Michel Montignac

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Michel Montignac (1944 – August 22, 2010) was a French diet developer who originally created the Montignac diet to help himself lose weight, which he based on research that focuses on the glycemic index of foods, which affects the amount of glucose delivered to the blood after eating. The diet, which distinguishes between good and bad carbohydrates, became the basis for best-selling books and a chain of restaurants and stores promoting his diet regimen and was one of the theoretical predecessors of the South Beach Diet.

Background

Born in

refined flour, white bread and white rice), Montignac's research led him to conclude that eating bad carbs, those with a high glycemic index, raises the levels of glucose in the blood and results in weight gain by coaxing the pancreas to generate insulin, which ultimately leads to the conversion of excess glucose into body fat. In 1993 he told The New York Times that "all traditional methods of dieting have amounted to a myth as big as Communism, and like Communism, they are destined to collapse". He tested the diet on himself and lost 30 pounds (14 kg) in three months.[2][3]

Building on his own experiences and research, Montignac proposed that trying to lose weight by reducing caloric consumption was a "scientific swindle" and that weight could be controlled by monitoring and selecting the foods one ate. Montignac's diet was based on the idea that reducing calories in one's diet triggers a "survival instinct" that causes the body to store fat after losing pounds early in the diet. He self-published the book Dine Out and Lose Weight in 1986 aimed at business people who eat out often as part of their work and sold more than 500,000 copies.

chocolate bars, foie gras that had been traditionally viewed as "symbols of ruinous hedonism" but that were promoted as part of Montignac's diet method.[3] His 1987 book Je Mange Donc Je Maigris (translated in English as Eat Yourself Slim ... and Stay Slim!) was aimed at the general public and had reached sales of 16 million copies in 40 countries by 2005.[2]

A resident of Juvigny, Haute-Savoie, Montignac died of prostate cancer[4] at age 66 on August 22, 2010, at a clinic in Annemasse.[2] "He is survived by his wife, Suzy; their children, Joseph and Peter; and by three children from his first marriage, Charles, Emeric and Sybille. The promotion of his method has been passed on to Suzy and Sybille."[5]

See also

  • Raw veganism

References

  1. Amazon.com
    . Accessed August 27, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d Hevesi, Dennis. "Michel Montignac, Creator of Trend-Setting Diet, Dies at 66", The New York Times, August 26, 2010. Accessed August 27, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Cohen, Roger. "Dieting a la Paris: Foie Gras, Wine and Chocolate", The New York Times, January 24, 1993. Accessed August 27, 2010.
  4. ^ Ellis, Robin. "Michel Montignac obituary", The Guardian, September 10, 2010. Accessed November 5, 2011.
  5. ^ Ellis, Robin. "Michel Montignac obituary", The Guardian, September 10, 2010. Accessed March 4, 2012.
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