Adjusting Favorite Recipes to Follow the Glycemic Index Diet

Glycemic Index Cookbook For Dummies

One of the simplest steps in adopting a low-glycemic lifestyle is looking at the foods and recipes you already like to cook and eat. You may find that some are naturally low glycemic and don't need any changes; others may need a little tweaking to fit your new lifestyle. Use the following tips to help you turn a high-glycemic favorite into a low-glycemic meal:

Replace higher-glycemic ingredients with lower-glycemic alternatives. For example, if your favorite stir-fry recipe calls for jasmine rice, you can easily change it to brown rice with little effect on the overall recipe.
Use smaller portions of high- and medium-glycemic foods. For example, if your favorite stew calls for white potatoes, which are high glycemic, you can easily include them but use a smaller amount and increase the amount of other low-glycemic vegetables in the dish.
Add healthy low-glycemic foods to any dish. Instead of eating a dish entirely made up of pasta, add some low-glycemic veggies like broccoli or bell peppers, and/or add some protein like chicken or salmon. Doing so decreases the amount of pasta you're eating to lessen your glycemic load for that meal.

About This Article

About the book author:

Meri Raffetto, RDN, founded Real Living Nutrition Services (reallivingnutrition.com), which pro- vides one of the only interactive online weight-loss and wellness programs.

Rosanne Rust is an internationally recognized nutrition expert, registered dietitian, and author with a passion for balanced eating and reducing waste. Grounded in science, she has focused on helping people set realistic health and dietary goals over her 30-year career. She provides freelance nutrition communications work in the food and agriculture spaces and blogs at Chew the Facts.^® Find her on social media @chewthefacts or www.rustnutrition.com.