The GL Diet Cookbook: Over 150 tasty recipes for easy weight loss. Nigel Denby

       Introduction

      There is little doubt that in recent years the principles of low-glycaemic eating have gathered more and more support from dieticians, doctors and health organizations such as Diabetes UK and leading heart health and cancer charities.

      The concept of being able to determine a food’s effect on blood sugars has been described as ‘the most significant nutritional development for 50 years’ and has been conclusively shown to be a solution to a lifetime of yo-yo dieting for millions of people.

      Unlike so many other weight-loss plans, the low-glycaemic approach is well respected as not only an effective weight-control tool but also for a host of health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers.

      The Glycaemic Index (GI), which is the basis of low-glycaemic diets, is not a new idea. It has been researched and developed at major universities around the world for the past 25 years, but only really hit the mainstream a few years ago.

      As with all science, nutrition is constantly evolving. What started as a complicated (and in some cases inaccurate) way of classifying carbohydrate-containing foods, the Glycaemic Index (GI), has been developed into a simpler, more accurate, user-friendly system in the Glycaemic Load (GL).

      The Glycaemic Index classifies some foods we know to be inherently ‘healthy’ as being foods we should avoid. It also suggests other foods can be eaten freely, when in fact they may have a detrimental effect on our all-important blood sugars – why the inconsistency?

      Simple – the Glycaemic Index is a laboratory test which requires that specific amounts of different foods are tested in order to produce comparable results. The Glycaemic Index doesn’t take into account the amount of food we actually eat, and so the Index on its own can be misleading and confusing.

      The Glycaemic Load removes these confusions and inaccuracies. It means more food choices and less room for error.

      Having used the GL principles with my patients for some years now in my clinics, what I can tell you is that using the GL is the most effective weight-loss tool I have seen in my career, and the results achieved and feedback from our Diet Freedom Club Members online at www.dietfreedom.co.uk has reinforced this tenfold.

      My patients, our readers and our Diet Freedom Club Members get results, maintain them, and tell us that for the first time in years they feel free of the ‘diet trap’ and able to get on with their lives. They feel well, have more energy and rediscover a long-lost optimistic outlook on life – something they have been missing for years. What more could we ask of an eating plan?

      The principle of the GL diet is simple: Stable blood sugars means less excess energy stored as fat and fewer food cravings. We have been very careful in our previous books (The GL Diet and The 7-Day GL Diet), as in this cookbook, to ensure that our recipes and advice tick all the healthy eating boxes.

      As well as eating low-GL foods, we advocate good fats, no added salt wherever possible, plenty of fruit and vegetables and good-quality proteins including fish, lean meats and poultry, pulses and, of course, a good dose of physical activity – not ‘exercise’ – we don’t like that word – no, it’s got to be A C T I V I T Y and it’s got to be fun!

      This isn’t a here-today, gone-tomorrow fad diet. I wouldn’t put my name to it if it were. This is a way of eating you can adopt for life, and it is very satisfying to see that more and more people are finding it offers them what no other diet has before: results and, more importantly, results they can maintain for ever.

      What we’ve done with this cookbook is make an already simple principle even easier. You don’t have to do any boring counting (who has the time?!) or weighing of foods (unless you want to), and there is absolutely no need to be hungry – so don’t worry, you won’t be.

      So