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Diet guru Montignac dies

Michel Montignac, author of worldwide bestsellers on weight loss in the 1980s and 1990s, has died aged 66, French officials said.

Montignac developed a crash diet based on never eating "bad" carbohydrates at the same time as fats after suffering from obesity himself as a child and battling persistent weight gain.

After testing the principle of disassociating the two on himself, losing 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms) in less than three months, he wrote "Dine Out and Lose Weight" in 1986, a book that shot to the top of the best-seller list in France where it sold half a million copies.

The following year he released his most well-known book "Eat Yourself Slim and Stay Slim", which sold millions of copies in 40 countries, according to his website.

Recipes follow a glycaemic index

His weight-loss recipe classifies carbohydrate-rich foods according to a glycaemic index (GI), based on their effect on blood glucose levels after meals.

"Bad" high-GI carbs may not be taken together with fats, as Montignac believed these combinations would lead to fats in the food being stored as body fat.

France's latest diet guru is Pierre Dukan, whose slimming plan that kicks off with a "protein only" attack phase is selling by the armload in bookshops. (Sapa, August 2010)

Read more:

Low-carb curbs heart risk factors

Low Kj diet makes you fat

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