Cover
Title Page
List of recipes
Introduction
1 How did I put on this extra weight?
2 Calories count
3 What on earth are you eating!
4 Behaviour modification
5 Step by step to a new lifestyle
6 Phase 1—ketogenic diet <800 kcal
7 Dietary factors in health
8 Phase 2—1,200 kcal diet
9 How the body metabolises energy
10 Phase 3—1,600 kcal diet
11 Emotional issues with food
12 Phase 4—2,000 kcal diet
13 Soups, salads and spreads
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Copyright Page
About the Author
About Gill & Macmillan
PHASE 1
Breakfast
Thai-style prawn grapefruit cocktail
Low carbohydrate Irish breakfast
Omelette with feta cheese and vegetables
Creamy peppadew mushrooms
Lunch
Aubergine crab rolls
Broccoli soup with chicken
Green curry turnip soup with lemon zest prawns
Filled cabbage leaves
Warm beef salad, Thai style
Dinner
Italian Bagna Cauda with grilled green peppers
Salmon with roasted vegetables
Low carbohydrate tomato aubergine bake
Beef and lemongrass stir-fry
Chicken stir-fry with ginger and coconut milk
Sea bass with stir-fried vegetables
Galangal red curry with fish sauce
Aubergines stuffed with meat ratatouille
Snacks
Rhubarb and jelly
Lemon surprise
PHASE 2
Breakfast
Breakfast muffins with café latte
Oaty smoothie
Peachy porridge
Buckwheat porridge (gluten free)
Granola with banana and yoghurt
Lunch
Low fat turkey and coleslaw wrap
Creamy salmon quiche
Niçoise salad
Leek and potato soup with a vegetable you do not like
Cockle pasta
Dinner
Puy lentil stew
Guinness casserole
Monkfish wrapped in bacon with stir-fried vegetables
Indian chicken with herbs and couscous
Grilled tuna steak with Italian peperonata
Madras lamb curry
Thai green turkey curry
Beef au vin à la Eva
PHASE 3
Breakfast
Karelian pastries
Apple crumble à la Eva
Fresh cherry tomato bruschetta
Egg à la coque
Lunch
Quick lunchtime pizza
Chickpea burgers with cucumber raita and green salad
Butternut squash and red lentil stew
Risotto with beetroot and fennel
Baked potato filled with Coronation salmon
Dinner
Pasta box with rainbow vegetables
Chilli con carne
Chicken goujons with sweet potato chips and tomato salad
Pasta carbonara à la Eva
Peppers stuffed with feta cheese and pine nuts
Four Seasons pizza à la Eva
Caprese omelette
Twice-baked potatoes
PHASE 4
Breakfast
Korvapuusti with café au lait
Pytti pannu (Finnish-style healthy breakfast)
Banana ‘ovencake’
Homemade oatmeal waffles with strawberry syrup
Lunch
Rice salad, Italian style
Tortilla cigars
Green lentil feta cheese salad
Eggs flamenco
Penne all’arrabiata
Vegetarian avocado couscous salad
Dinner
Semolina cakes
Creamy beef with baked potatoes
Cottage pie à la Eva
Homemade mini-burgers
LasagnEva
Sweet curry prawn sauce with egg noodles
Beetroot meatballs
Butternut chickpea red curry
Soups
Celeriac and apple soup
Fennel and orange soup
Hot mushroom soup
Red cauliflower soup
Hot fennel cauliflower soup
Mixed vegetable soup
Spicy cauliflower soup
Mild cinnamon cauliflower soup
Spinach soup
Broccoli soup
Green curry turnip soup
Salads
Beetroot salad
Homemade coleslaw
Salad dressings
SPREADS
Green pea wasabi spread
Creamy egg spread
Dr Eva’s healthy spread
Green lentil hummus spread
Dr Eva’s low calorie sangria
In my mother’s kitchen it used to be either a feast or a famine. Her homemade food was tasty but full of calories, and when we ate, we ate well. But her weight and mine would slowly creep up and then reality would strike and it was diet time. We would try all sorts of diets with a reward in mind. Once we got it, for example a holiday, it was soon back to old habits and the kilos piled on. So, by the time I had finished my schooling and medical degree, a constant awareness of body weight and the effects of different foods and diets was ‘in my genes’. A few years later, while completing my Master’s Degree in Public Health, obesity was being highlighted as a ‘new epidemic’ and the experts were all trying to find a solution to the increasing obesity levels. Even though the solution could be so simple—eat less and exercise more—in reality we all know it is not that easy!
