10 Ways to Lower the GI of Your Diet

Try these practical tips to make the switch to low-GI eating. There’s no specific order. Essentially, you should attack the changes that you think you’ll find easiest first—nothing is quite so inspiring as success. You should make the changes gradually—it can take 6 weeks for a new behaviour to become a habit. Here’s how you can get started:

1 Aim to eat at least 5 serves of vegetables every day, preferably of 3 or more colours. Make sure you fill half your dinner plate with vegetables.

2 Cut back on potatoes. Have one or two tiny chat potatoes or a Nicola potato or make a cannellini bean and potato mash replacing half the potato with cannellini beans. Try other lower GI starchy vegetables for a change, such as a piece of orange sweet potato or a small cob of sweet corn.

3 Choose a really grainy bread where you can actually see the grains, or real sourdough bread, or a soy and linseed bread. Look for the GI Symbol on the breads you buy.

4 Start the day with smart carbs like natural muesli or traditional (not instant) porridge oats or one of the lower GI processed breakfast cereals that will trickle fuel into your engine.