The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies (23 page)

Gestational diabetes

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

Metabolic syndrome (otherwise known as
insulin resistance syndrome
or
Syndrome X
)

Many people feel all they can do is take their medication and live with these health problems, but the reality is that none of these diagnoses needs to be a death sentence. There's great potential to improve and/or reverse each of these conditions with diet and exercise. Following a low-glycemic diet can even help alleviate some of the symptoms of these conditions (such as moodiness, hunger, and fatigue) by giving you better control of your blood sugar.

If you have one of these conditions (or if you're currently overweight and have a family member with one of these conditions, putting you at greater risk for developing the same condition), then you can benefit greatly from eating a low-glycemic diet, which helps you manage your blood sugar while losing weight.

Simply losing 5 to 7 percent of your body weight may be enough to reverse or prevent these health conditions from occurring. A low-glycemic diet can help you lose that weight by regulating your blood sugar and insulin levels.

Characteristics of insuli
n resistance

Wondering whether insulin resistance is behind your inability to lose weight? The only way to know for sure is to get tested. However, you can check your body and medical history for the common characteristics of insulin resistance, which include the following:

Dark patches of skin on the back of your neck, elbows, knees, knuckles, or armpits

Skin tags,
small raised areas that appear on the skin that may be the color of your skin or darker, like a mole

Being overweight

A family history of diabetes, prediabetes, or metabolic syndrome

Difficulty losing weight on a low-calorie diet with regular exercise

High cholesterol or high triglycerides

Fertility problems

If you have any of these symptoms, your first plan of action is to go to a doctor to get tested. Adopting a low-glycemic diet is the next step to help get your blood sugar under control.