Food Cravings & Glycemic Index

Food Cravings & Glycemic Index

      The Glycemic Index is a chart showing how quickly various foods are converted to glucose, a type of sugar, in the body. There are two different methods for creating this chart, One compares the rate foods turn to glucose in the body compared to table sugar, the other compared to white bread. Consequently, figures might vary a bit from chart to chart. Either chart still indicates what is high or low on the Glycemic Index, so both work.

      All foods turn to glucose in the body, except for protein, which is converted into amino acids. Foods high on the Glycemic Index, such as white flour, sugar, corn, corn syrup, white potatoes... give people a peak of energy and then a crash. Many people experience these peaks and crashes all day long, everyday, in the form of energy dips, foggy thinking, irritability, and extreme cravings for foods high on the Glycemic Index, sweets and starches. 

      When the body is short on glucose, the fuel that keeps us going, it results in fatigue, the brain doesn't work as well, and the body is stressed. People then become emotionally stressed, which can cause anger, irritability or depression. The body screams for a quick fix, glucose, now, and lots of it. This is why, when people eat the wrong thing for breakfast, and lunch, they are ready to rip the doors off the cabinets to get to the junk food, as soon as they walk into their door after work. They are often too tired, with not enough patience, to make a decent dinner. And so the cycle continues.

     The way to stop this destructive pattern is to eat a good breakfast, one with protein, which is converted to amino acids, not glucose, and gives a longer, more gradual rise and decline of energy, vegetables, which are low on the   glycemic index, and starches like whole grains (not wheat, unless it is sprouted), winter squashes, sweet potatoes or yams, lower on the Glycemic Index. How many starches included in a meal, or how many meals to include starches per day, depends on the amount of physically activity, metabolism, and whether people are trying to gain or lose weight.

      Eating foods low on the Glycemic Index, along with clean protein, with each meal, can stabilize energy throughout the day, increase mental acuity, improve mood, eliminate mood swings, weight gain, and prevent food cravings. 

                                                        Health & Happiness,

                                                               Nancy Burton, L.Ac.

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