Hi,

In the NGR book, it allows for a sprinkling of sugar here and there. It even goes so far as to say sugar is not bad for you if not mixed with fat. It is only THEN that it becomes a no-no.

Okay, given this logic, most "no-fat" foods (like yoghurt, chocolate bars cakes and sweets) are FILLED with sugar but are 100% FAT FREE (because sugar has no fat and the main ingredient of these foods is sugar). So taking this idea to its logical conclusion, one can eat all these junk foods? This couldn't POSSIBLY be right, could it? (There are so many 99% of 100% fat free cakes and chocs out there right now, yet we are told they're really BAD for us.) Okay, so biscuits and cake may have other hydrogenated fats in them which makes them off limits. But yoghurt??? That hasn't any other dangerous fats, but many of these fat-free yoghurts (especially the fruit ones) contain sugar. Is this bad? Or can one have yoghurt on the diet?

Also, about All-Bran. I checked, and sugar is the second ingredient. But the fat content is very low. Is this allowable on MM?

Shirl

Get PLAIN or NATURAL fat-free yogurt - add your own berries or pureed fruit to get it fruity with no added sugar - it's a bit tart but I like it that way - if you or your mum is accustomed to lots of sweet it might take a bit of de-programming but it's really refreshing.

Is it okay to eat natural peanut butter (no sugar or oil added, just peanuts) on wholemeal bread for breakfast or wholemeal pitta bread? I noticed this was one of the recipes on the Sugarbusters site, which I'm told is very similar to MM.

It would be great if that WERE possible.

Also, are raisons okay to eat and add on oat bran muesli for breakfast? I know they are high in carbs, but on this new GI thing, they may be low? I've seen them in a few recipes on the NGR diet.

Hi again.

Could someone please clear this up for me.....

If 100g of a certain food has a GI of 50 (which is a good level, right?) does this mean I could have 3 servings (300g) of this food and it would be okay because the GI still remained at 50? No need to count the carbs anymore, just the GI?

Gi of 50 is ok as long as you don't intend to lose any weight. What is the GL of the food you are talking about?

MM and to a certain extent NGR ask you to cut out any refined foods - meaning foods with fake sugar are BAD

All bran is definitely in the list in NGR - check it out.

If you want to eat all these processed foods with added sugar - go ahead, but it isn't really following Montiganc.

Hi Spang and Shirl


I was looking at my All Bran box and it does have sugar - funny I had never looked at the ingredients before , just checked the fibre and fat - I thought it had a lower GL than oatmeal with more fibre that's why I had been having it. I wonder if the sugar is so minimal it hardly effects it?

Shirl - peanuts look ok very low

For weight loss its best to stick to foods 35 or lower on the GI

Raisins are too high on the GL for weight loss - sometimes you will see a small quantity used in a recipie the muselie for example but 1 tbsp in the whole recipe is not much as it makes more than one serving and all the other ingredients - oats,apples,skim milk are low gi so the whole recipe comes out with a low GI - But to eat a handful of raisins as a snack is not good. They are about 65GI with high GL also.

Re quantities as long as the food is low -below 35 on the GI yes you can eat as much as you want -oops check what Spang says below, this is Mr. Montignac getting me confused here.

I'm off to workout now, see you later.

natural peanut butter made from just peanut is ok on proper wholegrain bread (not just white bread dyed brown!)

not advisable for phase 1 tho

MM and NGR are difficult plans to describe if you have not read the books that accompany the plans.

I'll refer you to page 52 / 53 of NGR where they talk about "Does the GI value increase with the serving size"? to paraphrase - YES, it does - GI is a COMPARATIVE index comparing 100 g of 1 food to 100 g of pure glucose. If you eat 200 g of the food - compare that to the GI value of 200 g of glucose.

Right after this paragraph in NGR is one titles "If my blood glucose level is determined by both quantity and quality of the carb in a meal, how can I predict what I'll see?..." where is describes very simply GI and GL.

I don't want to type out exactly what they say considering you have the book, and I don't have the time!

All Bran - again, straight from NGR - average GI 42 (between 30 and 51) GL is 5 - 9. It is ok in small quantities - I wouldn't though. Much nicer to make the delicious muesli recipe that is where? In NGR!

I ALWAYS read the ingredient lables, I NEVER buy anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup - of one of the other fake name sugar in there

Hope this helps

Hi Spang

re the all bran - I was really surprised about the sugar - usually I am an avid label reader. I don't know why I had been thinking it was a lower GI I distinctly remember checking it out and making a mental note that it was lower than oatmeal - it must have been that I checked it in a different GI table - I had a couple of magazines with mini tables in them. I have a big need for high fibre so I'll probably still have it but 1/2 my portion.

I think I'm basically understanding it all a lot better, but am very anxious about giving information to new people who find it confusing - afraid I'll steer them wrong in my bubmling explanations