David Ludwig of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center and colleagues recently published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study compared low-fat, low-carb, and low-glycemic diets. While the low-carb diets prevailed and the low-fat diet ended up with the bronze, the low-glycemic was the easiest to follow for participants.
The glycemic index is a tool used to measure how fast a food is digested. It's been useful for dieters because it increases satiety. The higher end of the glycemic index is packed with processed foods while lower glycemic foods are based on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes...basically the perimeter of the grocery store this taking meat and dairy products into the equation. On the downside, the glycemic index can be hard to follow or understand between dieters worrying about calories, fat, protein throwing in meal combinations and digestion might be a little too much for some people.
The last piece of the study included participants after the study, those that kept the weight off had included 60-90 minutes of exercise per day.
Read the whole article from NPR here.
