The Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets · Making low carb and low GI diets easy The...

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Making low carb and low GI diets easy The Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets Learn what they are and how they work Discover why they may be better for you than low calorie or low fat diets Jackie Bushell www.gooddietgoodhealth.com

Transcript of The Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets · Making low carb and low GI diets easy The...

Making low carb and low GI diets easy

The Easy Guide to

Low Carb, Low GI

and Low GL Diets

Learn what they are and how they work

Discover why they may be better for you than low calorie or low fat diets

Jackie Bushell www.gooddietgoodhealth.com

The Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI & Low GL Diets Which one is best for you?

© Copyright Jackie Bushell 2

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About this Guide 6

1 Cutting carbs not calories – the 21st

Century diet

revolution 8

Could the low calorie / low fat theory be wrong? ...................................... 8

Low carb and low GI – the early days ......................................................... 8

The low carb revolution ............................................................................... 9

Low carb and healthy eating advice ......................................................... 10

Son of low carb – the second wave .......................................................... 10

The third wave – GL diets .......................................................................... 10

Quick fix ‘fads’ – or long term healthy eating plans? .............................. 11

Joining the diet revolution ......................................................................... 11

2 Low carb diets 13

How low carb diets work ............................................................................ 13

Which diets are low carb ............................................................................ 13

What you eat on low carb .......................................................................... 14

3 Low GI diets 15

How low GI diets work ................................................................................ 15

Which diets are low GI ............................................................................... 16

What you eat on low GI .............................................................................. 16

4 Low GL diets 18

How low GL diets work .............................................................................. 18

Which diets are low GL .............................................................................. 18

What you eat on low GL ............................................................................. 18

5 Are low carb and low GI / GL diets healthy? 20

Going back to the way our great-grandparents ate ................................. 20

Healthy eating advice ................................................................................. 20

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6 Are low carb and low GI / low GL diets safe? 22

Low carb diet safety ................................................................................... 22

Fat intake ..................................................................................................... 22

Carbohydrate intake and the ‘balanced diet’ ........................................... 23

7 Do low carb and low GI / low GL diets work better

than low calorie / low fat diets? 25

Insulin control or calorie / fat counting – which works best? ................ 25

8 Are low GI and low GL diets better than low carb?

26

Low GI and low GL versus low carb ......................................................... 26

Similarities between low GI, low GL and low carb diets ......................... 26

Differences between low GI, low GL and low carb diets ......................... 27

9 So should I do low carb, low GI or low GL? 29

Carbohydrate sensitivity ............................................................................ 29

Lifestyle considerations ............................................................................. 29

How much weight do you want to lose? ................................................... 29

What kind of approach do you prefer? ..................................................... 30

10 Frequently Asked Questions 31

Checking carb counts and GI / GL ratings ............................................... 31

Nutrition labeling and fiber ........................................................................ 31

Sugar alcohols ............................................................................................ 32

Food supplements ...................................................................................... 32

Coping with meals out ............................................................................... 32

11 Getting started on your diet 33

Step One – decide which diet to follow .................................................... 33

Step Two – get informed ............................................................................ 33

Step Three – gather your diet toolkit together ......................................... 33

Step Four – get prepared ........................................................................... 34

Step Five – get started on your way to dietary success! ........................ 34

12 What to do if your diet is not working 35

Why restricting carbohydrate may not be enough .................................. 35

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Further resources 36

Nutrition/diet/health .................................................................................... 36

Weight loss problems ................................................................................ 36

Special/allergy diets ................................................................................... 36

Low carb/low GI/low GL diets .................................................................... 37

HCG Diet ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.38

Version 6, August 2017

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Disclaimer

The information in this book is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. It is recommended that you check with your family physician before embarking on any significant change in diet or exercise. This is particularly important if you have a medical condition of any kind or are taking any prescribed medicines. The author accepts no liability for readers who choose not to obtain their own professional medical advice.

Copyright

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner. © Copyright 2017 Jackie Bushell

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Low carb (carbohydrate), low GI (glycemic index) and low GL (glycemic load) diets are based on the same scientific principle – that out-of-control blood sugar and insulin levels are to blame for most people’s overweight problems. They represent a major change in weight loss methods, as the prevailing belief for the last fifty years has been that only calories matter, and that therefore the only successful weight loss diet is one which reduces calories.

New diets which focus on control of blood sugar/insulin rather than calories and fat intake have revolutionised the slimming world in recent years. What you eat on these low carb, low GI and low GL diets is very different from the low calorie / low fat diets that have traditionally been seen as the only way to lose weight. In order to follow these blood sugar / insulin control diets correctly, and to feel confident about their safety, it is necessary to understand a little of the science behind them, and to ‘unlearn’ many accepted truths that underpin the traditional way of dieting. This information is available in the many books that have been written by the low carb and low GI / GL diet authors. Unfortunately, it is not books but articles in newspapers, on television and in magazines, together with hearsay, that govern most people’s approach to following a new diet. And the trouble is that few of the articles accurately explain how low carb or low GI / GL diets work, the scientific evidence that supports them and why they are safe. Having made the decision to try a low carb or low GI / GL diet, the next hurdle is choosing which one to follow. Although many are simply variations on a theme, there are differences in interpretation of the science which underlies them. Trying to understand what is scientifically correct, what amounts to different ways of saying the same thing and what are the real differences between the diets can be confusing. This Guide is designed to help you understand the real facts about low carb, low GI and low GL dieting by providing impartial information in a clear, easy to understand way. The scene is set by describing how the new blood sugar / insulin control diets became popular. The Guide explains how the various types of diet work and the kinds of foods that are eaten on them, and goes on to consider whether they are healthy and safe. Further chapters discuss whether low carb, low GI and low GL diets work better than low calorie and low fat diets and the scientific reasoning for this. The Guide then summarises the similarities and differences between low carb, low GI and low GL diets, to help you decide which diet is right for you. There is also a chapter containing answers to frequently asked questions, such as how to understand nutrition labels, whether nutritional supplements are necessary, and how to cope with meals outside the home. The Guide concludes with a step-by-step guide to how to get started on whichever diet you have chosen.

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But before all that, the first chapter gets back to basics by describing the work of medical experts who have shown that focus on carbohydrates, rather than calories and fat, is much more likely to help you to achieve weight loss success.

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Could the low calorie / low fat theory be wrong?

For as many years as most of us can remember, we have been told that the only way to lose weight is by going on a low calorie and low fat diet. At the same time, it has been drummed into us that fatty foods cause heart disease and that the only healthy diet is a low fat one. Millions of us have faithfully followed this advice, supermarket shelves are full of low calorie, low fat products and slimming clubs abound to help us stick to our low calorie resolve. So why are we still trying to lose excess weight in our millions? Why are we on average getting fatter, not thinner? Why is type 2 diabetes, which has a strong connection with obesity, increasing at an alarming rate? Why are we still getting heart disease? Why are governments everywhere in the western world so concerned that they are referring to the burgeoning rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease as epidemics?

