LifeCoach: low-GI diets

Published: 7:00AM GMT twenty-three February 2010

Comments 1 |

The LifeCoach team: (l-r) Dr Dan Rutherford, health, Sara Stanner, diet, Tony Gallagher, fitness, Roger Mugford, pets

DIET

Q I have not long ago proposed following a low-GI diet in sequence to lose weight. Ive got a great low-GI cookbook, but am struggling for great ideas for snacks. In particular, I am not certain what ripened offspring is low or high GI. Please can you help?

LifeCoach: recuperating from knee surgery LifeCoach: how to turn a tennis genius LifeCoach Lifecoach: food labelling Lifecoach: skin caring

SARA STANNER WRITES:

A The glycaemic index (GI) of a food is a magnitude of how fast sugarine (glucose) is expelled in to the bloodstream after eating. The index runs from 0 to 100 and uses glucose (which has a GI worth of 100) as a reference.

Low GI dishes (those with a worth of 55 or less), such as brownish-red pasta, porridge, beans and lentils, mangle down solemnly during digestive process and so recover glucose solemnly in to the bloodstream. In contrast, high GI dishes (GI of 70 or over), such as crushed potato, white bread and white rice, means a some-more fast climb in red red red red blood sugar.

The speculation at the back of GI diets is that dishes with a low GI, that recover sugarine solemnly in to the blood, yield a solid supply of ardour and have you feel fuller for longer and thus less expected to snack, whilst high GI dishes lead to a fast climb in red red red red blood sugarine that might leave you not in in ardour and feeling hungry.

It is not unequivocally transparent from the systematic justification either low-GI diets are in effect at compelling weight loss. One of the main stipulations to this sort of diet is that it is formidable to brand the GI worth of dishes and a little dishes with a low GI are high in fat and calories. So you still need to request the ubiquitous beliefs of full of health eating if you wish to strew the pounds.

If you are perplexing to lose weight, opt for reduce calorie, low-GI snacks such as low-fat yogurts, dusty apricots and low GI fruits (cherries, grapefruit, apples, pears, peaches, oranges, grapes, kiwi).

Despite the difficulties, majority low-GI diets foster essential weight loss (1-2lb a week). They additionally inspire eating fibre-rich dishes such as brownish-red rice, wholemeal pasta and whole-grain breads, that is great for gratifying ardour and for tummy health.

FITNESS

Q Can you discuss it me what the stress is of the Body Mass Index dimensions and Waist to Hips comparative magnitude that I mostly review about?

TONY GALLAGHER WRITES:

A It is majority suitable to think of measurements, such as BMI, as only one line of exploration in on condition that pointers to substantiating if you have a full of health weight, distributed correctly, permitting for your age and gender.

The BMI is an index of your tallness and weight. It is distributed by dividing your weight in kilograms by your tallness in metres squared. If you are portly you might have a higher risk of building heart disease, diabetes and osteoarthritis due to wear and tear.

Recommended norms for BMI are as follows: Underweight less than 18.5, Ideal 18.5 to 25, Overweight twenty-five to 30, Obese thirty to 40 and really portly larger than 40. It varies for children.

There are dual sold drawbacks to the BMI calculation. It doesnt concede for people with a lot of flesh such as bodybuilders. As flesh is heavier than fat infrequently such people come out as portly when they are not. The alternative obstacle is that this dimensions doesnt exhibit fat levels.

It is thought, as you mention, that additional weight around the center carries larger health risks than around the hips or thighs. Specific measurements of larger than 32in (80cm) for women and 37in (94cm) for men enlarge the risk of cardiovascular disease. A larger risk is for women with measurements on top of 35in (88cm) and 40in (102cm) for men.

With this in mind, a renouned dimensions is the waist-to-hips comparative magnitude that measures just that. If you are a man you do not wish your comparative magnitude to go over one and, if a woman, not larger than 0.8. It is majority suitable to take the dimensions when you have a loose posture: magnitude your waist at the narrowest point and your hips at your widest point.

Do bear in mind that measurements are all really well in giving an denote of your wellbeing, but the majority critical health choices are to equivocate additional ethanol and smoking, practice and to keep a offset diet.

HEALTH

Q If I were to do 3 things to urge my health, what would you recommend?

DR DAN RUTHERFORD WRITES:

A Ill indicate 4 as series one does not request to everyone.

1 Stop smoking. For any one who smokes, interlude is regularly the majority suitable singular movement to take. You are majority some-more expected to stop if you accept assistance either in the form of nicotine deputy treatments or stop-smoking clinics.

2 Blood vigour check. Anyone, generally at or over center age, who has not had their red red red red blood vigour checked for some-more than 3 years should have it done. High red red red red blood vigour is the majority usual healing condition in the population, causes no symptoms, is comparatively easy to provide and if diagnosed progressing and treated with colour with colour to complicated standards we would see far fewer people carrying strokes.

3 Diabetes check. Again, majority suitable for those of us at or over center age. Type 2 diabetes is already really common. It might means integrate of or rather deceptive symptoms in the early stages. Many people already have justification of diabetes-related repairs to their eyes and kidneys at the time of diagnosis, so we need to acknowledge it majority earlier.

4 Lifestyle upgrade. We all know the lifestyle factors that urge the health: some-more ripened offspring and vegetables and less red beef in the diet, a integrate of helpings of greasy fish a week and assuage ethanol consumption, and a sprightly travel or identical practice 3 times a week. Knowing is one thing, you do is another.

Opinions voiced on this page should be treated with colour with colour as ubiquitous advice. Seek assistance from your own practitioner

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO The SundayLife Coach, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT or email lifecoach@telegraph.co.uk

Reader response

If you have any comments or recommendation on any of the topics, get in hold at the on top of address. Best entries will be published.