THE GI DIET - Support, Tips, Recipes And So Much More!!!!

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

A thread for all us GI diet followers (and anyone interested in it).

If you have any yum recipes or tips to share, please do .

If you have any questions about following a GI diet, there's bound to be a Mumsnetter who knows the answer .

I'll be posting my progress on the thread weekly - if anyone else wants to - great!

Here are some useful links (some posted on other threads, but I thought I'd bring them together here):

Sunday Times GI Diet

The Glycemic Index (including database of foods)

GI diet recipe ideas at bottom of this page

It all sounds horribly healthy....

Thanks for those ideas pinksofa - what is aramanth btw? I've heard of it, but don't know what it is.

marthamoo

Breakfast options that we have had include no sugar musli.

You can also have 1oz of ham, 1oz of low fat cheese a tomato and a slice of rye bread (has that yesterday and it was rather nice, with a half grapefruit.

Can also have 2 eggs scrambled with one slice of bread

Or a boiled egg, 2 slices of rye cripbread and a soft fruit smoothie.

Can even have a grilled 'cooked' b'fast

HMB - I ordered the Helen Foster and Living the GI Diet yesterday and loking forward to delivery. Looked in WHS but they didn't have it and none of the low GI books were on offer unfortunately.This recipe was in The Times this week and fits GI criteria (remove chicken skin before eating).

2 tbsp olive oil
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 chicken breasts (skin on)
300g winter greens (curly kale, savoy cabbage, sprout tops, cavolo nero - whatever you fancy)
1 onion finely sliced
400g tin borlotti beans
Some sprigs of thyme
300 ml hot chicken stock

Heat half the oil with garlic in heavy based pan. Sear chicken (skin-side down for 3 mins/until golden). Remove chicken, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Wash and chop greens. Fry the onion in remaining oil for 5 mins until softened. Add greens, toss well and cook for 2 mins. Add beans, thyme and hot stock. Bring to boil stirring.
Return chicken to pan and simmer gently, covered, for 20 mins until cooked. Season again if needed. Mash some of the baeans with a potato masher to thicken the broth. Serve on warm dinner plates!

This is the best new recipe I've tried this year. Really tasty and incredibly filling. Will be a regular with us.

I've got everything in to make that recipe yoyo, so might give it a go tonight .

I think I'll buy the stuff to make up my own muesli - I can make up a big tub of it and them alternate between porridge and muesli.

araramanth is a bit like quinoa, you can get in horribly healthy health shops

I went to Sainsburys to shop today and saw a nice top (sad I know, I know clothes shop as sainburys!). I bought one and it is a size smaller than the one I got before christmas! I am just so chuffed. And it isn't tight on me at all.....just so smug. Still got a stone and a half to go!

Oh ,a dn I have a good musli recipe if you want one

Well done hmb!

I would like the muesli recipe please .

hmb...that great

puff...this the museli I have

7ozs (210g) jumbo oats
3ozs (90g) oat bran
3ozs (90g) flaked almonds
2ozs (60g) unsalted sunflower seeds
2tbsp wheatgerm
1/4 tsp cinnamon

I bash the oatbran, almonds & seeds together with a pestle (or rolling pin) and mix it with the other stuff.
you can have 2 1/2ozs, which you add 2fl oz of milk to, cover and leave overnight.
you can then add fat-free, sugar-free yoghurt(irish diet yogs), mix and scoff
If it's not sweet enough then you could put some sweetner in or raisins.Thw raisins would higher the gi a bit but not much.
I must admit when I got the recipe I thought yuk sounds like rabbit food but it is really yummy and makes anice change from porridge.

Thanks for that Riebee .

Can I just recommend (for those who may not have done it yet) the Honey and Lemon Grilled Chicken in week 2 of the Sunday Times GI diet. I've done this a few times now, both with the sweet potato and with basmati rice. Sometimes I've made a little extra of the yummy marinade and used it as a dressing for salad (before putting the chicken in obviously).

I cook the chicken in a big non stick frying pan, so no extra oil is needed for cooking.

It is so delicious, easy to make and my kids love it too.

forgot to say, link for the Sunday Times at bottom of this thread .

Very sad there are no more Sunday Times recipes .

