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If you want to lose weight fast and healthily, there is no better way than to eat a
calorie-controlled, low-fat, low-Gi diet and combine it with increased activity.
The average woman – say someone who weighs 10 and a half stone – uses in an
average day around 2000-2200 calories. Of those calories, 1400-1500 will be
burned by her body performing its everyday activities – heart pumping, tissue
renewing, general maintenance and functions. A further 600-700 calories will be
burned by her taking the children to school, going out to work, cooking family
meals, doing household chores, and so on.
The number of calories burned by the body just to keep it ticking over is called
the basal metabolic rate (BMR). We need to eat sufficient calories each day to
meet the needs of our BMR, otherwise the body thinks it’s being starved and
slows our metabolism right down – the last thing we want when we are trying to
lose weight! So if we restrict our daily calories to the level of our BMR, any extra
energy spent (looking after the children, going to work, and so on) will be fuelled
by the existing fat stores deposited around the body. The more active we are, the
more fat and calories we will burn.
It’s a simple matter of physics. To lose weight, we have to eat fewer calories
each day than our bodies actually burn up. Gram for gram, fat has twice as many
calories as carbohydrate or protein. Cutting down on our fat intake, therefore, is
an easy way to cut down on calories AND avoid adding to our existing fat stores,
with significant benefits to our health. If we combine low-fat eating and eating
healthy low-Gi foods, with their slow-releasing energy qualities that stave off
hunger pangs, we have the perfect recipe for a weight-loss diet.
A quick guide to low Gi
• Choose whole-oat cereals for breakfast rather than refined corn or rice
ones.
• Select wholegrain, multigrain or stoneground bread or loaves containing
intact seeds and grains in place of ordinary white or brown bread.
• Pitta bread and tortilla wraps are low Gi and make great sandwich
alternatives.
• Sweet potatoes and waxy new potatoes have a lower Gi than old potatoes.
• Pasta has a lower Gi than potatoes or rice.
• Basmati rice has a lower Gi than other varieties of rice.
• Add beans and pulses to stews, casseroles, salads and soups to reduce the
overall Gi rating of your meal.
• Use low-calorie, low-Gi fillers such as tomatoes, beansprouts, chopped
celery and courgettes to ‘bulk up’ meals and give you more chewing power.
• Eat fruit in place of cakes and biscuits.
• Avoid over-ripe bananas – they have a higher Gi rating than less ripe ones.
How to lose weight healthily
