Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #820 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's rather a relief to discover that The GI Diet is not, after all, an in-depth investigation into the secrets of the US Army's mess halls and field rations. This GI stands for Glycemic Index, the latest thing in weight-loss thinking. Encouragingly based on his own efforts to lose weight, the introduction explains how Rick Gallop worked his way through diet after diet. Single-food diets (grapefruit, cabbage) he rejected as unsustainable; high-protein/low-carb ones unreliable and potentially dangerous (sorry, Dr Atkins). None of them worked in the long run. Finally he stumbled across the theories of nutritionist Dr David Jenkins, and the GI Diet, the new Only Diet That Works, was born. Essentially, the Glycemic Index measures how quickly carbohydrates are digested and release their sugars into the bloodstream. Foods with a high GI rating release glucose rapidly, their energy is rapidly burned up and hunger quickly returns. The Chinese meal syndrome, where you're hungry half an hour later, is the perfect illustration of this. Low-rated slow-release foods, by contrast, provide long-term energy and tend to require the body to do more work to convert it. Oats, beans, barley and similar foods high in soluble fibre represent the ideal forms of low-GI food. Fats are likewise differentiated into the familiar saturated (bad), unsaturated (good) and polyunsaturated (best).

Naturally, there is more to it than this rather obvious-sounding core precept. Rick Gallop has constructed an entire dietary plan around it, with a introductory weight-loss period followed by a less severe maintenance diet (in this, rather like the Atkins Diet but much less onerous and restrictive). There are long lists of foodstuffs graded by GI rating, a selection of (rather basic) recipes and suggestions for exercise regimes--the latter including some interesting Pilates-like strengthening routines--so the whole thing becomes more of a lifestyle plan. The most telling evidence for its effectiveness, says Gallop, is that it worked for him and everyone he has persuaded to stay the course. Judging by the collection of excited testimonials from satisfied newly thin users, it could very well be worth a try.--Robin Davidson

The Sun
For people who never want to diet again...the pounds will drop...only diet you'll ever need.

The Evening Standard
...you can stabilise your blood sugar levels, feel healthier and lose weight.

Customer Reviews

A good explanation of GI and extending that to good eating habits
This book explained the theory behind the GI diet as well as the principles of healthy eating in general. It then combines a pure GI approach alongside other good preactice such as low calorie and low fat to flag foods as red/yellow or green. You can eat pretty well what you like from green, a little of yellow and avoid red. Simple but effective.

Does it work? Yes. I lost a stone(14lbs) in the first month and the rate has now steadied at the predicted 1 pound/week. I haven't felt hungry, in fact on occasion I've felt like it was too much! The hardest bit is applying it while away from home on business trips and although Gallop gives a few tips its still tricky finding suitable foods. Be aware that this is a more "strict" diet than some other "GI diets" (eg the GI Bikini diet) and makes some low GI foods red-light items that the others consider OK. My only criticism is that there are too few recipe ideas. Anthony Warral -Thompson's GI book is much better for that.

The book itself is well written, quite light hearted, avoids being technical and short enough not to become boring.

It's not a diet as such - it's an understanding of food
Yes, I have tried every diet under the sun, I've always struggled to lose weight, and I have a very healthy diet, even diet pills couldn't help. I was sick of people assuming I must be stuffing my face with food and then lying about it.

Then my brother suggested I try this book, it worked for him and he lost a lot of weight... sceptically I thought, yes, another diet fad, it'll never work.
I started to read through, and I was amazed, it's the first diet I have ever had where someone explains why I should eat something, none of this oh it's a red day so I can eat this, and no calorie counting, just a simple explanation of the difference between foods. Just having that explained really helped motivate me. I have found I hardly have to refer to the book now, I know what I should and shouldn't eat, it's not hard once you take the time time read through. I still eat a very healthy diet, but with just a few small adjustments to my diet I have found the weight is shifting, and I won't struggle to keep it off because I can easily stick with it.
I wasn't expecting anything and so far I have lost just under a stone (still got a few more to go though!) and I am not struggling or feeling in the slightest bit hungry. I am so pleased and wish I had discovered this years ago.

Just give it a go, you will be surprised - I was!

It works, it's safe, it makes sense
In about 6 months, I've lost 17Kg on this diet, and it's been very easy and effective, largely because you don't starve, in fact quite the opposite, you make sure that you don't feel hungry by eating the right kind of things regularly.

There's nothing faddish about the diet itself. Indeed, it's not really a diet, it's an approach to nutrition that makes sense even if you're not overweight, and is based on sound nutritional principles. Best of all, once you've read the book (which doesn't take long), you're equipped with some very simple principles on which to base the way you eat - prefer whole foods over processed ones, for example, and don't fill up on bread and potatoes.

Having said that, it's the science and enthusiasm for a healthy life that is Rick Gallop's strong point, not his cooking, and some of the recipes in this book are just too dull and unappealing for words. Read this book for the principles, and look for tasty ways of eating GI-friendly food elsewhere.

Admittedly, despite my joy at losing weight so effectively, after a couple of months or so, I had days when I got desperately bored with eating low-fat/no-fat foods like chicken breast. Furthermore, although the author, as many nutritionists, says that you shouldn't reduce your calorie intake by more than 500 calories a day (or lose more than 1-2lbs a week), if you follow the book to the letter, you could easily do this, and at one point I consciously broke a few rules to make sure I didn't pile it all back on later.

As Mark Corben says in his review, this book won't help you to negotiate the difficult things like birthdays, Christmas and the unexpected, and it's probably not suitable if you're going to do hard stints of exercise. The food does get a bit repetitive and dull at times, and it's quite labour intensive to get right - no quickly thrown-together sandwiches to fill a gap, for example.

But then changing your eating habits takes a while, and has its inevitable frustrations. I found what the author said to be true - that after a while, you find the occasional inevitable intake of hi-GI foods make you feel bloated, uncomfortable and unsatisfied. This was the right book at the right time for me, and the nutritional advice is excellent, whether you're dieting or not.