G I Diet

Heyes

Im thinking of starting this next week..

any opinions on it ?

g'em

The GI idet isn't a 'diet' as such, its more a healthy eating plan, and one of teh best ones out there. IT's not a fad, doesn't exclude any of the major food groups, relies ona wide,varied diet that's easy to adapt, doesn't emphasis calorie counting and has been used for years by dieticians, nutritionists and athletes alike.

The basic prinicple of Rick Gallop's GI book is classifying foods into green/ amber and red colours. Green foods can be eaten as much as you like (within moderations) amber foods used sparingly and red are to steered clear of. The GI principle has been around a long time, but RIck Gallop was the first to use it as a commercial diet, and has translated the rules into easy to follow instructions.

GI is the glycemic index, and we know what the GI is for most foods on a scale of 1-100, with sugar (glucose) being 100. The higher up the scale a food is, teh quicker its digested and sbasorbed into the bloodstream. Teh longer it takes for a food to be digested, the longer you stay satisfied. So basically this diet encourages eating whole, unprocessed, healthy food to stave off hunger for longer, therefore you eat less.

It's common sense above all else. Swap white for brown, cut out processed foods, minimise sugar, lower your salt, drink lots of water/ green and herbal teas, eat lotww of low GI fruit and veg..

If you have a fairly crappy eating plan its a good way of making it much healthier and it doesn't require splashing out on fancy foods for a strict diet regime. The book is realitvely cheap too, about €14/15 so it won't break teh bank either.

One thing though, the book suggests that excercise isn't hugely important int eh initial stages of weight loss... well do I need to tell you what's wrong with that picture? excercise will increase your metabolism and make you feel great along with 100 million other pros, so don't pay too much heed to that little niugget of info.

Heyes

Thank you

SprostonGreen

G'em I was down the book shop today, I saw two books by Rick Gallop, one was a diet book.

The one you're talking about is the first book, right?

It's general and introduces the "diet" its not the cookbook?

Supercell

GI is great, i'm doing it and am loving the energy levels i have during the day , don't have afternoon slumps anymore, also am loosing weight slowly on it, which is nice, am not on a diet!

g'em

SprostonGreen wrote:

The one you're talking about is the first book, right?

yup, that's the one. The Rick Gallop book does have some recipes in it too, and Anthony Worrall-Thompson has actually got a pretty good GI diet cookbook. Once you manage the basics its fairly easy to live by, mostly because it's not really a 'diet' as such, more of a way of living. Like Longfield said, you should see improved energy levels fairly quickly, and as it encourages eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and unprocessed foods without any gimmicky special eating plans it'll make you feel better all round.

Linoge

Similar to but not the same as is the GL diet, the Glycemic Load. It concentrates more on the length of the peak of the energy release than time release of the peak of the energy from the food.

A great book is by Patrick Holford. He also goes into detail on sugar addiction, water retention, insulin spikes, glycogen storage etc.

Overall a great book.

Dudess

From what I've read, the GI diet is simply eating healthily, avoiding processed foods and refined carbs, and exercising. But giving it a name is a great old marketing ploy:rolleyes:

SprostonGreen

I bought the book today, I'll let you know what I think when finished.

Transform

Dudess wrote:

From what I've read, the GI diet is simply eating healthily, avoiding processed foods and refined carbs, and exercising. But giving it a name is a great old marketing ploy:rolleyes:

Then you need to read it a little more as its based in nutrition treatment plans for diabetics NOT this years fad.

I have personally lectured and taught it as part of my nutrition consultations for over 8 years now

Dudess

Fair enough, and apologies. Would you agree, though, that the GI diet guide book basically comprises all the common sense approaches to healthy eating/weight loss, but these are explained in terms of how they relate to blood sugar, insulin etc?

Transform

And blood sugar control is the cornerstone of any approach that one needs when aiming to drop fat as its elevated insulin levels that get most in trouble.

What approach do you take to your diet?

Dudess

Oh, I'm not challenging this approach! The GI diet is obviously an excellent plan and certainly not a fad, but it just appears to be a an extremely sensible healthy eating and exercise regime - the kind that any doctor or nutritionist would advise. I wouldn't even call it a diet, more a way of life. I know it's great that there is an explanation of what the glycaemic index is and how this relates to your blood sugar levels, as well as being of huge benefit to those with diabetes. However, at the end of the day, a name has been given to it, including the word "diet" which, as I have said, appears to be incorrect as this would indicate that it's a temporary procedure (like Atkins). This name has turned it into a brand and it's selling masses of books. It's not the eating plan itself I disagree with, it's the use of it to make lots of cash.

Transform

And if i could have jumped on that band wagon 8 years ago i would have do so also!!

So what, people are making money from eating junk all the time so its well for those that want to make their millions from any dietary approach.

However, it still comes down to calories in - calories out with ANY approach.

Linoge

Dudess wrote:

However, at the end of the day, a name has been given to it, including the word "diet" which, as I have said, appears to be incorrect as this would indicate that it's a temporary procedure (like Atkins). This name has turned it into a brand and it's selling masses of books. It's not the eating plan itself I disagree with, it's the use of it to make lots of cash.

Well, you've got that in reverse. Atkins etc is a fad. The GI and GL are actual diets. Your diet should not be a temporary attempt to lose weight. You should be "dieting" the whole time.

The word diet has been given a bad name because most fad diets are unsustainable, but a proper diet should be permenant. The GI and GL diets are not branded to sell books, its more like The Atkins et al "diets" have been branded as diets incorrectly.

Dudess

Linoge wrote:

Well, you've got that in reverse. Atkins etc is a fad. The GI and GL are actual diets. Your diet should not be a temporary attempt to lose weight. You should be "dieting" the whole time.

The word diet has been given a bad name because most fad diets are unsustainable, but a proper diet should be permenant. The GI and GL diets are not branded to sell books, its more like The Atkins et al "diets" have been branded as diets incorrectly.

You seem to be getting me all wrong! I know Atkins is a fad and that GI isn't. And I said that I think GI is a lifestyle, not a temporary plan!