Eating This One Kind Of Food With Your Chocolate Could Actually HELP With Weight Loss

Credit: unsplash.com/Sheelah Brennan

No matter how strong your willpower, every clean eater has days when they fall off the wagon a bit.

But just because you nab a few Roses from the tin in the office kitchen doesn’t mean your diet has to go out the window. In fact, there’s one pretty simple way to combat the effects of high-carb or high-sugar foods on your body, especially if you’re not eating them in large amounts.

Next time you treat yourself to some chocolate or dessert, be sure to eat a small amount of high-protein foods like nuts or seeds at the same time.

Why? Well, it’s all to do with the glycemic index, or GI.

The GI was originally promoted as a simple method for diabetics to keep their blood sugar levels steady through their diet, but it’s since been adopted as a good weight loss maintenance tool too.

Certain foods – like chocolate, potatoes and starchy carbs – have a high GI, meaning they trigger a rapid rise in blood sugar when eaten. When our blood sugar levels are high, our pancreas releases more insulin, which lowers the speed at which the body burns fat.

In contrast, some foods – like nuts, seeds, lentils, sweet potatoes, porridge oats and wholegrains – have a low GI, meaning they promote a much steadier rise in blood sugar and fewer insulin spikes.

The good news is that it’s possible to “balance” out the GI of the food you eat, depending on how you prepare it and what you eat it with.

So eating a small handful of almonds with your dark chocolate, for example, works to lower the GI, meaning fewer spikes in blood sugar. Yay!

Credit: unsplash.com/Juan José Valencia Antía

Of course, weight loss and gain still always depend on the amount of calories consumed versus those burned for energy, so a few almonds aren’t going to negate the effects of an all-day chocolate-fest. But if you’re in the mood for a little treat, soften the blow to your diet by adding some nuts or seeds too.

• dieting
• eating
• gi
• glycemic index
• high gi foods
• low gi foods
• weight loss