Losing weight: why good fresh vegetables work

 

There are a great many methods proposed as to how to achieve weight loss. Unfortunately, many people fail to keep their weight down to a healthy or aesthetically satisfactory level (in their opinion) because of a lack of understanding of the interactions between bodyweight, blood sugar, appetite levels and food types.

 

A lot of the suggested programmes concentrate more on separation techniques and a general reduction of food intake, than on the glycaemic index, and the quality and healthiness of foodstuffs as a whole. The glycaemic index refers to the amount of quickly soluble carbohydrates in a food item. The higher the index, the more sugar enters the blood (glucose) in an immediate fashion. Foods with a high index would be anything with a lot of sugar in it, including fruit! This is the reason why fruit is not supposed to be consumed by diabetics. Added to the list are white flour-products and very starchy vegetables, like potato. Basically, if you are used to eating a lot of food such as this and have a weight problem, you should know that the insulin levels in your blood will spike as a reaction to the sudden rise in blood sugar. This then leads to a later withdrawal of glucose from the blood, and this is stored as fat in the body which believes the high intake of soluble carbohydrate in the fist instance was due to an emergency situation. It thinks you were trying to store as much food as possible because of oncoming scarcity!

 

The resulting low blood sugar levels give rise to symptoms like exhaustion, irritability or even aggression, dizziness, headaches and cravings for more food. If you are dieting you need to recognise this. During cravings, it is important to eat food with a low glycaemic index: fresh-, non-starchy vegetables being the best. The great thing is – you can eat as much as you want because the carbohydrates here are released slowly into the blood, thus sending a signal of normality to the body. That means that the sugars are much more likely to be converted directly into energy, than stored as fat. This is why people often can't hold out against energy drops and cravings – why they resort to old habits and put on too much weight again.

 

Fresh vegetables have many added health benefits. They help the body regulate itself better, dispose of toxins and significantly reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Eating huge amounts, or even average amounts of animal proteins and animal fats is also not the answer to achieve weight loss for the reasons I have pointed out in Why I became vegan. You can't go wrong with a diet of varied, good quality vegetables. With this diet you can get full without worrying! Make sure you take Vitamin B12 supplements every month or so. 

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