Review: The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook

The New Glucose Revolution Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook: 80 Delicious Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes Made Easy with the Glycemic Index
By Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller, Kaye Foster-Powell and Kate Marsh

Boasting slick paper with pleasing photographs, easy to read typeface and well laid-out informative sidebars, this is a nicely presented book.

I was so excited to see this title pop up in my Amazon recs section. The idea of other vegetarians recognizing that fast-acting carbs lead to ill health just filled me with hope for the veg community. I imagined a text full of the latest information on how to use glycemic index and glycemic load to choose the most healthful carb options, how to use such ingredients as vinegar to help extend carb-processing time, where to search for such low-GI veg ingredients as Chana Dal and Rice bran…

I also dreamed a beautiful dream of page after page of mid-level carb recipes (25 to 30 carb grams per serving max) that made use of low-GI ingredients like channa dal. I hoped this book would serve me brilliantly as I move from the middle phase of my low carb diet, to the later phase that adds carbs back in responsibly.

My optimism was premature.

The authors get credit from me for acknowledging celiac disease and for giving a sidebar nod to the healthful properties of eggs.

The authors lose almost all credibility when they dismiss the use of Glycemic Load because it would, in their opinion, lead to a low-carb diet. Well, we most certainly can’t have that!

I could have cried. Using GI without regard to glycemic load is a bit like using the standard temperature/pressure equations in physics to derive gas mass, but leaving out temperature completely and relying solely upon pressure to calculate your final number. It is, in short, utterly stupid.

I can understand the average vegetarian’s resistance to cutting back on carb consumption. It is a daunting task at first—and expensive! But avoiding the fact that—for blood sugar sensitive folks it NEEDS to be done—by scoffing at low-carb is, in my opinion, borderline unethical. These people are aware of the damage high GI diets can cause, yet the subtextual message these authors convey couldn’t be clearer: avoid low carb.

And boy howdy, you’ll sure be avoiding low carb if you cook according to the Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook. I saw single servings of foods whose carb counts were over 70g. There were some that were much lower, of course, but the accompanying fiber, fat and protein rarely justified the carb count in most of the authors’ recipes. Even assuming you were on long-term maintenance, these carb counts just seemed much too high for me. These recipes were pasta, rice, bean and legume-heavy. I’m not saying there’s anything inherently wrong with whole-grain pasta, low-gi rice, and beans and legumes. I adore beans and legumes, but the quantities called for in these recipes were, at least for my dietary purposes, far too high.

They recommend that an average person eat approximately 275g of carbs a day. They also advise that not all foods consumed need be low GI and that consuming low GI foods with higher ones will help mediate the overall rise in blood sugar. Of course that’s somewhat true—but disappointingly inadequate for the needs of folks who are sensitive to sugar and insulin swings in their blood. And who, really, is likely to purchase a cookbook with Low GI in its title? I think the authors are doing their most-likely target audience a tremendous disservice. I can’t imagine these fairly high-carb recipes aren’t going to affect the blood sugar of souls suffering from insulin resistance or, worse, diabetes. But to each his own—and to some of those, a blood glucose monitor.

This book emphasizes whole grains to the point that it becomes nearly an irrelevant addition to any celiac’s bookshelf. For a celiac who also avoids soy and tries to keep carb counts under 30 for any given dish, the book is pretty much useless.

I’m also quite concerned by their fairly blanket embrace of non-saturated fats—including “soft” margarine—without mentioning the troubling existence of trans-fats. “Soft” margarines can still be loaded with trans fats. It also looks as if the authors are among those who still believe fat is a dietary bogeyman.

There were only two recipes that I thought I might be able to use, and one would have to be heavily tweaked in order to fit within my dietary parameters.

The first was Vietnamese Spring Rolls in rice paper, and the recipe was similar to this one. There are photos of rolling rice papers around a similar concoction here.

The other recipe that enticed me was the baked ricotta. It was somewhat akin to this one.

Alas, this book also encourages readers in a colourful sidebar to eat phytoestrogens.

Imagine me hanging my head in utter frustration and sorrow.

I realize that many people cling to the idea that soy is a health food. I also realize that we need more studies to be certain it truly is detrimental to the aging brain. BUT, I think the Hawaiian study is persuasive enough—and alarming enough in the evidence presented—to make any rational soul pause before putting soy in his/her mouth on a regular basis.

Darnit, I love tofu. I adore it! But my taste for the stuff and my whimsical wish for the universe to fall neatly in line with my philosophical preferences makes not one bit of difference to scientific reality.

Argh, the quixotic naivete of my fellow vegetarians wears on me at times. Honestly, folks. You’re among the brightest and kindest out there. Use your grey matter. This is NOT rocket science. When there’s a linear correlation between tofu consumption and brain atrophy, SOMETHING IS REALLY WRONG. Oh, nevermind. If you want to eat the bean, eat the bean. You have every right. You also have every right to smoke tobacco and guzzle high-fructose corn syrup-based soft drinks. You also have full right to munch on trans-fatty snacks—so long as you’re not in New York City.

So have at that tempeh. Just please understand that you’re choosing willfully to eat something that is probably damaging your brain. Don’t let the amazingly powerful soy industry deceive you. And question what you’re reading—yes, that applies to me as well.

Are you reading something written by a scientist who has done studies on soy? Or are you reading something by a nutritional philosopher who is basing statements on ideology rather than science? Are there citations in the paragraphs? Or just happy reassurances that soy-is-good, soy-is-safe, soy-will-make-us-all-get-along….

It’s not okay for personal philosophy to interfere with our acceptance of scientific evidence. It wasn’t okay for people in power to dismiss global warming because it didn’t fit their economic agenda and personal view of the way the world OUGHT to be. Likewise, it isn’t okay for vegetarians and vegans to dismiss alarming evidence about soy just because it doesn’t fit the way we’d like the world to be.

Please.

Come on guys. I need your brains to be fully functional forty years from now.


There seems to be an underlying contempt for low carb dieting in this book. They even state that carbs (low GI ones) are a superior appetite suppressant to fat. This makes me laugh…

Not in a good way.

They say people don’t need more than 2 – 4 servings (and by serving they mean 2 tsp) of fat a day. And even though they acknowledge that many vegetarians get too much Omega 6 and too little Omega 3, they don’t touch on the fact that the Omega 3 in flax is fairly useless in terms of what our bodies need from that category of fat. Instead, they encourage people to consume flax.

They also warn subtly and gently against high protein diets.

Basically, they want people to eat a high carb diet. And in this high carb diet, they include lots of pasta, rice, corn and whole grain bread.

Okay, this may be a step above white bread, corn flakes and instant mashed potatoes, but I fear it’s still hitting the pancreas harder than it needs to.

Oh well.

I am, overall, pretty disgusted by this book. I suppose it may look impressive or helpful to a vegetarian who knew nothing about GI/GL, carbs, fat, protein, blood sugar and insulin, but as one who has not only researched the topic but used her body as a living petri dish for these macronutrients and observed the effects: I am deeply disappointed that the authors advocate such a huge proportion of daily calories come from carbs and so few from fat. But what do you do? The culture we live in right now fears fat on the basis of philosophy rather than science. It’s a hard belief to counter.

I couldn’t recommend this book to anyone other than a vegetarian absolutely determined to avoid lowering their carb intake. This book is a bit like giving a car passenger a bike helmet to wear instead of a seatbelt. It does a little bit of good and certainly cannot hurt, but it sure doesn’t help as much as just using the darned seatbelt.

Sigh..