The GL Diet Made Easy: How to Eat, Cheat and Still Lose Weight

• A moderate intake of fat is fine. Aim to eat mainly the healthier mono- and polyunsaturated fats such as olive oil and olive oil-based spread, vegetable and nut oils. Read labels and avoid harmful hydrogenated/trans fats hidden in many food products. Some foods are now labelled as containing ‘non-hydrogenated fats’, which is great.

• Be aware of salt hidden in many processed foods and don’t add it to recipes or at the table.

• Drink six to eight glasses of fluid each day – water is best.

• Try to be more active and make it fun – aim for 30 minutes each day.

Most of us know the basics of healthy eating. However, choosing the right foods can be daunting, so we often put our heads in the sand and carry on regardless. But you can relax – our recipes and food lists take care of all that so you can get on with your life, look and feel great and still enjoy fabulous food.

Sometimes understanding a few of the facts behind the healthy eating guidelines we suggest can make it a bit easier to see why we should all be making some changes, so this chapter explains why the guidelines are important. If you feel confident that you understand good nutrition and just want to get started, skip this section and go to Chapter 5 for the 10-day starter plan.

Three Meals and Two Snacks

Eat something when you wake and then every four hours. This helps to get you into a regular routine with eating. You won’t go hungry, and meeting your nutritional needs is much easier.

Eat Low-GL Carbs at Each Meal

Low-GL carbs include vegetables, fruit or whole grains. These help you to feel fuller for longer, so you’re less likely to get hunger pangs and reach for the biscuit tin. They are also good sources of insoluble fibre to keep your bowels healthy, and regular and soluble fibre which help lower cholesterol and promote healthy gut bacteria.

People who regularly eat whole grains have a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Whole-grain carbohydrates like oats and pearl barley have a low GL (see GL food lists in Chapter 11.)

It’s the Carbohydrate-rich Foods that Make the Difference

If a food contains little or no carbohydrate then it will have a zero GL and no effect on your blood glucose levels. If your portion size of carbohydrate-rich foods is bigger than the one we recommend in the GL food lists, the GL will be higher.

Swap High-GL Foods for Low-GL Foods

This is where you can make a big difference. Low-GL foods will even out your blood glucose levels, helping you feel fuller for longer and reduce cravings for carb-rich, sugary and starchy foods. Fewer hunger pangs mean you’re much less likely to overeat and put on weight.

You’ll get the greatest benefit from swapping foods that contain the most carbohydrate and have the highest GL like white breads, sugary breakfast cereals, overcooked white pastas, sugar-laden cakes, pastries, biscuits and sweets, white rice and large white potatoes.

Make it a Way of Life – Keep It Simple Sweetie (KISS)

Making your diet and food complicated just adds to the stress of the whole thing, and that is not what the GL Diet is about at all. Following the plan should be a breeze. All the recipes in Chapter 10 take 10 minutes or less – and they are so easy to make! You don’t need a Michelin star to have a go and you certainly won’t be slaving over a hot stove for hours! They are just simple ‘back to basics’ recipes that taste great.

Think Natural

We’re passionate about cutting back on highly processed foods as many are full of sugar, salt, additives and unhealthy hydrogenated/trans fats.

If you cook with natural ingredients from scratch you know exactly what goes into your body; you’re in complete control with no hidden ‘nasties’ to worry about. By making your own meals you can increase the variety of foods you eat and have more ‘cheats and treats’ using alternative, low-GL ingredients.

We wanted to recommend some healthy, natural, low-GL treats for you to buy but sadly we couldn’t find any that came up to our exacting standards – so we made our own! Look out for the diet freedom range of natural ‘guilt-free’ treats, from brownies to flapjacks, cheesecakes to carrot cake and ice cream, coming soon to a store near you! See www.dietfreedom.co.uk, our online health and diet club, for our latest product launches.

