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 The glycemic (glycaemic) index (GI; ) is a number from 0 to 100 assigned to a food, with pure glucose arbitrarily given the value of 100, which represents the relative rise in the blood glucose level two hours after consuming that food. The GI of ...

of foods, which affects the amount of

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, u ...

delivered to the blood after eating. The diet, which distinguishes between good and bad

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...

s, 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 The South Beach Diet is a popular fad diet developed by Arthur Agatston and promoted in a best-selling 2003 book.Sandra Bastin for University of Kentucky Extension Service. August 1998; revised March 2004University of Kentucky Extension Service: F ...

Background

Born in Angoulême, France in 1944, Montignac had a family history of obesity, with his father weighing . He studied political science and worked as a human resources manager, ultimately working as the personnel manager in the 1970s for the European subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, an American pharmaceutical firm. Using the research materials available to him there, and despite the lack of any formal medical training, he sought a way to counteract the effects of the daily business lunches he ate and came to the determination that the issue in weight loss was not how much you ate but what you consumed. By dividing carbohydrates into two categories, good (including beans,

leaf vegetables Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad ...

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

whole grain A whole grain is a grain of any cereal and pseudocereal that contains the endosperm, germ, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm. As part of a general healthy diet, consumption of whole grains is associated ...

wheat products,

wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...

and dark chocolate) and bad (such as corn,

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es, refined flour,

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. This milling p ...

and

white rice White rice is milled rice that has had its husk, bran, and germ removed. This alters the flavor, texture and appearance of the rice and helps prevent spoilage, extend its storage life, and makes it easier to digest. After milling ( hulling), t ...

), 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 The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an en ...

to generate insulin, which ultimately leads to the conversion of excess glucose into body fat. In 1993 he told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' that "all traditional methods of dieting have amounted to a myth as big as

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

, and like Communism, they are destined to collapse". He tested the diet on himself and lost in three months.Hevesi, Dennis
"Michel Montignac, Creator of Trend-Setting Diet, Dies at 66"
''

'', August 26, 2010. Accessed August 27, 2010. 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. By the early 1990s, Montignac was opening a series of diet stores and restaurants that sold such items as

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

, cheese, chocolate bars,

foie gras Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding). Foie gras is a popular and well-known delica ...

that had been traditionally viewed as "symbols of ruinous hedonism" but that were promoted as part of Montignac's diet method.Cohen, Roger
"Dieting a la Paris: Foie Gras, Wine and Chocolate"
''

'', January 24, 1993. Accessed August 27, 2010. 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. A resident of

Juvigny, Haute-Savoie Juvigny () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.prostate cancer at age 66 on August 22, 2010, at a clinic in

Annemasse Annemasse (; Arpitan: ''Anemâsse'') is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Even though it covers a relatively small territory (4.98 km2 or 1.92 sq mi), it is Haute-Savoie's second ...

. "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."Ellis, Robin
"Michel Montignac obituary"

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, September 10, 2010. Accessed March 4, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montignac, Michel 1944 births 2010 deaths Low-carbohydrate diet advocates People from Angoulême People from Haute-Savoie

Background

See also

References