Low carb and low GI – the early days

Could it be that the advice we have been given is wrong? Well, many people have tried to tell us so over the last fifty years. With Dr Richard Mackarness leading the way in the late 1950s, clinicians and researchers such as Dr Robert Atkins, Dr Wolfgang Lutz, Dr Michel Montignac and Barry Groves PhD have challenged the ‘calorie theory’ – that all calories are the same and only calories matter in the business of weight loss. They have also challenged the ‘diet-heart’ theory – that a high fat diet causes high cholesterol, which in turn causes heart disease. Their contention was that highly refined carbohydrate foods such as sugar and white flour were the real culprits in obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Realising that the ‘calorie’ and ‘diet-heart’ theories were too simplistic, they taught that the way our bodies handle carbohydrate foods – our blood sugar / insulin control mechanism – is a critical factor in weight control and many other aspects of our health. These clinicians and researchers each published various diet books explaining what was wrong with the prevailing ‘calorie’ and ‘diet-heart’ theories and recommending low carb and low GI diets. Their books initially enjoyed a certain amount of success with the dieting public. However, their teachings seemed to fly in the face of accepted truths about weight loss and eating for a healthy heart and the mainstream medical world vehemently opposed them. As a result, and perhaps influenced by newspaper and television articles which portrayed the new diets as dangerous (without examining the

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science behind them), dieters became concerned that low carb diets in particular might be unsafe, and the new ideas eventually went out of fashion.

The low carb revolution

Nevertheless, the doctors themselves still continued to treat patients and gain knowledge in their field of expertise. Then, in 1992, Dr Atkins published an updated version of his diet. This proved to be a defining moment in the history of dieting. Dieters everywhere were tired of low calorie / low fat dieting, and were ready for a different method – one that actually worked long term. In the late 1990s a number of showbiz celebrities had success with the New Diet Revolution, as Dr Atkins called it, and the media exposure that follows everything celebrities do undoubtedly helped to fuel the diet’s popularity. As the new ideas took hold amongst the public, the time of the low carb diet had finally come. Dieters across the world gave up their low calorie / low fat diets in favour of low carb / high protein / high fat diets such as the Atkins Diet. Literally millions of dieters found that low carb / high protein / high fat diets worked very effectively for them. Even more significantly, these diets worked for many people who found it impossible to lose weight using traditional low calorie / low fat methods. Dubbed the ‘low carb revolution’ by the media, the sea change in beliefs about dietary science and in dieting methods that Dr Atkins’ book had triggered was a true revolution in all senses of the word. All was not to be plain sailing for low carb diets, however. Mainstream medicine still found it hard to accept that the ‘calorie’ and ‘diet-heart’ theories could be wrong. The medical world soon became polarised into two camps – one in support of low carb / high fat science, the other remaining loyal to the old ‘calorie’ and ‘diet-heart’ theories. The agricultural and food industries saw the new ideas as a serious threat to their vested interests in a low fat / high carb focused market place. Dieters in search of information on how to do a low carb diet found that they were expected to read an entire book of fairly technical scientific information, and predictably found it easier to rely on hearsay from friends or women’s magazines, which was not always accurate. The media, meanwhile, saw the controversial nature of the new ideas as an opportunity to make news and sell more newspapers and magazines. The stage was therefore set for confusion, misunderstanding and deliberate misinformation about the safety and efficacy of the Atkins Diet and other low carb diets on a huge scale. The media frenzy that followed was inevitable. For a couple of years, low carb diets and dieters were scarcely out of the news, and they filled the front pages of most women’s magazines. Articles ridiculing the Atkins Diet and scare stories about its safety crazily vied for space with the latest low carb dieters’ success stories and tips on how to do the diet. Interviews with obesity ‘experts’ from the mainstream medical world abounded, explaining why the Atkins Diet could not possibly work for the reasons that Dr Atkins said it would, more often than not failing to include the testimony of those who held the opposing view. Eventually, though, the medical community began to understand and accept the science behind low carbing, the alleged dangers of the Atkins and other low carb diets were proved to be myths, and the media hype died down.

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Low carb and healthy eating advice

It will be some time yet before low carb diets receive official endorsement as a valid dietary option as far as official healthy eating advice is concerned. The problem is that low carb diets severely restrict carbohydrates, which healthy eating advice in the US, UK and many other countries currently states should form the largest part of the diet. They are also high in fat, which healthy eating advice states should be low. Many years’ worth of population studies on the long term efficacy and safety of the low carb way of eating will be required before the medical world and government health departments feel able to justify such a major change in the healthy eating advice they promote. Until then, low carb diets will remain in the uneasy position of being supported by the emerging research yet unable to be officially recommended or endorsed as healthy eating.

Son of low carb – the second wave

It was logical that a second wave of diets should flow from the low carb revolution. While remaining loyal to the principles of blood sugar / insulin control, they would not cut out any form of carbohydrate completely, and they would restrict fat intake. This would allow them to be promoted as compliant with healthy eating guidelines. These GI (Glycemic Index) diets focused on swapping foods producing a large rise in blood sugar for similar foods producing a smaller one, rather than cutting high carbohydrate foods out completely as low carb diets do. Potential low GI diet authors recognised their opportunity. They realised that their diets could be promoted as ‘the healthier face of low carb’. Getting medical endorsement for their diets would not be the uphill struggle it still is for low carb diets. All that was required was a way of bringing these new diets to the attention of the dieting public. The media, having sensed that the low carb super-hype had run as far as it could, was happy to oblige and a rash of articles about the new low GI diets soon appeared. Weight-loss diets based on the GI principle are not new. David Jenkins and Thomas Wolever of the University of Toronto had invented the glycemic index back in the 1970s and 1980s. Having developed it primarily as a tool to help diabetics manage their blood sugar levels, they had begun to see its potential as a weight loss tool. The Montignac Method, which appeared in the 1980s, was probably the earliest popular diet based on the GI principle. Like Dr Atkins’ original low carb diet, the Montignac diet had enjoyed moderate success when it originally appeared but it failed to overturn the prevailing belief in the traditional low calorie / low fat diet. However, the true low carb revolution when it came in the late 1990s re-stimulated interest in the glycemic index as a way of controlling carbohydrate intake, and low GI diets were set to become the second wave of the 21st Century blood sugar / insulin control diet revolution.

The third wave – GL diets

So how do GL diets fit into all this? Much as the wave of low GI diets was a follow-on from the more carbohydrate-restrictive Atkins and other very low carb diets, so Glycemic

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Load diets are the logical follow-on from low GI diets. GI ratings are useful as far as they go, but they do not take into account the amount of the food to be eaten. This can result in certain foods being unjustifiably shunned, while others appear more favorable for blood sugar control than they actually are. The concept of glycemic load seeks to resolve this issue. Once again, the concept itself is not new - Dr Atkins covered glycemic load in his low carb diet books in the early 2000s and some GI diets have incorporated the GL concept for some time. However, it was not until 2005 that diets started to appear which focused on the GL alone. So whether we are talking about low carb, low GI or low GL diets, we are still essentially talking about blood sugar / insulin control. All these types of diet are therefore part of the new understanding of the science behind obesity and weight loss. However, only time will tell whether low GI and low GL diets are as effective as their lower carb / higher fat predecessors, the Atkins and other low carb diets.