Eat until You’re Satisfied, not Stuffed

Eat slowly and listen to your body. Stop eating at the first hint of feeling satisfied. Don’t feel guilty about leaving food. Following our portion guides closely will help you not to put too much on your plate in the first place. Aim to finish all your vegetables/salad and leave the carb-rich food until last.

• Only eat as much as you can fit in your cupped hands at each meal.

• Try to be consistent about the amount of food you eat at each meal time and never skip meals.

• Use the Angels and Demons guide to the goodies and baddies (see Chapter 6).

• Don’t be a slave to the kitchen scales – you might want to weigh a recommended portion size once to see what it looks like but that’s it. There’s absolutely no need to weigh everything you eat!

Enjoy Your Food

Plan your week and you won’t get caught out. Look at your work and social diary for the week ahead, and try to plan for potential meals out, long working days, social events and so on. Go shopping with a list and stick to it, and have a selection of meals to choose from for the entire week so you don’t get tempted to forget the plan when you haven’t got the right foods in.

Chapter Five THE 10-DAY STARTER PLAN (#ulink_b580f46d-c963-510e-bb5c-06e159d3aa82)

We’ve put together a 10-day guide to help you create the perfect plan for you. The GL Diet is flexible and fits in with real life, unlike other ‘eat this on day one or else’ diets, which just don’t work. Use the 10-day guide to fit around your life and know you are doing the right things and making positive changes.

Having no flexibility in a plan can be a real barrier to ever getting started, and we can’t have that! Remember that you can be very flexible, have a really easy time and still lose weight and start to feel the benefits of the food swaps you are making.

We suggest that, if possible, you start the plan over a quiet-ish weekend. On Friday, stop off on the way home and pick up something tasty for breakfast, some fresh juice and fresh fruit. Then when you get up on Saturday morning, enjoy your lovely low-GL breakfast, make your plan for the next ten days (remember to factor in any social occasions) and then clear your cupboards of the high-GL ‘baddies’. You can then go shopping for your low-GL ‘goodies’. Do this while you’re not hungry, and feeling strong and full of resolve for the journey ahead!

Of course if your quietest day is a Tuesday, start then! Don’t let this become another excuse not to start. We have one member who started with a dinner party for eight and has never looked back!

Remember, this isn’t a ‘diet’ – it’s ‘diet freedom’, your passport to freedom from dieting forever! Enjoy and tell yourself and anyone else that you are not on a diet but have started to make informed judgments about what you eat instead.

If you’re hungry, eat. Keep small snacks handy – better an apple at 11am than a blowout at 1pm! Focus on the health benefits of low GL as the primary target and the weight loss will follow naturally without you thinking about it too much. We really want you to feel that you’re not dieting or doing anything restrictive, as restriction equals tension, and tension equals rebellion and we all know what follows that, don’t we? So, sit and relax, take a deep breath in, hold for a count of four and breathe out slowly. Repeat three times and then say out loud, ‘I am not on a diet – I am making positive choices for my health and enjoying my life to the full.’ It’s really helpful to repeat this whenever you can – looking in the mirror at the same time reinforces the message to your subconscious mind. Another great time to do it is just before you fall asleep as this is when your brain is most receptive to positive affirmations. In other words, your brain will take it on board and believe it, keeping you on track! Any sceptics out there should try it – it works a treat!

Remember, if you stick to the plan you should drop a clothes size in the next 10 days. Now you’re ready to get started. Happy food swaps – enjoy!

Notes on the 10-day Plan

Where the following are mentioned, the recommended portion sizes are:

WOMEN: oatcakes/crispbreads – up to two, bread – one slice (so an average day may be either two oatcakes/crispbreads or a slice of bread but not both)

MEN: oatcakes/crispbreads – up to four, bread – up to two slices (so an average day may be either four oatcakes/crispbreads or two slices of bread but not both)

• In our experience, some people find it difficult to metabolize grains and to lose weight while eating them. If this applies to you, try cutting them out until you reach your target weight. You’ll need to make sure you get plenty of fibre from vegetables, beans and pulses – psyllium husk is a great alternative fibre provider available from health food stores.