The GI Diet

The Gi Diet Pocket Guide This is the essential guide for finding the GI of foods. Carry it in your bag to the supermarket, or restaurants. Get it delivered FREE at play

Bookmark Dieting Diets NOW

Main page of DietingDiets.co.uk

Tesco GI Diet

Free GI diet guide

List of GI Diet books

Buy GI Diet books at play.com

Play sells loads of great GI Diet books and they have FREE delivery on everything!

What is a GI diet?

What is GI?

Definition of GI: Glycemic index - a score system from 1 to 100 in which foods which contain carbohydrates are ranked according to the speed at which they're absorbed into the blood (after chewing and swallowing), and then by how much they raise the blood sugar level.
GI index : This is a measure of the speed at which foods are broken down by the body to form blood sugar.

All carbohydrates are broken down in the stomach into sugars. These are then absorbed into the bloodstream through the intestines.

Some foods (cornflakes, white bread, white rice) are broken down quickly abd digested rapidly - this gives them a high GI (score of more than 70) These are known as HIGH GI foods.

Rye bread and wholegarin foods like all bran, take longer to break down and are absorbed slowing into the blood strea, These are LOW GI foods. Foods inbetween (55-70) are known as MEDIUM GI foods.

For particular instructions on dieting using GI you should use reference books or set diets. This does seem to be a more complicated diet than some of the others which are easily understandable.

Some GI diet guidelines

One system uses a traffic light colour for hi - being red, medium, amber and green for low. Green foods can be eaten freely.

Don't overcook carbohydrates.

Use whole grains.

Eat less "milled" products. (Anything from flours)
This all seems quite complicated if you have to start working out the carbohydrate load of foods.

Don't drink too much coffee - less than 2 cups of coffee a day and less than 4 teas. Avoid cola and other caffiene drinks. Cut down on your alcohol too.

Snack on low GI foods such as apples, pears, peaches, berries, low fat yoghurt, buts and seeds.

Chocolate LOW GI
It is low in carbohydrate but high in fat so its still not good for you!

The reason that using the GI index for dieting is successful is that a slow rise in blood sugar keeps you feeling full for longer after eating - so you don't get on a high and then need to snack to regain that high.

Good vegetables
Most veggies have so little carbohydrate that they don't get a GI rating! This means that they don't affect the blood sugar levels - so you can eat these fairly freely!