With so much confusing advice out there and with all of us trying to find a quick way to lose weight, we are getting nowhere! I am not offering an easy way out, but we all need a little help. With simple weight-loss steps and tasty recipes, this book gives you the knowledge to help you achieve a healthy weight, in the same way patients in my clinics have done over the past 10 years.
My recipes and menus are a fusion of my Finnish roots and my mother’s kitchen, my university years in Italy and my housewife childbearing years in South Africa. All these were combined with my new life in Ireland and attempts to maintain a healthy diet for myself, my two boys and husband. A never-ending challenge!
I have managed to do it, my patients have managed to do it and now I will show you how you can do it too without being a master chef!
PS. Thirteen has always been my lucky number, so this book has 13 chapters.
IN ORDER TO lose extra weight we have to look back and start figuring out when we started slowly, or quickly, piling on the pounds. Usually we can recall an event or period when this happened but in some cases obesity dates back to early childhood. History is important so that we can look back and correct what went wrong.
Obviously our sedentary lifestyle, with more people using cars and less physical activity, has an impact on our overall energy expenditure. We drive our children to school and would not dream of doing otherwise, but in our childhood we walked or cycled to school. The reasons for this are numerous but generally safety is the main issue. Things need to happen for us instantaneously these days and for this same reason we don’t even want to spend time preparing a meal. Everything in our current lifestyle is geared to make us use less of our energy and use more fuel or other environmental energy, thus creating larger carbon footprints. Computer games are about as close to sport as some children get and watching TV is probably the most common childhood pastime. Not only are our children less active but they are also becoming less resourceful when it comes to childhood games because they are so used to passive entertainment. Although it is clear these environmental factors have reduced our physical activity and have contributed to our increasing weight, it is only a small part of the problem compared with the increased calorie intake in our everyday diet.
Then there are the most common day-to-day reasons for weight gain. The following are all contributory factors for increasing weight:
• Getting married
• Giving up smoking
• Becoming pregnant
• Changing jobs
• Going on holidays
• Going through puberty
• Going through menopause
• Moving to another country
• Starting to study
• Starting working, stopping working or retiring
• Giving up exercise or being less active
• Suffering from any form of serious illness
• Ageing
• Medical reasons (e.g. under-active thyroid, arthritis)
• Medication
All of the above have something in common—a change in routine.
We all have a routine that we follow. Even the most disorganised people have a ‘no-routine’, which is always the same. I have witnessed this very clearly in my clinic. Any change in routine inevitably changes what we eat and how many calories we burn. If this change causes an imbalance, it will affect our bodies either negatively or positively.
Weight gain is a very common and serious side effect of many commonly used drugs, for example antipsychotics, antidepressants, anti-convulsants (for epilepsy), anti-diabetic medications (insulin, and oral hypoglycaemic medication), steroids, beta blockers (very commonly used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease), etc. For some of these drugs the mechanism of action is fairly well understood, but for many others this remains unknown. If any of these drugs causes weight gain, they should be reviewed as alternatives are available.
Regardless of who you are or what your history is, if you eat (take in energy) in excess of what your body requires, then your body will store this energy as fat. There is no escape from this. As we are all unique, every individual has different energy needs and energy consumption. Even if you have a tendency to put on weight, it does not mean that you will inevitably gain weight. The fact is that on average we put on 0.5–2kg (1.1–4.4 lb) every year unless it is actively managed. Consider the following: one biscuit has about 75 calories—if you ate 75 calories more than your body needed every day, over a period of one month this could result in approximately 300 g of extra weight, eventually leading to as much as 3.6 kg (half a stone) a year.
