Here's How To Follow A Low GI Diet

How to follow a low-GI diet

Make an Internet search for any fad diet and you are likely to get as many hits claiming it is nonsense as those claiming it revolutionises weight loss. But, here's the thing about low-GI; it's not a fad and there are no medical journal articles or scientific studies that say it isn't a healthy dietary concept. Eating low-GI is a key nutrition message that goes hand-in-hand with other healthy eating guidelines such as eat less saturated fats and eat more fruit and vegetables. The Glycemic Index (GI) was devised about 20 years ago when researchers looked closer at the dietary recommendations for diabetics; which was to eat more complex carbohydrates (starch) because they took longer to process and digest than simple carbohydrates (sugar). What the researchers discovered was that the effect

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How Low Should A Low GI Diet Go?

What we now know from numerous observational cohort studies around
the world is that the average GI of the diet of people in the lowest
quintile (20% of the population) is about 40-50. Similarly, in a recent
meta-analysis of 15 experimental studies investigating the role of low
GI diets in managing diabetes, the average GI was 45. Since this
average GI has been proven to have significant health benefits in
people with existing diabetes and in reducing the risk of chronic
diseases like heart disease and diabetes, and importantly, people can
and do achieve it in real life, we believe a GI of 45 or less is a
reasonable definition of a low GI diet or meal.
‘How do you achieve this?

This is interesting read the full report here


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Whole Wheat Apple Pancakes - LOW GI Recipes

Whole Wheat Apple Pancakes - LOW GI Recipes

Ingredients:

2 large cooking apples, such as Jonathan or Granny Smith, peeled, if desired, and finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 slightly beaten egg
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons cooking oil or melted butter
Cooking oil (optional)
Unsweetened applesauce (optional)

Instructions: read on here

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Make Your Own Low GI Bread.

Now this low GI is really taking off and the more popular it gets the better for those of us who want to follow a low GI diet plan. I am fortunate as this website I found is in my 'extended' area.

Now I can bake my own low GI bread the easy way by purchasing a low GI bread mix. I may even take a drive on my next day off and see what else they have to offer. If you live anywhere in Australia they will send their products to you .

Take a look at their website, love the name, "Make It And Bake It"


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Amazing! Lost Another Pound This Week, Low Gi & Eating Out

I'm really amazed, I've lost another pound this past week.

I'm amazed because I've been to friends' places for dinner and have met friends out for lunch a few times this week. Sound like a real social butterfly........not really, it was just one of those weeks when everything happens together.

So because of my social butterflying, I've not been as strict as I should have been with the low gi foods. Mind you I did try to follow what Wesley said in his GI Diet Breakthrough about eating out., its just little things that he made me aware of like, drinking water with the meal instead of a soda, order grilled chicken without the skin, with vegetables, open face sandwiches at lunch time and many more. So it pays to be conscious of what you are about, instead of ordering the wrong foods.

The other thing I did this week is find Fruisana fruit sugar. I did notice a difference in just the way I felt after having it on my cereal and in my tea. I did notice it sweet on my cereal too and have been experimenting with how much I use. With the tea and coffee I didn't notice it quite as sweet, maybe it is the heat that has some affect on it. Nevertheless, I am cutting down on the quantity I use and that is a good thing, also being a low GI food of only 19, this is even better.

Next is to try it in some of my own recipes and turn them into low gi recipes, the family may have to put up with a few mistakes until I get the measurement right. Still they are getting good at that and are very encouraging, love 'em.

Back to work, catch you later.

A New Low GI Chicken Recipe For The Family

I found a new recipe for Sunday night's dinner, it's a low gi chicken recipe so I thought it sounded good enough to try on the family. They had gotten a little spoilt with all the new dishes and then the repeats were fine for a while but 'the natives are getting restless again'.

So, as they all like chicken, I went looking for a new low gi chicken recipe and found this one. It makes up into a complete meal, so I didn't have to think about what to serve with it.

I've added it to my low gi recipe collection blog, you can take a look here
It's called Low G.I. Chicken & Ratatouille Wraps with Sweet Potato Mash and I found it on my local radio station website, no pretty pictures though.

If you try it I hope you like it.

Lost Another Pound This Week, Low Glycemic Index I Like.

My bedtime reading this week has been The GI Diet Breakthrough, there is so much good info in that book, it's not just a diet book. I'm determined to understand this low gi diet plan.

