A low GI diet plan is, as the word suggests, a diet based on low-glycemic foods. (A complete list of low GI foods can be downloaded here.) The first scientific concept behind the low GI diet plan is: if we can stabilise our blood sugar levels for longer periods, then we are on our way to losing more weight with less frustration from hunger pains.
The second principle of a "low GI diet plan" is formed around the fact that: not all carbohydrates are equal. Some carbohydrates release sugar (glucose) in to our bloodstream more slowly than others.
Consequently, we now have a list of foods according to the rate of glucose release. This is the "Glycemic Index" (which has become the foundation for the "Low GI diet plan").
The Glycemic Index is a list of foods that have been categorised in order of their supposed speed of release of glucose (low, medium and high) and will tell you what effect the carbohydrate contained within the food will have on your blood sugar levels.
Low GI diet foods will release sugar more slowly and steadily into your bloodstream than foods of a higher Gi rating. Consequently, lower Gi foods will provide you with a more constant, stable supply of energy.
It is this slower release of sugar into the blood stream that will help you feel fuller and less hungry for longer periods of time, and so it also helps to reducing cravings for food. This is of course a great benefit to dieters!
So, by following a low GI diet plan you should find it a lot easer to naturally reduce your calorie intake without feeling hungry, enabling you to lose weight with less pain and frustration.
Low GI foods are not only for dieters. Similar diet routines to the low GI diet plan have been shown by some researchers to help manage various illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes - where keeping blood sugar under control can be a matter of life and death for some sufferers.
However there is a downside to the low GI diet plan : Most low GI diet foods are not labelled as such, so you either need to be quite knowledgeable already of which foods are low GI foods or else have a list of foods handy when going shopping.
