GI Diet

The GI diet is big in the news right now, with businesswomen, first ladies and pop stars all reportedly using this diet to control their weight.

So, what is it all about?

The GI Diet is very easy to follow and adapt to, with its many followers claiming they don’t even feel like they’re on a diet at all! If you want to lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived, then this could be the plan for you!

Using the Glycaemic Index (GI) as a guide, no food groups are excluded - it takes the best fats, carbohydrates and proteins and offers you a plan that will help you banish cravings, lose weight and improve your health, all while eating satisfying foods.

The GI diet is said to be particularly suitable for people with an underactive thyroid, people who have type 2 diabetics, and people who have polycystic ovaries (PCOS). This is because following the plan will help to slow down the release of energy from food and stabilise insulin levels. Following a low GI way of eating will help all of the above conditions. However, we can all benefit from better control of blood sugar and insulin levels – even if we don’t have any of the conditions mentioned.

The theory behind low GI diets is similar to that behind low-carbohydrate diets. That is, high GI foods raise blood sugar and insulin levels and cause weight gain as well as energy highs and lows (have you ever had that mid-afternoon slump where you reach for chocolate of a cup of tea loaded with sugar just to get a pick me up?)

If you eat low GI foods, you'll lower your blood sugar and insulin levels, maintain a steady level of energy and you'll lose weight if you need to, or maintain it if you don’t.

The GI diet isn’t only suitable for people who want to lose weight - a low GI way of eating can be beneficial for everyone, including people who want to maintain their weight and people wanting to eat healthily.

While you can’t work out the GI value of a food, there are easy ways to follow this eating plan. A lot of supermarkets such as Tesco, now lable foods if they are low GI and any good GI diet website gives lists of foods that can be used for guidance on what foods are high, medium and low GI.