Taking into account all the additional health risks you are exposing yourself to, it’s no wonder that obesity is considered a chronic disease. Aside from the obvious physical health risks, I consider the silent negative psychological impact especially damaging.
Your everyday quality of life is diminished not only by the burden of carrying all that extra weight, but every moment of the day you are reminded that you are too ‘big’.
You find that you can’t do things you used to do such as tie your shoelaces, clothes don’t fit, the tummy love handles become a spare tyre, you puff around the golf course and by the evening, when you finally have time for yourself, you fall asleep in front of the TV, exhausted. I could carry on and on as the list of disadvantages is endless, but then again so are the positive benefits of weight reduction.
The traditional nutritional guidelines are not helping either. The disparity between what is right and what is wrong is huge. There are ‘eat fat and get slim’ and ‘low fat high carb’ diets that many of us have tried with varied success. I do not consider either to be the right way—nothing will work as well as a balanced diet. We are given different and contradictory messages all the time about food and how to lose weight. So, how do you know that the message I am giving is the right one? I suppose you have to ask yourself if what I say makes sense, then it’s up to you to put it into practice. When you see how your health and your frame of mind improves as the excess weight slowly leaves you, you should be convinced. If you follow my advice, this time you won’t see the excess weight returning—it will be gone forever.
In nutrition there are a few rules that you can’t change and these are:
• Calories count—energy can neither be created nor destroyed (1st law of thermodynamics).
• Our body reacts differently to different foods (this is explained in Chapter 3 under ‘Glycaemic Index’).
• A continued negative energy balance will create weight loss.
• Our body needs a combination of macronutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrates) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to function optimally. In other words, we need a balanced diet.
• Excessive weight loss or excessive weight gain can both conceivably lead to death.
First, we need to stop fooling ourselves and admit that food plays a huge role in our lives.
BABIES ARE NOT BORN FAT!
My first baby was born in Finland in 1996 while it was –22 °C outside. Being a Finn and a doctor meant I knew what was best and breastfeeding was obviously going to give my child the best start. All scientific data has proven that breastfeeding reduces and prevents allergic conditions. As I had allergies, I was going to prevent this happening to my child! Things didn’t start smoothly as I wasn’t producing enough milk so I ended up feeding the baby every two hours and I was exhausted.
A few months later my baby became uncomfortable and we ended up at a paediatrician. This middle-aged but experienced man reassured us that our child was fine but immediately told me that he was overweight. This was the last thing I would have ever expected to hear. He asked about our routine. What routine? The baby ate and slept as it came naturally and I did my utmost to cater to his every need.
The doctor sent us to a nurse who set a new feeding routine that included small amounts of solids with the promise that in two weeks’ time the child would sleep through the night and give me back some of my life. Vegetables were mashed and introduced to the child slowly to get his taste and gastric system used to new flavours and consistencies of foods. His feeding intervals were set like clockwork and we were to follow the routine with German precision. Anyway, it worked. In less than two weeks our baby was sleeping through the night and had become a lot more settled.
This is my experience but you need to treat each child’s case individually, and if you can’t breastfeed, it’s not the end of the world. I know this is not a book about bringing up children and everyone has their own thoughts on this matter (I am no expert), but what this did teach me was how important diet is from the start of our lives.
Obviously an essential part of this new routine was the fact that the child was not hungry and his needs were satisfied. By my baby’s first birthday he was well in line with growth charts and the excess weight had disappeared. I was cooking all his meals from scratch and he was getting balanced and tasty food. Every new taste was a new experience. Sometimes he accepted it with delight, but sometimes it required some convincing and perseverance.
If I had not met this upfront doctor and wise nurse my baby could have grown to childhood overweight, possibly obese, with the potential to develop a huge number of food dislikes.
Even when the consequences of being overweight or obese are highlighted to the general public, parents still tend to be in denial over their own children. They want to believe that it is just puppy fat and will disappear on its own. Unfortunately, about 70 per cent of overweight children will eventually become obese adults, developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and even some forms of cancer. These chronically ill young adults will not be able to enjoy their youth because of their parents’ lack of willpower to say no to their children’s demands for fast food, fizzy drinks and big portions.