All these years I've been guilty of using the "I need a sugar hit" to get me through the afternoon. I've done this so often and reading GI Diet Breakthrough, I now realise just how 'off beam' I've been.

Things like chocolate bars, good old Coke and coffee with sugar have been what I've reached for and now I can see how wrong that was. These are all simple sugars and the worst kind for causing a spike in my blood sugar levels, heaps of energy and very soon after, lethargic.

Since I've been doing things the GI way, I haven't felt the need for that 'sugar hit' and I've lost another pound this week which is just great and I haven't even thought about being on a diet, thanks to the GI Diet Breakthrough.

Slow and steady is how I want to lose my weight that's how it is happening and I don't feel like I'm dieting. Then I want to keep it off with sensible eating and by the time my weight is where I want it, I should be eating a low GI diet as a natural thing, not having to think if this is a low gi food or go to the GI Diet Breakthough to find out. I will know that book by heart by then.

I've been repeating recipes for the last couple of weeks but this week I'm off to find some more new ones. What I did find last week, is a great program for my recipes, it not only stores recipes and cookbooks but with a few clicks, organises the shopping list and menu planning. It's called ShopNCook Menu and you can get a trial download, which is a good thing as you can figure out if it is what you want or not during the trial. Although this is not an expensive program and I've found it so good that I think I will buy it when the trial is up. This is the download link ShopNCook Menu and the trial is 45 days.

Okay that's it for now, I'm going to plan my menu for next week with ShopNCook Menu and print out my shopping list. this is such a time saver when I'm working such odd hours.

Catch you again soon.

Low GI Snacks That Taste Great

Since starting on my low GI foods quest, I've found that I'm not eating potatoes very much at all....and.....the good part is I feel so much better. Now I know that it has a lot to do with the way I'm introducing the low gi foods into our meals but having our main meals without potatoes seems to be having a very good effect.

By replacing the potatoes with rice and pasta, the meal is not so heavy either and we're not missing it, so that's a good thing.

My biggest hurdle is breakfast, I'm not an egg person, nor do I like the bran type cereals. So I've been adding more fruit to my breakfast, use the wholemeal and grain type breads for toast and the jam spreads without sugar. I do miss my honey though, must admit I have been having it twice a week and make up for it's higher GI later in the day.

Between meal snacks, well there are a few goodies I found. Like unsalted nuts, a small quantity mind you, and dried apricots which I love. There are a few more over at The GI Diet Guide.

There are also a couple of very nice muffin recipes at the Glycemic Gourmet, one for Orange Breakfast Muffins and the other for Raspberry Yogurt Muffins

I'll be putting the ingredients for both of these on my recipe blog, so if you lose the link then you'll know where to find them.

Last Night's Low Gi Recipe

Last night's recipe, as promised good old beef stir fry, you can find it here
I found this recipe over at The Glycemic Gourmet

This one is easy too, give it a try, I'm sure you will like it too, my familydid.

Must away to work now. catch you later.

PS I've also added a few articles etc that are helping me understand all this low gi foods etc. take a look here, they might help you too.

Low GI Recipes & Carbohydrates.

Haven't made any new low GI recipes for a few days, I've been researching carbohydrates, still going, but what I've found so far you can check out here.

Keeping to a low GI eating plan means understanding a few things, mainly carbohydrates. This is where I started with low GI recipes, got a bit distracted once I found a few recipes and that they were so good too. I've been finding out a lot in the Low GI Diet Breakthrough and a few other places.

Well I've got a busy day ahead, so best get to it and will come back to this again tonight. I should have a new recipe for tonight too, family orders, they have gotten used to having new low GI recipes to try.

Find Out How These Low GI Foods Work

I've not been trying new recipes for a couple of days, I've had the 'flu, so cooking has not been my main priority. I've made up dishes that I know are good and easy to do. Still low GI recipes.

I have done some research on the Glycemic Index and why it works so well. If you would like to read what I have found out then by all means, just click here.

It is fascinating and there are times when you have to just believe and also because it WORKS!!!

If you want to read up on it all yourself then I can recommend this book, Low GI Diet Breakthrough, there is heaps of very good info in it too, also a couple of bonuses when you purchase the ebook, that I've found very helpful.

Well I'm off to take care of my 'flu and watch some Rugby, the Rugby World Cup is on and I'm a huge rugby fan. Take care till next time, (should have a few more recipes for you too)

Another Low GI Recipe Success

Dinner tonight was Chicken and Pumpkin Stirfry, a low gi recipe and very nice I must say.

