Customer Reviews

The G.I. Handbook: How the Glycemic Index Works

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I did the South Beach diet without really understanding how and why it was working. This book does a much better job of explaining the science behind it. If you're trying to understand the latest hype about "low carbs," and to separate out inaccuracies from facts, then you need to read this book. Ravage explains in clear, accessible prose, how high glycemic foods affect weight gain, why the hype about a "low carb" diet is misleading & potentially unhealthy (there are lots of good & necessary carbs), why "diets" don't work, and how you can really change your eating habits to lose weight and improve your health. It has great advice and tips for healthy and delicious meals and snacks. And, best of all, there's an exhaustive list in the back of the book that rates every food that has been tested for its GI index and tells you whether that food is high (bad), medium (OK), or low (great!) on the GI index. Makes food shopping and menu planning so much easier. I highly recommend this book to people who are thinking about changing the way they eat.

I found this book to be a good introductory text. I was disappointed to find that the G. I. lists were not very extensive and did not include numeric values.

I bought this book after buying the Aitkens diet book, and found that it gave me more of a variety of foods to choose from. Not only have I lost just as much weight using this book, it is a handy reference for combining food groups to benefit your low carb diet. The g.i. guide is important if you seriously need to lower your weight and have health issues to deal with. I ordered three more of these books for friends who are also using them in their diet for daily reference, and they also find the information concerning the g.i. index an invaluable guide. The book has so much info and ideas for your diet, it is one of the best books you can buy.

EXcellent little manual for self help and fairly complete information on the Glycemic Index and its use and benefits.Untechnical,plain language,easily understood.

I bought this book to get a better understanding of the glycemic index, and use it to try to manage my insulin-dependent diabetes.

It came up a bit short. I am a bit of a "geek", and I was hoping for a more detailed discussion of the index. Instead I got a rather simplified version. I was also hoping for numeric values, but instead the book listed a low/medium/high rating.

The index was fairly comprehensive, although it showed L/M/H, as described above.

The book has a number of useful tips, but borders on being condescending at times.

If you are looking for a theoretical understanding of what the glycemic index is all about, this is not your book. If you want a reasonable index of foods with some thoughts on lowering your glycemic load, this is not a bad place to start.

I hated the size of the book- it is about 5" square. It is too small to fit in your pocket (as an aid in shopping), and just small enough to get lost on a bookshelf.

I bought this book a year or two ago along with another GI book and read them both. It was easy to incorporate the plan into my nutritional activities, even though I did so half-heartedly. Within the past six months, people have been asking me if I was on a diet or if I had lost weight. I personally did not notice; the change of seasons and wardrobe switch precluded my observation from looser fitting clothes. After weighing myself, the scale showed that I lost 13 pounds by simply combining my foods properly and reducing the glycemic index. Unsolicited weight-loss made me feel uneasy, so for one month, I intentially ate high GI foods. This resulted in weight gain of approximately a pound a week; and this calmed my fears regarding a potentially pathologic cause of unsolicted weight loss. My daughter has been diagnosed with PCOS and needs to jump on board a full-blown GI guided nutritional plan. I will join her and it won't be difficult because the concept is simple. The only disadvantage could possibly finding the GI of foods. Huge databases of GI ratings are not yet available since the interest is relatively new. I have been told that the University of Sydney is performing ongoing GI testing of foods, and the database is available to online viewers. I have not tried it yet, but this is what I've been told. [...]

If you told me a month ago I'd be taking tablespoons of flax seed oil to increase my polyunsaturated fat intake, I'd of told you you're nuts, but here I am. What I like most about this book was how it presented information but then leaves the application up to you. I'd much rather learn and then figure out how to apply it to myself, so this was the perfect book for me.

I also just gave this book to my entire family for Christmas and most have already called to thank me. It's a short book and the information is easily digestable. My mom who's the most not technical/science person I know thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have found this book to be very helpful in understanding the Glycemic Index. It's presented in simple, easy to understand language and concepts, but it's not a dumbed-down version. It's a comprehensive look at the facts behind the glycemic index. It's motivational in tone, upbeat for the outcome, and sits on a foundation of solid science. I'm quite pleased with this purchase and have started feeling better already. GREAT book.

I thought some of the information in this book was useful but when I hit page 42 "Clearing Up the Cholesterol Confusion" I was really disappointed. The author is about 20 years out of date as far as research goes and sticks to the AMA party line like glue. There are several completely unsubstantiated claims, such as page 51 "Combined with exercise, calorie intake that matches energy nees and not smoking the G.I. will help you live a long and healthy life". Really? How much longer? The actual GI chart contains a symbol meant to represent food that is "bad" for the heart. I was in agreement through the cakes and cookies but when it appeared in the meat and dairy I knew the author had either not done her homework or did it with a completely closed mind.

Helpful in understanding the concept of diminished hunger using Glycemic Index as a dietary guide.