When dieting, exercise is important, but managing your diet is also crucial. Therefore, many people check blood sugar levels or calorie intake while eating. However, even foods known to help with dieting can have different effects depending on how they are prepared or the time of consumption. Here are three representative foods.

 

Sweet potato

 

Sweet potatoes are considered a diet food, but roasted sweet potatoes can actually be harmful. Raw sweet potatoes have a blood sugar index below 50, which is low. When the blood sugar index is low, digestion in the body is slow, preventing overeating and helping with both blood sugar control and dieting. However, when sweet potatoes are roasted, blood sugar levels rise rapidly. This is because during the cooking process, carbohydrates are broken down into sugars more extensively.

Therefore, for those aiming to lose weight, it is better to choose steamed sweet potatoes rather than roasted ones. It is also advisable to avoid eating sweet potatoes late at night. At night, metabolic functions decline, making it easier for the sugars in sweet potatoes to accumulate and potentially causing digestion or absorption issues. Additionally, it is not recommended to eat sweet potatoes together with peanuts. The main component of sweet potatoes is starch, which is a carbohydrate, and peanuts also contain a high amount of starch, so eating them together can easily lead to weight gain.

 

 

◇Salad

 

Be careful with dressing when eating salads. The calorie content of salad dressing can be comparable to that of a bowl of rice. Common examples include mayonnaise-based dressings such as Thousand Island or Caesar dressing. The calorie content per 100g is approximately 370kcal and 400kcal, respectively. Assuming you consume about 50g (roughly 3 tablespoons) of dressing with a plate of salad vegetables, you are already ingesting more calories than a bowl of rice (about 300kcal).

 

Therefore, if you are on a diet, it is better to eat salad with vinegar-based dressing.

 

Balsamic vinegar is made from fermented green grape juice and has a relatively low calorie content of 88.2 kcal per 100g. Additionally, the citric acid, which gives it a sour taste, helps break down fats and aids in weight loss.

 

In addition, making low-calorie diet dressings at home, such as tofu, nut-based dressings, or pumpkin yogurt dressings, is also an effective method.

 

 

◇Fruit

 

Food provides high satiety relative to calories, so it is often consumed in large amounts during dieting. However, eating a lot of fruit after a meal can actually lead to obesity. When blood sugar rises rapidly, it not only stimulates the pancreas to secrete more insulin but also promotes fat synthesis in the body, which can increase blood lipids and body fat. In particular, fructose, which is abundant in fruit, is absorbed faster than glucose, and consuming it excessively can lead to fat accumulation in the liver.

 

Therefore, it is best to eat fruit either one hour before a meal or three to four hours after a meal. Eating fruit one hour before a meal increases nutrient absorption. Additionally, the feeling of fullness can reduce the amount of food consumed, aiding in weight loss. If you want to eat fruit after a meal, it is better to wait three to four hours. By then, blood sugar levels have returned to pre-meal levels, and the pancreas can secrete insulin again without being overwhelmed.

 

 

Wasn't it 'diet food'? Three foods that could actually cause weight gain after eating © Provided by Health Chosun