Starting on Monday - slightly scared!

[becksjane]

Hello,
I am starting low GI on Monday and a little nervous! I kind of live off bread and always have!

I've read up quite a bit and have a book to finish reading.

Can i just ask a question. I don't plan on doing low carb i just want low GI (dodgy blood sugars). But is it fair to say if it's low carb it IS low GI? And therefore for lunch i could have an Atkins meal replacemet bar or something?

I work in the sort of office that I need to eat at my desk and not heat stuff up. So now i just bring sarnies. I could do with something dead easy for lunch. I can make more effort with brekky and tea and cook lentil dahl and quinoa and what not! But would no carb (but low cal) lunches be right?

I think they do Atkins wraps too or very low carb wraps so wondered if these would automatically be low GI?

Also do you calorie count too?

I have done WW for a looooong time. And so know all the points which in a roundabout way gives you a certain amount of cals.

I presume im not just meant to chow down on healthy but low GI foods as much as i like and lose weight? I was thinking 1400 cals a day with another 1500 to eat as treats (still gonna have my wine at weekend!!). and i go to gym 3 times so do you reckon this is acceptable?

I hate not knowing what im doing.

Im dreading breakfast. I hate porridge, and all bran and muesli. Do you reckon a veg omlette is ok every day?

Im only looking forward to my evening meal because I can have chillis/bolognase/lenti dahl with sweet potato or quinoa or something.

Im veggie by the way!

Thanks for reading and sorry for all my waffle!

Becks

 

[Plumfoodie]

Hi Becks and welcome! You will find that there are as many different ways to do GI as there are people doing it. I am a firm believer that at the end of the day, the best diet for anyone is the one they can stick to and that makes them feel healthy. I love low GI/GL eating as I struggle with hypoglycemia and find it is the best way to keep that under control. I will try to address some of your points from my own perspective:

Breakfast - if you like veg omelette that well, there is no reason not to have it every day (the advice to limit eggs is now outdated) but you may get bored and, at some point, also wish you were getting more fibre in your diet (I read recently that this is a big complaint amongst starting GIers). Maybe think about what other kinds of things you like? This morning I had an apple, 2 mini babybel light cheeses, and some almonds. Other days I might have berries (frozen are fine) with Greek yoghurt and sunflower/pumpkin seeds sprinkled on, or sometimes a low GI smoothie. You could also have some lower GI bread (like Bergen or that dark rye bread that comes in a rectangular baggie) with scrambled eggs. Quorn also has a nil or negligible GI so maybe some Quorn sausages? There are more options than just porridge and muesli. I'm sure others will chime in about this! I also really recommend buying one of the small pocket books like the Glycemic Load Counter or similar as this will tell you the GI and GL of various foods so you can make an informed choice.

Calories - I worked out my daily calorie needs using this website: BMR Calculator and then how many calories I wanted to have per day to lose weight. In my case (I have some health issues) I reduced my daily needs by around 20%. Others like to reduce more and depending on your daily calorie needs, 1400 sounds fine to me. Most of the GI diets advise avoiding alcohol but say red or white wine is a better choice than beer if you do drink. Spirits have a GI value of 0 but you'd then have to be careful about which mixers you used. I've never seen in any of the GI books the suggestion that you can save allowances (calorie or GI) for the weekend like people do with WW or SW, my personal view is that it would be better to have one small glass of wine a few times throughout the week if you can make that work, especially as you want to control your blood sugars rather than just lose weight. But at the end of the day you have to find what works for you; I'm a fan of the 'try it and see, you can always stop again' method!

You're right though that you do need to keep an eye to calories even when you're eating low GI. You couldn't eat 3000 cals a day of low GI foods and lose weight! But you don't have to cut down as drastically as some diets have you do.

Lunches - I haven't had much luck finding low carb wraps and the like. But sometimes I will have a small wrap sandwich, or one in a Food doctor pitta or Bergen bread (which is lower GI than most). Again a counter book will point you at good choices. I also like to take cold salads (either varied salad veggies w/protein or a mix of some cold grain plus veggies and protein) and in winter I take soup or stew in a flask. If you have a widemouth flask you can even take leftovers of things like chilli and quinoa. All these can be munched at my desk without reheating. I also like to take a Nakd bar or mini babybel plus a couple of oatcakes for a snack at my desk, since it's important to eat a little something every 3-4 hours. I can't answer your question about the Atkins bars, someone else might be able to! But personally I find that I do best with making my own food whenever possible. Nobody is perfect though so if you find some convenience options that work for you when needed then that's great. If only we all had the time to stay home and make everything from scratch!

