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 of a carbohydrate on blood-glucose levels was not determined by the sugar or starch. For example, we now know that the effect chocolate has on blood-glucose is actually lower than potatoes. That doesn't mean chocolate is healthy — but I'll get to that later.

"GI is a ranking (from 1 to 100) which measures the effect of a food on your blood-glucose level over the two hours after the food is eaten," explains Joanna McMillan-Price, a Sydney nutrition scientist and co-author of The Low GI Diet book.

"You get a bell-shaped curve when you eat food containing carbohydrates; the blood-glucose rises and as your body produces insulin it pushes the glucose out of the blood and into tissues, and then you see the blood-glucose level falling." McMillan-Price explains that when eating high GI foods, you get a very high bell curve response with a dramatic drop. With a low-GI food, there is a slower and steadier rise in the blood-glucose level.

How does low-GI promote better health?

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