Everything you need to know about Gi

Following a low-Gi diet can make losing weight easier – and benefit your health. And it’s so easy to do. Here’s how and why

"In all the years I have been writing diet plans, never have I witnessed such incredible successes as I have on my Gi Jeans Diet. My new Ultimate Gi Jeans Diet builds on these amazing results and this issue of the magazine is devoted to helping YOU enjoy and share in that success. We all know that to lose weight fast and healthily we need to consume a healthy, low-fat diet and eat fewer calories than our body needs so that we call on our fat stores to make up the difference. We then need to burn more calories by being more active and doing more exercise to speed up the weight-loss process. So where does Gi come in? Here are the five things that you need to know.

1 WHY LOW Gi?

Gi stands for glycaemic index, which was created to help diabetics control their insulin levels to maintain better health. Eating low-Gi foods helps our heart health and has been scientifically proven to be generally much better for us – even if we are not diabetic. Foods with a low Gi rating release energy more slowly, so help us feel fuller for longer, meaning we are less likely to want to snack. And making low-Gi choices isn’t difficult.

2 WHICH FOODS ARE LOW Gi?

The glycaemic index relates primarily to carbohydrates – that’s bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and cereal. Here is a quick guide to selecting low-Gi options:

• Opt for natural, wholegrain brown bread with bits of grain in it instead of white or highly processed brown bread.
• All pasta is low Gi. Just use tomato-based sauces in preference to creamy ones while you are trying to lose weight.
• Choose basmati rice in preference to other types.
• Opt for sweet potatoes. These can be cooked in exactly the same way as your usual ‘old’ potatoes; even baked in their skins and served with a topping such as baked beans or cottage cheese. Waxy new potatoes are also low Gi.
• Cereals that are not too highly processed are best, so go for oat-based varieties, such as muesli, or anything that is fairly natural and high in fibre, such as All-Bran and Shredded Wheat. Special K is also low Gi because of the manufacturing process.

3 DOES LOW Gi MEAN LOW FAT?

No. This is where confusion can arise as, by adding fat, manufacturers can reduce the Gi rating to advertise their products as ‘Low Gi’. And when you are trying to lose weight, this defeats the object of the exercise! In my books and this magazine, chef Dean Simpole-Clarke and I work hard to create recipes and diet plans that almost always include low-fat (less than 5% fat) ingredients and we use low-Gi ones whenever possible.

4 DOES EVERYTHING I EAT HAVE TO BE LOW Gi?

Not at all. By making just a few, simple changes, as mentioned above, you can turn your normal, low-fat diet into a mostly low-Gi one. But you can still have higher-Gi treats occasionally. That’s why my Ultimate Gi Jeans Diet allows you a 100-calorie-a-day treat, which can be high fat and high Gi if you wish, plus you can save up the calories for a special occasion!

5 SHOULD I EAT LOW Gi IN THE FUTURE?

Yes – for the good of your general health. Most of the trial dieters who followed my original Gi Jeans Diet said they enjoyed making the changes to their diet and were really happy to carry on this new way of eating after losing their weight. The biggest benefits were that they felt SO much healthier and that the foods they ate filled them up for longer, so they didn’t feel hungry.

So, if you want to lose weight, feel 10 years younger and have bags more energy, you will find all the information you need in this magazine and in my Ultimate Gi Jeans Diet book. It really DOES work wonders!"