Healthy Diet - A Look At What You Should Be
Eating
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Soluble fibers on the other
hand are beneficial to the human body too but in a different way
than insoluble fibers. Research has indicated that an increased
level of soluble fiber intake has the beneficial effect of lowering
overall cholesterol levels and particularly LDL (bad cholesterol).
It also is a good absorber of access sugar in the diet. This is
partly the reason why fiber is recognized as one of the most
important elements in a diabetic’s diet. For non diabetics, this
can be very useful too as it evens out the release of energy by
making glucose harder to absorb and process. The effect of this is
much less spikes in sugar levels and a much more even energy level
over the day.
Overall, there are no
downsides to eating more fibers in our modern diet. Much research
has been conducted and has found that our normal intake of fiber
has been steadily decreasing over the years. High fiber foods have
been linked to effective weight management and also a myriad of
different health benefits that we have listed above. We recommend
that anyone looking for a healthier diet to strongly consider
adding as much fiber into their slimming diets as possible. A
minimum of 25 grams of fiber is recommended which translates to
about 5 cups of vegetables and fruits daily.
Low
Carbohydrate
We also believe that a healthy diet would have a reduced
carbohydrate consumption. There have been many studies conducted by
medical establishments and even nutritionist groups that have
confirmed that our modern diet has more than 2 times as many
carbohydrates that we should normally eat. This again is down to
the portion sizes that have increased substantially and also our
eating habits that we have been pre-programmed to accept ever since
we were children.
Carbohydrates can basically
be broken down into two main types, Hi-GI carbs and Low-GI carbs.
GI stands for Glycemic Index and represents how easily our bodies
can digest carbohydrates and turn them into glucose which is
absorbed by our bodies for our energy needs. Low-GI carbs take a
longer time for the body to process and enable the slow release of
energy to the body. Hi-GI carbs on the other hand are digested very
easily and can be turned into energy very easily causing a sharp
spike in blood sugar levels.
Most of the carbohydrates
that we eat in our normal modern diets are in the form of Hi-GI
carbohydrates which very easy for us to digest and causes big
spikes in our blood sugar levels after our meals. This sharp spike
in blood sugar levels will then cause the body to create insulin to
bring down the levels of blood sugar. New research has indicated
that this sharp rise in blood sugars and the subsequent sharp rise
in insulin are bad for the body. This process of see-saw blood
sugar and insulin levels can cause a myriad of different diseases
and ailments like heart disease and most directly diabetes. It is
the Hi-GI carbohydrates that we should try to remove from our
diets.
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