Michael Moore: a chef loving the low-GI life

Sun-bronzed and muscular in his tight white T-shirt and jeans, chef Michael Moore looks the picture of a health. As he deftly slices kaffir lime leaves in a sunny London kitchen, it’s hard to believe that only two years ago he had a stroke that nearly killed him.

Moore credits his recovery to healthy eating. He is a diabetic, a condition – currently at epidemic levels – where blood sugar levels are too high. According to the World Diabetes Foundation, around 285 million of the world’s population are diabetic, and that number is likely to increase by more than 50 per cent by 2030. The bulk are in the developed world, and many experts consider that the actual figure may be far higher. While insulin injections control the condition for many sufferers, the right diet is also crucial.

The received wisdom used to be that diabetics needed to cut sugar (sucrose) out of their diets, and chemists used to have aisles of products laced with sugar substitutes labelled “for diabetics”. But it’s now widely acknowledged that a healthy diet, weight loss and keeping blood sugar balanced is the answer – and not just for diabetics, but for all of us.

The stroke made Plymouth-born Moore rethink his approach to food. He worked in both Australia and London, with an award-winning restaurant in Sydney, and his life revolved around dishes that brought rave reviews but didn’t pay too much attention to health considerations.

“A diet restaurant would be a disaster,” he shrugged, laying a fat fillet of salmon skin-side-down in a hot frying pan. None the less, he discovered plenty of recipes that are healthy, “like scallops and salsa rossa made with lots of nuts.”

Still he wasn’t happy. “The diabetic diet is full of rules that you have to stick to. I wanted to simplify things.” With the help of Susie Burrell, a nutritionist, he developed new guidelines, based on dividing food into three headings: fire, water and coal.

Fire foods are high on the glycaemic index (high GI), a measure of how fast carbohydrates in food are converted into sugar in your bloodstream. They include processed, refined carbohydrates like pasta, and anything sugary.

Water foods are low on the glycaemic index (low GI), slow to be absorbed and have little effect on the blood sugar level. Most fruits and vegetables are water foods.

Coal foods are low GI too, but with lots of protein or fibre so that they give sustained energy release. Nuts, lean meat, fish, seeds and pulses all fit in to this category.

The baddies are Moore’s five “white devils”, sugar, pasta, bread, potatoes and milk. “White rice is one of the worst things for diabetics, or for anyone, really. I haven’t had rice pudding for 10 years. It’s not worth it,” he insisted. What about the box of custard tarts I’d brought with me to keep us going while we chat? Moore groaned. “Eat those in the corner as far away from me as possible.”

There’s nothing controversial about ruling out sugary treats, but milk? In fact, Diabetes UK disagrees, rating milk as low GI because of the protein content. That aside, this was all feeling a bit depressing, like the time I told a nutritionist I was giving the children mashed potatoes. “You might as well give them sugar syrup,” came her reply. And anyway, hasn’t Atkins already done low carb?

Moore relented. “Of course we need some carbohydrates. But it needs to be balanced with protein, and plenty of it.

“So a chicken risotto is better than a mushroom one. Cooking it correctly improves matters too; a properly al-dente grain of rice is harder to digest [and so lower GI] than a mushy overcooked one.”

Fibre helps in the same way. For example, Moore recommends eating a kiwifruit with its skin on (no worse than apple skin once you get used to the idea) so the absorption is slowed, and the GI lowered.

But hang on, Moore was dishing up lunch that seemed to include a mound of linguine. Isn’t that off limits? “What you need to think about is the combination,” he reassured me as he topped it with the crisp-skinned salmon. “The more protein you have, the more carbs you can get away with.”

Leafing through Moore’s new book Blood Sugar, the recipes seem far from hair-shirt. “The batting average is much higher if the food is tempting,” nodded Moore. “I’ve tried to keep the recipes short, fresh and light. My favourite breakfast is figs on seeded toast with ricotta and agave syrup [a natural, lower-GI alternative to honey, available from health food shops]. It looks yummy and indulgent, but in reality it’s a high-fibre, low-GI treat.”

Happily, a glass or two of wine is allowed too. “Alcohol reduces blood sugar, so as long as you aren’t overweight, a lean steak, salad and a glass of wine fits right in.” The lean steak is the key here as, unlike Atkins, Moore keeps fat to a minimum.

Books by restaurant chefs can be impractical for domestic use and, like most, Moore doesn’t cook at home. In fact many of the recipes were his wife’s, which may be why they are so accessible.

I have some quibbles, over his use of low-fat spread (I’d rather use half as much butter) and egg whites in place of whole eggs, but maybe that’s why I’m not as slim as Moore.

On the plus side, all the recipes are as good for non-diabetics as they are for diabetics, so the family can eat together. “The only difference between a diabetic and a non-diabetic is [like cars] that one is manual and the other is automatic when it comes to insulin. For all of us, if we reduce refined carbohydrates we’ll feel better.”

Nor has the stroke been entirely negative for Moore. “My handwriting is worse and my speed on the computer keyboard has slowed. But I’m fitter than many of my friends.”

Blood Sugar by Michael Moore (£24.99) is available from Telegraph Books at £22.99 + £1.35 p&p. Call 0844 871 1515 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Angel hair pasta with salmon and chilli lime dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 180g/6oz fillets of salmon, skin on

3 tbsp olive oil

Zest and juice of two limes

1 tbsp agave syrup

1 long red chilli, seeds removed and finely shredded

2 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded

80g/3oz angel hair pasta

• Rub both sides of the salmon fillets with a little sea salt and some olive oil. Cook in a heated non-stick skillet for 1-2 minutes each side, leaving the salmon rare.

• Meanwhile, mix the lime zest, juice, agave syrup, chilli and kaffir lime leaves together, then whisk in the remaining olive oil.

• Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well and rinse under cold water. Drain again, place in a bowl and mix through the chilli and lime dressing.

• Spoon the pasta on to plates and serve with the salmon.