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The Glycemic Index is a scientific measure of how quickly particular foods cause an increase in your blood sugar levels. The faster the increase the higher the GI rating, and the worse it is for your body. Anyone looking to drop a few pounds or maintain a trim figure must understand how to use this index in their daily life.

The days of cutting carbs completely out of the diet have now been replaced with more reasonable thinking about how to choose the best carbohydrates for the body. Since your body needs carbohydrates for energy to get through the day, this is a good change.

So, how do you learn how to control your carbs? You get a clear understanding of what this index is and how to use it in your daily life. In fact, paying attention to just this listing and choosing lower indexed foods has led to dramatic weight loss in many people.

Plus, if you start choosing better foods and stick with it for the rest of your life, this will be the last time you ever have to lose weight!

For starters, it is important to understand how the Glycemic Index is designed. It only covers carbohydrates, so protein sources will not be listed. The carbohydrate category actually includes a wide variety of foods from vegetables, fruits, and whole grain pasta, bread, and rice to refined white bread, pasta, bread, and all types of sugary sweets that are made from any variety of flour.

If you wrote down everything you typically eat in a day you might be blown away by how much of it is a carbohydrate. Obviously, cutting all of it out completely is near impossible. That is why no carb diets always lead to failure.

All of these carbs are either cooked with lots of sugar or will have sugar in them naturally. The issue is how your body processes them.

Your body must work hard to break down whole grain bread, pasta, rice, vegetables, beans, and fruits. The high fiber content has to be separated from the sugar before it can be released into your blood stream. This creates a long term source of energy that keeps your blood sugar level stable.

When you eat sweets like cakes and donuts or refined white bread, pasta, and rice, the fiber has already been taken out of the food during processing. This means there is no work to be done separating and your body immediately starts rushing all of that sugar (natural and added) into your blood stream. The result is a sudden rise in blood sugar and energy, and then a quick drop that leaves your body craving more food.

If you are trying to lose weight or keep a trim waistline the brutal cravings for more food are going to work against you.

If you choose wisely and eat mainly from lower Glycemic Index foods, you will maintain an even, consistent blood sugar level and avoid those cravings. Your body will also receive more of the nutrients it needs from the natural fiber.