Glycemic index (GI) - a plate half full

Enzo and I really want to encourage you in your efforts to pursue an improved diet and lifestyle to suit yourself, your family and your budget. Part of your journey will include cooking for yourself. If you have accustomed your taste buds to preservatives and flavourings found in packet-prepared foods, your journey will truly be exciting and one of discovery.

If you are an avid follower of the next diet plan, then your journey should stop right here! Some of the most popular diet plans are based on the Glycemic Index. For example: South Beach, Atkins, Nutrisystem all follow pretty much the same pattern to encourage you to eat foods with a Low or Lowered Glycemic Index. That said, they will also expect you to pay for it. We want you to have the knowledge and resources to help you develop a more healthy relationship with your food FOR FREE!!!

Mixed Fruit Breakfast or Brunch

Glycemic Index (GI) Find GI food values at your fingertips Italy travel guide app Make the most of traveling Italy.

Please bare with us, this is a large undertaking on our part, but we ask you to take a look at the list so far of Low Glycemic Foods. We will go on to explain why your body requires these foods and why watching your Glycemic intake will actually enhance your metabolism. You will lose weight naturally - maybe slowly - but naturally and further more you will see that STARVING AND GOING HUNGRY IS NOT AN OPTION - EVVVVERRRRR!!!

These lists are by no means complete, you will have to use some common sense. Look at this is way - if you pursue foods on the Low Glycemic Index list, then you are erring on the side of common sense already.

We urge you to use some common sense and DON'T STARVE! We really mean you to achieve and I speak as one who was once annorexic. STARVING IS NOT AN OPTION. If you feel hungry it is because your body needs foods. If you don't feed your body it will start to shut down - you'll feel tired, irritable - well you know the obvious signs, so eat something. And there are plenty of not so obvious signs too.

EAT SOMETHING EVERY 2 HOURS: even if it is just a piece of toast. Your body needs to know food will be there when it tell you it needs it. If you don't feed it, your body will take the last meal you had and stick it on your bum in case of emergencies. It's that simple . . . and understand the size of a portion.

Scan the following lists of Low Glycemic Foods and see just how much there is that you can eat without fear of fat. So you see the plate is really half full and not half empty.  You can generally IGNORE THE NUMBERS: This is not about counting, this is about the food, so for now just ignore the numbers and start eating little and often. If you really must know, anything with a number on the Glycemic Index of 50 and below is LOW and therefore permissible.

What about that Banana Cake! Oh and that will include bananas too. Although the more ripe the banana, the higher the Glycemic index, so choose under or just ripe bananas. Enzo is pleased to see his carrot cake on the list, and we use fresh carrot in our Carrot Cake Recipe.

Look at all that chocolate. Obviously we need to ensure that common sense is always sitting on our shoulder to stop us pigging out. Continued over indulgence remains high up on the list of what not to do to maintain good health.  We will go on to explain what a suitable portion is to you as soon as we can write it up for you.  But portion size is really important - keep it small.

Beans, chocolate, pasta and hummus are all on the menu for you. For those of you with a copy of our book Cooking at the Café, you will already know just how simple Hummus is to make. Enzo and I recently we introduced some local children to a blind tasting of Hummus and guess what - they thought it was tuna and cleared the plate of over 50 sandwiches! We were amazed.

Oh boy, when Enzo found out that Nutella was on the list he was delighted. Recently we have been seeing Nutella advertised on TV being promoted as a healthy start to the day for the kids -  but beware and listen to the advertising carefully. What it suggests is that you spread it over as many healthy foodstuffs as possible and this will encourage the kids to eat that otherwise untempting wholegrain bread as toast. We do not recommend the method of ingestion selected by Enzo which looks something like this: 9.00pm go to bed and turn on TV, then open the large tub of Nutella resting on the table to the side of bed. Using a spoon get as much as you can into your body before it can take no more. Sleep. . . .

You may have noticed the pastas appearing on the list. Yep - go ahead - in moderation of course. Become familiar with what a portion actually is. Remember your new 2 hour eating routine of little and often. Also you would rarely see an Italian in Italy consuming a huge plate of the stuff. So let's think more Mediterranean.

So you see pasta and chocolate are on the menu for you every day. All you have to do is to eat smaller amounts every 2 hours and your body will begin to understand that you are not going to starve it. It will then start to use the food you eat to give you more energy. And that peeps, is what you eat food for. So think biologically and become your own scientist without paying silly amounts of money. Apply common sense and start feeling well, energised and all those things that these diet advertisers tell you you can be with FREE information and eventually a wide selection of menus from us.

Of course should you feel the need to pay us for this information like you would those good people who deliver portion sized packages of breakfast, lunch and dinner, then please make your donations here.  By the way, if you know anyone getting these dietary foods delivered, take a look at the ingredients and don't expect to find much of what you understand there.

Just one more thing before I go and compile the next load of information for you - get up off of that bum of yours and do some walking. I know this sounds hard to believe, but 10 minutes a day of yoga, brisk walking, climbing stairs, a few of those muscle building chair exercises I've heard tell about, Wii - anything to GET OFF YOUR BUM, will tell your body it needs to burn energy.

A GOOD ROUTINE IS KEY