Why Follow The Glycemic Index?

The glycemic index {GI} ranks carbohydrate containing foods and beverages according to how much they raise the blood sugar when eaten by themselves on an empty stomach. Scores range from 0 to 100. The higher the number the greater the effect on blood sugar{glucose}. The index is the foundation for some popular diets such as the Zone and South Beach Diet.

The purpose of this blog is to evaluate  health claims and examine them without bias. Are the health benefits for the GI substantiated? No the benefits remain unproven. The GI can help people with diabetes fine tune their diets, but for the average person attempting to follow the GI makes eating unnecessarily complicated.

If you just follow the recommendations for a healthful diet as found in our books you will automatically lower your glycemic load. Also remember that the GI is not a measure of a food's overall healthfulness. It only evaluates the effect on blood glucose.

Can Adult Onset Diabetes Be Reversed?

Is it possible to reverse adult onset diabetes by dieting? This is an important and timely question.  The answer is that maybe it can be reversed, but we do not know for certain.

A recent study caught our eye. It documented that about one third of a small group of obese patients who had adult onset diabetes were able to stop their medications. They were put on a supervised very-low-calory diet for eight weeks. Then during the next six months they consumed about one third fewer calories than before the study. During that period of time their blood sugar and insulin levels remained in the normal range.

This is a very encouraging preliminary study. Larger studies are needed and are currently in the planning stages.