Your example is the most powerful. If you change, they will follow.
THERE ARE SOME lucky people who don’t have to count their money but everybody has to count their calories. Yes, initially you will need to actually count them and keep control of your intake, but with time you will learn to understand food and the whole process becomes as natural as being aware of your bank balance.
What are calories? Calories are the energy found in food. One kilo-calorie (kcal) is equivalent to the energy needed to increase the temperature of a gram of water by 1 °C.
You will always find some new diet that claims that you can eat as much as you want of certain foods, but, in reality, calories are the energy that your body uses and if you give it too much it gets stored as fat. Think about it this way—fuel is the energy your car uses, and you keep it in balance by filling it up when necessary. If you put too much fuel in, it overflows. This would be seen as a stupid mistake, so why do we do it to our bodies? Unfortunately, your body cannot overflow but stores the excess energy as fat and will carry on doing so. The bottom line is that calories count.
If you want to use up the excess stored energy, you have to put less energy (food) into your body than it needs so that it will burn your reserves. This energy will come from fat and lean muscular mass. By selecting the foods correctly, you can minimise the lean muscular mass loss and maximise the use of the fat reserves.
IN ORDER TO LOSE WEIGHT YOU NEED TO CREATE A NEGATIVE ENERGY BALANCE.
In brief, current guidelines recommend that an average adult woman can eat approximately 2,000 kcal per day to maintain her weight and an average adult man can eat approximately 2,500 kcal per day to maintain his weight.
There are various methods to calculate your daily average calorie consumption. They take into account height, weight, activity levels, age and gender. They will give you an indication of calorie consumption but cannot be considered accurate.
The best way is to work out your own calorie consumption by keeping an accurate diet diary for 1 week. It’s a bit laborious but it’s the most accurate way.
To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than you require so that the body will be forced to use your stored fat as energy. Unfortunately, if you reduce your food intake by only a small amount, you are not going to achieve anything as we tend to underestimate the amount of food we consume daily and are likely to forget about that quick snack or glass of juice. To initially lose weight effectively, a significant drop in calorie intake over an extended period is required. For example, a 7,500 kcal energy deficit will result in 1 kg (2.2 lb) weight loss. It is important to note that when you lose weight, your daily calorie requirement will also reduce. This is why some people hit a ‘plateau’ in their weight-loss attempts. This means that you will need to reduce your calorie intake further to achieve continued weight loss.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Do you know your present weight? You might think you do but it could be that the number you have in mind is actually a number that you remember from six months ago or longer. We are getting heavier every day so if you think you are heavy now, you are probably still lighter than you will be in six months’ time. That’s if you don’t actively do something about it now!
Let’s start with a basic assessment. The currently accepted way of assessing your fat status is by calculating your BMI or Body Mass Index. In simple terms, BMI is an indication of the amount of weight you carry per square metre of skin.
HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BMI
To calculate your BMI, all you need is a good, accurate—preferably digital—weighing scales, a metric tape measure and a calculator. First, weigh yourself in kilograms. Next measure your height in metres as accurately as possible. (Do not rely on measurements you remember from a few months or years ago.) Now divide your weight (in kg) by your height (in m) squared as follows:
If your BMI is:
<18.5—you are underweight
18.5 to 24.9—you are in the normal weight range
25 to 29.9—you are overweight
>30—you are obese—Class I
>35—Class II obese
>40—Class III morbidly obese
A BMI over 40 is Class III and regarded as morbidly obese because your health is severely at risk. The BMI cut-off ranges are indicative of the effect that body weight has on disease and death. The higher the BMI, the greater the risk of developing certain conditions, including diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, particular cancers, and the obvious wear and tear on the joints due to the weight. Alternatively, the lower the BMI, the greater the risk of malnutrition and osteoporosis.
BMI is a useful indicator but it is not 100 per cent reliable. For instance, age is a factor. BMI ranges are based on population ages of 18–65 years old and so it is not suitable for people who are younger or older. In South East Asia, the BMI ranges are also slightly different. Another disadvantage of BMI is that it does not take into account body composition. In this way it might class someone who has a very high muscle mass as obese even though they are a perfectly normal weight. This is because muscle is heavier in volume than fat and therefore increases the weight of a lean body. BMI can also underestimate the degree of obesity in individuals, particularly the elderly, who have a very low muscle mass. For this reason observation plays a key role in conjunction with BMI to assess whether the results seem realistic.
