Tag diet

THINK Yourself Thin … Maybe?

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THINK Yourself Thin … Maybe?

Winery

Couple of guys thinking themselves thin at Mission Hill Winery, in BC. Looks like it’s working! 🙂

Yesterday’s post on the Glycemic Index, the Glycemic Load Index, and the Insulin & Satiety Indices triggered a few questions. I wasn’t suggesting that any particular index was the right way to build a weight-loss diet. Nor was I saying that the indices were worthless for doing that. I was trying to explain the confusion went through, leading up to my decision to eat potatoes as part of my diet. The potato was a good example of that decision making process when measured against the four indices we talked about.

Despite the amount of science behind many of the diets out there, there still isn’t enough information to create one, clear, simple, diverse & satisfying diet that will work for everyone. No matter the diet we choose to follow, we will all tinker with it. We’ll add a little of this & a touch more of that, to suit our own taste. I think that’s okay. The greater the variety, the better the chances that we’ll stick with it.

To simplify yesterday’s thought process. The Glycemic Index, the Glycemic Load Index and the Insulin Index ALL suggest that I shouldn’t eat potatoes. The Satiety Index suggested otherwise so I tried it periodically, sometimes for 2 or 3 days at a time, over several weeks. It worked on most attempts, I ate potatoes, felt very satisfied, & I lost weight. That’s a good result but it’s not the end of the confusion.

Imagine being on a very low-carb keto diet. With this, I’m trying to stay in ketosis by reducing the carbs. Some keto regimens recommend carb days periodically but still require longer periods of very low-carb eating. While I totally believe in the weight loss potential of the keto regimens, I just don’t want to eat that way all the time. I think it works. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. And it’s okay to experiment with alternatives. It probably won’t be a ketogenic diet any more but if we lose the weight, do we really care?

Sometimes, I think Grandma maybe had it right … everything in moderation.

EXCEPT those things that we know do us damage. And we should probably eat more of the stuff that doesn’t. Even if it isn’t keto-friendly!

PS … Wine is an essential component of a healthy diet too, isn’t it!?!

An Index of Indices

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An Index of Indices

Poison Garden

The Poison Garden at Blarney Castle

From the development of the Glycemic Index, at the University of Toronto, in the early eighties, dieters have been trying to harness the power of indices for weight loss. The researchers at the University of Sydney went on to develop the Glycemic Load Index. The glycemic index tells us the glucose response of foods that contains a fixed amount of carbohydrate. The glycemic load index looks at more realistic serving sizes for each food so that we’re taking the sugar, fiber and water content into account. In other words, the carrot might appear high on the glycemic index, but it’s much lower on the glycemic load index. A pound of carrots is not the same as a pound of sugar.

All good so far, the glycemic load index looks like the winner. But now lets switch to one of my favorite veggies, the potato. The potato numbers vary widely, based on the type of potato and where it’s grown, but, on average, it fares a little worse than the carrot on the glycemic index. It fares much worse on the glycemic load index. That sounds like a problem, doesn’t it? It sounds like it’s not a vegetable, it more like a make-me-fat pill!

The team at the University of Sydney, again, came up with the Insulin Index. Now if we agree with the carbohydrate-insulin theory of weight gain, anything that raises our insulin levels, too high and for too long, makes us fat. There is generally some good correlation between the glucose response (our blood sugar levels) of carbohydrates and their potential for insulin triggering. But on the insulin index, the potato is the worst. It tops the charts for real food (only jelly beans and candy bars were higher), causing a disproportionately high insulin response. Eating potatoes opens the insulin flood gates.

You low-carbers knew you were right all along, didn’t you!

Not so fast though. I am a fan of keto and low carb but, as you may know, I love my potatoes too. There’s one more index to consider, the Satiety Index. Also from the University of Sydney. And guess what? The potato is the king of satiety. The potato makes us feel fuller, for longer, than all the other stuff. It’s even better when compared to the high protein content of meat.

Despite the potato winning at least one of the indices wars, I was generally wary about eating very much. Especially while trying to lose weight. Until one day, I decided to test drive its effect on the scale. I am not diabetic, nor am I on any medications, so please don’t try this if you are not in good health. No question, potatoes blip the blood sugar. I can’t measure it but it’s probably driving up my insulin levels too. What’s going on in there? Are there other little peptides, enzymes and biological goodies that are working in concert with those potatoes that might be doing me some good? In theory, with all that sugar and insulin floating around in my blood, I can’t possibly be burning my own fat, can I? I’m not sure what’s going on in there but I can tell you that it feels great to eat potatoes every now and again. And the scale usually rewards me the following morning.

Now that’s satiety!

PS .. I try to mitigate the effects of eating potatoes in isolation. I cook and cool them first. Then fry them in oil (olive or coconut) or fat (butter or lard). I also mix them with other veggies. Garlic and onion are almost mandatory, just for the flavour. And I’ll usually dress everything with some shredded full fat cheese. I’ll mix them in with shredded cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms or Brussels sprouts. It’s just more volume for that pig out feast. Which I now enjoy without the recriminations. If you can tolerate it, and your doctor okays it, this might be a great way to add some variety and flexibility to an otherwise restrictive regimen.

Madama Butterfly & Weight-loss

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Madama Butterfly & Weight-loss
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I have no idea why, but I’m suddenly overcome with the desire to see an opera. It’s not like I’m an opera buff, not even close. I’m more an occasional top twenty opera fan guy. Nor do I really know anything about opera, I’ve only ever been to one performance in my life, Madama Butterfly. My eyes are filling up just remembering it! I didn’t even understand the words but it was so moving that I couldn’t help it. Naturally, at the time, I totally denied suffering such an emotional response … but I did.

