The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies - Meri Raffetto [13]
The National Weight Control Registry tracks people who've lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off at least five years. It has found that many people don't follow a specific diet plan. Sure, they make changes to their eating habits and activity levels, but not as part of a set "diet." Instead, they make gradual changes that they incorporate into their lives and that they keep on doing even after they've achieved their weight-loss goals.
Lifestyle change, not a temporary diet, is the key to enjoying a healthy weight for the rest of your life. Just think of these differences between the two:
A diet is when you follow a set meal plan developed by someone famous who wrote a book; lifestyle change is when you swap a candy bar for a piece of fruit as a midmorning snack and brown-bag your lunch instead of zipping through the fast food drive-through.
A diet is when you eliminate specific foods because they're too high in fat, calories, or carbohydrates; a lifestyle change is when you gradually eat fewer of these foods on a weekly basis.
A diet is when you follow a low-carb meal plan that lists foods to eat and foods to avoid; a lifestyle change is when you swap a lower-glycemic food for a higher-glycemic food a couple times each day.
According to the available scientific literature, people lost more weight on a low-glycemic eating plan (one where they didn't have to count calories or measure out food portions) than on a high-protein eating plan. They also lowered their cholesterol levels.
Focusing on the positives — like all the great health benefits you receive just by following a low-glycemic diet — makes lifestyle changes a bit easier to make. Chapter 20 includes a list of those benefits as well as additional suggestions for making successful lifestyle changes.
Tossing strict rules out the window
If you've been around the dieting block a time or two, you're well aware that diets are full of rules. They instruct you on what you can eat, when you can eat it, and how much of it you can eat. They tell you when to exercise, how much to exercise, and what type of exercise you should do to burn the most calories. They make you count calories, fat, fiber, carbohydrates, or a combination of all four.
The glycemic index diet is different, largely because it's not really a diet. It's actually just a different way of choosing your foods. When you follow a low-glycemic diet, you can forget about rules and traditional dieting phases and get back to what eating is all about — enjoying food that tastes good and is good for you.
One of the best things about low-glycemic foods is that they fill you up so you're not searching through the cupboards looking for something to eat every couple hours. That's because low-glycemic foods have a lower energy density, which I explain in more detail in Chapter 7. Foods with a lower energy density provide fewer calories yet still fill you up. Low-glycemic foods also have less of an effect on blood sugar, require less insulin (so you aren't overworking your pancreas — the organ that supplies insulin), and keep you from experiencing the dramatic rise and consequent fall of blood sugar that leaves you feeling hungry, tired, unfocused, and even irritable.
By choosing low-glycemic foods, you'll naturally eat fewer calories, feel fuller for longer, and lose weight. Granted, you probably won't lose 5 pounds in a week, but that's okay because you're in this for a lifetime, not a week. If you lose 2 pounds per month, that's still 24 pounds in a year. Who wouldn't love to lose 24 pounds while still enjoying meals and snacks?
Planning, cooking, and enjoying healthy meals
Eating should be an enjoyable experience, not one during which you have to agonize about every single aspect of a meal. When you follow a low-glycemic lifestyle, you're not eliminating the foods you