I've just added it to my recipe collection, take a look here

It's a little late now so I will add more tomorrow, my family are loving all the new dishes, which is so very good for me. These low gi foods are really excellent.

See you tomorrow.

A Low GI Recipe That's A Winner

I've been missing for a few days, my computer has been having a few hissy fits, my son is coming tonight to do a small rebuild for me. So should be all okay tomorrow.

I worked all day today and so was looking for something quick and easy for dinner tonight. I find times like these I have to be very strict with myself. It is so easy to go the fast food way.

Well that is virtually what I have done, gone the fast low gi recipe food way. I went looking for something that was fast, that I would have the ingredients for, that can be another excuse for take-away fast food, not having the ingredients. What I found was "Low GI Pasta with Italian Sauce"

As you can see, the ingredients are ones most of us have in our pantry and refrigerator and it took about 20 minutes all up, they said 15 but I must chop up onion slower or something.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

6oz/160g bacon (smoked or unsmoked)

2 medium sized onions

14oz/400g tin of chopped plum tomatoes

7oz/200g frozen peas

2 table spoons tomato puree

2 cloves of garlic

1 table spoon balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons spoon worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons mixed italian herbs

3 large pinches of salt

pepper

1 table spoon olive oil

9oz/250g dried pasta

Take a look at my low GI recipe blog for all the details here

I'm starting to sort out low GI foods, it makes very good sense too. I'm working on a chart that will make it easier for me to understand, so when I have it done, I'll put up a copy here for you too.

Okay that's it for tonight, my computer is about to be taken apart and hopefully put back together a much better model. Well hopefully the hissy fits will be gone.

Catch you later.

Grilling Vegetables the Low GI Diet Way

With the low gi recipes and low gi diet, finding easy things to have for meals is not hard, and there are so many options that don't require much preparation. After a day at work there is nothing worse than to come home and have to get a meal ready that needs lots of preparation. I found grilling vegetables nice and quick, served with rice and different meats is no trouble.

So here's how I grill the vegetables.................

Start by cutting into chunk size pieces. In a small plastic bag, add a little olive oil, chopped garlic, freshly ground pepper, and a little soy sauce, if you like it then toss the vegetable chunks to coat and then place under the grill. Tyr some mushrooms, flat topp ones, courgettes, aubergine slices, asparagus, peppers and red onions. (red onions are a little sweeter than the white or brown variety and seem to be very popuar today with all the top chefs.

Doing vegetables this way adds more flavor and I can use a wider range of vegetables making each meal more interesting.

Rice gets a green light, I found out I can use white long-grain rice as it comes into the low GI and so does brown rice but brown rice takes much longer to cook and I'm not overly fussed on it. So I was happy when I found the white long-grain rice in the Low GI range.

The grilled vegetables, different ones each time and the rice go well with many meats. I intend to change the vegetables for nice salads some nights and also make the rice into a tasty rice salad other nights.

I did chicken out on the kidney and navy beans, green beans are fine, I can eat them cooked, fresh or just blanched. BTW I found a nice dipping sauce for fresh raw vegetables, so easy peasy to make too.

I'll put it over on my recipe blog too but here it is, it's called Apricot Mustard Dipping Sauce and you will need

3 tbsp low sugar apricot jam
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir together.

Dip the vegetables and just eat and enjoy. You can blanch the vegetables if you like, I just like mine raw.
Very nice.
The sauce was with a recipe for chicken fingers which I haven't tired yet, but will let you know when I do, will be a day or so.

I found another sauce too, haven't tried it yet, it's a creamy, garlic, cheese sauce and sounds great, in the recipe it is served with pasta.

I have a few things to try out so will get back to you on them very soon. I'll post the creamy sauce on my recipe blog too, so you may like to try that as well.

You can find more recipes and tips here, it's a good read with great info about low gi diets, people are having great success with it too.

Stocking Up My Pantry For Low GI Recipes.

There is nothing like finding good stuff especially when you're trying to eat healthy and lose the odd pound or two. I just came across one of my favorite snacks, take a look at my low gi recipe and diet here

Grilled ham and cheese, thought I may have to go without this one but no, it's all good.

I decided to get my pantry in order and found these lists for the things that you need to have on hand, so I'm off shopping and make sure I have the necessary. Chickpeas I can handle but I'm not a big fan of kidney beans, navy beans etc but I will try a few recipes with them before I make up my mind. Maybe I've just not had the right recipes up to now.

