One tip
of advice I always give my clients is to just avoid taking a “bite” of a cookie
or chip. Once you take that first bite, your salivary glands start pumping out saliva and your body prepares for more food to come in. If you continue to eat the refined grain or sugar, your blood sugar spikes then plummets,
causing your body to want to consume more to restore a stable blood sugar. That
is one reason you can’t just eat one Wheat Thin, or why only eating only ¼ of
the plate of restaurant pasta is so difficult.
A
recent study published in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition further supports this claim. In this study,
12 overweight or obese men consumed a milkshake on two separate occasions. Both
shakes had the same nutritional profile (calories, fat, etc), the only
difference being that one was made with a high glycemic index (GI) corn syrup
and the other was made with a low-GI sweetener. Four hours after milkshake
consumption, plasma glucose was lower and hunger reported was higher after the
high-GI shake compared to the low-GI shake. Additionally, the high-GI shake
caused more activity in the region of the brain associated with reward and
craving. When the blood sugar plummets again, the body wants a quick acting
carb (ie: refined high GI carbs) to restore the sugar level immediately- which
may lead to the cycle of overeating refined foods like pretzels, crackers,
cookies, ice cream and others.
My recommendation: As mentioned on the first line
of this tip, it is better just not to take that first bite, whether it is cake
or Mac and Cheese. I encourage everyone to only eat whole grains since the
refined grains are lacking healthy fibers, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and
cause these blood sugar spikes which are not healthy for anyone. Try to think
of refined grains and carbs as poison- that should definitely help to keep you
from nibbling on those Stacey’s Pita Chips or the candy bowl at work. It’s not
carbs that are the enemy, it is the refined carbs. Your body will be working
optimally if you consume the right kinds of carbohydrates- whole grains,
fruits, vegetables, legumes, and non-fat or low-fat dairy.
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