By 

Teresa Mustelier –

  

I am a Physician Assistant in a family practice. The vast majority or my patients are obese or overweight. Many of these same patients suffer from diabetes or pre-diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension. At the heart of their medical problem is their lifestyle and their diet.

Finding a book that is written in a way that the vast majority of lay people will understand has been difficult for me. When you say the words Glycemic Index to most patients, their eyes start to glaze over right away. One of the things that I love about this book is that it is called the Low GI Belly fat Diet. None of those words are hard to read or hard to understand. I had one patient ask me if this was the diet that the marines and army soldiers used since it had the word GI in it.

The book explains the concept of low and high glycemic foods in a very accessible way. Examples of foods and menus are given throughout the book and the author promises that by the end of the book you will come to know what a low and a high GI food is and be able to choose you food accordingly. Practical advice is given regarding what to look for at a grocery story and at a fast food restaurants as well as advice on what you should be cooking at home.

One of the observations in this book, that is 100% true, is that people today eat a lot less fat than they ever did before. The author observes, however, that despite this, obesity rates have never been higher. This fact is not meant to imply that fat is good, it is instead intended to educate the reader on the dangers of “low Fat foods”. The authors informs us that in the grocery store, most foods that are labeled “low fat”, are chock full of ingredients with a high glycemic index. Health care providers know this fact but many lay people still chose ‘low fat’ foods thinking that they are making a healthier food choice.

You may think that you are an expert on the glycemic index, I thought that I was, but you will come away from this books with concepts that are never, or hardly ever written about. Once such concept is called the Glycemic Load. This is a number that is given to each food based not only on it’s GI but also takes into account the carbohydrate counts and the portion size of the food item.

If you have read books on the Atkins, Zone and South Beach diets, do not think that you know what is in this book. This is not THAT type of a diet and their is much that is new here.

This book is really terrific and the advice here is easy to read, easy to put into place and easy to make a habit of. Making a habit of eating healthy, low glycemic foods is the answer to our obesity epidemic. We should all educate ourselves on the glycemic index because our health will be much better as a result.

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