Glycemic Index Diet
Plot Your Weight Loss Progress
Whatever your choice of diet, how about some motivational help? How about a ready made spreadsheet which plots your weight loss against your target? It also has a built in BMI calculator which plots a separate graph of your reducing Body Mass Index. Immediate download... click here for more information
The new buzz word in the healthy eating world is GI or gylcaemic index to you and me. Nutritional expert Anita Bean told She magazine: ‘A food’s GI is a measure of the speed which it is broken down and converted into glucose.’ The faster the food breaks down, the higher it’s GI rating.
The GI diet isn’t really a diet but in Australia where there has been a lot of research into GI, it’s recommended by many doctors. And our favourite pop princess, Kylie Minogue is said to keep that trim figure and impossibly pert bum in shape by following the GI Diet.
How does the GI Diet help you to lose weight?
If you eat low-fat foods and lots of carbohydrates then you could be one of the five million Britons who suffer from Syndrome X or insulin resistance. Basically this means that your body no longer responds to insulin in the bloodstream which ultimately leads to an inability to metabolise food properly causing weight gain. The way to combat this, is to choose foods with a mainly low GI. ‘This doesn’t mean you should avoid carbohydrates all together,’ says Anita Bean. However she does say that you should be aware of how they break down in the body.
As you can probably guess things like chocolate cake have a high GI whereas ‘healthy’ foods such as apples have a low one. But there are some surprises – cheese and peanut butter for example have a low GI.
Foods with a low GI include : broccoli, tea without sugar, yoghurt, eggs
and olive oil.
Foods with a high GI include : potatoes, rice, bread, bacon and coffee.
Further GI Diet information
Glycemic index - Wikipedia - explanation of the Glycemic index of foods and associated health benefits
Glycemic Index and GI Database - University of Sydney - the GI Diet was conceived and developed in Australia and Sydney University provides the Official Home of the Glycemic Index. Look up any food and find its Glycemic Index
Glycemic load and chronic disease - PubMed - diets with a high glycemic load are independently associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease
Carbohydrates, Good Carbs Guide The Way - Harvard School of Public Health - the truth about good and bad Carbohydrates
Starchy diet 'may damage liver' - BBC News - "High-glycemic" foods - rapidly digested by the body - could be causing "fatty liver", increasing the risk of serious illness
Diet craze 'good for the heart' - BBC News - Doctors are praising a new diet craze for its benefits for helping the heart and controlling diabetes