Quick fix ‘fads’ – or long term healthy eating plans?

Probably the least well recognized aspect of low carb, low GI and low GL diets is that they are rooted in good nutrition and eating for optimum health. Contrary to popular belief, they are not ‘fad’ diets or ‘quick fix’ diets. They all promote a regime which is intended to become a way of eating for life – or at least, the genuine ones do. Unfortunately, many ‘me-too’ diets and diet-related websites and online stores have now started to appear, which give the incorrect impression that you can follow these diets for a few weeks, lose a lot of weight very quickly and then go back to your ‘normal’ way of eating. This is unfortunately to miss the point – it is precisely the ‘normal’ way of eating that led to the weight problem in the first place.

Joining the diet revolution

In order to follow a low carb, low GI or low GL diet successfully, it is important to understand a certain amount about nutrition and the way in which our bodies digest and metabolize food. The science behind these diets is very different to the simple calorie counting of the past fifty years, so there is a lot to learn – and a lot to unlearn. As we saw earlier, newspapers, magazines and word-of-mouth cannot always be relied upon for accuracy. This is particularly the case when it comes to explaining issues related to the safety and efficacy of these diets. Choosing which of the various low carb, low GI and low GL plans to follow is often confusing, not least because many of the ‘me-too’ diet authors have made inaccurate claims and counter-claims about other diets in a bid to put a slightly different spin on their own work. Learning how to do the chosen diet can also take time and effort, as reliable information usually comes in the form of a book, typically containing lengthy explanations of fairly complex biochemical processes. However, there is another way, and that’s where this Guide comes in. Here, we aim to make it easier to learn about the new way of dieting, choosing a diet plan and getting started by providing:

a quick overview of the basic scientific principles involved in blood sugar / insulin-control diets

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a summary of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the various plans tips on choosing a diet plan and getting started further information on where to get easy-to-follow diet plans and menu plans

So let’s start by looking at low carb diets and how they work.

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How low carb diets work

Low carb (and low GI / low GL) diets are based on the science of blood sugar control. A very simplified explanation of the process is as follows: carbohydrate foods (starches and sugars) are converted by digestion to a form of sugar called glucose. Rising levels of glucose in the blood cause the pancreas to release the hormone insulin. It is the job of insulin to keep the blood sugar levels stable and trigger the process by which excess glucose is removed from the bloodstream and, if not needed for immediate energy, stored as fat. This storage mechanism was extremely useful in mankind's hunter-gatherer days. It enabled early man to survive between his irregular and unpredictable meals. Unfortunately, this storage mechanism is not so useful where food, and carbohydrate in particular, is constantly in abundance. Our bodies were not designed to be fuelled by the highly refined carbohydrate-dense foods made with white sugar and flour that are now the staple foods of the western world. In time the process of evolution might result in a population genetically adapted to such a diet, but this would take millions of years, not the tens of years that such foods have been available to us in the quantities in which we consume them today. The result for many people (some experts say up to 60% of western populations) is that insulin is constantly produced and blood sugar is extremely efficiently converted to fat and stored. The consequence is not only that we lay on fat stores that we are unlikely ever to call upon, but that we find it difficult to lose the fat when we try to diet, because one of insulin’s other jobs is to ensure that we hold onto our fat. The trick is to stop this constant production of insulin. Low carb (and low GI / GL) diets attempt to do this by avoiding glucose surges ('spikes') in the blood. This can be achieved by restricting carbohydrate overall, and / or by preferring those carbohydrate-containing foods which rank low on the glycemic scale (ie which cause less rapid rises in blood sugar).

Which diets are low carb

The Atkins Diet is probably the most well known and widely used low carb diet. Other examples include Dr Richard Mackarness' Eat Fat and Grow Slim Diet, SugarBusters, the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, Protein Power, The Paleolithic Diet, Neanderthin, The Zone, the Go-Diet, Life Without Bread, the Eskimo Diet, the Stone Age Diet, the Schwarzbein Principle, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, the South Beach Diet, Fat Flush Plan and the Radiant Health Programme. Although many of these diets have appeared relatively recently, the Atkins Diet dates back to the 1970s and Dr Mackarness' back to

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the 1950s. However, the first true low carb diet was around long before that - the Banting Diet was used by William Banting in 1862 to solve his weight problem.

What you eat on low carb

On all low carb plans, protein foods such as meat, fish, eggs and cheese, healthy fats such as olive and seed oils, salads and non-starchy vegetables form the mainstay of the diet. Nuts and seeds, fruits, starchy vegetables, beans and pulses and whole grains such as barley, oats and brown rice are allowed in later stages of the stricter diets such as Atkins. They may be allowed from the outset in controlled quantities on the less strict low carb diets. High carb foods such as bread, cereals, cake, cookies, pasta, white rice and potatoes are not permitted until the weight maintenance phase has been reached. Low carb diets vary in the amount of carbohydrate-containing food that is allowed, but they generally fall into two camps: 1 The Atkins Diet, Protein Power and other so-called ‘ketogenic’ diets, where you start

off with a very low level of carbs in the initial stages (18 to 20 grams per day). At this low level of carbs, chemicals called ketones are produced as a harmless by-product of the breakdown of your fat stores, hence the name ‘ketogenic’. You gradually increase your daily allowance of carbs until you find the maximum level at which you can still lose weight. You then continue to lose your remaining surplus weight very gradually, until you arrive at your target weight. This method helps to ensure that when you reach your target weight you slip easily into your lifelong way of eating –the maintenance phase. There’s no sudden change in what you eat, which risks falling back into your old habits and putting the weight back on.

2 Non-ketogenic low carb diets. Examples include The Zone, Sugar Busters, South

Beach Diet and Carbohydrate Addicts’ Diet. These diets usually allow 50 grams of carbs per day or more. They may or may not involve a stricter first stage of the diet, followed by a less strict stage or stages.

Although the most obvious characteristic of low carb diets is carbohydrate restriction, this is by no means what low carb diets are all about. The underlying philosophy of low carb diets (or at least, of the better ones, such as the Atkins Diet) is optimal nutrition. This means that they focus on nutrient-dense foods, limit highly refined and nutrient-poor foods, ban dangerous hydrogenated vegetable oils or trans fats (liquid vegetable oils artificially and chemically altered to create a solid fat such as margarine and shortening) and encourage use of healthy fats such as olive oil.

