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You can start using a food journal immediately by buying a small notebook, jotting notes in your planner or smartphone, or creating a chart on your computer. The form your food journal takes (handwritten or electronic) all depends on your own personal style and what works best for you. For instance, I keep a daily Post-It on my computer screen to remind me to keep track of my food intake.

Following are some sample topics to record in your food journal:

Date

Time

Food item consumed

Amount consumed (cups, tablespoons, and so on)

Emotions/challenges/sugar cravings

Physical activity (cardio, strength training, and stretching)

Note: You may find that these topics morph as you discover what works for you and what you find beneficial to note as you become more used to a low-glycemic lifestyle. For example, if you're a detail-oriented person, you may also enjoy counting calories or grams of fiber. If you're more emotionally driven, you may find a few lines at the bottom of the page for daily reflection/analysis. Figure 6-1 shows a sample template for a food journal. Use it as a reference, but take the time to experiment and figure out what format works best for you.

Figure 6-1: You can create your own food journal based off this example.

What to Expect When Starting Your Journey

Knowing what you're in for can you help you avoid some common weight-loss pitfalls and empower you to keep moving forward. Because I want you to succeed in and enjoy your new low-glycemic lifestyle, I use the following sections to share what you can expect as you embark on your journey.

A shift in priorities

Prioritizing may seem like a no-brainer, but it can be one of the biggest saboteurs you encounter when starting a low-glycemic diet. Making any new change requires a little focus in the beginning before it eventually becomes autopilot. However, life always manages to get busy, and focus often becomes the first casualty. After all, many people have a natural order of things in their lives — children, work, school, social life, the list goes on and on. If you ever stop to look at your life, you may find that diet and exercise often take a back seat to all the rest.

You don't have to make diet and exercise your top priority, but you should move them up to a more prominent position in your life. Following are some ideas to help you prioritize your time to accommodate your new low-glycemic lifestyle:

Make a weekly grocery list using your newfound low-glycemic foods. Save a general list so you can reuse it during busy weeks and not feel like you have to turn to your old standbys. Also check out Chapter 10, which has tips for safely navigating the grocery store on a low-glycemic diet.

Plan your meals. Meal planning can help make your week go by much easier, even if you have a lot going on. You don't need to plan elaborate breakfasts and lunches. Just keep some basic low-glycemic standbys on hand and double your dinner recipes so you have a few nights of leftovers.

Keep low-glycemic convenience foods stocked. Doing so allows you to make meals in a pinch if necessary. You can find out more about this strategy in Chapter 10.

Treat your exercise time as important as your haircut appointment. A haircut appointment is pretty tough to miss, but exercise is easy to put off until another day. Set your exercise date and time and treat it like an appointment that can only be missed for emergencies. (The premiere of the latest hit TV show doesn't count. You can always do a little exercise while watching it.)

Shopping and cooking with low-glycemic foods may take more focus on choices, but it doesn't necessarily take more time. For example, making grilled chicken with spaghetti (a low-glycemic grain) as opposed to grilled chicken over rice (a high-glycemic grain) doesn't take more time to shop for or cook up. You just have to make a priority of doing it.

An adventure with new foods

Believe it or not, eating a low-glycemic diet opens you up to a whole new world of food opportunities. You don't have to learn how to be a top chef, nor do you