• Not all calories are created equally. Calories derived from high GI (glycemic index) food can create an ugly chain of events in your body.
• High GI (glycemic index) foods cause a rapid rise in blood sugar (Read on for examples of high GI food)
• A rapid increase in blood sugar causes an insulin surge as your body tries to lower your blood sugar levels as quickly as possible.
• Insulin surges force the body to store sugar as fat (the easiest way for the body to get rid of it quickly)
• High levels of insulin in the bloodstream keep your body from metabolizing stored fat.
• A side effect of a rapid rise and fall in blood sugar levels is ravenous hunger!
• Low GI foods take longer to digest and are released into the bloodstream at a slower pace without causing large spikes in blood sugar or insulin (Read on for examples of low GI food)
• This means that your body is in a fat burning state more often because there is less insulin being produced by your pancreas.
• A low glycemic index diet is especially good for diabetics due to the regulation blood sugar levels.

I tend to focus most of my meals around a few choice ingredients, I give myself one cheat day a week for piece of mind and an interesting side effect! I go into that side effect in another article I've written:

 http://hubpages.com/hub/Body-Fat-Reduction-6-Easy-Tips

These are the foods I tend to focus my low glycemic index diet around.

• Lean beef. Organic, grass fed, if possible.
• Chicken (Skinless)
• Egg whites
• Fish – All types
• Tuna (canned in water)

There are a few other options, I tend to avoid them mostly because of the ease of preparation of the above items. Another note is to avoid frying your food whenever possible, baking and broiling are far healthier options. If you're stuck and you need to fry/sautee things do it in olive oil, it's a great source of healthy fat.

• Carrots (raw)
• Eggplant
• Snow Peas
• Tomatoes
• Cauliflower
• Leeks
• Soybeans
• Zucchini
• Chilies
• Lettuce
• Squash (except Pumpkin)
• Cucumbers Mushrooms
• Tomato sauce, paste

Again, try not to fry/sautee these foods, if possible steam, bake or boil.

I tend to avoid most fruit because of sugar content, however there are some fibrous fruits or fruit with less sugar that are good to go:

• Apples
• Grapefruit
• Orange
• Cherries
• Apricots
• Berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc.)

There are plenty of other fruits that aren't too bad, I just find it easier to stick to these.

I get most, if not all, of my starches from legumes. There are quite a few types of legumes and many ways to prepare them to keep things interesting:

• Lentils
• Chickpeas
• Peas (split, black-eyed)
• Couscous
• Black, Red, Kidney beans (canned/fresh, not refried)
• Edamame

There are types of bread, rice and pasta that have are low on the glycemic index. I choose not to include these in my low glycemic index diet because they are so dense in calories. This allows me to consume more calories from good fats, protein sources, veggies and starches. It's a trade off, I don't get to eat bread, rice and pasta, but I can eat a lot more of the others without having to worry about calorie counts as much. In short it allows me to be lazier about self regulation, something all of us can appreciate.

I don't consume very much cheese, milk or yogurt anymore, I supplement calcium, so I find there's no real need. If you can't live without dairy, there are some important words you should be on the look out for when buying dairy products:

• Sugar free
• Low Fat
• Fat Free

The thought of eating low fat cheese is sacrilege to me, I prefer to just wait until my cheat day and enjoy real cheese then. You're going to need to be more mindful of calories if you choose the low fat/fat free route. If you drink a lot of coffee switching to 1% is a good idea.

WATER! I drink a lot of water, over 100 oz a day (4 liters). I don't drink coffee, soda or juice, anything with sugar in it (outside of the occasional beer). There's a lot of sugar in juice and soda, it's just easier to remove them completely. If you're a big soda drinker, switch over to zero calorie, diet. Unsweetened coffee and tea (with 1% milk) is fine, but you may be very tempted to add sugar, use artificial sweeteners to get by.

There's plenty of flexibility when planning your own low glycemic index diet, I've outlined what I find works best for me. It may take a little time to figure out what works best for you, but the info I've given can help you make a first step in the right direction.

There is plenty of flexibility when planning your own low glycemic index diet, I've outlined what I find works best for me. It may take a little time to figure out what works best for you, but the info I've given can help you make a first step in the right direction.

A great resource out there for people that would like all of the guess work taken out of putting together their own low glycemic index diet is:

The Diet Solution Program

Isabel De Los Rios is a nutrition and exercise specialist with 10 years of experience, she designed the program with diabetes, people with heart disease, and high cholesterol in mind. The program comes with a lot of information on diet, meal planning and recipes. It also has a great 60 money back guarentee.

Here are some basic ideas to employ when figuring out what not to include in your low glycemic index diet:

• Drinks with sugar of any type (glucose, fructose, corn syrup)
• Avoid breaded, fried, deep fried or sauteed foods
• Any white carb (potatoes, rice, bread, cereal)
• Remove sugar/fat based condiments from your meals (mayo, margerine, butter)

A low glycemic index diet is an effective way to permanently change your eating habits. Most diets don't work because they only provide temporary solutions. Rather then improving eating habits they usually end up making them worse causing binge eating. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments.

- Gregg