Eat smart: combine your food to control your weight
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It is proven and it is already known that carbohydrates fatten and are processed in the body like sugar, therefore they raise insulin in the blood. However if you choose to consume them you must know how to combine them to decrease the absorption of sugar. We tell you everything about the key to feeding properly.
Among sucrose that is used to sweeten coffee, fruit fructose, milk lactose, fiber from fruits and vegetables, and foods rich in starch (potatoes, lentils, etc.) or cereals (semolina, flour, pasta), there is no shortage of sugars in our diet.
Watch out for added sugars
This is how the concept of glycemic index (GI) appeared. A high glycemic index (between 70 and 100) corresponds to a food that strongly and rapidly increases blood sugar and insulin levels. When it is between 55 and 70, the GI is said to be moderate. Below 55, it is considered low.
But although they should only represent 10% of the 55% of the recommended carbohydrates every day, high GI foods are currently the most consumed: white bread, refined cereals, potatoes, white flour, breakfast cereals. In addition, there are countless other products to which the food industry adds glucose, fructose or another sucrose to improve its flavor.
This is the case of soft drinks, pastries and dairy desserts, and also for many prepared dishes. The result is that more than half of the carbohydrates we eat come from added sugars.
Focus on the fibers
Under these conditions, how to stay slim and healthy? On the one hand, by limiting our consumption of processed products. On the other hand, incorporating low glycemic index foods to our table. Therefore, focus on green fruits and vegetables, legumes like lentils, dried beans, peas, or whole grains like quinoa or bulgur. The fibers they contain have the particularity of slowing down the passage of carbohydrates in the blood. The only exception: whole wheat bread. The wheat bran from which it is made contains mainly insoluble fibers, which do not slow down starch digestion.
By contrast, barley, oats, and rye are much richer in soluble fiber. So it is not recommended to choose them.
Breads that contain whole seeds (wheat, millet, quinoa, or flaxseed, for example) are also a sure way to lower the glycemic index, as well as sourdough bread.
As for rice, it is better to prefer the basmati variety, which is tastier and whose glycemic index is lower than that of traditional white rice. Do you love potatoes unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, they are part of foods with a high GI (glycemic index). The key is to combine them with a green vegetable or high fiber raw vegetables to limit absorption.
The game
Also pay attention to the way you cook your food, because heat changes the composition of sugars. By example, the glycemic index of a carrot triples when you cook them instead of eating them raw. In general, therefore, you prefer to cook vegetables "al dente" and starchy foods. Importantly, acid slows down digestion, so surprisingly a slice of lemon can lower the blood sugar level of a whole meal by 30%.
Cinnamon has very interesting hypoglycemic properties to limit insulin production. To incorporate at will in cakes, tea, desserts, fruit salads.
Beware of fructose syrup
Industrially produced from cornstarch, fructose syrup is flattered by the food industry in the United States for its superior sweetness to sucrose and its low cost. It is found in particular in sugary drinks. However, this syrup has been criticized by scientists, because the body would not assimilate it like other carbohydrates.
Consequence: it would be responsible for an increase in triglycerides in the blood and would disturb the secretion of hormones that regulate appetite, which would push to eat more. In short, it would promote obesity.
A sweet and salty taste
"Fruit juice + bread / jam": a typical breakfast, essentially made up of simple sugars, rapidly increases the blood sugar level. To reduce the glycemic load of food, change the jam for ham or an egg, and the juice for a whole fruit.
Make the preparations yourself, if you want yogurt you can make it from kefir and yourself add the sugar or whole fruits, in this way you control the amounts that are usually in excess in processed foods. If you want to eat cake or cake make yourself, the cakes in stores usually have an excess of sugar, you can reduce up to 50% their amount obtaining the same result and you will increase flavors over the sweetness.
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