Bodybuilding & Muscle Building Techniques
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Glycemic Index | Facts & Fallacies
Heard about the GI Diet? Of course you have, it's everywhere. All the newspapers are claiming to have invented it, food manufacturers are churning out products to go with it, and now there's even a restaurant dedicated to following it. Well, I'm here to tell you why you should ignore it completely.
The theory behind the diet is that all foods have a place on the glycemic index (GI) depending on how your body processes their carbohydrates. Foods high on the GI release sugars quickly, giving you a short energy burst, whereas foods low on the GI release sugars slowly, giving you a drip-feed of energy and making you feel full for longer. The GI diet requires that you stick to low GI foods only, in order to lose weight.
So far, so scientific, but there are two main reasons why the GI Diet is flawed. Firstly, it implies that low GI foods are somehow imbued with magical fat-burning powers. The message seems to be: 'Eat all you want, as long as it's low on the GI.'
Sorry - if you eat more calories in a day than you burn off through activity then you will gain weight, and it doesn't matter where on the GI scale those calories come from. Low GI foods may make you feel less hungry, but most people don't eat because they're hungry. They eat because they enjoy scoffing food.
Source: Men's Fitness (August 2005, page 6)
The theory behind the diet is that all foods have a place on the glycemic index (GI) depending on how your body processes their carbohydrates. Foods high on the GI release sugars quickly, giving you a short energy burst, whereas foods low on the GI release sugars slowly, giving you a drip-feed of energy and making you feel full for longer. The GI diet requires that you stick to low GI foods only, in order to lose weight.
So far, so scientific, but there are two main reasons why the GI Diet is flawed. Firstly, it implies that low GI foods are somehow imbued with magical fat-burning powers. The message seems to be: 'Eat all you want, as long as it's low on the GI.'
Sorry - if you eat more calories in a day than you burn off through activity then you will gain weight, and it doesn't matter where on the GI scale those calories come from. Low GI foods may make you feel less hungry, but most people don't eat because they're hungry. They eat because they enjoy scoffing food.
Source: Men's Fitness (August 2005, page 6)
