To speak about nutrition, I thought it would be helpful to talk about the Glycemic Index. I am currently taking food and nutritional introduction course online with Stanford and found it very interesting. This blog will include what the index is, what foods have different Glycemic indexes, and the best approach to changing your diet.
The Glycemic Index measures the speed in which glucose is released into the bloodstream. Glucose is a simple sugar that metabolizes into energy (ATP) and is converted into fat (Adipose Tissue) to store the glucose. The Glycemic Index Foundation website states that people can easily digest, absorb, and metabolize carbohydrates with a low GL value (55 or less), causing a slower rise in blood glucose and a balanced amount of insulin within one’s body. As we all know, too little insulin can result in diabetes, and too much insulin can cause several other issues. With a low Glycemic Index diet, it reduces the risk of contracting chronic diseases, ensuring you maintain homeostasis, and it honestly better for your body as a whole.
An image within the website discusses the numerous benefits that come from having a low glycemic index diet. The benefits include better brain performance, fueling your body with energy, and improving blood flow. As muscular dystrophy can impair these several things, it demonstrates how crucial it is to maintain a healthy nutritional diet. Some scientists conduct more research every day to test the benefits of different nutrients, foods, and supplements that I believe help people dramatically. Since I eat predominantly healthy in my diet, I am a prime example of how beneficial eating healthy can be. On top of the physically related influences from a diet, it enables your brain to work a maximum efficiency to help you learn and assist the society around you.
The Mayoclinic website about nutrition and healthy eating gives examples of foods with Low Gi, Medium GI, and High GI. They state that “Green vegetables, most fruits, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils…” are examples of low GI foods. The article mentions that “sweet corn, bananas, raw pineapple, oat breakfast cereals, multigrain, and oat bran or rye bread” are examples of Medium GI food. “White rice, white bread, and potatoes” are their examples of high GI foods. I eat many vegetables, including broccoli, beans, spinach, lettuce, etc. I eat most medium GI foods, including the ones I specified below. I do not eat many high Gi foods, but I do eat potatoes. Typically, a low GI diet is the healthiest approach for you because you have lower cholesterol levels, high brain function, balanced insulin levels ensure no excess weight gain (or weight loss), and manages blood glucose levels.
The Mayoclinic’s website also emphasizes the need to not only focus on the GI index to maintain a healthy diet because there are so many other factors that influence your health, such as fibers, proteins, and fats. Changing your diet to a healthier one requires caution and nutritional experts, reliable website information, and blood tests to determine what has to change. I am lucky that I have self-guided research, a determined mother, several doctors, and a nutritionist to help determine the way my diet looks.
Nutritional/healthy eating is probably the most important thing for you to maintain. Medications can cause many health problems and excess weight gain that is combatted by healthy eating habits. It is horrible today that some doctors and people do not emphasize the importance of these habits in our daily lives. With numerous platforms and time, you can construct your wholesome diet as everyone’s body is different. The Glycemic Index is one approach you can take to managing your lifestyle but understand that several other determinants go into it. I would encourage every time to retain a somewhat low GI food diet that does not contain processed foods that almost always lead to a dramatic increase in the index.
My experiences have shown how life-changing nutritional eating can be as I continue to try new approaches to food and even learn how to cook. Take control of your diet, with the assistance of other people, and have fun with it; people have so much anxiety around healthy eating. I enjoy eating healthy and cannot stand looking at processed foods because all I see is the unnatural process that went into making them.
Take your first steps or increase your knowledge regarding healthy eating as you will be more aware of the situation in turmoil today. The rates of obesity and diabetes are astounding and NEED to be suppressed as it can lead to many other issues. I firmly believe that rates of disease could dramatically increase by emphasizing the need to maintain a healthy diet.