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How low GI diets work

GI stands for glycemic index, which measures the rise in blood glucose (or 'blood sugar') after eating specific foods. Low GI diets are based on the principle that eating too much of the kind of food that makes your blood sugar rise fast and high is an important cause of overweight. This is also the science upon which low carb diets (such as the Atkins Diet) are based.

The glycemic index

Carbohydrates often used to be classified as either simple (eg fruit sugars and table sugars) or complex (breads, pasta, grains). This was on the basis that simple carbohydrates tended to be absorbed faster than complex carbohydrates. Such simple classification is now considered to be fairly meaningless and the glycemic index is an attempt to provide a more accurate method. It only applies to carbohydrates. For instance, a 500-calorie steak will not affect blood sugar levels significantly but a 500-calorie baked potato will. Glucose is used as the reference food for the glycemic index, with its value arbitrarily set at 100. All other foods have to be tested (in humans) before they can be given a ranking in the glycemic index. Not all foods have been tested so far. Volunteers eat a portion of the food which has been calculated to supply 50 g of carbohydrates and their blood sugar response is measured. On another occasion, the same volunteers are given the equivalent amount of glucose. A comparison of the two outcomes, averaged over a number of volunteers, allows the glycemic index of the food to be determined. For instance, a food causing half of the blood sugar rise of glucose is given a GI of 50. Unfortunately the glycemic index is not a perfect method of classification, either. Many factors can influence the effect on the blood sugar of particular foods. Take kidney beans, for example. They have a low GI of 27 - they are notoriously hard to digest. But baked potatoes have a GI of 93 - higher than that of almost all other foods, including ice cream (61), sweet potatoes (54), and white bread (70). Chocolate candy bars on the other hand tend to have a relatively low GI, because their fat content slows their digestion. Factors affecting the GI of a food include:

Biochemical structure of the carbohydrate - for example, starch is composed of amylopectin and amylase, but amylopectin is more readily absorbed than amylose

Intestinal absorption Food particle size - smaller particles are absorbed faster Cooking and preparation - both mechanical and thermal processing break the food

into smaller particles thus facilitating absorption

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Content and timing of the previous meal Accompanying foods that include fat or protein - these decrease the speed with

which the stomach empties, thus decreasing the rate of carbohydrate absorption. The glycemic index of a food can also vary with crop varieties, growing conditions, geographic location, genetic strain, ripeness, acidity and fiber, protein and fat content. For this reason, glycemic index values for non-branded foods in reference tables can only be approximate. Incidentally these factors also affect the accuracy of carbohydrate values. As mentioned earlier, not all foods have been tested yet, but the list of GI rankings on the University of Sydney’s Glycemic Index website at http://www.glycemicindex.com is probably the most comprehensive. Note that GI lists don't include carbohydrate foods which contain very small amounts of carbohydrate, as these are not measurable by the methods currently used. It is difficult to get test volunteers to eat enough of a very low carb food to achieve the 50 grams’ worth of carbs which is the standard test portion! Such foods are often simply listed by GI diet authors as 'free foods'. However, diabetics and those counting carbs still need to take account of these in their daily allowance. They include salad vegetables and other non-starchy vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, green (French) beans, cabbage, eggplant (aubergine), mushrooms and courgettes (zucchini). Other foods which may not be listed for similar reasons are avocados, raspberries, strawberries, pecans, milk, cream cheese, hard cheese, ricotta, plain yoghurt and artificial sweeteners.

Other users of the glycemic index

Diabetics are generally recommended to select foods that rank low to moderate on the glycemic index as a way to help them balance their blood glucose levels. Many athletes are familiar with the glycemic index and use it to select foods which optimize their energy reserves. Low carb dieters focus more on the total amount of carbohydrate rather than the relative speed with which the carbohydrate-containing food is absorbed. Nevertheless they do take the GI effect into account, for instance, when choosing between a selection of foods with a similar carb content.

Which diets are low GI

There are many variations of the low GI diet around today, including The Glucose Revolution Life Plan, The Good Carb Diet Plan, Good Carbs Bad Carbs and Nutrisystem Nourish. Most well-known are probably the GI Diet by Rick Gallop, the Montignac Method and the South Beach Diet by Dr A Agatston.

What you eat on low GI

A low GI diet may in practice look little different to the foods eaten in the later stages of the Atkins Diet. It can be approximated by following the typical 'healthy eating' diet

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promoted by government health departments but choosing carbohydrates which fall towards the lower end of the GI scale. In other words, substitute foods such as sugar, cakes, biscuits, white bread and rice, sweets, starchy vegetables, sugary drinks and fruit juice with sugar-free whole grains, whole fruits, pulses, nuts and seeds and non-starchy vegetables. Some GI diets allow you to have some foods in the high GI category, as long as you pair them with low GI foods. This is because the low GI food will slow down the absorption of the high GI food and reduce the combined effect on your blood sugar to approximately that of a medium GI food. Other GI diets require you to keep to the low or medium GI categories for an initial period, not allowing you to select from the high GI category until a later stage. Many low GI diets also ban hydrogenated vegetable oils or trans fats. These are liquid vegetable oils artificially and chemically altered to create a solid fat such as margarine and shortening. They may also limit saturated fats and encourage use of the healthy fats such as olive oil. Some GI diets categorize GI ratings as either ‘Low’ or ‘High’, whereas others divide them into ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ and ‘High’. The ranges of GI ratings in each category are therefore somewhat arbitrary and dependent upon the specific diet, but the following serves as a general guide:

Low 0 to 55 Medium 56 to 70 High 71 to 100

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How low GL diets work

Low GL diets are based on the same principle of blood sugar / insulin control as low GI (and low carb) diets. They are a follow-on from low GI diets. Their authors feel that the glycemic index alone is not the right way to assess the insulin-related effects of food. This is because it measures blood sugar response per gram of carbohydrate contained in a food, not per gram of the food. A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar. It does not tell you how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving of a particular food. You need to know both things to understand the food's effect on your blood sugar. So relying on the GI alone can lead to some misleading results. For example, a parsnip has a glycemic index of 97, almost as high as pure sugar (glucose) which has a GI of 100. But this ranking fails to take into account the very large quantity of parsnip you would have to eat to produce such a blood sugar response. This problem is resolved with the concept of glycemic load. The GL is calculated by multiplying the GI ranking of the food by the amount of carbohydrate in the portion to be consumed, then dividing by 100. In other words, it measures the glucose / insulin response per gram of food rather than per gram of carbohydrate in that food. So the glycemic load of 100 g of parsnip is 14.5, while 100 g of glucose has a GL of 100. Since a low GL is under 10 and a high GL is 20 or more, this gives a more meaningful result.

Which diets are low GL

Examples of GL diets are: The Holford Low GL Diet Beyond GI – the GL List: Understanding Glycemic Load by Fedon Alexander

Lindberg Antony Worrall Thompson’s GL Diet Made Simple The GL Diet by Nigel Denby.

