The GI Diet: The Easy, Healthy Way to Permanent Weight Loss by Rick Gallop - Jan 2005

Virgin Books, Jan 2005. Paperback. It's rather a relief to discover that "The GI Diet" is not, after all, an in-depth investigation into the secrets of the US Army's mess halls and field rations. This GI stands for Glycemic Index, the latest thing in weight-loss thinking. Encouragingly based on his own efforts to lose weight, the introduction explains how Rick Gallop worked his way through diet after diet. Single-food diets (grapefruit, cabbage) he rejected as unsustainable; high-protein/low-carb ones unreliable and potentially dangerous (sorry, Dr Atkins). None of them worked in the long run. Finally he stumbled across the theories of nutritionist Dr David Jenkins, and the GI Diet, the new Only Diet That Works, was born. Essentially, the Glycemic Index measures how quickly carbohydrates are digested and release their sugars into the bloodstream. Foods with a high GI rating release glucose rapidly, their energy is rapidly burned up and hunger quickly returns. The Chinese meal syndrome, where you're hungry half an hour later, is the perfect illustration of this. Low-rated slow-release foods, by contrast, provide long-term energy and tend to require the body to do more work to convert it. Oats, beans, barley and similar foods high in soluble fibre represent the ideal forms of low-GI food. Fats are likewise differentiated into the familiar saturated (bad), unsaturated (good) and polyunsaturated (best). \n Naturally, there is more to it than this rather obvious-sounding core precept. Rick Gallop has constructed an entire dietary plan around it, with a introductory weight-loss period followed by a less severe maintenance diet (in this, rather like the Atkins Diet but much less onerous and restrictive). There are long lists of foodstuffs graded by GI rating, a selection of (rather basic) recipes and suggestions for exercise regimes--the latter including some interesting Pilates-like strengthening routines--so the whole thing becomes more of a lifestyle plan. The most telling evidence for its effectiveness, says Gallop, is that it worked for him and everyone he has persuaded to stay the course. Judging by the collection of excited testimonials from satisfied newly thin users, it could very well be worth a try.--"Robin Davidson"