The Transitions Lifestyle System, originally a weight management program for diabetics in the hospital setting, is what taught me the most about nutrition and sparked my love for helping people with their dietary lifestyle. TLS encompasses low-glycemic-impact eating, which is superior for weight loss and long-term health. Through low-glycemic-impact eating, TLS emphasizes key components to get your metabolism operating at optimal levels: fat loss and lean muscle maintenance. TLS Weight-Loss Solution offers multiple low-glycemic-impact menu plans designed to fit your personal weight management and lifestyle goals. When you create new, healthy behaviors, you won’t feel deprived and hungry. Consequently, you’ll never need to diet again.
The food that is convenient and cheap isn’t always what’s best. The quality of food you put into your body is going to determine how successful you are in achieving your weight loss goals and good health for a lifetime. That’s why TLS® Weight Management Solution abides by the principles of low-glycemic eating. A low-glycemic diet consists of fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, along with lean proteins from both meat and dairy sources. A low-glycemic diet also consists of healthy fats from foods such as oils and nuts.
BENEFITS OF LOW-GLYCEMIC-IMPACT EATING
- Low-glycemic diets may support the body’s sensitivity to insulin
- Low-glycemic carbohydrates help maintain normal blood sugar levels
- Low-glycemic carbohydrates may support a healthy heart
- Low-glycemic diets have been shown to help people lose and control weight
- Low-glycemic carbohydrates may help maintain normal blood cholesterol levels
- Low-glycemic diets may help minimize carbohydrate cravings
- Low-glycemic carbohydrates may help manage hunger and keep you fuller for longer
- Low-glycemic diets may help minimize energy crashes
- Low-glycemic carbohydrates might help prolong physical endurance
While changing your eating habits isn’t easy at first, all it takes are some simple changes to start living the low-glycemic lifestyle and reaping its many benefits. Eating low-glycemic is not only helpful in weight loss, but also in reducing a number of health risks that are elevated when we don’t take care of our bodies. Whether you’re a professional on the go, a stay-at-home parent or a university student, low-glycemic-impact eating is designed to fit into and benefit any lifestyle. In this section, you’ll learn more about the combination of glycemic index and glycemic load, and how low-glycemic-impact eating can help you achieve and maintain your weight loss goals.
WHAT DOES LOW GLYCEMIC MEAN?
In 1981, Dr. David J. Jenkins and a team of researchers at the University of Toronto created the glycemic index to help diabetes patients manage their blood sugar levels. The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking system for foods containing carbohydrates, which measures how quickly these foods will cause your blood sugar to rise. Glycemic index is measured on a scale of 1 to 100 (1 being low and 100 being high).While the glycemic index was originally developed for diabetics, you do not have to be diabetic to reap the benefits of low-glycemic eating.
GLYCEMIC INDEX RATINGS
LOW: 0-55
MEDIUM: 56-69
HIGH: 70 + ABOVE
Low-GI foods produce little to no fluctuations in blood sugar and insulin levels. Foods with a high GI (including things like white rice, potatoes, most breads, cake, candy, popcorn and cookies) rapidly raise blood sugar levels. Why is this important?
WHEN YOUR BLOOD SUGAR RISES QUICKLY, YOUR BODY INCREASES INSULIN PRODUCTION, TELLING THE BODY TO STORE FAT!
Have you ever eaten a food thinking it is healthy because it is low fat, whole grain or low calorie? This can be misleading because it may be all those things but it still breaks down to sugar quickly. If this is true, this food is considered high GIand will raise the body’s blood sugar rapidly, signaling it to store fat.
Controlling the GI of your foods promotes normal blood sugar levels and enables the body to stay in fat-burning mode. By changing your diet and eating low glycemic impact, you will feel energized, alert and productive.
WHAT IS GLYCEMIC LOAD?
While the glycemic index tells you how a food affects your blood sugar levels, it doesn’t tell you how much of that particular food is in a serving. It is important to take both the glycemic index and glycemic load into consideration to understand the full effect a food has on your blood sugar.
Glycemic load (GL) reflects not only the GI of a food, but also the amount ingested. Each number of the GL is equivalent to 1 gram of carbohydrates from pure glucose.The lower the GL, the smaller the amount of glucose, which is best.
GLYCEMIC LOAD
LOW: 0-10
MEDIUM: 11-19
HIGH: 20 + ABOVE
GL is very important because it helps explain some GI ratings that would otherwise be misleading. Let’s look at carrots, for example. Raw carrots are considered a high-GI food even though they are relatively low in carbohydrate and have health benefits. However, carrots have a low GL because it would take almost 750 ml (3 cups) of carrots to equal 50 grams of carbohydrates. Since most people do not eat 3 cups of carrots, enjoying them on your TLS journey is permitted.
Glycemic load paints a more realistic picture of how a food can affect blood sugar/glucose levels by taking into account the glycemic index of foods and their serving size.
When you put both the GI and GL together to come up with a meal plan, you’re on your way to following low-glycemic-impact eating, which helps you choose foods in appropriate amounts and in the correct combinations to support normal blood sugar levels for longer periods of time.
GLYCEMIC INDEX = How FAST
GLYCEMIC LOAD = How MUCH
MAINTAIN NORMAL BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS
Dietitians and weight-management experts now use the glycemic in- dex as a tool to reduce cravings and appetite, and improve eating habits. Research shows that following a diet designed to keep blood sugar from rising after meals helps keep food from being stored as fat.
HYPOGLYCEMIA
Hypoglycemia relates to low blood glucose levels. When the level of glucose — the body’s primary source of energy and fuel — falls too low, your body has insufficient amounts of fuel to function normally. Hypoglycemia or low blood glucose may occur when a person is not eating frequently enough, exercised without the proper nutrient sup- port, or when a diabetic has injected too much insulin.This can lead to extreme fatigue, sluggishness and sometimes damaging symptoms. Hypoglycemia is most commonly treated with diet modification.
Now we know the choice is yours!
Now we know that every choice we make impacts the one there after!
Now we know that we as individuals are in control or as ‘Bruce Almighty’ would say, “I’ve got the power,” and so do you!
Peace, Love and Positivity
DFoss | Limitless Nutrition