What you eat on low GL

On a GL diet you would be eating much the same as on a low GI diet (or on one of the less restricted phases of a low carb diet such as the Atkins Diet, for that matter). The biggest difference is the approach - the way you choose and plan your menus. On a low GI diet, you would be choosing foods from GI listings, mostly from the ‘Low’ and ‘Medium’ categories, but you would be left to judge for yourself what your portion sizes should be.

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On a low GL diet, you would be able to select foods from ‘Low’ and ‘Medium’ categories in much the same way, but portion sizes would also have to be taken into account. Using the GL scale also means that you can add up your GL points on a daily basis and keep to a particular daily allowance if you wish to. (Adding the GI values of the foods you eat each day on a low GI diet is meaningless.) Most GL diets advise you to keep to a daily limit of 50 GL points to lose weight.

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Going back to the way our great-grandparents ate

Low carb and low GI / GL eating means a return to the type of carbohydrate foods that our great-grandparents ate – the 'good' carbs. These are whole grains such as barley and oats, dried peas and beans, root vegetables and whole fruits. Our great-grandparents didn't have the processed foods made from highly refined white flour, sugar and other processed grains that have become our staple foods today. They were also more physically active than we are, with few labour-saving devices in the home. There were no cars to take them everywhere instead of walking, and no highly automated industrial and agricultural production methods. In consequence, our great-grandparents were able to keep their blood sugar levels in a steady state, much in the way that nature intended. Unfortunately, the position is different for most of us today. Our diet has changed significantly since the time of our great-grandparents. We eat large quantities of refined flour and sugar every day - foods our blood sugar control mechanisms were not designed to handle. These foods make our blood sugar rise very high very quickly. It is the job of insulin to get our blood sugar levels back within the correct range, by organising the transport of this excess sugar out of our bloodstream and into storage. Unfortunately for us, if we do not use up the energy, we store it as fat. For many of us, the constant outpouring of insulin also leads to the eventual exhaustion of our insulin-secreting organ, the pancreas. If this happens, we become diabetic. Constantly high insulin and blood sugar levels can also have other serious consequences, such as heart disease and complications commonly suffered by diabetics such as blindness, kidney failure and amputations. For these reasons, low carb and low GI / GL diets have a very great advantage over the low calorie / low fat diets that are currently promoted as the only healthy way to eat. Eating the low GI / low GL (and low carb) way means eating less refined carbohydrates such as sugar and white flour (the 'bad' carbs) and more vegetables, whole fruits, fiber, whole grains, pulses, nuts and seeds (the 'good' carbs). Few would argue that this can be anything but beneficial for most people's long term health.

Healthy eating advice

In comparison with low carb diets, low GI and low GL diets generally include more carbohydrates, especially the grains. They also usually advocate low fat options. So, as

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we saw previously, it must be said that low carb diets fall short of 'healthy eating' advice promoted by government health departments. But as we also saw, this is because official healthy eating advice still considers a low fat, high carbohydrate diet to be the only healthy way to eat. New scientific understanding of the way in which our bodies handle food is gradually changing this very much entrenched (and scientifically unsupported) view. Unfortunately, the official advice cannot change until the new theories, proven in clinical studies, have been confirmed in large population studies. Such studies take many years to complete, and there are also political barriers to their funding, since the food and agriculture industries wield huge power to protect their vested interests in the status quo of healthy eating advice. As a consequence, official healthy eating advice is lagging behind the significant advances in scientific understanding of nutrition and diet that have been made over the last decades. These factors mean that strictly speaking, low GI and low GL diets comply with current government healthy eating guidelines while low carb diets do not. Low GI diets are definitely a healthier way to eat than the standard diet full of refined flour and sugar and processed foods that so many people eat today. But for the many people who are carbohydrate-sensitive, low carb and low GL diets may be even healthier.

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Low carb diet safety

There have been many claims that low carb diets are dangerous, but none has been proven, and nearly all of these claims have now been shown as completely unfounded by published medical studies. Because low carb science rejects the dieting theories of the last fifty years, it is taking a long time for the conventional medical world to accept low carbing as a safe and effective way to lose weight. Many of the claims about the alleged dangers of low carb diets have in fact resulted from failure to take the time to learn about the science behind low carb, and failure to read what the diet authors actually say about how to do the diet. Questions about safety are not generally posed in respect of low GI / GL diets, because these are more closely aligned with current beliefs about healthy eating.

Fat intake

One of the main concerns about low carb diets has been the high intake of fats. Low carb diets are necessarily higher in protein and / or fat than the current official government healthy eating guidelines, which say that carbohydrates should form the largest part of the diet. Low carb diets also run counter to the received wisdom that a low fat diet is essential to protect against heart disease. Because of this, low carb diets can only be seen as unhealthy when measured against the healthy eating guidelines. But what if the healthy eating guidelines are wrong? There have certainly been various researchers and clinicians over the last fifty years (Dr Atkins included) who have asserted that the diet-heart theory – the supposed link between dietary cholesterol and heart disease - is unsupported by clinical evidence. They have been prepared to stake their reputations on their belief that, although high blood pressure and cholesterol may well be risk factors for heart disease, they are not the cause of it. They are now able to point to important long term studies which have proved the reverse of what was expected by the low fat proponents. In many cases these studies have shown that heart disease was higher in those who followed a low fat diet than it was in those eating either moderate or high fat diets. The anti-low-fat proponents also point out that dietary changes only affect cholesterol levels by 10% for most people in any case. Most cholesterol is made by your liver, in response to the quantity of cholesterol in your diet. If you eat more cholesterol, your liver makes less itself. If you eat less cholesterol, it makes more.

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Recent studies specifically looking at Atkins dieters have only served to reinforce the view that the diet-heart theory is wrong. They have shown, much to the surprise and consternation of the skeptics, that risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure and cholesterol are often significantly improved after a few months on the diet. This is hardly surprising, though, since Dr Atkins started out as a cardiologist (heart specialist) and only became interested in weight reducing diets when the low carb diet he used to improve his patients’ heart problems had the happy side effect of helping them to lose their surplus weight. So those who continue to advocate low fat diets are either unaware of the latest research, or ignoring it for commercial reasons. But if it’s not high levels of fat in the diet that causes heart disease, what else could be doing it? Researchers and clinicians such as Dr Atkins believe that an important part of the story is high levels of insulin circulating continually in the blood. And what causes this? Carbohydrates, particularly the refined ones such as sugar, white flour and all the high carb / high GI products made with them. There is in fact an increasing body of evidence to support the safety, and, indeed, desirability of reducing carbs and the average GI of the diet for everyone, not just for those who want to lose weight. Low carb and low GI / GL eating can help you to avoid many of the health problems that are increasing on an epidemic scale today, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and, many researchers believe, even some cancers.

