Montignac Method
the glycemic index

In practice

The Montignac Method seems complicated but is actually very easy. Basically, Phase 1 consist of two types of meals: carbohydrate meals and fat / protein meals. It is a matter of following the rules and compose the meals on the basis of the glycemic index. In practice this means that one do not eat products with a GI over 50.

Carbohydrate Meals

At least half of all meals (10 out of 21 meals per week) in Phase 1 should consist of carbohydrate meals. These are meals that only consist of foods with a very low glycemic index (good carbs). With these meals, absolutely no fats may be eaten. A carbohydrate meal is digested after 3 hours.

Carbohydrate Breakfast:

wholegrain bread with sugar-free jam / syrup or no fat cottage cheese (no butter or margarine).

Carbohydrate Lunch:

wholegrain bread with a salad of tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and yogurt dressing (without oil) with lots of herbs.

Carbohydrate Dinner:

brown rice with mushroom sauce (no fat) and a salad of grated carrot with lemon juice and chopped parsley.

Fat / protein meals

Fats and proteins are not only essential nutrients for the body, but they also have little or no influence on the blood sugar so that the pancreas secretes no excessive amounts of insulin. Therefore, the carbohydrate meals are alternated with fat / protein meals by Montignac. For these meals also counts: Avoid the combination of fat and carbohydrates. If you choose a fat / protein meal, you can only eat “very good” or neutral carbohydrates (with a glycemic index of 15 or less). A fat meal is digested after 4 hours.

fat / protein breakfast:

omelette with ham and cheese (no bread), optionally with lettuce or tomato.

fat / protein lunch:

cabbage salad with chunks of cheese or smoked chicken.

fat / protein dinner:

cod fish packets.

No guilty feeling, just enjoy! Are you unable to follow the rules of Phase 1 once? Then enjoy that moment for the fullest, because guilty feelings won’t make you lose weight.

The basic rules

The Montignac Method has a number of basic rules.

Meal Rules:

  • Eat more good carbs and good fats.
  • Never skip a meal. Eat 3 meals per day, preferably at the same time.
  • Take time to eat.
  • Wait at least 3 hours after a meal with carbohydrates (Phase 1) before using a fat / protein meal.
  • Eat at least 4 hours after a fat / protein in Phase 1, a meal with carbohydrates.
  • Drink as little as possible while eating.

Beverage Rules:

  • Alcohol can better be avoided in the first stage. Though you are allowed to drink one glass of wine a day. Keep in mind that alcohol on an empty stomach gets absorbed into the blood. First take for example a cube of cheese before you start drinking wine. If you drink wine halfway through the meal it gets mixed in the stomach with the food and therefore gets less rapid absorbed into the blood. Never drink water and wine together. Water dilutes the wine so that the mixture is absorbed in the blood as quickly as when you drink wine on an empty stomach.
  • Beer contains alcohol and bad carbs and is prohibited (in Phase 1).
  • Soft drinks are high in sugar and should not be drunk.
  • Ready-to-drink fruit juices often contains lots of added sugar. To preserve these juices longer they are heated, which causes a higher GI. In addition, they contain hardly any vitamins. Therefore, you could better make your own juices.
  • Milk does not contain fat, but also carbohydrates. Therefore choose skimmed milk. Furthermore, only use non-fat dairy products such as cottage cheese.
  • Caffeine stimulates the pancreas. For that reason, drink (in Phase 1) decaffeinated coffee. The same applies to theine in tea. The weaker the tea, the less theine is contained. Rather drink herbal tea, white or green tea.

Ingredients Rules:

  • Do not use sugar and preferably no sweeteners too. Your body needs to get out of this habit.
  • Eat preferably wholegrain bread or dark brown bread.
  • Starch is bad: do not eat potatoes, French fries, corn, white pasta (pasta), raffinated cereals and white bread.
  • Eat brown rice. White rice contains no nutrients, only starch.
  • Fiber-rich vegetables such as lettuce, leeks, asparagus, artichokes and aubergines. They stimulate the digestion.
  • Eat fruits 20 minutes before or 3 hours after a carbohydrate meal and only on an empty stomach. (See below)

Basic rules for fruit:

Most fruits (except grapes, banana, melon, pineapple and yellow kiwi) have a low glycemic index. That means they contain good carbohydrates and can be eaten. It is important that fruit is eaten on an empty stomach. Fruit gets digested in a very short amount of time (about 15 minutes) in the small intestine. If the fruits end up in an empty stomach, they go straight to the small intestine to be absorbed into the body there. If the stomach already contains other nutrients, the fruit as it were is “stopped”. It remains in the stomach until the other food is digested. This may take 2 to 3 hours. In that time, the fruit will ferment and you get a puffy feeling. It loses vitamins and disrupts the digestion of other foods. Therefore fruit is eaten 20 minutes before or 3 hours after the meal in the Montignac Method. Only red fruits such as raspberries, blackberries and strawberries do not have to be eaten on an empty stomach because they hardly undergo fermantation. That also counts for cooked fruits and sugar-free jams.

Do not eat fruit before or after a fat meal, not even in Phase 2.

Discouraged fruits:  Grapes, banana, melon, watermelon, pineapple, Zespri gold(yellow kiwi).  

In practice, with the Montignac Method one does not eat products with a GI over 50.  On top of that there are some basic rules that serve as a guideline.