The Glycemic Index: Another Weight Loss Gimmick?
Author: Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT,
author of the #1 best-selling e-book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
The glycemic index (GI) is a scale that measures
how quickly carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose. The
original purpose for the glycemic index was to help diabetics keep
their blood sugar under control. The glycemic index has recently
attracted a lot of attention in the bodybuilding, fitness and weight
loss world and has even become the central theme in numerous best-selling
diet books as a method to choose the foods that are best for losing
body fat.
According to advocates of the glycemic index system, foods that
are high on the GI scale such as rice cakes, carrots, potatoes,
or grape juice are "unfavorable" and should be avoided
because they are absorbed quickly, raise blood sugar rapidly and
are therefore more likely to convert to fat or cause health problems.
Instead, we are urged to consume carbohydrates that are low on
the GI scale as black eye peas, old fashioned oatmeal, peanuts,
apples and beans because they do not raise blood sugar as rapidly.
While the GI does have some useful applications, such as the use
of high GI foods or drinks for post workout nutrition and the strong
emphasis on low GI foods for those with blood sugar regulation
problems, there are flaws in strictly using the glycemic index
as your only criteria to choose carbs on a fat loss program.
For example, the glycemic index is based on eating carbohydrates
by themselves in a fasted state. If you are following effective
principles of fat-burning and muscle building nutrition such as
those outlined in my Burn
The Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM) e-book),
you should be eating small, frequent meals to increase your energy,
maintain lean body mass and optimize metabolism for fat loss. However,
since the glycemic index of various foods was developed based on
eating each food in the fasted state, the glycemic index loses
some of its significance.
In addition, when you are on diet programs aimed at improving
body composition, (losing fat / gaining muscle), you will usually
be combining carbs and protein together with each meal for the
purposes of improving your fat to muscle ratio. When carbs are
eaten in mixed meals that contain protein and some fat, the glycemic
index loses more of its significance because the protein and fat
slows the absorption of the carbohydrates (so does fiber).
Mashed potatoes have a glycemic index near that of pure glucose,
but combine the potatoes with a chicken breast and broccoli and
the glycemic index of the entire meal is lower than the potatoes
by itself.
Rice cakes have a very high glycemic index, but if you were to
put a couple tablespoons of peanut butter on them, the fat would
slow the absorption of the carbs, thereby lowering the glycemic
index of the combination.
A far more important and relevant criteria for selecting carbs
- and ALL your foods, proteins and fats included - is whether they
are natural or processed. To say that a healthy person with no
metabolic diseases or disorders should completely avoid natural,
unprocessed foods like carrots or potatoes simply because they
are high on the glycemic index is ridiculous.
I know many bodybuilders (including myself) who eat high glycemic
index foods such as white potatoes every day right up until the
day of a competition and they reach single digit body fat. How
do they do it if high GI foods “make you fat?” It’s
simple – high GI foods DON’T necessarily make you fat – choosing
natural foods and burning more calories than you consume are far
more important factors. Although it’s not correct to say
that all calories are created equal, a calorie deficit is the most
important factor of all when fat loss is your goal.
The glycemic index need not be completely disregarded, as it is
a legitimate tool in certain situations, but diet programs that
hang their hats on glycemic index alone are just another example
of how one single aspect of nutrition can be used as a "hook" in
marketing and said to be the "end all be all" of fat
loss, when it's really only one small piece of the puzzle.
Eating low glycemic index foods alone does NOT guarantee you will
lose fat. You have to take in the bigger picture, which includes
calories/energy balance, meal timing and frequency, macronutrient
composition, food choices as well as how these nutritional factors
interact with your exercise program.
For more information on the glycemic index and for a balanced,
gimmick-free look at all aspects of fat-burning nutrition, be sure
to visit the Burn
The Fat, Feed The Muscle website.
Train hard and expect success!
Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
About The Author
 Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat,
Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best Bodybuilders
and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss
expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs
or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn
stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods
turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by
visiting Tom's site at www.BurnTheFat.com
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