GI Diet Fad or Any good?

[oarkinsm]

Have any you guys tried the GI diet. Its just everyone ranting and raving about and to me it just looks like a clean bodybuilders diet. I was thinking having a go but taking in larger amount of protein and some fast carbs after training.

 

[greyowl]

Have any you guys tried the GI diet. Its just everyone ranting and raving about and to me it just looks like a clean bodybuilders diet. I was thinking having a go but taking in larger amount of protein and some fast carbs after training.

The glycemic index (GI) is a table that rank foods on a scale of how quickly they are digested as glucose, using pure sugar (or sometimes white bread) as 1.0 on the scale. Foods that are high on the GI release sugar into the blood more quickly, and as a result create a higher insulin spike.

So yes, it's basically a clean bodybuilder's diet, and also, the type of diet that allows Type II diabetics to control insulin through diet rather than meds. It's a very well-documented way to control insulin insensitivity and hence fat deposition.

One failing with the GI is that it compares foods on a ounce-to-ounce basis. A better way to rank foods is to use a modified GI scale called called glycemic load, which compares foods on a serving-by-serving basis.

E.g., ounce per ounce carrots rank almost as high as white rice on the GI scale, but since a serving of carrots tends to weight much less than a serving of rice, carrots are much lower on the GI load scale.