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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The G.I. Diet Is Just A Low-Fat Wolf In Sheep's Clothing!


Basing a diet on the glycemic index sounds good, but is it?

It's interesting to see how many diet books have come out in recent years taking portions of the wildly popular Atkins diet and tried to transform them into nicely packaged "new" diets. Sadly, most of these so-called diets greatly miss the mark of the masterpiece of the original.

Such is the case with Rick Gallop and his series of books on The G.I.Diet. It's an interesting concept that Gallop has capitalized on selling millions of his little books. But is the information he provides useful to people who are livin' la vida low-carb? Let's examine his latest book to find out.

It's called The G.I. Diet Express: For Busy People and is aimed to reach the active dieter. Isn't that ALL of us who are attempting to lose weight? Yep and Gallop knows that, too!

Looking at the "diet in a nutshell" outlined in this book, Gallop explains what the glycemic index is since most Americans haven't really caught on to it yet. It's all about the impact of foods on blood sugar and to choose foods that will slowly digest to prevent your body from making too much insulin which can lead to diabetes.

Here's a key point to remember: All low-carb foods are also low-G.I. foods, but not all low-G.I. foods are low-carb. This is too important to be overlooked as you delve deeper into this new diet. The ratio of carbohydrates/protein/fat is 50/40/10. Yikes!

Gallop bemoans saturated fat as "positively dangerous to your health and can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and some cancers." Um, no it doesn't, Mr. Gallop! You're referring to the MUCH more dangerous and unhealthy trans fats found in many of those high-carb foods you love people to eat on your diet.

Using traffic light colors as symbols throughout the book, Gallop lists his approved "Greenlight" foods that I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole on my low-carb diet--bread, cereal, margarine, pasta, potatoes, dairy, oatmeal, and rice. Is he joking? This can't be a seriously "healthy" diet!

Sadly, that's EXACTLY what he's trying to fool people into believing. What really got me was how much emphasis was placed on portion sizes, calories, fat, salt, fiber, protein and sugar...but nary a word about total carbohydrates! Very telling!

In fact, the more I read The G.I. Diet Express: For Busy People, it quickly obvious that this book was nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing as a front for the USDA-indoctrinated Food Pyramid. That tried and true failure of diet consisting of high-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, portion-controlled meals we've been forced to accept as "healthy" our entire lives! Not anymore!

Many of these "50 Speedy Recipes" included in the book are quite high in carbs, although most of them could be converted into genuinely healthy low-carb meals by removing the suspiciously high-carb ingredients. I wouldn't buy the book just to have to make all these changes to the recipes, though.

And I just about had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw Gallop RECOMMEND fast food restaurants for his diet. He gushed over Subway for their "broad range of low-fat products" and claiming they "deserve a G.I. Diet gold star and warrant your support" for offering such high-carb junk as ham, roast beef, and turkey breast subs. Wanna take a guess how many carbs that bread has in it, Mr. Gallop? Do you care?

McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Arby's, and even Pizza Hut all get the thumbs up from this brilliant diet book author seeking to help people find a way to lose weight. From the looks of these recommendations, that's probably the last thing he's doing.

Sure, some people will do this diet and think it's great because their body can somehow handle the same high-carb, low-fat diet which Dr. Dean Ornish has been pushing for decades. But not for people like me who react strongly to the presence of carbohydrate in our diet in any form--after all, it turns to sugar in the body just the same.

Finally, in the FAQ section of the book, we get the real agenda of Gallop and his opposition to livin' la vida low-carb when he describes low-carb diet plans such as Atkins as "diuretics" which only work "in the short term." Hmm, that's strange you say that, Mr. Gallop since I lost 180 pounds on that diet in 2004 and have kept it off ever since.

You're just a big fraud and I'm happy to expose you as such! But you don't care since you're laughing all the way to the bank with the millions of dollars you've bilked out of people who have bought your books. Shyster!

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8 Comments:

Blogger Science4u1959 said...

Diet? What diet? This has nothing to do with diet, as this borders to criminal negligence! Maybe some of his readers (read: victims) can indeed cope with the high-carb junk he advises, indeed like the folllowers of Ornish's dietary delusions, but at some point in time that too will end. One can fool the public, but one cannot fool Mother Nature. And then it's too late for most people - and yet another case of fullblown diabetes is a fact.

Personally, I would be rather upset knowing that I quite likely sent thousands to an early grave. Some people have no morals or sense of responsibility. Or maybe he actually believes his own nonsense...

6/20/2007 6:40 AM  
Blogger Almost Vegetarian said...

The problem with G.I. infomration is that it is so variable. What else are you eating today? What is your activity level? How does your body react to certain foods? All seem to have a big impact on G.I. levels. The old advice still seems to hold true: Lots of fruit and veg, whole grains, variety, minimal fats and protein, try to avoid sweets and preservatives, and don't go overboard. That should deal with your G.I. nicely enough.

Cheers!

6/20/2007 11:01 AM  
Blogger Orvette said...

Wow, Jimmy, I'm so glad you keep up on these shams! It's playing into people's in-grained belief in low-fat while pretending to also somehow consider carbs. But clearly it doesn't! Geez! And who wouldn't want to be told by a "professional" that they can chow down on burgers and pizza every day?? I'm sure it will sell like gangbusters and THAT's the real tragedy. People will do this and it will do them damage.

6/20/2007 11:21 AM  
Blogger AnOldHouse said...

"Wow, Jimmy, I'm so glad you keep up on these shams! It's playing into people's in-grained belief in low-fat while pretending to also somehow consider carbs.

Yeah, just like Kimkins!

-David

6/20/2007 1:42 PM  
Blogger Orvette said...

David,

Kimkins puts keeping carbs low first on the list. In fact, her plans don't allow subtraction for sugar alcohols or even fiber -- the objective being to keep the carbs as low as possible.

Yes, the next thing is to try to keep fats lower by going for lean meats, but low carb is priority one.

6/20/2007 3:53 PM  
Blogger AnOldHouse said...

"Kimkins puts keeping carbs low first on the list. In fact, her plans don't allow subtraction for sugar alcohols or even fiber -- the objective being to keep the carbs as low as possible.

Yes, the next thing is to try to keep fats lower by going for lean meats, but low carb is priority one.


Yes, as I've said elsewhere, Kimkins is low-everything. If you're only eating 500 to 1,000 kcal as 3 of the 5 plans explicitly call for, there's not much room for it to be high-anything.

The emphasis on being low-carb is just marketing. It's the same old low-fat/low-cal starvation diets from long ago in a pretty slick new promotional package.

6/20/2007 5:09 PM  
Blogger renegadediabetic said...

Even "Low GI" foods, such as whole grains (including oatmeal) raise my blood sugar. It's not just the "index," but also the amout of carbs.

6/20/2007 5:17 PM  
Blogger Kevin M. said...

Give 'em hell, Jimmy. It's important to note that this book does not represent a real low-GI diet, it is indeed a sham. Real low GI has some real metabolic merit.

6/20/2007 9:38 PM  

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