Carbohydrate intake and the ‘balanced diet’

Some nutritionists have concerns that low carb diets are too restrictive, and prescribe low GI plans instead, which are often described as a more moderate form of low carb diet. Those who are particularly concerned about the fat issue like low GI diets as they see them as a happy medium between low fat diets and low carb diets. Whichever way they are viewed, both low GI and low carb diets are based on the principle of controlling wild swings in blood sugar and insulin levels, and few would quarrel with that. But the fact that low carb diets restrict even ‘good’ carbohydrates such as whole grains, in their early stages at least, worries non-enlightened nutritionists and medical professionals. They believe that one must have a ‘balanced diet’ without stopping to think what this really means. Carbohydrates constitute the only major food group that is not essential for human life. If an individual is intolerant to carbohydrates, as demonstrated by a tendency to put on weight or inability to lose weight when carbohydrates are eaten, then continuing to eat carbohydrates is evidently not a healthy or safe way to eat for that individual. Any missing nutrients can always be provided by other foods. What is important is not a ‘balanced diet’ but that the individual has an adequate intake of carbohydrate, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, water and fiber etc according to their individual metabolic and biochemical needs. Eating healthily is not necessarily achieved by eating from each major food group, or by eating foods from

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each group in a set ratio that is supposed to be right for everyone. People are individuals, and they have individual metabolic and biochemical needs.

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Insulin control or calorie / fat counting – which works best?

Many people who have had little success in controlling their weight with the low calorie and low fat diets of the past fifty years have discovered that restricting carbohydrate is a far more effective method of both losing excess weight and keeping it off. They also report additional advantages: they eat more, the food they are allowed is more palatable, and they no longer suffer the hunger pangs, lack of energy, weakness, headaches, cravings and feelings of control and deprivation frequently experienced with calorie and fat restriction. Initially there was huge skepticism in the conventional medical world that low carb diets such as the Atkins Diet were really more effective that low calorie / low fat diets. However, a number of landmark clinical studies have now forced obesity experts to acknowledge what they have refused to believe for the last fifty years – that low carb diets are effective, probably more so than low calorie / low fat diets for many people. The position with low GI and low GL diets is less clear, because they have not been around for long enough for significant clinical studies to have been completed. As explained earlier, the scientific principle upon which they are founded is the same as for low carb diets. But it is possible that they may not be as effective as the low carb diets, because carbohydrate intake may not be low enough to cater for those who are particularly carbohydrate sensitive.

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Low GI and low GL versus low carb

As we have seen, there are as yet few clinical studies showing how effective low GI and low GL diets are, whereas there is plenty of evidence supporting low carb diets in this respect. In all probability, whether low GI and low GL diets work as well as low carb is governed by the individual's level of tolerance to carbohydrates. If your tolerance is not very high, then you are unlikely to lose weight simply by switching to low GI foods. If you choose a low GI diet, then you would need to ensure that the foods you eat on your low GI diet are also very low in total carbs. One way to do this is to follow a low GI diet which also takes into account glycemic load (or simply go for a low GL diet in the first place). At this point the difference between a low GI (or low GL) diet and a low carb diet becomes very small. If on the other hand you have a reasonably high tolerance to carbs, then you would probably do well on a low GI diet. You would however do equally well on a quality low carb plan such as the Atkins Diet which encourages intake of 'good' carbs up to your individual level of tolerance.

Similarities between low GI, low GL and low carb diets

Although the 'rules' may look different, the foods eaten on a low GI or low GL diet are very similar to those eaten on a low or controlled carb diet such as the Atkins Diet. Both approaches involve the avoidance of carbohydrate-dense highly processed foods. Both approaches encourage lots of healthy salads and vegetables (although the Atkins Diet is often misquoted in this respect). The scientific reasoning behind low GI, low GL and low carb diets is not contradictory. They are all based on the principle that many people cannot eat significant quantities of carbohydrate foods, particularly refined ones, without risking constant overproduction of insulin and its consequences. In fact, it is not unusual for people who have succeeded on a low carb diet such as Atkins to 'move' to a low GI or low GL plan once they have reached the less strict 'lifetime maintenance' phase of the diet. Whether this is really a move to a different diet or whether they are two slightly different routes towards eating the same things at this stage is debatable. All three types of diet are primarily concerned with controlling the type of carbohydrate foods eaten. They do not usually require calorie counting, or if they do, this is of

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secondary importance. Because some foods (sticky buns, pastries and sugar candy for instance) are so high in carbs and so high on the GI scale, these foods are likely to be prohibited by all of the diets. In comparison, they might be permitted on a low calorie or low fat diet, provided the portion is small. Although low carb dieters primarily focus on the total carb content of a food, GI rankings do nevertheless have some relevance for them. Low carbers may refer to the GI ranking to help them choose between a selection of foods with a similar carb content. The Atkins Diet also covers the concept of glycemic load. Determining the glycemic load of a food involves multiplying its glycemic index by the carbohydrate content of the amount to be consumed. This gives a more meaningful picture of what the overall effect will be of eating that particular portion of food. For instance, if you rely on the GI alone, you may be put off eating carrots because they are surprisingly high on the glycemic scale. Looking instead at the glycemic load, it is obvious that carrots are still a good choice in terms of the effect the quantity you are likely to eat will have on your blood sugar. Low GI, low GL and low carb diets represent a return to whole, nutritious foods and a turning away from heavily processed foods such as mass produced breads, cakes, biscuits, mixes and sauces, ready meals, snacks, 'fast foods' and fizzy drinks etc. These foods usually contain artificial colourings, flavourings and preservatives – the chemicals that we commonly refer to as 'E numbers' or additives – in quantity. In comparison with low calorie diets, where the focus is often on ‘eat whatever you like as long as it is low in calories or fat-free', low GI, low GL and low carb diets are founded on eating healthily. They are all based on the premise that we would be much healthier if we went back to eating natural, whole foods – the foods which natural selection evolved our dietary systems to handle over millions of years.

Differences between low GI, low GL and low carb diets

Low GI and low GL dieters do not count carbs, but choose their carbohydrate foods and menus based solely on the GI or GL ranking of the food or meal. In contrast, low carb dieters count carbohydrates and, although they may also make food or meal choices according to the GI of a particular food or meal, the total carb count is of more importance to them. Low GI and low GL diets generally include starchy vegetables (potatoes, parsnips, carrots etc), fruits, pulses and whole grains from the outset. Many low carb diets however prohibit these 'good' carbs in their initial phase. The good carbs are then gradually added back into the diet according to the individual's ability to tolerate them. All three diets are concerned to a certain degree with fats. However, low GI diets tend to promote the avoidance of fat, saturated fat in particular, whilst low carb diets, and most notably, the Atkins Diet, do not. What is not often understood is that the Atkins and other low carb diets have always paid attention to fat – but they distinguish between 'good' and 'bad fats'. For instance, olive oil and fish oils and certain saturated fats are 'good' fats, while trans fats (hydrogenated oils) are 'bad' fats. Unfortunately, saturated fat got the blame for the wrongdoings of trans fats years ago, before it was discovered

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that there was more than just one type of saturated fat. This fact is now becoming more widely recognized. An important difference between low GI / GL and low carb diets is that low GI / GL diets are currently more widely accepted in the medical world. As previously discussed, this is because low GI / GL diets are more closely aligned to the healthy eating guidelines promoted by most western governments. Official healthy eating advice still follows the principles that around 60 per cent of daily calories should come from carbohydrates and that the only healthy diet is a low fat one. Some clinicians, Dr Atkins included, have been saying for the past fifty years that these two principles are wrong, and recent clinical studies have consistently proved them right. But mainstream medical acceptance of these new ideas is slow, mainly because of the need for many years of evidence-based research to support changes in government health policy. So in the meantime, all 'new' diets are measured against the existing, and many would say, outdated guidelines. For this reason, low GI and low GL diets are more likely to be seen as acceptable by doctors, nutritionists and dieticians, whilst low carb diets, despite plenty of compelling scientific evidence, are very often not.

