Low-glycemic weight loss is longer lasting
Updated June 08, 2015.
By DrRich
Everyone who has dieted has had the experience of losing weight, and then gaining it right back. Some experts believe that weight loss itself produces two effects that cause us to put the pounds right back on. First, the calorie restriction increases our hunger and sooner or later we begin to consume more calories; and second, the weight loss causes our metabolism to slow so fewer calories are burned.
Recently, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Associationthat patients who lost weight with a low-glycemic diet kept the weight off longer than patients who lost the same amount of weight with a standard low-fat diet. (Low-glycemic foods are carbohydrates that are slowly absorbed. In contrast, high-glycemic carbohydrates - the "fast" carbs - are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream, leading to wide fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels. The high-glycemic carbs include sugar, potatoes, pasta, white rice, and white bread.) The investigators took 39 young, overweight patients and randomized them to either a low-glycemic diet or a low-fat diet. Patients in both groups dieted until they lost at least 10% of their body weight.
The investigators reported that patients in the low-glycemic group reported less hunger than their low-fat counterparts, and further, the slowing down in their metabolism was less than that seen in the low-fat group. Consequently, they were able to keep the weight off more efficiently than patients in the low-fat group.
Furthermore, the low-glycemic weight loss produced a greater reduction in triglyceride levels, insulin resistance, and blood pressure than in the low-fat group.
It is likely that the key to the beneficial effects seen with the low-glycemic diet were due to avoidance of the spikes in blood glucose - and thus in blood insulin levels - seen in diets that allow high-glycemic carbohydrates (such as low-fat diets). Spiking-then-falling insulin levels are known to produce great hunger Further, insulin keeps people from metabolizing fat they've already stored, and when they're hungry they have trouble burning that stored energy - and consequently they consume more energy. The low-glycemic diet avoids this pattern of eating-hunger-eating-hunger.
The bottom line is that losing weight is still a matter of reducing the calories you eat and increasing the calories you burn up. But it turns out that what kind of calories you do eat when losing weight makes a lot of difference.
By DrRich
Everyone who has dieted has had the experience of losing weight, and then gaining it right back. Some experts believe that weight loss itself produces two effects that cause us to put the pounds right back on. First, the calorie restriction increases our hunger and sooner or later we begin to consume more calories; and second, the weight loss causes our metabolism to slow so fewer calories are burned.
Recently, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Associationthat patients who lost weight with a low-glycemic diet kept the weight off longer than patients who lost the same amount of weight with a standard low-fat diet. (Low-glycemic foods are carbohydrates that are slowly absorbed. In contrast, high-glycemic carbohydrates - the "fast" carbs - are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream, leading to wide fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels. The high-glycemic carbs include sugar, potatoes, pasta, white rice, and white bread.) The investigators took 39 young, overweight patients and randomized them to either a low-glycemic diet or a low-fat diet. Patients in both groups dieted until they lost at least 10% of their body weight.
The investigators reported that patients in the low-glycemic group reported less hunger than their low-fat counterparts, and further, the slowing down in their metabolism was less than that seen in the low-fat group. Consequently, they were able to keep the weight off more efficiently than patients in the low-fat group.
Furthermore, the low-glycemic weight loss produced a greater reduction in triglyceride levels, insulin resistance, and blood pressure than in the low-fat group.
It is likely that the key to the beneficial effects seen with the low-glycemic diet were due to avoidance of the spikes in blood glucose - and thus in blood insulin levels - seen in diets that allow high-glycemic carbohydrates (such as low-fat diets). Spiking-then-falling insulin levels are known to produce great hunger Further, insulin keeps people from metabolizing fat they've already stored, and when they're hungry they have trouble burning that stored energy - and consequently they consume more energy. The low-glycemic diet avoids this pattern of eating-hunger-eating-hunger.
The bottom line is that losing weight is still a matter of reducing the calories you eat and increasing the calories you burn up. But it turns out that what kind of calories you do eat when losing weight makes a lot of difference.
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