Looking, and feeling, good is a way of life

Irrespective of the weight you carry, the word "diet" has unsexy connotations. It is associated with deprivation, sacrifice, hard work and bland flavours that do away with the pleasures of life. In such circumstances, it would seem, keeping a good shape and helping yourself satisfyingly at table do not go together.

The F2 Diet Book revolutionises all this and gives healthy living a more practical approach. Now, with the volumes of diet-filled pages and titles available, your natural reaction to yet another diet book may be one of indifference. But if you just leaf through this (Kellogg's is now offering the book for free with just two cereal boxes), you will understand that investing in the feel-good factor has never been easier than the way it is explained here. Its tips are practical and easy-to-manage, throwing the notion "no pain, no gain" totally out of the window.

This is how Ms Eyton introduces the book, and the concept of the F2 Diet: "What I learned from recent research has fast-forwarded my own diet. I now always buy bananas green, eat more cold pasta and pulses, squeeze lemon juice on to almost everything, track down grainy breads, concern myself more with the texture of food, always keep certain salads and soups in my fridge.

"In particular I pay attention to feeding the vital army of good bacteria actively engaged in defending my colon as I write. I now know, from recent studies, just how crucial they are to so many aspects of health and well-being and to looking and feeling young. And that it takes more than just a yoghurt to keep them in full fighting form.

"My own weight... has never been easier to maintain. In fact I've shed several pounds, without intending to, since I updated my diet. My doctor hardly ever sees me. Despite a terrible inborn ineptitude for the gym, I can work all day, then attend yoga classes three times a week. I'm very fit. Shouldn't tempt fate, but remaining so, I know, is much more a matter of what lies in the fridge than in the stars."

Although this may not be an earth-shattering discovery, it is a heartening confirmation of what most of us have already been accustomed to thanks to our Mediterranean diet with some fine-tuning requirements, presented in a user-friendly way which does not require you to be a scholar to understand and follow sensibly.

In a nutshell, the F2 Diet book dismisses low-carb diets and revives the GI diet, which slows the release of sugar in the blood. In particular, it puts a strong emphasis on mobilising the good bacteria in the colon and speeding away health-threatening waste matter with the help of fibre-rich food, which are mainly fruit, vegetables and grains.

"Dietary fibre is so beneficial in weight control that people who eat enough of it simply do not get fat," says Ms Eyton. She substantiates this with the conclusion of more than 100 top experts who conducted research for the World Health Organisation: "The promotion of healthy diets that are low in fat, high in complex carbohydrates and contain large amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables should be a priority in obesity prevention."

The F2 Diet suggests that Western diets be adjusted to contain less dairy products and meat, if at all, and go in a more high-carbohydrate direction based on staples like rice, corn, wheat-based foods such as bread and noodles, vegetables and seasonally available fruit.

This is a book that encourages you to enjoy your meals, warns you, in some cases, of consequences which come with the consumption of certain foods and how to balance these. It is also devoid of the gimmicks championed by other diets which may work in the short term but are likely to be counterproductive in the long term.

• Customers interested in getting a free copy of Audrey Eyton's F2 Diet book on how to make a fibre-rich diet part of the everyday lifestyle may take any two 500g (or over) Kellogg's All-Bran, Kellogg's Bran flakes, Kellogg's Sultana Bran or Kellogg's Fruit 'n' Fibre cereal packs to the customer care or cash point of supermarkets and local stores in exchange of the book. The offer started on Wednesday and is valid until stock lasts.

In a nutshell
The F2 tips to a low GI

The Glycaemic Index (GI) is a measure of the extent to which carbohydrates in different foods raise blood sugar levels. Low GI meals (not individual food) slow the release of sugar in the blood to prevent "rebound hunger" and health risks.
• Use less finely ground wholemeal breads
• Beans, lentils, chickpeas and peas have an exceptionally low GI and effectively lower the GI of meals.
• Blackberries, raspberries, pears, oranges, apples, strawberries, cherries, nectarines, kiwis, blueberries, small bunch of grapes, peaches, clementines, mandarins and plums are recommended for their high fibre content and low GI
• All pasta has a low GI. F2 not only allows you but encourages you to eat wholewheat pasta meals.
• Use acidic fruits to further lower the GI of meals. Both their fibre and acids are thought to be responsible for their significant effect in slowing down stomach emptying. The more acidic the fruit the lower its GI. Hence half a grapefruit can make a marked difference to the speed of sugar absorption from the meal. All citrus fruits have a low GI - as have fruits grown in temperate climates, such aS apples, pears, plums, strawberries and other berries. Tropical fruits such as mango and pineapple have an intermediate GI. Bananas, if eaten while still a little green, have a lower GI than the riper fruit.
• Lash on the lemon juice. This enhances the flavour of fish dishes and soups, providing a particularly easy way to slow gastric emptying and lower the GI of meals. Add a little lemon juice to the water you drink with your meal, or try a slice of lemon rather than milk in your tea.
• Use vinegar, which has the same beneficial acidic impact.
• Partner your potatoes with low GI legumes - peas, beans or chickpeas. This way you don't have to sacrifice the delicious, nutritious and fibre-rich baked potato, just because it happens to be one of the very few high GI vegetables.
• Don't even worry about GI when eating other vegetables. Legumes are low GI. Carrots, sweet potatoes and sweetcorn are moderately low. And leafy vegetables and low-calorie ones like mushrooms, onions and peppers have no measurable effect on blood sugar.

• Weekender helps ypu enjoy the F2 Diet. Check out the next issues for more tips and recipes from the F2 Diet book by Audrey Eyton, courtesy of Kellogg's.