*waves* hello all! I've been a lurker on this board for a while hehe and finally decided to post... well I was wondering if anyone was doing the G.I. diet? I've been in a pleateu for a couple of months now and I need to try something new and this seems like a healthy way of getting over that hump so I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this diet? pros/cons and how easy is it to adapt to things you can't live without (that would be ben & jerry's ) any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there

There is currently a thread under diet plans for GI diet - may be of use for you. I think it is a way of eating for life that is definately worth looking at. I suppose if I had to classify my food, they would be low GI

GI Diet

I hope this helps

BTW Congratulations on your weight loss to date! Great job!

Daisy

Low G.I. is a good way of eating. I try to eat that way whenever possible, but often find it a little too restrictive for my tastes. It would probably be good for me to eat that way more often...but after a painful excursion with Atkins, I now refuse to deny myself any particular food item I may be craving...I do however limit the portion size


Amanda

Can you explain GI - I do know it has something to do with GLucose. I looked at the link above and didnt really see an explaination of the diet. I will look further though. Any posts would be nice. I always love new info about dieting. Right now Im doing Jorge Cruise. But up for any suggestions on how to shed my weight quicker!

The idea behind following a low GI diet is to keep your blood sugar stable. By eating foods which are listed on the Glycemic Index as low, or having minimal effect on blood sugar, you're body will be apt to work at burning away at your body mass, rather than trying to keep up with the rip-tide rise of blood sugar. By keeping your blood sugar stable, your body will not be forced to over-produce insulin...which in turn will help with hyperinsulinism (a problem faced by many overweight individuals). The real problem behind the excess of insulin is the inevitable "crash" that comes at the end...once your body has found/created enough fat cells to store the excess sugar it has encountered.

The GI diet involves, for example, eating sweet potatoes rather than white potatoes. Low GI foods typically consist of foods which, although they may have quite a few carbs, are more complex...in other words, they take longer to break down in the system...so therefore the carbs entering the bloodstream via digestion are going to enter much more slowly. When they enter slower they have only a slight effect on your blood sugar, which means that your body will not go into panic state and start pumping out insulin like mad crazy. It works on the same level, using the same basic principles as many low carb diets...yet to not such an extreme degree.

That said...take from it what you will, and leave the rest to the dogs. Tailor your diet to you...as an individual. As for me, I hate sweet potatoes, likewise I refuse to eat a steak without a nice baked potatoe. So maybe I don't follow it to the T, but I try to use some of the basic principles and suggestions to my advantage. Good luck!


Amanda