Balancing your blood sugar is key to losing weight and enjoying optimal health, and the glycaemic factor is a way of eating which can help you do just that. Eating the glycaemic way means that you don't feel hungry all the time, and it's not complicated or time-consuming; it simply requires you to choose foods that will help keep your blood sugar steady. Originally designed as a treatment for diabetes, it can also reduce your risk of developing many diseases, and may improve several conditions such as insulin resistance, heart disease, syndrome X, premenstrual syndrome, and polycystic ovary syndrome.

In The Glycaemic Factor, Theresa Cheung covers:

• what the glycaemic factor is
• how it can help you lose weight
• dieting myths and misconceptions
• other health benefits to be gained by balancing your blood sugar
• practical tips to help you start and continue the diet
• how to devise your own glycaemic factor eating plan
• meal suggestions and rules for success

Unlike fad diets, the glycaemic factor is based on science and can be followed for a lifetime, providing a simple, delicious and satisfying formula for healthy eating.

The Glycaemic Factor

Contents

Introduction

• What's all the fuss about?
• What you need to know about the glycaemic index
• Introducing the glycaemic load
• The glycaemic factor and weight loss
• Health benefits of the glycaemic factor diet
• Getting started on your glycaemic factor diet
• How do I follow a glycaemic factor diet?
• Designing your glycaemic factor diet
• The glycaemic factor and children
• Glycaemic factor guidelines for eating out

Conclusion: The glycaemic factor golden rules
Useful addresses
Useful websites
Further reading
Notes
Index

The Glycaemic Factor

Introduction

If you want to beat food cravings, lose weight and enjoy optimal health, its absolutely crucial to keep your blood sugar level steady. That in a nutshell is what this book is all about. There has been a great deal of media coverage in recent years of the glycaemic index (GI) as a way of eating that can promote both good health and weight loss. This book introduces the glycaemic load (GL) now known to be needed to complete the picture. Put simply, the GI measures foods according to how they affect blood sugar levels, both immediately and a few hours after a meal, while the GL looks at portion size, or how much you actually eat at a sitting.

Combining the GI with the GL helps you achieve a steady blood sugar level, without any highs or lows — which appears to be a key factor for weight management. A glycaemic diet is not complicated or time-consuming; it simply requires you to choose foods that will have a stabilizing effect on your blood sugar. Portion size and making sure you get all the nutrients you need for good health are the only things you need to be strict about. Eating the glycaemic way means that you don't feel hungry all the time and you don't need to weigh foods or count calories. You are encouraged to eat healthy fats and proteins and to avoid processed and refined foods. With its emphasis on whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes, the glycaemic diet works very well for vegetarians and vegans.

But this diet can also help a number of health conditions; it's not just about weight loss. It is valued by the medical profession, who approve of it because it's based on healthy eating plans, doesn't exclude vital foods, and isn't a crash diet. In fact, eating the glycaemic way has now become the new standard for healthy eating, healthy weight loss and healthy living.

This book offers a clear explanation of the GI and GL, referred to in the chapters that follow as the glycaemic factor, and the incredible health benefits a glycaemic factor diet has to offer — whether you want to lose weight, have a specific condition such as diabetes or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or want to undertake preventative healthcare and boost your health and wellbeing with a healthy eating plan.

It looks at the common misconceptions that exist about dieting and weight loss — such as the simple fallacy that eating less make you automatically lose weight. It also explains why balancing you blood sugar can have such a range of health benefits, and how it may help with conditions such as obesity, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) PCOS, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart trouble, depression.

The book also gives practical tips to help you start and continue the diet, instructions on how to devise your own glycaemic factor eating plan, glycaemic factor tables for common foods, simple glycaemic factor meal plans, and rules for success.

Unlike fad diets, the glycaemic factor is based on science that you can follow for a lifetime. You'll discover a simple, delicious and satisfying formula for healthy eating that can not only help you lose weight and boost your energy levels but can also maximize your chances of optimum health, whatever your age!

About the Author

Theresa Cheung is the author of 15 health and popular psychology books, including Worry: The Root of All Evil, Get Lucky: Make Your Own Opportunities and The Lazy Person 's Guide to Stress. She also co-authored the best-selling PCOS Diet Book and has contributed features to Here's Health, Health Plus, NHS Mother and Baby, You Are What You Eat, Red, She and Prima magazines.