18 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

David...feel free to ask any questions you like. Go ahead and start a new thread so others can benefit too! My passion in life is diving and nutrition...so to combine the two is nirvana for me! Besides...they both give me more energy and life for...uh...otherthings!

[finGrabber]

is there a range that you should keep the glycemic load within for the day? kinda like carb counting, or is it a number you should just be aware of?

[rbs262]

Well, I'm certainly no expert but I think it is more something you have to keep in mind than something you want to spend your time computing. Basically, the chart that I use lists food items and their glycemic response based on 200 calories. The glycemic load comes into play because a "normal" serving of one food may be greater than 200 calories while a "normal" serving of another may be much less than 200 calories. In other words, if you have a baked potato in one hand and an underripe banana in the other and you look at the index you will find that the GI for the potato is 85 and the GI for the banana is 30. But, the load factor is far greater because the calories in the baked potato are at least double the banana. I guess you can spend time figuring it out for different foods but I really think if you are just aware of the differences it will improve your decisions.

Personally, my opinion is we can never achieve the perfect diet, (at least I don't have that kind of will-power). But, we can greatly improve it by making educated choices about what we eat. Just as important is to find ways to use more calories and by training our body to have a higher capacity to use energy you burn even more calories all day long, even at rest, while your body works to keep it in "ready" to go shape. For example, well trained muscles can store up to 2.5 to 3 times as much glycogen in the muscle. This is energy ready to be used. This increased capacity to store muscle glycogen results in greater endurance and this can only be developed through progressive training over time. To some extent the old saying "No Pain, No Gain" has at least some basis in fact.

At the same time the increased demand for energy will start to balance caloric intake with calories burned. When this balance becomes deficit you will loose weight. Because of the health benefits of exercise, I believe that weight lost due to burning more calories is much better for you than weight lost from consuming less calories.

[rbs262]

Oh, and Marion - we can have a great big flaxseed grinding party. I'll bring my favorite grinder.