Day 5: Tired of checking lists. That's the biggest drawback of a diet plan that requires you learn something new -- it takes time to learn it. It's even harder to stick to a plan I'm not convinced works. There's a lot of controversy surrounding the low GI diet. Case in point: When I tried to track down the GI ranking of carrots, I found websites that ranked them anywhere from 16 to 94. I still don't know whether I should have been eating them this week or not.

One study found that the glycemic index can change from person to person, or even because of foods that are eaten at the same time. For instance, white bread is a high GI food, but eating it with high protein foods like turkey and cheese brings the total load down.

I'm not saying the low GI plan doesn't work -- not at all. I'm just saying that anyone who wants to try it should plan on doing lots of reading.