Thank you guys for reading, this is a long post. Really sorry about the length, I tried to condense it but my thoughts are all over the place and this is the first time I've thought to reach out to a community for help instead of bottling it up and feeling crappy about it.
The tl;dr is basically that I am prone to anxiety and have been experiencing cravings and hunger recently which are kind of jeopardising my goals, and I think I need to work on changing to foods with a lower glycemic index and load. I have a few questions from my research and I'd appreciate it so much if anyone has any info or advice on them.
Also just generally. I should probably give some info. I'm 6 foot, and weigh 229 lb. I want to get down to 196. I've lost 14 lb so far to get me to 229. No progress for 3 months. I've read stuff, I think, about overweight people's metabolisms having adapted less-than-ideal relationships with things like insulin and how food can affect them, so I'm wondering if there could be other explanations as to why I'm getting cravings and stuff like that. I also don't seem to realise I'm full, or can't stop, but then get overwhelmingly bloated and uncomfortable after meals.
I don't want to do low carb because (as I mentioned about anxiety) the idea just freaks me out. But changing over to as low GI/GL as possible sounds great, eliminating bad carbs.
Hi there, this is my first post here. Been struggling with weight loss for about three years, really desperate to get myself sorted out. I've lost a stone just through calorie counting and healthful eating, making changes I can stick to like only drinking water and switching to whole grains where I can, but recently I've noticed my weight loss has stalled for about three months.
I've realised I often crave things, particularly after meals, craving sweet things, and it seems to me to probably be down to the GI / GL of foods. I think my blood sugar probably goes up a bit and then comes down, leaving me craving things. I've noticed I’ll crave sweet things when I can still feel that I'm full, it's like a second kind of hunger that isn't related to fullness. Horrible.
I suffer with anxiety and find that worrying about blood sugar crashes and hunger levels, getting hungry out of nowhere etc., really makes it harder for me to eat healthily as it makes me worry.
I've had a binging day because I've felt low about it, so I had a massive kebab earlier and despite being really full from it, have just eaten a big bag of chocolate buttons and feel so stuffed. But it was such a craving.
Anyway, turning my attention to the GI / GL of foods is a good idea I think. I've already made a bit of an impact in that way, by only drinking water and mainly only consuming whole grains (I don't eat white bread/rice/pasta anymore and I have granola or porridge for breakfast), obviously with some exceptions.
But I had a few questions after researching the Glycemic stuff and wondered if anyone could help me. I was looking at a Harvard Edu link (I can't post it as this is my first post, so no links) with info on 100s of everyday foods, and have a few questions. Thanks.
The Questions
1. If I'm trying to make blood sugar levels stable, should I avoid all foods above a certain level? For instance potatoes, very filling and nutritious and satisfying, and I'm trying to lose weight so those are good things, but.. a high GI of 82 and high GL of 21, and even sweet potatoes (which I've read are a good replacement) are still high at 70 GI and 22 GL.
2. The data seems to suggest that apple juice (41 GI / 12 GL) spikes blood sugar LESS than brown rice (50 / 16), wtf? How can brown rice have a higher index and load? Apple juice is pure sugar, I have read so many times that fruit juice is one of the worst things for blood sugar 'it's exactly the same as sugar in that form'...
I've also read that white bread causes a big spike but that pasta isn't so bad - but this chart suggests pasta (well, spaghetti) is actually WORSE in terms of actual load by quite a wide margin! (white bread - 75 GI / 11 GL, spaghetti - 46 GI, 22 GL), very surprised by these 2 things.
3. I'm happy to see fruits are so low on the scale. I've been having a breakfast recently of rolled oats cooked with a mashed banana, and was worried it had a huge effect on blood sugar as I know bananas have like 4 teaspoons of sugar in. I'm still a bit unsure though and would like someone to reassure me on this? lol.
4. My final question, I seem to get cravings even with wholemeal bread, so I'm wondering if , with bread, it's not enough of a change switching to brown and really I just need to basically not eat bread? Tortillas seem to be a lot better on the GI/ GL so maybe something like that.
Thanks so much.