Chef Antony Worrall Thompson has his own reasons to go on the GI diet. Sylvia Thompson speaks to a man with the zeal of a convert.
Heralded by many as the diet to end all dieting, the GI diet is being embraced by nutritionists, chefs, politicians, supermodels, and pop stars around the world.
Bill and Hillary Clinton are said to be following it as is supermodel, Naomi Campbell and pop star, Kylie Minogue.
But, perhaps one of the most striking advocates of the GI diet is celebrity chef, Antony Worrall Thompson whose own health concerns prompted him to investigate the diet which was principally followed by diabetics before it gained such huge popularity as a weight loss diet.
"I was diagnosed with Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome (a pre-diabetic state).
"I didn't have any of the blurred vision, peeing in the night or thirst associated with diabetes so I didn't realise I had it. Like many men, I had avoided going to the doctor and when I was diagnosed I thought I was dying," he says by phone from his restaurant in London .
Within a year, Worrall Thompson lost about a stone (he was 15 stone and 13 oz when first diagnosed with Syndrome X) by simply eating more healthily. Meanwhile, he began checking out diabetic cookbooks and wrote Healthy Eating for Diabetics in 2003. Catching the mood of the time (the GI diet was already popular in places such as Australia), he realised that the key concept for diabetics - ie keeping blood glucose levels even by carefully controlling the type of carbohydrate foods they ate - could also be a tool for weight loss for the general population.
"Most diets work in the beginning, but as they often involve reducing the amount of food you eat, your metabolic rate goes down to compensate for the change so as soon as you revert to your normal food regime, your body puts on weight more quickly.
"By eating slow-release foods (ie low GI foods), you don't feel hungry, you've much more energy and you're not continually raising and lowering your blood sugar levels," says Worrall Thompson.
So, convinced of the theory, he began following the GI diet himself and in the last two years has lost a further two stone in weight.
"I want to lose about another half stone but I don't want to end up a wimp. People say to me in emails, we miss your cuddly bear look but I've got rid of my Syndrome X and tinnitus too which they say there's no cure for. And, I feel more energetic."
Now, Worrall Thompson has gone a step further and together with dietician, Dr Mabel Blades and food writer, Jane Suthering, he has written gi diet (Kyle Cathie £12.99), a tastefully designed book packed with a good range of recipes for breakfast, snacks, lunches and dinners coupled with clear nutritional advice on how to lose weight and maintain that weight loss.
Recipes such as aubergine caviar (an aubergine dip with onion, garlic and ginger served with wholegrain toast), barley risotto (risotto made with pearl barley instead of Arborio rice with chorizo sausage, spinach and herbs) and Moroccan lamb stew with pumpkin and pickled lemon make dieting seem like a foodie's dream come true.
"The idea is to help you lose weight while still eating well. It's a healthy diet which is more about a lifestyle change. People need to eat a proper breakfast and keep their body topped up with healthy snacks to feel energetic. If you start the day with a breakfast bar, have a chocolate bar mid morning, a poor lunch in the office you're knackered by 4pm and too tired to cook when you get home," says Worrall Thompson.
Admitting that the concept of GI is not an easy one to explain, Worrall Thompson is a little amazed at how the GI diet has become the diet of the year. "What we need is a diet regime with a small 'd'. A diet that is so enjoyable it can be part of life's routine," he says, adding that his next book is all about family mealtime and encouraging parents to sit down and eat with their children.
"We need to regain control of children. I think that parents are giving children anything they like to appease them because they feel guilty for working. My own two children do a lot of exercise but they still aren't allowed eat supper in front of the television. They get sweets only on the weekends and they have to eat their veg," he says.
So, while we're waiting for Worrall Thompson's next offering, many families can easily find healthy options from the gi diet book - porridge and berries, dried fruit and nuts for snacking on and wholegrain bread sandwiches for lunch and meatballs and couscous or brown rice for dinner.