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Carbohydrate sensitivity

All these diets work on the same basic scientific principle – that too many ‘bad’ carbohydrates (or simply more carbohydrate than your body can handle) – may be making you store fat easily, and preventing you from breaking your fat stores down when you diet. So deciding which to try first is very much dependent upon how carbohydrate sensitive you think you are, and how far you are prepared to change the way you eat now. Everyone stands to benefit from doing a good low carb diet such as the Atkins Diet, in that you start low in carbs and increase the amount gradually. The disadvantage with low GI and low GL diets is that, if you have a low tolerance for carbs, you may not be able to lose weight unless you restrict the total carbs as well as watching the GI of your meals – in which case you might as well have opted for a low carb diet in the first place! This is one reason why the four phases of the Atkins Diet work so well - the dieter starts at the lowest level and works gradually up to the highest level he or she can tolerate without putting on weight.

Lifestyle considerations

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of low carb diets is the extensive change that most people need to make in their way of eating. Low GI and low GL diets on the other hand do not require such a drastic change in your eating habits. The latter encourage you to swap ‘bad’ carbohydrates for ‘good’ carbohydrates, whereas low carb diets totally ban ‘bad’ carbohydrates, making them possibly more difficult to get used to.

How much weight do you want to lose?

Following on from this, if you have relatively little weight to lose, then low GI or low GL may be an easier option for you. One thing to consider, though, is that many people have undiagnosed food intolerances or sensitivities (sometimes called ‘masked food allergies’) to common foods, especially grains like wheat. These sensitivities often play a part in weight problems, but you are unlikely to discover whether they are an issue for you if you are on a low GI or low GL diet. Low carb diets on the other hand generally exclude wheat and other grains, at least for the initial phases of the diet, which gives you a chance to discover whether you are sensitive to them. This issue is explained more

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fully in our ebook 'Why Can’t I Lose Weight – The Reasons Diets Fail And What To Do About It' (see http://www.dietplateau.com). If on the other hand you have a lot of weight to lose, and particularly if you have already tried unsuccessfully to lose weight on low calorie / low fat diets, then you are probably very carbohydrate sensitive. In this case a low carb diet such as the Atkins Diet may be the healthiest diet for you, as well as the one most likely to bring you successful weight loss.

What kind of approach do you prefer?

In terms of choosing between a low GI or a low GL diet, low GL is definitely best if you are more than mildly sensitive to carbohydrates. Other than that, it probably comes down to the kind of approach you prefer. If you prefer a more structured and exact approach where portion sizes matter, then low GL will probably suit you better. You can count GL ‘points’ each day if you wish. With a low GI diet, you are left more to your own judgement with portion sizes, and GI ratings cannot be added up in the sense of having a daily allowance to keep to.

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Checking carb counts and GI / GL ratings

Most western countries now require nutrition facts labels on all processed foods, although foods purchased loose such as fruit and vegetables may not be labeled. For those following a low carb diet, counting carbohydrates is fairly straightforward with the help of a good carb counter where foods lack a nutrition label. For low GI and low GL dieters, GI and GL ratings are not generally found on nutrition labels, although some supermarket chains in the UK have started to mark products as ‘Low GI’ or ‘Medium GI’. Low GI and low GL dieters have to rely much more on listings found in diet books or on websites. The Glycemic Index site of the University of Sydney http://www.glycemicindex.com/ is probably the most extensive source of GI and GL listings. However, all dieters, whether following a low carb, low GI or low GL plan, need to be aware of certain labeling issues. The most important ones are how fiber and sugar alcohols are treated. These are summarized in the next sections.

Nutrition labeling and fiber

Labeling practice varies from country to country in respect of fiber. In the US and some other countries dietary fiber is not shown separately but is shown as a sub-category of carbohydrate. Since fiber does not cause blood sugar or insulin to rise, it can be disregarded by those counting carbohydrates for insulin control purposes. So US low carbers have to subtract the fiber figure from the total carbohydrate value to arrive at the carbs which matter, or 'net carbs'. In the UK, the rest of the EU and many other countries, fiber is shown as an entirely separate category and the carbohydrate value is in effect the 'net carbs'. This difference in labeling practice accounts for some of the apparent discrepancies between the values for individual foods given in carbohydrate counters. It also sometimes results in incorrect or confusing labeling where foods are imported or exported. It must of course also be taken into account if you are in a ‘net carbs’ country but looking up carbohydrate values in the US Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database. (This can be found at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/).

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Sugar alcohols

Sweeteners such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol and lactitol belong to a class of chemicals called sugar alcohols or polyols. They are only partly digestible, which makes them lower in carbs and GI than sugar. As they do not legally have to be classified as 'sugars', products made with them are often described as 'sugar free' or 'low sugar'. They may be shown as a carbohydrate within the total, or they may be shown separately. Where a product label gives the ‘net carbs’, all the sugar alcohols may have been subtracted to arrive at the ‘net carbs’ figure. Low carbers (and low GI dieters too) should be wary of sugar alcohol labeling, as individuals digest sugar alcohols to a varying degree, and these sweeteners may have a greater glycemic effect than labels predict.

Food supplements

Many low carb and low GI diet authors recommend the use of food supplements (vitamins, minerals and essential fats etc). This is not generally because the diets themselves are nutritionally inadequate, but because soil depletion means that few people eating a ‘standard’ diet in the western world take in one hundred per cent of the recommended daily amounts of all the vitamins and minerals that are considered to be important for health. Previous diets, particularly the low calorie / low fat variety, may also have produced dietary deficiencies. It is now becoming understood that all circumstances need to be right for the body to ‘allow’ itself to lose weight, and this includes its nutritional state. More about the way your body’s survival mechanisms can interfere with weight loss attempts is explained in 'Why Can’t I Lose Weight – The Reasons Diets Fail And What To Do About It' (see Further Resources).