I’m constantly amazed by the emotions that come with listening to opera. Un Bel Di Vedremo makes me tear up. Carmina Burana makes the hair on the back of my neck rise, every time. Nessun Dorma does both. I love Vesti La Giubba & Habanera, & so many more. This stuff has the power to move. It doesn’t matter if the music & words are of today, or yesterday. It doesn’t matter the language. It’s just wonderful to be moved.

Now that I’ve mentioned Habanera, it reminds me of the hot habañeros that are growing on my back deck. And that this is a diet & weight loss blog!

Yesterday was a one of those over-the-top all-you-can-eat days. I’m not sure I meant it to be at the start of the day but I know that I’d switched gears by lunchtime. Today should probably be a fast day. Or at least a partial fast day? Oh, I just can’t make up my mind, I’m off to blubber in the corner for a bit, while I decide!

Maybe I’ll listen to some opera today. It has the power to generate a different body chemistry. And it might be one that can overcome other temptations!

The First Month’s Results

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The First Month’s Results
Down 11lbs

This has been the shoddiest first month of dieting I’ve ever done. Usually, I would have a shiny new spreadsheet ready in advance of starting a new diet. Okay, I admit it, I did make a new spreadsheet but I only entered one weight, after 8 days, up until today. I’m typically obsessed with logging weight every day. My usual dietary strategy is to obsess over everything, especially food. Studying recipes & watching cooking shows makes for a hard journey so, instead, I try to force myself to focus on weights, dates, charts, graphs & making myself look skinnier with software programs!

Working on plans, schedules & lists before, & during, a diet is the usual for me. You know the old saying: plan the work & work the plan. But not this time. It was all very loose. In general, I ate more whole foods. More pastured & grass-fed meat. More vegetables & fruit than might be the norm. I made some half-hearted efforts at fasting for a few days here & there. Most of these turned into partial day fasts when I decided to eat dinner. Always with seconds. And often with dessert. All in all, this whole month was just not my usual aggressive, committed, enthusiastic start to a new diet. It was, as I said at the outset, shoddy.

The good thing about the past month is that I didn’t feel like I was on a diet for the most part. I probably should have paid a little more attention to the few rules I gave myself at the start but that’s how it goes sometimes. I’ll try to do a little better this month. It may help that I have used up one or two “bad” dessert choices. Hopefully, I won’t go out & & buy more!

In anticipation of the big “end-of-month weigh-in” this morning, I obsessed about “being good” last night. That’s the kiss of death, isn’t it! Not only did I have two very large dinner servings, but I found myself having a dessert that I never intended to have. I popped 8 of those dried fruit balls in a bowl. And covered them in heavy (35%) cream. While I wasn’t logging weight regularly, I was on the scale every day, so I had a general idea of where I was at. Ah well, it’s supposed to be a flexible program.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised …

At the end of the first month, I am … Down 11 lbs.

I’ll take it!

Sweet & Sour

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Sweet & Sour

Yellow Ontario Plums

Have you ever eaten greengages? They’re a green plum that I remember from the other side of the pond. They’re smaller than the typical plum. With a sourness to them that has my mouth watering just thinking about them. And that reminds of a rhubarb tart. Oh boy, is that the most delicious tart of all or what! Picking wild sloes from between the thorny branches on the way to school … the shredded arms were worth the sensation of extreme mouth-puckering that came along with stuffing a fistful of these little sour bombs in your face.

If all that has you cringing, you might be North American!

Fortunately, I developed my taste for sour foods on the other side of the Atlantic. It’s not that we don’t have sour foods here, we just don’t seem to like them very much. The reason a tart is called a tart is … well … because it’s tart! Here we call them “pies” to avoid any sense of confusion! It’s difficult to find a rhubarb tart round my way. The much sweeter strawberry rhubarb pie is far more common. Or we could, more accurately, call it the Sugar-Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Most of my Canadian friends would run screaming from the rhubarb tarts my mother used to make. But I loved them.

Most folk here don’t know what a “cooking apple” is. The famed Bramley cooking apple from the British Isles is secretly spoken about, amongst groups of expats hiding in the corners of dark & dingy pubs, in Canada. Here, we think the Granny Smith is a sour apple! LOL

We do like to sweeten things up in North America. I don’t think I’d ever had a sweet pickle before coming over. In Europe, they were as rare as real rhubarb tarts are here. Quebec, thanks to the French influence, offered both. For better or worse, modern food science & marketing techniques are used globally now. You can find ultra-sweet, sugar-laden products everywhere. The sour stuff doesn’t seem to have taken off in quite the same way. And that’s a pity.

If you’re not already a fan of sour, you should start working on it. It is an acquired taste & you’ll only acquire it with practice. Without ever going on a diet, you can improve your chances of not having to by making choices that don’t include oodles of sugar. While having a palate for sour doesn’t mean you won’t like sweet, at least you’ll have some other options. Unfortunately, developing a sweet tooth is not nearly so difficult!

The yellow fruits that appeared on our counter last night weren’t, as I’d hoped, ripe greengages. They were Ontario plums. They were a little tart but they didn’t deliver that “duck’s arse on a cold lake” kind of pucker that I was hoping for. But they were certainly better for me than the other choices I might have made after dinner. Though I probably shouldn’t have had a dozen of them, should I!

The displacement theory of dieting shouldn’t be ignored. Replacing a sweet processed dessert with a whole food is probably always a good move. Unfortunately, it’s probably not enough. The good news is that we can train ourselves off sugar too. It may take a a week or two of enduring our morning java without sugar before we get around to deciding we like it.

While we’re still complaining about the summer heat … try an iced coffee without the sugar syrup for a while & see how it goes.