In the fight against Covid-19 it has been shown that obesity and diabetes are two of the factors that can lead to serious complications or even death. That is why it is important to pay special attention to nutrition.

Lygia Alexandrescu , a nutritionist, says that adherence to a   moderate glycemic index helps both to eliminate extra pounds and to maintain the right figure.

„Every time we set out to go on a diet, we look on the internet, we see which star has gone on, which friend has gone on a diet and they have had results, we follow the famous diets that keep appearing, disappearing or being maintained, but with results for the moment. After all, it is important what is the mechanism of these methods to lose weight „, explains the nutritionist. 

According to experts, one of the secrets is monitoring the glycemic index

„What is important to choose from the food pyramid is not really a certain type of food or a correct combination. All foods are allowed, but we must understand that there is a very important factor in the weight loss process, namely insulin intake. Diabetologists always recommend that insulin stimulation be done as gently as possible so that we do not tire the pancreas too much.We can have such an answer by eating foods with a low glycemic index, ie there are foods that we can eat in any amount without the body feeling and without the pancreas feeling forced to release a lot of insulin to neutralize high blood sugar.

At the beginning of the 80’s, at the University of Toronto, a group of researchers established this value, it finds that we tell it for each food, it varies between 0 and 100 and so the foods were divided into foods with low glycemic index, moderate and high. Somewhere up to 0.55 we are talking about foods with low glycemic index, the one that we can consume in any quantity.Then come the foods with a medium glycemic index that we have to take care of and those with a high glycemic index that we have to be very careful and we have to control well in terms of quantity and the time we eat them, because time is very important. Lygia Alexandrescu explained to me.

Sweet foods have high glycemic indexes. These products should be avoided in the second half of the day 

Eating a product with a high glycemic load in the second half of the day means a risk of high blood sugar, triglycerides, but also of having abdominal fat deposits: „High glycemic indexes have all foods that are sweet, so everything that contains sugar refined, pastries, white bread, those juices we are not talking about, freshly squeezed juices, so effective fruit, apple, orange without fiber we practically go to 90-100 glycemic index, banana is with high glycemic index. All carbohydrates: rice, potato, sweet potato has a medium glycemic index, so it can be consumed a little more relaxed unlike white and red potatoes that have a glycemic index over 70 ”.

Often, the glycemic index can also be influenced by how you choose to eat a certain food: “A potato baked or boiled in shell and eaten a little cold has a lower glycemic index, somewhere around 60-62 as opposed to a baked potato and eaten hot then 88 ”.

Choose foods with a low or medium glycemic index

Opt for foods with low and medium glycemic index. Thus, you will be able to eat a little more from a quantitative point of view, and you will not see any difference on the scale.

The category with low glycemic index of foods includes fewer fruits because they have glucose and fructose, but there are also fruits. Fewer carbohydrates, fewer oat flakes, for example, or graham fiber, graham bread, so anything high in fiber can be a food with a low glycemic index, so up to 55. Among the fruits, also blueberries, berries, pears and are considered sweet fruits, they have 52 glycemic index unlike watermelon, although it looks only water, has 78 glycemic index, so it is very, very sweet. Grapes, for example, have an average glycemic index. Green and non-starchy vegetables have a glycemic index up to 30, so they have a very low glycemic index, grapefruit has a low glycemic index, orange somewhere 40-42, apricots also up to 50.