BMI was first used by insurance companies to calculate quotes for life insurance taken out after the Second World War and it was based on mortality statistics. The insurance industry long ago recognised that men and women taking out insurance policies were likely to die early if they were overweight, especially if they were obese when young. People’s insurance rates were based on their weight and consequently risk of disease amongst other things. Even today it is still used when assessing life insurance.
If the number you got from your calculation is a BMI >30, you are obese. It is only a word but this word means that you are suffering from a chronic disease and that at some stage you will suffer from its physical consequences. If you are overweight, instead of obese, your risks are lower but there is still work to do. Remember, all obese people were once overweight.
Healthy weight should not be seen as a number but rather a range within which your weight does not increase your health risks. For example, a person whose height is 1.63 m (approximately 5 ft 4 inches) will have a healthy weight of between 50 kg (7 st 12 lb) and 66 kg (10 st 5 lb) or in BMI terms 18.5 to 24.9. However, a BMI of 24.9 is verging on overweight and so the ideal BMI is about 21 to 22—in this case 56 to 59 kg (8 st 11 lb to 9 st 4 lb).
At my clinic when I ask people during their first assessment what their current weight is, most of them don’t even know it. Many come to see me thinking that they are overweight and need to lose a few pounds, but in most cases they are in fact clinically obese. I remember a particular lady who was so shocked when she heard that she was obese, she carried on repeating it every time I saw her.
However, she managed to lose the weight very quickly and maintained her new weight as well. So, if you are overweight or obese, face the facts and start doing something about it now!
OTHER FAT MEASUREMENTS
There are other ways to measure your fat status such as fat percentage through electrical scales that you can buy in pharmacies, but these are not accurate. However, the waistline measurement is the most important.
If you are overweight, it is important to know where that excess fat is located. Is it around your hips or around your waist? This is where the waist measurement is important because it indicates the presence of central obesity. Despite its simplicity, waist circumference has been shown to be an accurate predictor of intra-abdominal fat, either alone or in combination with BMI. Having a large waist circumference (apple shape) indicates increased risk to health compared with peripheral obesity, i.e. weight on the hips or being ‘pear shaped’. Abdominal fat is an independent risk factor for disease for those with a BMI within the healthy weight range. What this means is that medical research is now convinced that visceral fat that accumulates around your waist is very dangerous and increases your risk of different diseases. The main ones are diabetes and high cholesterol, which lead to heart disease. For older people and those from different ethnic backgrounds, waist circumference is a better indicator of health than BMI.
The waist circumference is measured just above the belly button. It is important to ensure that the tape is snug but not tight and that you are not breathing in.
Waist measurements as a predictor of risk to health
(World Health Organization, 2000)
Increased risk |
Substantial risk |
|
Caucasian men |
>94 cm (37 inches) |
>102 cm (40 inches) |
Caucasian women |
>80 cm (32 inches) |
>88 cm (35 inches) |
Asian men |
No data |
>90 cm (36 inches) |
Asian women |
No data |
>80 cm (32 inches) |
Note: waist measurements are taken at the navel.
Each 1 kg (2.2 lb) of weight loss should drop your waist measurement by 1 cm.
SIXTY PER CENT of adults and 20 per cent of children and teens in Ireland are classified as overweight or obese and we are currently the second fattest nation in Europe. However, studies have found that the Irish are not alone—since the sixties, in the United States, the level of overweight/obesity has risen to 1 in 4 children and 1 in 2 adults.
Over the past 10 years we have gone through the information era. We have instant access to almost any information via the internet, and are kept up to date with international news and the latest health scares (SARS, Avian Flu). However, when it comes to eating and diet, we have faltered. Fast food and fizzy drinks are now considered acceptable elements of a normal diet and vegetables and fruit are seen as old-fashioned. There no longer appears to be time for proper home cooking. So what has gone wrong? Is our education on food that poor?
