Shortly after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, my friend David Clifford recommended Michel Montignac’s book, Dine Out and Lose Weight, now retitled Eat Yourself Slim and Stay Slim!
I read it and found it helpful. Montignac emphasises the importance of changing one’s “way of eating” rather than dieting.
His theory is that it’s high sugar content in some carbohydrate foods that encourages the body to store unwanted fat that increases weight, rather than a high calorie intake.
He was a pioneer in using the glycemic index of foods–which measures the effect of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels (how quickly carbohydrates turn into glucose in the blood) to help people lose weight. Controlling excess weight is important for people with diabetes.
One day last September I read that Michel Montignac had died at the relatively young age of 65.
I emailed The Guardian newspaper to ask if they were planning an obituary. They replied, asking if I knew him. Though he came from southwestern France, I didn’t know him personally but explained that I knew his work. The Guardian obit editor then invited me to write Montignac’s obituary.
It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
Robin Ellis 