The GI Diet

When you hear the word diet, you automatically think weight loss.  However, there are many reasons people go on diets.  For the majority of the world it is weight loss and the number of diets just for weight loss is astounding.

The GI diet or the Glycaemic index diet is just one type of diet out there.  This diet measures how fast your body breaks down foods into glucose.  Foods that have higher a Glycaemic index break down quickly and you feel hungry.  Foods with a lower Glycaemic index break down a lot slower, leaving you feeling full.  How does this help?  If you feel full longer you are likely to eat less.  If what you are eating leaves you feeling empty and hungry, you will consume more food and may eat things that are not good for you, like a bag of salty potato chips.

This diet was developed in 1981 by a Dr. David Jenkins and he also developed a scale of food based on how they affect the blood sugar levels in our bodies.  The scale is called the Glycaemic index and ranks food accordingly.  This diet allows those that follow it to lose between 1 to 2 pounds and week, which is consider safe.

Foods on this scale are ranked 0 to 100.  Foods that are ranked 55 or lower on the index do not affect our blood sugar levels or have a very low effect.  These are the ones you want to consume.  A moderate level on the index would be between 56 and 69, while anything 70 or over is considered high and you want to avoid these foods.

You should be able to find many books and websites that can provide you with the Glycaemic Index and you will probably be surprised by what is consider low on the index.  Be careful when choosing foods from the index because even though they may be low on the Glycaemic index some of the foods are high in fat.  For example, milk chocolate is low on the Glycaemic index but high in fat.  Another suggestion is that you eat foods from the four major food groups.  If you don’t know what the four major food groups are you can find those out on the internet as well.  When starting any diet, make sure you combine exercise as well as consult with a doctor prior to beginning your diet.  This diet is very good at helping you manager your weight loss, however, you need to stay close to the low end of the Glycaemic index foods and not the higher end.