Most of us have seen the classic food pyramid either in a classroom, doctor’s surgery, local chemist or at the supermarket. Although you may not have taken much notice of it or tried to do what it suggests, the pyramid depicts the hierarchy of food types and their importance in the diet.
The base of the pyramid contains starchy bread, potatoes, rice and cereal, and fat, oil, butter and sweets form the peak. The layout emphasises the importance of low fat and recommends complex carbohydrates as the main source of our daily energy. This pyramid was conceived in the USA in the 1960s as a result of an increase in cardiovascular disease. The graphic representation of the Food Guide Pyramid was released only in 1992 to promote healthy eating. However, it does not appear to be working because the countries advocating it are all getting fatter.
So what’s the problem with this food pyramid? In my opinion, it’s the bottom level—too much carbohydrate and no separation between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ carbohydrates. I don’t think that bread and potatoes should form the foundation of a meal. Think of a typical takeaway meal, e.g. hamburger and chips—it’s basically bread and potatoes. Is this a healthy meal even if you add a few pieces of tomato and have a glass of milk with it? Of course not, but more shockingly, neither is a bowl of processed cereal.
The next problem with the pyramid is the ambiguity of portion size and the calories associated with different food types. Even by taking typical serving volumes and food preferences, the food pyramid is suitable only for an active man of normal weight who does not drink alcohol.
We have become obsessed with eating but complacent about food choice. Eating out or getting a takeaway are now everyday events not a special treat. It’s easier and almost cheaper to buy readymade meals than cooking at home. We don’t really know what we are eating and wouldn’t have the knowledge to judge even if we were informed. The takeaway industry has thrived on our ignorance and modern fast-paced lifestyle and, being profit-based, uses the most cost-effective methods and ingredients to make its products. These include taste enhancers, preservatives and bulking agents to mention a few. The concept of a balanced meal has fallen by the wayside.
Even the medical profession often fails to acknowledge the importance of diet as a cause of disease and illness. When we go and see the doctor due to ill health, they seldom ask us about our diet. It’s quicker and easier to simply prescribe medication to alleviate a symptom. Take the common complaint of constipation—doctors simply give the patient a laxative and advise them to increase fibre intake. Why are you constipated in the first place? Well, take a good look at your diet—where are the vegetables, the fruit, etc.? Is your diet balanced?
When you go to the supermarket, what jumps out at you and what are you selecting? Is it the added vitamins or ‘diet option’? How about ‘no added sugar’ or, my personal favourite ‘low fat’? I am not knocking these products but there is a difference in quality between all the products. Please do not be under the impression that one product will change your life!
The Glycaemic Index (GI)
The Glycaemic Index (GI) was originally developed in 1981 as a better way to classify carbohydrates than referring to them as ‘simple’ or ‘complex’. Nowadays it is used more extensively and most common foods have been given a GI ranking.
The Glycaemic Index is a way of evaluating and ranking foods according to how quickly they increase blood sugar levels when eaten. Foods with a high GI enter the bloodstream rapidly, while low glycaemic foods promote a slower release of glucose (blood sugar) into the bloodstream.
When glucose enters the bloodstream, it increases blood sugar levels. This increase causes the pancreas to release insulin, a hormone that activates cells to absorb the glucose. If we get a rapid increase in glucose absorption—hence rapidly increasing blood sugar levels—we get a compensatory rapid increase in insulin. Because our body does not need all this energy (glucose) immediately, the insulin signals the body to store away the energy for later use—usually as fat. This storage process happens rapidly (due to the high insulin levels), and the body experiences a rapid drop in blood sugar levels. This sends a signal to the brain that it needs food again.
However, if we eat food that is not absorbed rapidly into the blood and does not cause blood sugar levels to rise rapidly, only a minimal amount of insulin is released and the glucose is used up as energy and not stored. As the use of this energy is gradual and lasting, the blood sugar levels tend to stay level for longer and so do the insulin levels. The effect of this is that we start receiving signals that we need more energy only when it is actually required. These foods are called low glycaemic foods.
