Weight management is about long-term success. People who lose weight quickly by crash dieting or other extreme measures usually gain back all (and often more) of the pounds they lost because they haven't permanently changed their habits. Therefore, the best weight management strategies are those that you can maintain for a lifetime.
Being overweight or obese increases your risk for diabetes. But if you already have diabetes, being overweight makes it harder to manage your diabetes, and increases your risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease (the major cause of death among people with diabetes).
Excess body fat is the single most important determinant of type 2 diabetes. Weight control would be the most effective way to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, but current strategies have not been very successful on a population basis, and the prevalence of obesity continues to increase.The public generally does not recognize the connection between overweight or obesity and diabetes. Thus, greater efforts at education are needed.
To reverse the abnormalities of impaired glucose-tolerance and diabetes experts suggested to replace an appreciable proportion of dietary saturated fats with unsaturated fats and increase the intake of nonstarch polysaccharides and increase the proportion of low glycemic index carbohydrates.The subsequent disease-specific recommendations address specifically the prevention of weight gain / early treatment of overweight and obesity, particularly in high risk groups, physical activity, the fat intake (total fat less than 30% energy) and fat quality (saturated fat
less than 7% energy) and the intake of non-starch polysaccharides.
Glycemic index (also glycaemic index, GI) is a ranking system for carbohydrates based on their effect on blood glucose levels in the first two hours. It compares carbohydrates gram for gram in individual foods, providing a numerical, evidence-based index of postprandial (post-meal) glycemia.GL builds on the glycemic index concept to provide a measure of total glycemic response to a food or meal based on serving size
GL = GI (%) x grams of carbohydrate per serving
The glycemic index ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on their effects on blood sugar. Similar to the theory behind low-carb diets, most low-glycemic-index diets claim that lowering blood sugar levels leads to weight loss.You may have difficulty following a diet that emphasizes only foods with a low-glycemic-index ranking. Many factors other than food influence your blood sugar level, including your age and weight, the type of food preparation, and the portion size. The South Beach diet is an example of a low-glycemic-index diet.
Even moderate weight loss improves glycemic control (blood glucose control), can help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, reduces risk for cardiovascular disease, and can even help prevent diabetes in people with prediabetes.Tend to have a low glycemic index, which helps to regulate blood sugar levels .While whole grains are preferred, adding fiber -rich foods to milled or processed grains can lower the glycemic impact and moderate fluctuations in blood sugar. Therefore, foods such as pasta and white rice can be part of a healthy diet when combined with high fiber foods such as vegetables or beans.
A combination of several lifestyle factors, including maintaining a body-mass index of 25 or lower, eating a diet high in cereal fiber and polyunsaturated fat and low in saturated and trans fats and glycemic load, exercising regularly, abstaining from smoking, and consuming alcohol moderately, was associated with an incidence of type 2 diabetes that was approximately 90 percent lower than that found among women without these factors.
Dietary fibre and glycemic index“ make some statements which are not supported by scientific evidence and are even in contrast to most recent evidence based statements for the treatment and prevention of Diabetes from the American Diabetes Association (Franz et al. 2002). It is stated that „the actual quantity of carbohydrate in the diet seems to be of little importance in relation to its quality.“
However, the Technical Review Committe of the ADA (Franz et al. 2002) concluded:"There is strong evidence for the statement : With regards to glycemic effect of carbohydrates, the total amount of carbohydrate in meals and snacks is more important than the source or type.“ And: „there is some evidence for the statement: although the use of low-glycemic index food may reduce postprandial hyperglycemia, there is not sufficient evidence of long-term benefit to recommend general use of low-glycemic index diets in type 2 diabetes patients.“
When it comes to losing weight, the number of calories you eat, rather than the type of carbohydrates, may be what matters most, according to a new study.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that diets low in "glycemic load" are no better at taking the pounds off than more traditional -- and more carbohydrate-friendly -- approaches to calorie-cutting.
The concept of glycemic load is based on the fact that different carbohydrates have different effects on blood sugar. White bread and potatoes, for example, have a high glycemic index, which means they tend to cause a rapid surge in blood sugar. Other carbs, such as high-fiber cereals or beans, create a more gradual change and are considered to have a low glycemic index.
The measurement of glycemic load takes things a step further by considering not only an individual food's glycemic index, but its total number of carbohydrates. A sweet juicy piece of fruit might have a high glycemic index, but is low in calories and grams of carbohydrate. Therefore, it can fit into a diet low in glycemic load.
However, the effort of figuring out what's an allowable carb might not be worth it, if the new study is any indication.
Principal investigator Dr. Susan B. Roberts, of Tufts University, Boston, and colleagues found that a reduced-calorie diet, whether glycemic load was high or low, was effective in helping 34 overweight adults shed pounds over one year.
Study participants who followed a low-glycemic-load diet ended up losing roughly 8 percent of their initial weight, as did those who followed a high-glycemic-load diet.
"The bottom line is that in this study we don't see one single way to eat that is better for weight loss on average," Roberts told Reuters Health. Of course, that doesn't mean "anything goes" as long as you're cutting calories."
A super-sized serving of French fries won't do any dieter any good, she noted.
Both diets her team used in the study were carefully controlled. For the first 6 months, participants were provided with all the food they needed, and both diets were designed to cut their calories by 30 percent while providing the recommended amount of fiber, limiting fat and encouraging healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.
The comparable outcomes suggest that, among healthy diets, no single one stands out as better, according to Roberts. So the focus should be on calories, rather than specific foods to avoid or include.
"Focusing on calories is something we need more of, especially when portion sizes are so absurd," Roberts said, referring to the portions served at so many U.S. restaurants.
This doesn't mean, however, that there's no place for diets that focus on glycemic load, according to the researcher. Some studies, for example, have found that low-glycemic index foods might help control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes.
And in their own research, Roberts said she and her colleagues have found that low-glycemic index diets do seem more effective for overweight people who naturally secrete high levels of the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar.
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