The GI Diet Guide to Shopping and Eating Out

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This is a take-along (pocket or purse-size) guide for adherents of the
diet that is explained in Gallop’s books The G.I. Diet and Living the
G.I. Diet. Gallop uses the traffic signal lights (red=stop;
yellow=caution; green=go) as a metaphor for classifying foods according
to their glycemic index.

The guide is not an explanation of the G.I. diet but rather a portable
reference for selecting “green light” foods at the supermarket or in
restaurants. The shopping section is arranged by aisle or department, as
would be encountered in a typical supermarket: fruit by the front door
and milk in the far corner. The restaurant section has suggestions for
green light selections at both fast food and international cuisine
restaurants.

Foods and menu items are listed in three colour-coded columns—red,
yellow, green—making it easy to identify appropriate choices at a
glance.

The G.I. diet, like this guide, directs adherents to selections that
encourage low-fat, low-sugar, low-sodium, and high-fibre choices. As the
glycemic index is a ranking of foods according to the rate at which they
are absorbed by the body and affect blood glucose levels, the concept is
of interest to diabetics and athletes.

The guide’s strengths are clarity and simplicity in a compact format.