There is a good variety with little or no rating on the low glycemic index to give flavor to recipes and let's face it, if you're going to the trouble of making a dish, then even if you are on a diet, you want it to have flavor and be tasty.

You can see the pantry list here

Don't know what I'm cooking for dinner tonight, will let you know tomorrow, maybe try one of the 'bean' dishes. I'll go look for one now before I go shopping, catch you later.

Low GI Recipes and Fathers Day In Aus.

It's been a busy few days here, work plus it was Fathers Day here on Sunday, so special FD lunch and I used low GI recipes too and the family were none the wiser, thought the meal was great!

I made this one Lemon & Parsley Chicken

And

The No Bake Pineapple & Berry Cheesecake, I was going to do the Spiced Apricot Turkey but opted for the chicken instead. Went over well too, I'll do the turkey next time.

I've found another low GI recipe book, Everyday Entrees Low GI Cookbook - eBook Instant Download Click here to view more details

That's it for now, catch you later.

Low GI Diets and The Benefits,

just found this on Wiki, it's about low GI diets and foods, remember the carrots being a medium GI well this is how it came about.....

======================================
From Wiki Books

Low-GI diet refers to a diet that advocates consumption of foods with a low glycaemic index (GI). The glycaemic index measures the rate at which the body converts the carbohydrate in a given food to glucose (blood sugar). A low-GI diet is important for people with diabetes, as either their bodies' insulin production is abnormal or their bodies are insulin resistant, restricting their ability to metabolise glucose.

However, low-GI diets have benefits for non-diabetics also. A high-GI diet results in peaks and troughs of energy throughout the day, whereas a low-GI diet results in a good level of sustained energy. Low-GI foods also tend to have a longer satisfaction period per calorie given the slow energy release, which is useful in maintaining a healthy weight loss/control diet.

It should be noted that, since the glycaemic index measures the rate at which the carbohydrate in the food is converted into glucose, it can be misleading for foods with a low quantity of carbohydrate. The carbohydrate in carrot has a medium GI but, since a carrot only is about 7% carbohydrate, it has a relatively small effect on the blood glucose. For this reason, some people advocate use of the glycaemic load (GL) instead, which is simply the GI divided by 100, times the quantity of carbohydrate (in grams).

Foods such as meat which have no carbohydrate have no GI.

A GI of up to 55 is low, 56-69 medium and 70+ high. Glucose has a GI of 100.

A GL of 10 or less is low, 11-19 medium and 20+ high.

=======================================

Can get a little confusing, but I know I'm on the right path.

Be back soon

Low GI Diet Breakthrough, An Easy Diet To Follow

The more I research the more I like the idea of building up my low GI recipes. I started out wanting to control my carb intake and so reduce my weight. With Wesley Atkins' book The Low GI Diet Breakthrough there is so much information to help with the choices I need to make.

With this book I'm beginning to understand about low GI or glycemic index and the reason I've been adding the weight, it's through not understanding the carbohydrates in the low fat foods were responsible.

In Low GI Diet Breakthrough it is explained about how this works and why eating the low GI foods benefits the body so much. Also, the number of people who have followed what Wesley Atkins has in the ebook and have lost so much weight shows that this low GI diet plan works.

It all makes sense the way it is explained, it doesn't focus on the carbs you should not have or I should say, should limit but more on the type of carbohydrates you eat.

There is nothing worse than going on a diet and being restricted, I don't know about you, but when I can't have something that's when I want it the most. Just a bye the bye, when I stopped smoking I kept a pack and a half of my brand of cigarettes in the pantry, they were still there eight years later.

That's got not much to do with low GI foods or low GI diets only for the fact that with the low GI recipes there is such a fantastic variety to choose from, there are very little or no restrictions to worry about. No wonder so many people have lost weight by following this low GI diet plan, it's an easy diet to follow, you don't even realize your dieting.

Check out my low gi recipes for today, click here and be amazed at what you can eat on a low gi diet.

Low GI Foods Meats, Good Ones

Well now, what I've found with low GI and meats is really good for someone like me who loves meat, beef, lamb, pork and chicken.

From
Glycemic Index Listing for Meatlovers and A'fish'ionados
"Meats are a protein food, so as you see in the glycemic index listing they all have very little carbohydrate and therefore a very low GI."

