The Healthy Low GI Low Carb Diet: Nutritionally Sound, Medically Safe, No Willpower Needed!

"I maybe slightly unfair here, as this is my first diet 'book' although I'm no stranger to nutrition but until now getting my information from the internet. So really I have nothing to compare this with and as such I grade it purely on it's own merits. For all I know this is the norm for diet books.

I already knew the basic concepts behind the low GI/Low Carb diet and was fully aware of the vast quantity of books covering the subject available.
Despite being extrememly active (cycling 150+miles per week) I am overweight, in fact using the favoured BMI I'm obese. I spent 3 months on a very carefully controlled low calorie/fat diet maintaining my exercise level and lost precisely 1 lb. Being somehwat dismayed I decided to give the much trumpeted low GI diet a whirl, which brought me to this book.

Very briefly the book is very short on substance. The concepts of this diet (as the book itself clearly states) are very very simple. It says this on the first page. However, the authors then struggle to fill the following 6 short chapters before the inevitable and, widely available elsewhere, recipes fill the rest of the book (well over half).
Some points are made repeatedly across the initial chapters and the case studies are very clearly being used as padding as all 7 of them highlight exactly the same point.

One of the reviews for this book further down this page also points out the overuse of clinical terminology when the author labours over various physiological aspects of the diet. I personally didn't find this a problem, a brief description of the terms used in the case studies is provided in the preceeding pages. In fact I suspected the author was over simplifying some aspects, most specifically the function of Insulin, a quick google seemed to confirm this.

All of this is moot though as really you don't need to know any of the details, although of course it would be sensible to have a basic understanding. The only thing you need to know is covered in another review here; keep carbs under 50g. Learn something about nutrition and recipes both of which are covered much better in other books.


To summarise then, for me personally the book was too simple. I whisked through the first 6 chapters in an evening and found the repeated points and filler annoying. With hindsight I would've only bought a low GI recipe/cook book. The concepts of the diet can be summarised for mere mortals on a sheet of paper, the key is to learn and know how to make the meals to make the diet sustainable and practical.

Does theg diet work? Absolutely.

"
~ Written on 2007-05-12

"I love the previous books by Charles Clark as they are very down to earth and the recipes call for ingredients the vast majority of us recognise and can get. Unlike the American low carb books, these recipes are geared to our tastes. I always feel perplexed at some of the recipes the American books contain as they are full of wierd ingredients and strange combinations.This is great on its own but even better as an addition to the previous books."
~ Written on 2005-05-31

"This latest edition follows on from the success of Charles Clark's "The New High Protein Diet". He begins by reiterating the principles of a low carbohydrate or low GI (low Glycaemic Index) diet, but cautions against diets which instruct you to cut out carbohydrates altogether or to reduce them to, say, 20gm per day. Clark emphasises that fruit and vegetables include carbohydrates and essential vitamins and minerals: it's not a good move to cut them out altogether.

Clark argues for a 40-50gm daily intake of carbohydrate, increasing this once your body weight has stabilised. He talks through the process (and the science) convincingly, but diverges from his earlier book by aiming this one at vegetarians and people who do enjoy pasta and rice. He suggests limiting your intake of red meat, dairy products and eggs - foodstuffs which had been advocated in the earlier work.

This book contains recipes for incorporating a wider range of fruit, grains, pasta, rice and pulses into your diet. Clark, however, recognises that you will have to start counting carbohydrates if you do so.

He explains the Glycaemic Index - it's a measure of the effect of any particular food on your blood glucose levels. People tend to gain weight not because of the quantities of food they eat, but the types of food they eat. A diet rich in carbohydrates stimulates the body to lay down reserves of fat rather than burn it off as fuel - hence the weight gain, and hence the value of low GI foods.

It's good stuff, it's well explained, but I can't help feeling you're better reading this book after you've read "The New High Protein Diet". The two do complement one another. The earlier book, in fact, is better in its explanation of the science. In this latest work, Clark includes case studies of patients of his who have experienced weight loss as a result of his diet. The case studies are too clinical. They contain phrases like, "a reduction in LDL by 23 per cent from 4.06 to 3.11 mmol/l". It's hardly inspirational stuff unless you like playing around with calculators and statistics. You sense he's trying to leverage his argument, to convince you, "trust me, I'm a doctor".

In places in this latest title Clark seems too concerned to display his medical credentials and scientific status. It's a touch too clinical ... and hence my sense that you really need the earlier title as a corrective - it gives you more confidence, it's a bit more accessible, it's simply more informative because it doesn't slide into jargon at the wrong time.

But that criticism apart, Clark is clearly aware that diet is not a subject to be analysed in isolation - it relates directly and intimately to broader questions of health and lifestyle. Clark is a doctor. If his clinical advice is at times obtuse, it is nevertheless realistic.

The book offers 190 pages of recipes and meal plans. Again, I'd caution about trying to rigidly follow his suggestions. Use the recipes as a means of identifying the foods and meals you really enjoy. Use them as a set of guidelines against which to measure your weekly shopping. Use them as a means to set yourself targets and develop good habits.

It's a useful, informative book, but I have to conclude with the same information I presented in my review of "The New High Protein Diet". You want to know does Clark's advice work? Well, yes. I'm not going to repeat myself ... just take a look at the earlier review!"
~ Written on 2005-05-22