Low Glycemic Diet Review: Easy-to-follow Meal Plan Samples, Lowest GI Foods to Eat and Avoid, Dietary Health Benefits

Low glycemic diet review: meal plan samples that are simple to follow, low-GI foods to eat and avoid, and nutritional health advantages.

Why follow a low glycemic diet? Using a low glycemic diet plan can help people who need to lose weight, or who have been diagnosed with diabetes. The idea is that by avoiding high glycemic index foods, weight loss can be achieved, and diabetes controlled.

What Is It?

What Is the Glycemic Index?

First, a plain ordinary definition of the glycemic index (GI) in dietary terms.

♥ The glycemic index is a system of measurement used by nutritionists to gauge the levels of sugar found in food that causes the body’s blood sugar levels to rise.

Heart Disease and Cancer

Low Glycemic Diet, Heart Disease and Cancer

Some scientists and researchers also believe that adopting a low glycemic diet plan can help prevent heart disease and reduce the risk of cancer. But not all believe this and there is certainly another side to this story for those poor misfortunate foods that are rated in the glycemic index danger zone.

The basic idea is that the low glycemic diet helps people choose low glycemic index foods because it is high glycemic index foods that cause weight gain and build up of harmful toxins.

The Science

Low Glycemic Diet Research

Research has shown that high glycemic foods:

♥ Such as white bread, white rice, cornflakes, donuts, ice cream, have high glycemic rankings of over 70 (out of 100).

♥ Whereas spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, and zucchini rank as low as 10-15 (out of 100).

The main point is that high glycemic index foods are digested more quickly into the bloodstream, thus making us feel hungrier more quickly.

Low glycemic index foods take longer to digest, and therefore enable us to go longer without eating.

After all, when it comes to putting on weight it is the sheer act of eating too much (calories), and too many of the wrong foods (that usually contain high glycemic components) that causes weight gain.

Diet and Hunger

Low Glycemic Diet and Hunger

The idea behind the low glycemic diet plan then is to eat more low glycemic index foods, and thus stave off hunger. It is no coincidence that these low glycemic index foods are also the foods that would appear on any good dietician’s roll call of healthy grub.

♥ Glycemic index foods are also exclusive to foods that contain carbohydrates and do not relate to protein-based foods.

♥ All foods that contain an element of natural sugar will find themselves on the glycemic index list.

♥ Foods designated 55 or lower are low glycemic; those that are ranked 59-69 are deemed medium glycemic; and those that score 70 and above are in the red zone of high glycemic.

It is interesting to note that many of the foods that are generally regarded as essential for good nutrition fall within the low glycemic index ranking, with many others in the medium glycemic index category.

Not surprisingly, those foods in the danger zone are generally the ones we should all be avoiding as much as possible for a healthy diet, in theory.

But theories aren't always correct and there is certainly some controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the glycemic index formula.

Indeed, there are some scientists, and dieticians who have come right out, and questioned the validity of the glycemic index as a credible way to measure what one eats.

That’s because it’s so darn confusing.

Bad Vegetables?

High Glycemic Vegetables

Take the humble potato for instance.

♥ Ordinarily, the potato would be viewed as a healthy vegetable to eat because it is packed with fiber and has dense alkaline properties which helps balance acidity that comes in many other foods.

♥ Yet the potato scores at best a low rating of 60 when boiled, though ranks in the 90s if baked.

♥ In contrast, a sweet potato (which tastes sweeter, hence the name) is as low as 48.

♥ To most people the potato would be something good to eat, yet according to the glycemic index, it isn't.

Another anomaly arises in the fact that there isn't one universal ranking for each food.

Take the carrot.

♥ On some charts it is ranked as low as 35, on others it’s as high as 90.

♥ And yet the jellybean scores a relatively modest 80 on the heart disease Richter scale.

♥ Much seems to depend on the way foods are cooked and combined too and let’s face it, seldom one eats just a carrot on its own, which in theory makes determining the total glycemic index score during a meal, confusing.

Which makes creating a healthy diet based solely on the glycemic index highly complex, and virtually impossible.

Sample Plan

Easy-to-follow Low Glycemic Diet Plan Sample

Simple low glycemic diet menu and recipes.