That must by why the Lemon & Parsley Chicken, I added to my low GI recipe blog here, had such low carbs.

And........this is important too "Eating a good variety of protein from meats, eggs, dairy, grains, and legumes is a healthy way to make sure you're getting all the proteins your body needs." from the same source here.

The list for meats and seafood for their low glycemic index can be found here

It is interesting when you start to look at the different foods just how good a variety of foods you can eat to have yourself not so much of a diet but more a sensible eating plan that you can follow so easily.

Be back with more soon. I've found a few yummy snacks that I'm about to try out. If I like them I'll add them to my low GI recipe blog.

Will keep you posted.

I'm Finding More About Low GI Recipes

While I've been looking for low GI recipes I realized that it's one thing to get a diet book but another to actually follow the diet. I think that having to cook from a 'diet' menu can be helpful but you do need to be organized with the ingredients. So................
I've set up a separate place for collecting my recipes, you can find it here My Low GI Recipes & Low GI Foods

I decided to look up and get to know all the different foods that have low GI. Many of them I eat already, so do you probably. so it's learning how to eat them properly for the most advantage to our bodies, that's health and weight control.

There are a couple of sites that have these foods listed. The one I found just now is here
http://www.glycemicgourmet.com/glycemic-index-table.html this is the fruit and vegie list.

Now what it does say is a low GI is considered to be < style="font-style: italic;">low GI recipes.

More On My Low GI Recipes Hunt.

I've found this low GI recipes site for a low GI diet, they have, with each recipe a break down of the nutritional information so I thought I would check on how many carbs I needed each day and found a site where I could work this out, so...........

My daily intake of carbs should be 235grms

To check on daily carbs, here's where I found the calculator. http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/carbohydrate.asp

My low GI recipes hunt is on. I've been researching and what I've found is, these low GI foods help you to feel not so hungry, which means you (me) won't be looking for those snacky things between meals and they also say that by adding just one low GI food to a meal will lower the glycemic index of the whole meal. Now how easy is that!

There is a pretty good list of GI foods here http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/ and they have separated them into three categories, low, medium and high. They are supposed to have recipes with these categories marked too, will get back to you on that.

Just a quick look through the low GI recipes on the site, some of them sound very tasty and there is even a low GI recipe for chocolate mousse with raspberries, now who wanting to lose weight and be healthy could complain about that. Makes you want to diet......

This internet is a great place for finding stuff

PS I've found an ebook too called The Low GI Diet Breakthrough

PPS and another ebook I could use too called Fit Over 40
This is what is offered before you buy that one

My FREE 10-Day Fat-Burning E-Course (Starting Today!)

Two “Mystery Gifts” worth over $180!

A FREE Chapter Sample from my book, “Fit Over 40”!

My FREE Weekly Newsletter, “Success For Life!”

Must admit it has been an interesting time so far, will catch you up on more tomorrow.

Low GI Recipes

What you may ask are low GI recipes and why might I be setting up a blog about them. Well, first of all what is low GI? I found this on the website called Home of the Glycemic Index. See the GI stands for Glycemic Index. Not what I'd call an inviting name but maybe one that sounds like it should be good for you. Here's what they said about Glycemic Index

Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels - is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss. Home Of Glycemic Index

This whole GI thing I thought was something I should look into. I've been fortunate most of my life not having to worry about gaining weight. Then I had one of those things that can happen to us all, a huge full stop in your life that makes you take stock of how you have been looking after your body. I guess because I never needed to watch what I ate, mind you I ate fairly healthily, well I thought I did. But after my big full stop, I had to go on a low fat diet.

Now here's me thinking that the low fat products were fine and for that area of my diet they were. But........I started to put on weight, funny that, eating low fat and putting on weight seemed very strange until I was talking to someone one day and mentioned this, lo and behold! this person said, check the carbs in the low fat foods, that is probably the reason you are putting on weight. And..........hey! sure enough the carbs in all the low fat foods were so much higher than in the non low fat foods. No wonder I was putting on weight. I had my own business and worked long hours but it was not the type of work that would burn off all these extra carbs my body was taking in.

Next step was to find out what all this was about and here I am at the learning about low GiI and how it can help me stage.

So I'm off to find some good low GI recipes and maybe a low GI diet to go with them.

When I find low GI recipes that I like, I'll post them up here for anyone interested in trying them too.

Thought I might start with breakfast.
Low GI is supposed to help with energy levels too I think.