This time last year, “Atkins” was the word on every dieter’s lips. At last, a diet that allowed us to eat a cooked breakfast seven days a week and still see the excess pounds drop off. Hurrah! Even Renée Zellweger admitted that this was the diet she followed to straighten her Bridget Jones curves. Well, the story is different today. Atkins-related health scares, coupled with some nutritionists declaring it unsafe, have resulted in plummeting sales of the book. Inevitably, people want an alternative. That alternative is a low-GI diet. Personalities as diverse as Kylie and Bill and Hillary Clinton are said to be devotees. It’s the only diet you need to know about this year and beyond.

What do I eat on a low-GI diet?

Essentially, this diet involves eating carbohydrates such as fruit, vegetables and cereals, and extra-lean sources of protein and unsaturated fats. But — and here is the crux of a low-GI diet — it particularly promotes slowly digested carbohydrates (low-GI carbohydrates), such as rye bread, oats and pasta. These give a trickle of glucose into the bloodstream, rather than the soaring blood sugar levels that occur after eating rapidly digested high-GI carbohydrates. The occasional alcoholic drink or piece of chocolate is also allowed and there is no weighing or calorie-counting involved. On a typical day, you would eat porridge for breakfast, a tuna-stuffed pitta for lunch, and maybe spaghetti bolognese in the evening. You are also allowed to snack three times a day.

What does GI mean?

GI stands for glycaemic index. Scientists created a scale on which to measure the speed at which carbohydrate foods and drinks affect blood glucose (blood sugar levels). This scale, the glycaemic index (GI), ranges from 0 to 100. Basically, high-GI foods, ones that give high blood sugar levels, are bad, low-GI are good.

How does blood sugar affect weight loss?

When high-GI foods are digested, the blood becomes flooded with sugar, so the pancreas releases lots of insulin, a hormone that removes excess glucose from the blood to return levels to normal. When low-GI carbohydrates are eaten, less insulin is produced. Medical and nutritional experts believe that high levels of insulin discourage fat burning and encourage fat storage (excess glucose is converted into and stored as fat) and result in the body craving more high-GI carbohydrates. Low-GI foods, on the other hand, result in low insulin levels, which encourage fat burning, discourage fat storage and naturally curb hunger. This prevents constant craving and that means that you don’t have to rely on willpower to eat less; instead, inner hunger signals tell you when it is time to eat and when it is time to stop.

Why is this diet better than any other?

Scientific trials are beginning to show that, in terms of both weight loss and long-term compliance, a low-GI eating plan is streets ahead of other well-known slimming diets, such as low-fat and high-protein regimes. The reasons are simple: on a low-GI diet, you don’t count calories or restrict fat to the point of meals being unpalatable, nor do you cut out entire food groups, which isn’t good for your health and which inevitably leads to a craving for the banned foods.

How healthy is a low-GI diet?

Very. It won’t, unlike some diets, raise cholesterol levels or mess up the kidneys. In fact, it helps to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Because a low-GI diet is packed with vitamins, minerals and supernutrients, it will also help protect against everything from lung cancer to age-related blindness.

But is it easy to follow?

Yes. It won’t break the bank by requiring you to eat expensive foods, leave you with bad breath or turn you into a paranoid food bore. All you do is eliminate from your diet carbohydrates with a high-GI score, such as baked potatoes, white bread and sugary breakfast cereals, and concentrate instead on foods with a low-GI score.

Is there a catch?

No, providing you don’t bend the rules. Naturally, eating a huge bowl of low-GI muesli, a whole loaf of low-GI rye bread and a mountain of low-GI pasta covered in gallons of “good” olive oil every day will not result in weight loss. Calories do count. But if every meal you eat contains low-GI carbohydrates, a good serving of lean protein, such as fish, chicken, lean red meat, pulses or tofu, and plenty of vegetables and fruit, you will create an internal metabolic balance that leaves you feeling full and satisfied.

The low-GI diet is not a diet that you come off. It will result in a gradual slipping away of those stubborn pounds, if you are prepared to give up the slimmer’s mentality of yo-yo dieting and see it as a long-term change to the way you eat, and not as “just another diet”.

BENEFITS OF A GI DIET

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