and
how to eat. Some of them are: "The Zone" and "The Sugar Busters"
diets.
Their typical meal is always composed of protein, carbohydrates (preferably
low GI) and fats. Studied amounts of these food combination will make sure that
you will not suffer any blood sugar level imbalance. These diets also encourage
3 meals and 2 snacks per day to maintain the blood sugar level.
These diets promises the following benefits: