Tired of the mid-afternoon crash? (Or even worse, the mid-morning crash!)

Eating lots of "energy bars" in the hopes of living healthier and fitter?

Then you need to switch from quick jolts like sugar, caffeine, and "energy" bars, to a diet that gives you SUSTAINABLE energy.

“Sustainable energy” is a common phrase among athletes, nutrition experts, and doctors to differentiate between simple carbs (i.e., table sugar, candy) and complex carbs (whole, unrefined grains).

The Glycemic Index (GI) of a particular food is a number that indicates how fast sugar is released into the blood after consumption or how fast a food is likely to raise your blood sugar. The higher the GI (i.e., simple carbs), the quicker the release (not optimal for sustainable energy or weight management).

Eating low-GI foods (i.e. slow-releasing or complex carbs) can help with controlling blood sugar, weight gain, diabetes, and high cholesterol and help you get as much energy as possible from that food/meal. Low GI foods rank anywhere between 0-40 and high GI foods range between 60-110.

Some foods taste just as sweet as their blood-sugar-spiking cousins, but are actually low-GI. Agave, for example, is sweeter than sugar, honey, and molases, but is extremely low on the GI, so you can sweeten your tea without feeling the post-sugar blues. Yacon is another little-known sweetener, possibly with the lowest GI of any in the world - its sugars are literally indigestible, so you taste them but they pass through your system without spiking your energy.

It’s important to note that most processed foods have a high GI rating because the fiber and minerals that are responsible for slowing the sugar release are stripped during the process. But, don’t assume because a food is not processed that it is Low GI. Take dates for example, did you know that dried dates have a GI rank of 109? According to the body, DATES ARE SUGAR. Whereas sweeteners like yacon and agave nectar are considered low GI and safe for diabetics.

A little research is required to learn which foods rank the lowest on the GI scale. Once you get in the habit of checking (there are many resources online), you will slowly get accustomed to avoiding certain foods or combining foods in a way that results in a low glycemic meal.

What about Fat?

Fats are low glycemic foods because they do not mess with blood sugar at all. However, conventional thinking has been that because fats have more calories than carbohydrates that dietary fat has been the main culprit in obesity. But, according to advocates of the Glycemic Index Diet, that is not necessarily the case–the truth is, fats do not make you fat, in fact eating fat combined with higher glycemic foods can help lower its glycemic load. It’s the types of foods and the combinations in which we eat the foods that makes us fat, especially bad fat sources (trans, hydrogenated, etc.) combined with high GI ingredients and processed into shelf-stable snack foods - that's a recipe for obesity.

Natural fats are a great source of energy and good for the skin and crucial for most cellular activities (i.e., olives and brazil nuts are naturally high in fat and are good for you).

Evidence clearly shows that our bodies can’t readily burn fat when our blood sugars levels are high. It seems our obsession with dietary fat in the last few decades has blinded us to the real culprit: high GI.

Natural, minimally heated and processed, ORGANIC, LOW-GI foods are the key to weight control, optimal health and nutrition. HINT: White bread and white sugar do not fall into this catagory. Try some organic, low-temperature dried fruit combined with some oil-rich raw nuts. Or slow down the sugar rush of your morning fruit smoothie with a little cacao butter to make your morning energy last all day...or at least until lunch time!