The real skinny on Eating by numbers

It’s not realistic to think you can live by assigning a number to every carb you eat. Bowl of strawberries: 32. Oatmeal cookie: 55. Melba toast: 70. Not to mention, those numbers can be deceiving: The GI of cornflakes is in the 80s, while a Snickers bar clocks in at 61! And carrots and watermelon both have off-the-chart GI readings; however, both are composed mostly of water and fiber and are chock full of nutrients – they actually contain only a very small amount of carbs. Going strictly by the numbers, you would miss out on those two healthy and delicious food choices.

Two of the worst offenders, according to the GI, which are white rice and baked potatoes. Bear in mind, though, that these measurements are taken on the food in its pure state, with nothing added. Let me ask you this – have you ever eaten a bare baked potato in your whole lifetime? I think not. Putting butter on your baked potato will actually improve the GI (make it lower) because the fat in the butter basically introduces more traffic to the Blood Sugar Freeway and lowers the GI. Now don’t think you can melt a whole stick of butter and a massive dollop of sour cream onto your baked potato; you don’t want to put the fat content through the roof just to lower the GI. However, you can stuff that potato with some fat-free Cheddar cheese and broccoli…now we’re talkin’!

And, take a look at Christine’s book, “Skinny Chicks Don’t Eat Salads…Stop starving, Start Eating…And Losing!” Available in your local bookstore and online.

As Christine says, with good nutrition you will like the way you look and you’ll LOVE the way you feel!