For practical purposes foods are classified into low (below 55), medium (55–70) and high GI (above 70) based on their GI ranking from 0 to 100.
HOW IS THE GLYCAEMIC INDEX OF FOOD ESTABLISHED?
A test subject is given a 50 g portion of glucose (called the control portion) and their blood sugar levels are monitored. They are then given a portion of test food and their blood sugar levels are again monitored. The test food is given an index based on these results.
White bread can also be used as the control portion. It has a Glycaemic Index about 35 points lower than glucose. To be specific, this bread is called white wheat bread (WWB). So when you are looking at a table showing the GI of foods, make sure you know what it is based on, either glucose or WWB. I suggest you use the tables with glucose as the base because they are less confusing.
Unfortunately, the glycaemic indexing of food is not an exact science and there are a number of factors that can significantly change the Index. Some of these are:
• Type of carbohydrate, fibre content, macro- and micro-nutrient content
• Types of preservatives used
• Method of food processing and cooking
• Ripeness of food and food storage methods
Furthermore, as we are all different and our body’s response to food varies, the GI will also change. So, we need to be careful not to be too specific about the GI of a food but to rather look at it in general. In essence, foods that have a GI of less than 50 are low glycaemic and should make up most of your diet.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and WHO endorse the use of the GI. However, despite the evidence, the use of the GI has not reached a universal consensus. The main criticism is due to the fact that foods are usually eaten in combination, i.e. bread is normally eaten with butter, and this lowers the GI of the bread. There are some anomalies too, such as peanuts and chocolate having a low GI, whereas a baked potato has a high GI.
This is the main reason why we need to look at the bigger picture and don’t concentrate only on one factor in our diet. Calories still count.
I don’t want you to be obsessed by the GI value only. For example, a large salad of lettuce, cucumber and mushrooms will have a very low GI and will have hardly any calories but it also has hardly any fibre, which means you will still be feeling very hungry half an hour or so later. So how does this help you? If used correctly, the low glycaemic diet will allow us to eat larger quantities that will keep us satisfied for longer. Certain foods (like dark chocolate) have a lower GI than watermelon. How could you possibly lose weight eating plenty of dark chocolate instead of watermelon?
Food dislikes
Take a minute and write down which foods you don’t like and which you would not eat under any circumstances. If the list is long, then you are in trouble!
Having food dislikes is a common occurrence today. Adults now have many food dislikes but our young people have even more. It’s shocking to say that if we do not change this soon, in 20 years’ time vegetable agriculture may not even exist. The most commonly eaten and liked vegetables are peas, corn and carrots. Vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, courgette, aubergine, fennel and butternut are less popular. Some young people have never even tasted vegetables as common as cucumber and pepper.
Limited diet choices, especially in the vegetable group, make it impossible to create an appetising and interesting diet that fills you up and gives you all the fibre, vitamins and minerals your body needs. Usually people who have a long list of food dislikes prefer bread and sweet things and this is one of the biggest reasons for their weight gain. You can grow out of sweet cravings and that overwhelming need to eat all the time, but in order to succeed you must have a balanced diet that feeds your body’s nutritional needs.
Food dislikes are a bad thing and one of the biggest obstacles to weight reduction—but this can change if you want it to.
Diets—good and bad
There are numerous diets available today—the Atkins Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, Montignac Method, Nutron Diet, South Beach Diet, the Dukan Diet, System 10, Zone Diet—as well as food replacements such as protein bars, drinks, many supplements like apple vinegar extract tablets. There are also fat-absorbing tablets, fat-melting pants, vibrating belts and hundreds of diet books. Added to this you have light crisps, low fat yoghurts, low fat bread, low fat everything. Every possible ‘easy’ solution seems to be out there but yet we continue to get heavier.
I have often been asked if this or that diet is unhealthy or maybe even dangerous to our health. My answer is simple—the diet is probably not going to kill you but the weight might. Generally, nobody can follow an unnatural diet regime for long enough to create permanent damage to their health. Furthermore, once they stop following the diet, it doesn’t take long for them to return to their old eating habits—and all the weight they lost, and more, comes back.