Australia's best diet

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Researchers have put the most popular diets to the test and found what they say is the safest and surest way to lose weight.

Countless dieting fads have been rammed down our throats: milkshakes, detox, Atkins, CSIRO - and, of course, diets with fewer carbohydrates and more protein.

Now a world first study has revealed the ultimate weight loss diet. It may be going against the grain, but carbs are back.

Joanna McMillan-Price, co-researcher and nutrition scientist at the University of Sydney, was involved in the study.

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Over 12 weeks, 129 overweight adults tested four different diets. And the winner was the low GI diet.

Joanna said it involved foods people had cut out of their diets.

For breakfast, there was natural muesli or porridge oats.

"Basically, you're going for something as minimally processed as possible," Joanna said.

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Pasta was also making a comeback for diet meals.

"Something like pasta is great, and pasta always comes out low [GI]," Joanna added.

On the low GI list of foods to keep were: legumes chickpeas, natural muesli, traditional porridge oats, sweet potato, fruits and wholegrain breads.

"Most breakfast cereals - jasmine rice and calrose rice, potatoes and all potato products tend to be high," Joanna said.

Other bad foods were white bread, bagels, crumpets and rice crackers.

The added bonus was that a low GI diet kept the cholesterol down, meaning less risk of heart disease.

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"We have to stop thinking about diets as what we do for the next two or three weeks," Joanna said.

"It has to be long term. So what I feel about the low GI is, it's the diet you can do forever."

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