The Glycemic Index Diet (GI Diet)
If there is one thing that has become a well-known fact in the diet world, it is the connection between insulin and fat production. Insulin is critical to the regulation of blood glucose levels and when high carbohydrate foods are consumed, they are converted to sugar quickly and used as energy. Anything left unused is stored as fat.
The Glycemic Index
Dr. David Jenkins, a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada, developed the glycemic index (GI) which measures the speed at which foods are broken down by the body to form glucose. Foods that break down quickly and leave you hungry are considered to be high GI foods while those that take longer to break down and leave you feeling fuller longer are low GI foods.
The GI Diet
Rick Gallop took the basic GI list and built a diet around it, called the GI Diet, using the important information provided by Dr. Jenkins' glycemic index. The GI Diet focuses on low GI foods like nuts, legumes, fish, vegetables, lean meats, low fat dairy and whole grain products, because foods with low glycemic values have little effect on blood sugar levels.
The way the diet is setup is easy to work with, since the GI Diet does all of the calculating of the effect of various foods on blood sugar (producing glucose) and all you have to do is follow the rules. Food lists are divided into three categories using traffic light colors (red, yellow, green) as indicators of the GI level. If you want to drop pounds, all foods in the red light list are off limits. The foods in the yellow light category can be indulged in periodically and the green light is a list of foods that are good to go.
So Many Benefits
The beauty of this diet is that it is easy, you won't feel deprived or hungry, and it is in no way harmful to your health. The additional benefits include reducing the risk for developing heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, colon cancer and a reduction of the risk of stroke.
The GI Diet Book contains a pull-out shopping list, a guide for dining out, lots of recipes, a pantry guide and plenty of healthy snack ideas. We've all known for ages that your diet should reflect your lifestyle habits and, for most of us, our not-so-healthy lifestyle was clearly evident in our diet. Why not make a lifestyle change today and embrace a style of eating that shows how much you love and care for your own health and body.
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