gi diet

anyone else doing the low GI diet.

I have been doing it a while and loving it.

I must admit i am back to square one but when i do it properly i don't feel hungry at all.

I am from the UK and know that most are from the US i think one of the biggest diet i the US based on the Gi index is the "south beach diet" am i correct.

Any tips?

Love to hear from anyone

Catherine

I follow a reasonably Low GI diet (hence the name)... , also in the UK and I also love it.    Weight-control was a problem in the past because I found I got hungry too quickly when reducing calories.  By being a little more selective about the carbohydrate element of meals I've found that I'm quite satisfied on smaller amounts food.   So portion-control suddenly became do-able.

Once the penny dropped for me I decided that I enjoyed the food so much that I have never reverted to the alternatives.  The whole family is now used to wholewheat bread and pasta, more vegetables, home-cooking, no sugar etc.  They all look pretty good on it!  Can't remember the last time anyone was sick with a cold, for example.

South Beach diet I think has a 'low carb-ish' element to begin with.  Aside from portion-control (calorie-control) and getting a good balance at mealtimes I've never found the need to restrict the 'carbs' specifically.

What is the GI diet exactly?  Not familiar with it!

It's old-fashioned healthy eating really  GI stands for Glycaemic Index which is a measure of how quickly a carbohydrate turns to sugar in the bloodstream.   Sugar, refined white flour, fruit juice and other processed foods have a very high rating but wholefoods like vegetables, whole fruit and wholegrains have a low rating.  Diabetics (for whom the diet was originally developed) have to keep their blood-sugars as stable as possible because they can't produce insulin effectively and by basing their diet around foods with a Low GI rating they could.  What's more, they seemed to be able to control their weight better.

When non-diabetic people made similar dietary choices they found a lot of benefits.  Because their blood-sugars weren't spiking upwards and then crashing downwards they didn't get the same problems of mid-afternoon 'energy slumps'.  They became less prone to cravings for sugary, starchy food.  They were satisfied for longer on a smaller amount of food and didn't feel hungry again quite as quickly  All of the above you can see would help weight-loss.  There still has to be portion-control (you can gain weight eating anything if you eat too much of it!) and exercise is still important. 

I believe South Beach is based on similar observations and I've seen more complicated versions around.  The 'GL' diet goes on about Glycaemic Load... taking the GI and weighting it for energy density.   There are lots of very lengthy books, of course.  Being a simple sort, I prefer to keep to the basic idea rather than get side-tracked with 'science' and, as a result, I've found it very relaxing and enjoyable

Gotcha! thanks for the summary!

I should be very careful about this because of my ovarian cysts. When I eat too many junky carbs, they HURT like a mo'fo. When I'm eating correctly, they don't bother me at all.

Seconding the hunger thing, too. I never walk around with annoying cravings when I'm eating this way as well. I just started back last week and I actually *GASP* forgot to eat. I thought I'd have to have stomach cancer before I'd forget to eat. People would say that, and I thought they were making it up because usually all I think about is the next meal

Ive always been against cutting carbs because i didnt want to buy into the whole atkins craze and eat a lot of fat, but I feel so much better and fuller when i dont eat too much carbs.  When I do eat carbs it is tiny portions of low gi foods.  I dont even count calories anymore because the low gi diet has controlled my hunger to the point where i dont overeat naturally.  its crazy.

In 2005 I did the Atkins diet and lost 67 pounds, but gained it all back (and then some) when my husband returned from Iraq, retired from the Army and did all the cooking for several months.  He couldn't understand that I couldn't eat all that fried/fatty food and was insulted if I turned down something he cooked.  Now he knows the choice is eat that way & look that way, or eat healthier and look hot!  I still am following a modified version (which is closer to South Beach than Atkins) but mainly trying to keep below 25% fat, around 25% protein, and less than 50% carbs - with Volumetrics (eating loads of veggies to bulk out the diet and keep me from over-indulging on less healthy foods).  One big no-no for me is to forbid myself from eating any particular food - I can eat anything in the world as long as I have worked off the calories BEFORE I eat it.  Usually I skip the high-calorie treats after having worked for them, and go for either a much smaller portion of what I was working for, or something better for my body.

jessica....what are some low gi carbs?