Glycemic or Sugar Foods
Sugar triggers insulin, the fat-making, fat-storing hormone. In fact, in the presence of insulin not only will fat be blocked from being used as fuel BUT sugar will also be converted to fat. Given the choice, the body will ALWAYS prefer sugar to fat as a fuel. This means that in order to burn fat, you can’t have any sugar in your diet. The absence of insulin (or sugar) promotes fat burning and weight loss. Hidden sugars are often the culprit, and are found in food containing high fructose corn syrup — yogurt, alcoholic beverages, juice, sport drinks and refined grains like breads, pasta, cereal, and pancakes.
Sugar also depletes the body’s supply of potassium, which prevents water retention. This is why people can gain several pounds in a day after consuming just a small amount of sugar. In the diagram below, you can see how insulin eliminates sugar from the bloodstream. Excess dietary sugar forces the body to work hard pumping out insulin from the pancreas, which eventually leads to diabetes (when the body loses its ability to regulate insulin).
Refined Grains
Refined grains are milled (broken down) in a process that destroys most of the nutrients. White flour has no nutrients or fiber. All that is left is a concentrated starch, which has a strong influence on raising insulin. Whole wheat products are just a step up from white flour, but they still increase the amount of insulin. Refined grains are in foods like breads, pasta, cereals, crackers, pancakes, donuts, and waffles. Avoid them.
Starches
Potatoes, corn and corn products are starches and have the capacity of raising insulin, causing weight gain.
Excess Animal Protein
Excessive animal protein can also increase insulin and lead to weight gain. The daily amount of protein should not exceed 50 grams, although, this number may even be too high in case of poor liver function. Excessive cooked animal protein puts stress on the liver. We recommend consuming less than 20 grams of protein per meal.
Fruit
Fruits have higher sugar content than vegetables, however, they are a good source of nutrients and fiber. Fruits are acceptable foods to eat when you are trying to lose weight, but consume twice as many vegetables as fruits because vegetables have the most nutrients.
Vegetables
Vegetables like lettuce, celery, and broccoli are carbohydrates, but with a large amount of nutrients and fiber, and a low amount of sugar. Fiber buffers insulin. Vegetables are the food of choice if you want to build a healthy body.
1 (Guyton, Textbook of Medical Physiology, 823)
Substitution Chart
| Snacks and Desserts | Substitute |
| Chocolate | Craving chocolate could mean a magnesium deficiency. Consume foods high in magnesium: spinach, Swiss chard, raw pumpkin seeds, tahini butter (sesame seeds), salmon, and black beans. A small amount of carob is better than chocolate because carob has no caffeine. |
| Candies | Suck on frozen strawberries or blueberries. |
| Crackers | GG Bran Crispbread (50 percent fiber, no net carbs) http://www.brancrispbread.com/. This could be eaten anytime, since it’s mostly bran (outer shell of grain). Crispbread (low-sugar, high-fiber rye cracker), any of the following brands: Kavli, Finn Crisp or Ryvita. These can be eaten occasionally. Go to a health food store like Whole Foods Market. |
| Flour products (breads, pasta, cereal, cakes, waffles, pancakes, donuts, cookies, etc.) Commercial white and whole-wheat breads |
Ezekiel flourless sprouted bread, pastas, cereal, tortillas, muffins, buns consume sparingly http://www.foodforlife.com/ Spelt bread consume sparingly |
| Ice cream | Homemade whipped cream (no sugar) with strawberries Berries or pineapple |
| Canned fruit with syrup | Pineapple chunks with no sugar added, or canned pineapple with no syrup (drain the juice and just eat the pineapple) |
| Flavored yogurt | Plain, low fat unsweetened yogurt mixed with applesauce or berries |
| White sugar | Raw honey (Tupelo or organic raw honey) in small amounts, but it’s best to avoid it |
| White rice | Mochi (brown rice squares) by Grainaissance http://www.grainaissance.com/ consume sparingly |
| Oatmeal (prepackaged) | Steel-cut oatmeal consume sparingly |
| Sweet fruits (dates, figs, mangoes, raisins and dried fruit) | Less sweet fruits (apples, melons, pears, berries, oranges, grapefruits, etc.) |
* Consume sparingly means once a week. This does not mean that you can eat one of each of these foods once a day. Out of all these foods, you could have just one per week, but it’s recommended to eliminate them all. The worse off your metabolism, the more you need to avoid all foods in the use sparingly group. As you consume more potassium from the vegetable family, your cravings will be eliminated.
Many people think that whole wheat bread is healthier and less fattening. There’s not much difference in the speed at which these flour products turn into fat. Often commercial whole-wheat bread is exposed to more chemical sprays than white bread; because it is more nutritious, it attracts more pests.
| Beverages | Substitute |
| Juices | Unsweetened naturally decaffeinated herb tea, spring water, and water with lemon |
| Gatorade | Spring water with squeezed lemon and unsweetened cranberry juice; you could also add a hint (1 tsp) of apple cider vinegar to add electrolytes |
| Tap water with high levels of chlorine | Spring water, filtered water or carbonated spring water |
| What to drink | |
| Herbal tea | Filtered water |
| Spring water | Well water |
| Lemon water | Carbonated water |
| Green tea | Cranberry juice (unsweetened, 2 oz) mixed with glass of water |
| Use Sparingly | |
| Rice milk (sparingly) | Almond milk (sparingly) |
| Organic coffee (one small cup, in the morning as you transition slowly from coffee if you can’t go cold turkey) | Milk (if you do, always use organic. Raw milk is best if you can find it.) |
http://www2.worthingtonlibraries.org/teen/blog/Image/icons/chocolate.jpg
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Very interesting. I’m in school to become a nutritionist. Your information has been so fantastic and I love it. Thanks for your website and your daily tips.
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