Day 1

♥ Breakfast: frittata.	Recipe made with egg whites, nonfat cheese, and a diced bell pepper.
♥ Snack: slices of apple and dip.	Recipe made with nonfat vanilla yogurt mixed with cinnamon.
♥ Lunch: turkey sandwich.	Recipe made with nonfat Swiss cheese and flourless bread.
♥ Snack: beef jerky.	2 pieces of beef jerky and 1 piece fruit.
♥ Dinner: Asian wraps.	Recipe made with ground chicken breast, diced shiitake mushrooms, all wrapped in Boston lettuce leaves.

 

Day 2

♥ Breakfast: French toast.	Recipe made with egg whites, skim milk, and 2 pieces of flourless bread, season with cinnamon.
♥ Snack: nonfat yogurt.	8 ounces nonfat yogurt.
♥ Lunch: turkey breast.	Recipe made with turkey breast and a baked sweet potato.
♥ Snack: scrambled eggs.	Recipe made with egg whites, diced shallot, diced scallion, red chili pepper.
♥ Dinner: tilapia.	Tilapia with baked spaghetti squash, and a side salad.

 

Day 3

♥ Breakfast: cereal.	Recipe made with cereal and skim milk, Kashi GoLean.
♥ Snack: berry shake.	Blend 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder, 1/2 cup frozen berries, and 1 cup skim milk.
♥ Lunch: chef salad.	Recipe made with sliced turkey breast, boiled egg, nonfat shredded cheese, & Romaine lettuce.
♥ Snack: celery sticks.	Celery sticks with nonfat French onion dip.
♥ Dinner: pizza.	Recipe made with veggie pepperoni, nonfat mozzarella cheese, 1 flourless wrap, and diced tomatoes.

 

Day 4

♥ Breakfast: breakfast burrito.	Recipe made with egg whites, veggie bacon, nonfat Monterey jack cheese, one flourless wrap, and salsa.
♥ Snack: cottage cheese and a pear.	Recipe made with one cup of cottage cheese and a pear.
♥ Lunch: Mediterranean tuna salad.	Recipe made with albacore tuna, chickpeas, tomato, on a bed of lettuce.
♥ Snack: salad.	Recipe made with slices of turkey breast, lettuce, green pepper.
♥ Dinner: grilled chicken.	Recipe made with grilled chicken breast, baked sweet potato, and steamed peas.

 

Day 5

♥ Breakfast: cereal.	Cheerios with skim milk.
♥ Snack: nonfat yogurt with berries.	1/2 cup of yogurt and blueberries.
♥ Lunch: turkey chili.
♥ Snack: carrot sticks.	Cup of carrot sticks.
♥ Dinner: grilled lemon salmon, salad & quinoa.	Salad made with oil and lemon juice.

 

Day 6

♥ Breakfast: oatmeal with apple.	Recipe made with apples and cinnamon.
♥ Snack: nonfat cottage cheese and apple.	Cup of nonfat cottage cheese.
♥ Lunch: chicken breast and nonfat yogurt.	Recipe made with grilled chicken breast.
♥ Snack: veggie sticks and nonfat cheese.	1/2 cup of veggie sticks and 1-ounce nonfat cheese.
♥ Dinner: grilled chicken breast, rice, and broccoli.	Recipe made with grilled chicken breast, wild rice, and steamed broccoli.

The Scientist

Glycemic Index Creator

♥ Even scientist David Jenkins, who developed the glycemic index in 1981, has acknowledged that the glycemic index was never intended to be the ultimate plan for eating, or the final say on food in general.

He is even quick to point out that a food with a high glycemic index can contain a lot of important vitamins and minerals, which is good for us to eat.

Most importantly in Jenkins’ view is that the glycemic index might cause people to become confused about whether to eat vegetables and fruit, or not, given that some produce (such as the potato and carrot) carries high glycemic index rankings.

♥ But the fact is any fresh fruit or vegetable is better than a plateful of fried chips or a slice of cake regardless of its glycemic index rating.

There is no substitute for fresh fruit and vegetables any day of the week, or indeed all week.

So, although the low glycemic diet might have possibilities in the way of providing some useful guidelines when it comes to formulating diets, and eating plans, it is by no means the dietary solution you have been looking for.

Help Me

Create My Diet Plans for Me

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