Coping with meals out

One of the most difficult things when following a low carb diet, or a low GI or GL diet with a fairly strict approach to bread, is to find suitable bread substitutes with which to make sandwiches for packed / box lunches or for eating on the run. It is possible to find low carb bread in low carb stores and some supermarkets, but the carb count is often too high for most low carb dieters. These low carb breads also generally rely on an increased ratio of wheat protein (gluten) to lower the carb count. Gluten is particularly difficult to digest, and eating higher concentrations of it may create a full-blown sensitivity in many people who were previously able to tolerate it in small quantities. An alternative is to find bread substitutes made with grains other than wheat. These are available in health food stores and the special diets aisles of supermarkets, but they are not generally low carb. However, it is possible to make very acceptable low carb bread substitutes with healthy ingredients such as flax seeds and nut flours. These are not generally available commercially, but it is not difficult to make your own.

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Making a significant change to your diet requires quite a lot of preparation if you are to make a success of it without major disruption to your personal and family life. We have divided the process into easy steps to help you make the change to your new way of eating.

Step One – decide which diet to follow

The first thing to do is to come to a decision on which type of diet (low carb, low GI or low GL) is best for you. We hope that this Guide has given you a head start on making this decision but there is plenty more information and advice out there – if you know where to find it. You could start by going to http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com and browsing the information there. On the About Low Carb page you’ll find links to other sources of information which we have found to be reliable and easy to navigate.

Step Two – get informed

If you’re interested in a low carb diet, then we absolutely recommend you try the Atkins Diet. The first thing to do in this case is to get one or two of Dr Atkins’ books. You can even join the Atkins Learning Center at http://www.atkins.com/, where you learn about the science behind low carbing and living the low carb life in modular, distance learning format. It’s just like a regular course, with tutors and classmates with whom you can discuss issues and homework assignments via special chatrooms. If you have decided to try a low GI or GL diet, then you may feel that this Guide, together with the various tools listed in Further Resources, gives you enough information. But again, we recommend that you consider getting a detailed GI or GL diet book.

Step Three – gather your diet toolkit together

If you are the kind of person who likes to follow a diet in a very detailed way, then no doubt you’ve now got a specific diet book as discussed earlier which will form the basis of your diet toolkit. If you prefer a less detailed approach, then you may be perfectly happy with this Guide, which gives you the general idea. If you want further information on the foods to eat on your chosen diet, you will find this in our diet and menu plans. Those choosing a low GI or low GL approach may also like to have our GI & GL Handy Reference Tables.

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A good cookbook is also a useful tool. One of the main reasons people go off blood sugar / insulin-control diets is boredom, and wanting to have ‘normal’ treats such as cookies and desserts. If you don’t believe treats such as these can be low carb / low GI, then just look at the picture of a low carb chocolate éclair at www.lowcarbiseasy.com! If you want to be able to continue to enjoy foods such as breads, cakes, cookies and desserts on your diet, then make sure your chosen cookbook includes recipes for these – most low carb / low GI cookbooks focus on main courses, where it is easy to leave out the high carb components, and ignore ‘difficult’ recipes such as bakery which require more ingenuity and use of substitute ingredients. You can find a handy checklist of all the tools we offer to help you follow your diet successfully in Further Resources.

Step Four – get prepared

Doing a low carb, low GI or low GL diet involves for most people a very great change in the kind of foods eaten. It is best therefore to plan the first few days in advance, and pick a less busy time in your calendar to start. Here are a few ideas on what to do in preparation:

Think about what changes you will need to make in the kitchen and in your / your family’s schedule and way of eating.

Start to plan your first shopping list, giving yourself time to find out where to get products not stocked in your usual shops.

Give away or throw out any items in your larder or fridge which you think may tempt you away from your diet. Resist the idea that you need to keep sugar and trans fat-laden biscuits, cookies, sweets or candy ‘for the kids’ etc – their health is much more likely to benefit than suffer from their absence!

Plan when to start your diet, and if possible, make some meals ahead of time for the freezer to give yourself a head start.

Step Five – get started on your way to dietary success!

We hope that this Guide has helped you to understand a little more about low carb, low GI and low GL diets and to decide which type of diet is most suitable for you. Starting a diet is not easy. Deciding which diet to do can be confusing, and working out what to eat can be equally challenging, not to mention the time needed to find the correct foods and to prepare them. But a good weight-loss diet is not just about losing weight. It’s about eating more healthily in general, which will protect your long term health, too. If you think about your diet in this way, then we’re sure you’ll see that your efforts will be worthwhile. We wish you the very best of success with your chosen diet and will be delighted to hear how you get on.

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Why restricting carbohydrate may not be enough

A diet on its own may not be sufficient to enable you to lose weight successfully. There are critical metabolic factors that you must get right before your body will allow you to shed weight. These factors apply to all diets, whether low carb, low GI, low GL, low fat, low calorie or any other type of weight-loss diet. We’re not talking here about techniques to keep temptation out of your way, or overcoming ‘emotional’ reasons for ‘overeating’; we’re talking about real barriers to weight loss such as:

Your body’s natural survival mechanisms Depressed metabolic rate Fluid retention Deficiencies of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and essential fats Low thyroid function and other hormone imbalances

There are also a number of very important but relatively unknown health issues which researchers have found affect a significant proportion of the population and can interfere with weight loss. These include:

Food allergies or sensitivities Intestinal yeast (candida) overgrowth Toxic overload.

All of these factors, or any one of them, could be standing between you and your dietary success. They are explained in detail in 'Why Can’t I Lose Weight – The Reasons Diets Fail And What To Do About It' (see Further Resources).

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There are other mechanisms at work which can prevent you from losing weight, no matter which diet you try. These are explained in Why Can't I Lose Weight – The Real Reasons Diets Fail And What To Do About It, at http://www.dietplateau.com Comes with:

Health-Savvy Supermarket Shopping Guide to Fat Burner Supplements

Special/allergy diets

What are you looking for? How we can help …

Quick and easy recipes for Stone Age style allergy, exclusion, elimination, rotation and other special diets

The Stone Age Diet is Easy Cookbook at http://www.specialdietsareeasy.com Comes with:

Foods Containing Common Allergens Substitutes for Common Allergenic Foods Vitamins and Minerals and the Foods Which

Contain Them

The Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI & Low GL Diets Which one is best for you?

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Low carb/low GI/low GL diets

The following tools to help you achieve successful weight loss are all available from http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com.

What are you looking for? How we can help …

Why you should consider a low carb or low GI diet

Why You Should Consider a Low Carb or Low GI Diet at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/whylowcarb.htm

How to do a low carb, low GI or low GL diet

The Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/easyguide.htm

How to do the Atkins Diet Atkins Diet Plan

Finding low carb and low GI / GL recipes

The Low Carb is Easy Cookbook at http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/cookbook.htm. All recipes in the Cookbook are suitable for Atkins, low carb, low GI and low GL diets. Comes with:

Easy Guide to Low Carb, Low GI and Low GL Diets

GI & GL Handy Reference Tables 14-Day Atkins Menu Plan 21-Day Low GI & GL Menu Plan