Making Use Of Low Glycemic Recipes Makes The GI Diet Easy

Having some low glycemic recipes on hand can make following the glycemic index (GI) diet much easier.

The premise behind the GI is that all foods have a rating that identifies the rate that your body breaks down carbohydrates in food into sugars.

Low glycemic foods, which break down carbs into sugars in a slower, steadier pace, have a rating of 60 or lower on a scale of zero to 100 (with 100 being glucose).

Following low glycemic recipes means that you will be incorporating dishes into your meal plans that use foods that are low on the GI.

One great thing about the index is that many foods, when paired together, result in a lower GI number.

For example:

• When vinegar is added to a food it will nearly always drop its GI value.

So if you follow low glycemic recipes that incorporate a vinegrette you will create a meal that falls lower on the GI scale.

There are several cookbooks available that focus on low glycemic recipes.

One is Living the GI Diet, by Rick Gallop.

His cookbook contains more than 100 low glycemic recipes, which will take you through a lot of meal planning!

His website, at www.gidiet.com, also contains recipes from his book, as well as recipes that site readers have submitted.

One of Rick Gallop’s low glycemic recipes that can be found on his site follows.

You can find many more on the site and in his book.

Chicken Jambalaya

This is a traditional Cajun dish in which rice is used to sop up the rich juices of the stew.

• 2 tsp rapeseed oil

• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 450g (1 lb) boneless skinless chicken, cut into ½ inch cubes
• 2 tsp each dried thyme leaves and oregano
• 1 tsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 500ml (1 pint) chicken stock (low fat, low sodium)
• 2 cans (2x400g) stewed tomatoes
• 1 can (1x410) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 170g (6oz) brown rice
• 1 bay leaf and
• 6g (1/4oz) chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.

Cook celery, garlic and onion for about five minutes or until softened.

Add chicken, thyme, oregano, chili powder and cayenne; cook stirring for five more minutes.

Add chicken broth, green bell peppers, tomatoes, kidney beans, rice and bay leaf; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

Let stand five minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and discard.

Stir in parsley before serving.

Makes four servings.

Turkey Option:

You can use boneless skinless turkey for the chicken.

Seafood Addition:

Add 240g (8 oz) of small raw prawns, peeled and deveined during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

There are many, many low glycemic recipes available, so following the diet isn’t hard.

It’s a great way to manage diabetes, as well as to overcome obesity.

As you follow the low glycemic diet you will also want to have an exercise plan in place to help you on your journey to losing weight.

Below you will find the steps that will actually lead you to your weight loss goal.

• Incorporate a proven, complete nutritional program into your daily life.
• Enhance your nutritional program with a complete mutivitamin supplement because no nutritional program is perfect.
• Use a behavior modification and motivational program that will help you stay on track with your nutritional plan.
• Exercise at home with your own:
  Treadmill

  Stairstepper

  Exercise bike

  Elliptical trainer

  Hand weights or

  An aerobic video.

• See what kinds of weight loss aids your health insurance covers such as:
  Hypnotism

  Gym membership discounts

  Nutritional counseling.

The low glycemic diet is an excellent choice.

So, go ahead. Follow the diet and the steps above to start losing weight today.

Good luck on your weight loss journey.