I've seen 1 or 2 low GI recipe books on amazon - anyone got one and is it any good?

I've got the two Rick Gallop books, bur would really like something now that's just recipes.

I am fed up because I have been trying to shift a last stone of weight forever. Basically I seem to be about 10st7 whatever I do! Over Christmas I put on about half a stone and then lost that easily in the first week but since then (4 weeks ago) I have lost about one pound. I already exercise 4 times a week plus walk 1km back and forth to school twice or three times every day. Do you think this diet might work for me?

I feel my current "diet" is quite similar - e.g. today I had a bowl of All-bran branflakes for breakfast, a banana and some dried apricots for a snack, a pate sandwich, a yoghurt, some more dried fruit and an apple for lunch and some pickled herring, a boiled egg, salad, tomatoes, half an avocado and a mini-naan for tea.

Sorry for the boring detail but I just despair - I'm not very overweight but I would really like to lose that last bit of flab and I can never seem to get there. Do those of you who have tried this diet think that it might be worth a try for me?

Do you lot think it is alright to follow this while breastfeeding, can't really see why not myself and about time I lost some of this weight!

Saker and geogteach, I've found GI really good, and would recommend it to anyone. I've still got a lot to lose (already lost 3 and a half stone) but there are people with much less to lose who have found the diet v effective.

geogteach, I think it would be great whilst breastfeeding, its so damn healthy!

Well, having asked if anyone knows of a good recipe book, I've found one I already - on my bookshelf (forgot I had it ).

"Fat Girl Slim" by Ruth Watson - lots of the recipe are GI diet friendly eg:

yoghurt marinated chicken & spiced green lentils

one pan pork & peppers

tofu, shitake & coriander broth

squash, bean & onion soup

tofu, rice & pak choi broth

chicken, shitake & miso broth

PTMD/HMB - what is a normal serving of rice on GI? I usually measure in jug up to 5 fl oz for two people but think this generous on GI. Any suggestions.

Made great casserole last night - pork, peppers and beans spiced with coriander, cumin and cinammon. Some dried apricots for sweetness and a few toasted almonds for garnish. Delicious.

The January issue of Good Housekeeping gave a week's menu based on low GI and this was one of the recipes.

So let me see if I'm getting this right ........ basically I can eat, chicken, fish, quorn and nuts. But can't eat spuds, bread, past etc. Is that the gist of it??

WP - you can eat bread but stick to wholemeal/granary (it's good if stone ground appears first in the ingredients list). Pasta's fine (obviously in smallish quantities), as is basmati/brown rice. New potatoes are also the best sort to eat as they have the lowest GI.

I'm sure someone more clued-up can clarify exactly the above but that is what I have been sticking to roughly and have lost a stone in a month quite easily (for me).

And you're not menat to be losing any more weight are you??

I am no expert (still waiting for my books!) but to date this is what I have gleaned. Basically you aim to eat foods which do not cause your blood sugar levels to increase rapidly, i.e. aim for foods which release energy more slowly. Foods with a high GI rating are broken down fast and set off a chain reaction. Blood sugar levels shoot up and your body produces a surge of insulin to bring it down. Your blood sugar levels then fall sharply so you start to feel hungry again.

You can eat loads of things but if you eat something with a high GI rating you should combine it with low value ones to bring the overall GI content into balance.

You can eat bread but choose wholemeal/whole grain/rye/pumpernickel. Eat boiled new potatoes not baked/roast/chips (just think of how sweet they taste I suppose). You can eat pasta (wholewheat better than white) but combine it with a veg and pulse sauce.

Caffeine should be avoided as should refined foods (cakes, biscuits, etc.) but you can have some cubes of 70% choc to satisfy a craving.

Check out the Sunday Times link as it was well explained.

Hope this makes sense (and that I've got it all right!).

Cheers, I'll have to look into it.

Monkeygirl, I'm getting greedy being a size 12 is lovely but I'm thinking a size 10 would be even better. Then I'd be ½ the size I was IYKWIM. I was a size tight 20 at the beginning of October.

WP -

yoyo, Rick Gallop recommends 50g (1 and 2/3 of an oz)of dry rice per person, but that's within a weight loss programme, so if you're not looking to lose weight, 50oz between 2 is probably fine.