The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies (124 page)

Space your carbohydrates throughout the day to avoid blood sugar spikes at one meal.

Avoid consuming carbohydrates by themselves even at snack time. Couple them with a protein or fat source instead.

Choose high-nutrient, low-glycemic carbohydrates and limit your intake of low-nutrient foods.

Note:
You may need to obtain regular guidance from a registered dietitian who specializes in PCOS to find just the right low-glycemic fit for you.

Hypothyroidism

Thyroid hormones are in charge of your body's metabolism. People with
hypothyroidism
don't produce enough thyroid hormone, which means they ha
ve a slower-than-normal metabolism. The symptoms of hypothyroidism are numerous and include fatigue, depression, muscle pain and weakness, joint stiffness, and a puffy face. But, as you can imagine, two of the biggest symptoms are weight gain and difficulty losing weight. The weight gain can be significant and happen very quickly. I actually have hypothyroidism and gained 10 pounds right away when I was first diagnosed, but others report anywhere from a 30- to 50-pound weight gain in a short period of time.

As you gain weight, your fat cells begin to fill up with fat. When this happens, insulin receptors in the cells can become blocked, causing them to respond inadequately to insulin and blood sugar. That high blood sugar causes your pancreas to secrete more insulin to help remove the blood sugar from the bloodstream so it can enter the cells. Too much insulin increases your hunger levels and can lead to a cycle of overeating and more weight gain.

Used in conjunction with medication, a low-glycemic diet can help normalize your body's metabolism if you have hypothyroidism. It can also give you better control of your

Blood sugar and insulin levels:
Recent research is finding a connection between hypothyroidism and insulin resistance. Specifically, hypothyroid-induced weight gain may cause some people to develop insulin resistance. More research is needed in this area, but for now following a low-glycemic diet to better control blood sugar and insulin is a safe bet.

Dietary choices:
You may have been able to eat a diet that was more moderate before, but dealing with hypothyroidism tends to require a little more structure of one's food choices in order to manage weight. A low-glycemic diet provides that needed structure, while still allowing for variety. Eating a low-glycemic diet and following the healthy-eating strategies in Chapter 9 will help you control your calories, eat high-fiber, high-nutrient foods, and mange your weight more successfully.

Put these tips into practice to make a low-glycemic diet work for you if you have hypothyroidism:

Try to eat every four to five hours to avoid the negative effect on your metabolism caused by skipping meals. (See Chapter 8 for more on metabolism.)

Get moving! You can't just rely on the foods you eat (or don't eat) to boost your metabolism. Help pump up your metabolism by engaging in calorie-burning, muscle-building activities (flip to Chapter 21 for some ideas for adding physical activity to your life).

Keep a record of your food intake to see what, when, and how much you're consuming. Many times people don't realize how big their portions truly are. (Head to Chapter 6 for pointers on starting a food journal.)

Heart disease

Heart disease takes many different forms, all of which affect the heart in different ways. The one common thread? If serious enough, any form of heart disease can interfere with
your heart's life-sustaining pumping.

One example of how the low-glycemic approach can help heart health relates to triglycerides. Many foods that are high in sugar are high-glycemic. Too many of these foods (and their effect on your body's blood sugar and insulin functioning) can elevate triglyceride levels, posing increased risk on the heart. The research has been a bit conflicting, but an average of the responses from 37 studies published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
shows that following a low-glycemic diet has a consistent benefit for heart health. Specifically, findings demonstrate that eating a low-glycemic diet increases HDL (good) cholesterol and lowers triglycerides. This result may be due to the decreased intake of most sugary foods or the increased intake of high-fiber foods — either way, it's a good thing.