It's probably no surprise that the key to losing weight involves eating a healthy, balanced diet. But even certain healthy foods can prevent you from losing weight --- and some may even cause you to gain weight. Grains, for example, are considered a healthful food, but only the unrefined ones will help you lose weight. To understand which foods will help you to shed pounds, you'll need to understand how different foods break down in your body, and how your body uses them. Consult your doctor before making any drastic changes to your diet.
Digestion
The foods you eat are digested at different rates, which can affect how you gain weight. The body is quick to digest foods containing simple carbohydrates, which are foods primarily composed of single or double sugar molecules. Because the sugar in simple carbohydrates is broken down so quickly, it floods the blood stream with far more energy than it needs. The excess sugar is either stored in the body's cells or turned into fat. Since cells can store only a limited amount of extra sugar, most of the sugar is converted into fat, the Weight Loss for All website explains.
On the other hand, the body breaks down complex carbohydrates slowly. Although complex carbohydrates are also largely composed of sugar molecules, they are long, complicated chains that are very strongly bonded together. This allows the energy in the carbohydrates to be released into the blood stream at a slow, steady rate, which means that little excess sugar is produced or stored as fat.
The Glycemic Index
As author Rick Gallop explains in his book, "Living The G.I. Diet," the glycemic index, or GI, is numerical ranking system devised in 1981 that scores food according to how fast the body digests them and how they affect the level of sugar, or glucose, in your blood. Simple-carbohydrate foods, for example, tend to have a high GI value, usually over 70. This means that these foods are quickly digested and rapidly raise your blood sugar levels, raising the chances of the excess energy being stored as fat. Complex carbohydrates and certain other foods tend to have lower GI scores, usually 55 and under, indicating that sugar is released slowly into the blood stream. While the glycemic index was originally devised for diabetics who need to keep their blood sugar under control, it now frequently used as a diet guide. Proponents of the GI diet maintain that if you consistently eat foods with a low GI score, you will lose weight.
Foods With Low GI Values
Foods with GI values of 55 and lower include all forms of dried beans, whole-grain, high-fiber breads, whole-grain cereals and grains, such as oats, barley, buckwheat, brown rice and bulgur. Certain nuts also have low GI scores, including almonds, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts. Fruits with the lowest GI scores include blueberries, cherries, grapefruit, apples, lemons, oranges, pears, raspberries and strawberries, while low-GI vegetables include cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, radishes, zucchini, eggplant, collard greens and kale. According to Gallop, you can eat any of these foods daily, in addition to other low-GI foods, to lose weight.
Portion Size
Just because a food has a low GI score doesn't mean that you can eat as much as you want of it without consequences. If you want to lose weight, you must pay attention both to the foods you eat and how much of it you're eating. According to the KidsHealth website, it may help to visualize your dinner plate divided into four portions: Half of your plate should consist of vegetables, one quarter should consist of a whole grain, and the remaining quarter should be a low-fat protein source, such as fish or chicken breast.
Exercise
A good exercise routine goes hand-in-hand with eating healthy foods to lose weight. According to the Diet Channel website, you should aim for 30 minutes of exercise a day, five times per week to lose weight. Aerobic activity, such as fast walking, jogging or cycling is the fastest way to burn calories, but weight training also is a great way to burn fat. Consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise regimen.
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