Hope some of this is helpful and I haven't blathered on too long!

Best of luck, everyone on the forum is really helpful with anything that gets posted!!

 

[CaliSweden]

Hi Becksjane and welcome to the GI/GL section of the forums´! I'm quite new too, just a little over two weeks of GI/GL. So I've been reading things on the internet like crazy and on here.

For the low carb and low GI thing, I found the answer on the GI news blogspot last week, it's best to let the experts answer the question GI News “© GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney”. As I was curious about it too and was really confused, it's also a good read. You should also read the link on the sumo salad, it's a really good read as it further explains why it isn't truely low GI.

In Sweden low GI and low carb have meshed together in a really ugly fatty mess. So I ordered British books, since the Swedish ones were bascially going to put me back on lowcarb highfat diet.

I'm still feeling my way through GI/GL, my books just came in today. I was really scared and nervous doing it too, since there aren't really any set foundation rules like "NO this, or NO that!"

It's not a diet, but more of a healthy eating lifestyle is what I'm learning. I'm still running around with my head cut off, I won't deny it, but I still managed to lose 2 lbs on weigh in day. So if I can do it, I know you'll be just fine too Plus these girls really know their stuff. They will always answer your questions and help you out

What I try to stick to the most is 1/2 plate veggies, 1/4 proten, 1/4 carbs, that's what Molly taught me

 

[irish molly]

Hon, just want to welcome you. I can't possibly improve on the fab advice the two girls have just given you. It is all spot on. Just keep posting. Watch portion sizes and drink a couple of litres of water through the day.

 

[becksjane]

Thanks so much for all your lovely long replies it's been really helpful. I've done my big shop in asda today to start Monday. Trolley certainly looked healthy! It is strange buying nothing at all preprepared!

I bought a few Nakd bars as I've seen peple say they had them. But then i looked at ingredients and they have dates/raisens? but i thought these were high in GI?

Anyway otherwise I think i've done a good job so i'll see how it goes! I lost 3.5stone on WW 2 years ago and was a nice BMI of 23. Felt great. Since then 2 stone has crept back on and I havn't managed to stick to WW like I used to which is partly blood sugar probs and partly just being hungry! Oh and a pizza lack of willpower issue on a weekend (at least 2 one of which a takeaway! eek).

I hope Quinoa isn't horrible! I'll find out soon!

Anyway a week on Monday (actually make it a week on Weds for weigh in day!) i'll let you know how i got on and if i lost!

Thanks again

Becks

 

[Plumfoodie]

Enjoy your first week! The dates etc. in the Nakd bars are paired with the protein in the nuts, so it's ok. I am not actually sure if they are low GI or more sort of medium, but they don't make me feel all sugary-hyper. You should always have some kind of protein with a carb as that will help lower the overall GI of the meal.

Quinoa is nice, but unless your package says very clearly that it is pre-washed then make sure you rinse it in at least 3 changes of cold water (I put it in a sieve, dunk the sieve into a bowl of water, rub the grains around with my fingers, then pull the sieve out and change the water - after doing this three times I rinse the quinoa in the sieve under the tap) as it has a natural bitter coating that can make you go BLECH!

Looking forward to hearing how you get on, any questions or if you just want to post a food diary then feel free.

 

[CaliSweden]

I take a few sultanas to my musli in the mornings too.

That's great that your shopping cart looked healthy and unprocessed foods. Soon you'll be on your way to a new and better you

I'm really naughty if you've read my daily food logs in my diary here. But like Molly says 80/20 rule. Quinoa is really good actually, even my guy likes it alot. I usually cook it with one chicken or vegetable bullion cube. I've added crushed garlic to it last time too, and it was very yummy.

I'm sure you'll do well with GI/GL, it's a very forgiving diet compared to a lot of others. It really doesn't feel like a diet at all. Plus you'll have a lot more energy and you don't feel hungry all day since you eat 5 times a day

 

[CaliSweden]

How's low GI going for you Becksjane? Haven't heard from you.