From the Archives

I was just looking through my index of past posts and see there are TWO good information posts that were saved as drafts, but never posted and since it IS such good information and a wonderful reminder for me....I'm going to post them now...

Negative Calorie Foods
Negative calorie foods are those that require more caloric energy from your body to burn than they actually contain.  ANY of these foods are PHENOMINALLY healthy for you!

For example:
An apple is 80 calories but to digest the apple your body burns 100 calories which puts you at -20 calories.

Some other negative calorie foods are:
Veggies - Artichokes, Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower, Endive, Lettuce, Peas, Spinach

Fruit - Apricots, Cantaloupe, Figs, Grapefruit, Huckleberries, Mangoes, Oranges, Pineapple

Meat - Abalone Clams, Crab, Flounder, Mussels, Shrimp





Explanation of Glycemix Index/Load from Bootcamp

Boot Camp Tip #4: Glycemic Index

The main culprits for high blood glucose levels, which can contribute to abdominal fat, disease, and low energy, are grains and sugars.

We do not want to necessarily cut out all grains of our diet, unless we need to do it for a time frame to reverse insulin resistance. But we do want to start choosing better grains, i.e. whole grains. For example, choose a Zone Bar or Pure Protein Bar, rather than a Quaker Granola Bar. Choose a brown or wild rice over a jasmine or white rice.

Sugars? Well, fruit is great and healthy. Beyond that, our bodies don't really need sugar - sorry :-(

Pointers for choosing lower glycemic carbs:

1.  Purchase a book like "Healthy for Life" which has a lot of key pointers to assist you, as well as food lists.

2.  Shop the outside aisles of the grocery store. Focus on whole foods, closer to nature. The more processed a food is, generally the higher it will be on the glycemic index scale.

3.  Read nutrition facts labels and choose grains that have more fiber grams than sugar grams. Again, generally, products with more fiber will be lower on the glycemic scale than a product with little fiber and loads of sugar.

4.  Eliminate whites and sugars from your diet. Basically anything white is going to be higher glycemic than its whole grain counterpart.

**These are general principles - meaning not always 100% accurate as far as glycemic index, but a fairly good indicator when making choices at the grocery store. Until the FDA believe and see the importance of the GI and print it on our labels, this is the best we can do.