{"id":26,"date":"2011-09-14T09:58:16","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T13:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=26"},"modified":"2011-09-14T11:41:32","modified_gmt":"2011-09-14T15:41:32","slug":"red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"Green Light\/Red Light — The Simple Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning!\u00a0 Are you ready to get down to brass tacks about how to start giving your autopilot the right message?\u00a0 Ready to start losing the pounds and feeling stronger and more energetic? That\u2019s where we are headed.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking today about the glycemic index.<\/p>\n

So how do you start a low glycemic eating plan?\u00a0 It\u2019s easy!\u00a0 Well, you can make it hard if you want to.\u00a0 I personally am not a number person and I don\u2019t like to add up and keep track of either calories or index numbers — and I REALLY don\u2019t want to do it forever.\u00a0 But, if you are a number person and need that kind of structure, you can certainly do it if you want.<\/p>\n

I love the red light\/green light system. \u00a0Some foods are \u201cgreen light\u201d foods. They are low glycemic and won\u2019t cause your blood sugar to spike.\u00a0 Your auto pilot won\u2019t send out the message to your pancreas to pump out insulin to let the sugar into the cells and your body won\u2019t get the message from the insulin messenger to \u201cstore fat.\u201d\u00a0 You want to base your meals and snacks around these green light foods.\u00a0 They have a glycemic index of 55 or less.<\/p>\n

However, keep in mind green light doesn\u2019t mean free food. \u00a0 You can\u2019t eat all you want until you are stuffed.\u00a0 That\u2019s true with some of the foods, but some, particularly those in the bread category, can become high glycemic if you eat too much of them.<\/p>\n

Other foods are in the yellow category.\u00a0 Go slowly on these.\u00a0 Too many and you are in trouble! \u00a0They can be part of your daily meal plans — but overdoing on these can sabotage your weight loss.\u00a0 These have a GI number of 56 to 70.<\/p>\n

You can guess what the red light foods are.\u00a0 They have a number above 70.\u00a0 These are foods that are easily digested and dump masses of sugar quickly into your bloodstream. \u00a0 They don\u2019t just add calories, but tell your body to pack on the pounds — which isn\u2019t exactly the message you want to give it!<\/p>\n

A red light doesn\u2019t mean never-ever.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a good idea to stop and think about before you put it in your mouth.\u00a0 Is it really worth it?\u00a0 You won\u2019t feel as well after you eat it.\u00a0 You will be sad to think of your body getting that wrong message.\u00a0 But, if it is really worth it, enjoy it. Savor every small bite.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ruin the pleasure by feeling guilty.\u00a0 Just resolve to pass the next time and go take a walk.\u00a0 And don\u2019t take seconds. Or thirds. Or — well, you get the picture.<\/p>\n

Most of your meals and snacks should consist of green light foods, with yellow light foods in a balance and, once in a while, a red.\u00a0 You will be eating meats and vegetables with some fruit and whole grain breads and some interesting and surprising additions. That doesn\u2019t sound too difficult or depriving, does it?\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s something you can do for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n

Here’s a more detailed explanation of the plan and a list of foods to make it easy for you.\u00a0Click here to read about low glycemic foods and the Green Light\/Red Light eating plan.<\/a><\/p>\n

Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/em><\/p>\n

Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning!\u00a0 Are you ready to get down to brass tacks about how to start giving your autopilot the right message?\u00a0 Ready to start losing the pounds and feeling stronger and more energetic? That\u2019s where we are headed.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking today about the glycemic index. So how do you start a low glycemic eating plan?\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-light-red-light-food-lists"],"yoast_head":"\nGreen Light\/Red Light - The Simple Plan - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Green Light\/Red Light - The Simple Plan - Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Good morning!\u00a0 Are you ready to get down to brass tacks about how to start giving your autopilot the right message?\u00a0 Ready to start losing the pounds and feeling stronger and more energetic? That\u2019s where we are headed.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking today about the glycemic index. So how do you start a low glycemic eating plan?\u00a0…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-14T13:58:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-14T15:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sbrown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Green Light\/Red Light - The Simple Plan - Beyond Gorgeous","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Green Light\/Red Light - The Simple Plan - Beyond Gorgeous","og_description":"Good morning!\u00a0 Are you ready to get down to brass tacks about how to start giving your autopilot the right message?\u00a0 Ready to start losing the pounds and feeling stronger and more energetic? That\u2019s where we are headed.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking today about the glycemic index. So how do you start a low glycemic eating plan?\u00a0…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html","og_site_name":"Beyond Gorgeous","article_published_time":"2011-09-14T13:58:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-09-14T15:41:32+00:00","author":"sbrown","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html","name":"Green Light\/Red Light - The Simple Plan - Beyond Gorgeous","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-09-14T13:58:16+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-14T15:41:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#\/schema\/person\/710ec516b61bcd3c78925c0c31c5afe6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/red-lightgreen-light-the-simple-plan.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Green Light\/Red Light — The Simple Plan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/","name":"Beyond Gorgeous","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Susan Jordan Brown","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#\/schema\/person\/710ec516b61bcd3c78925c0c31c5afe6","name":"sbrown","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/author\/sbrown"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}