Lifestyle Choices

Store-cupboard staples

These staple ingredients will ensure that you are always able to rustle up a low-GL meal at a moment’s notice.

• Low-GL Get Up & Go (a delicious smoothie mix that you blend with fruit.)
• Xylitol (a naturally sweet, low-carb sugar alternative that has 40 per cent fewer calories than sugar).
• Low-sodium salt, or sea salt (to be used in moderation). -*Black peppercorns.
• Marigold Reduced-salt Vegetable Bouillon powder.
• Whole organic rolled oats and oat flakes.

(more…)

Choosing to change your diet and lifestyle doesn’t just improve your health; it also changes your life. Even so, it can be a challenge to get started, and hard to stay on track. The keys to success are effective planning — and developing self-belief.

To be successful, you need to plan ahead and set goals, to give yourself time to prepare, both mentally and practically, for your lifestyle change. Deciding in advance what you are going to do and what you want to achieve will build your enthusiasm and help you to commit to the diet, to see off the temptation to stray beforeyou get started.

The most important tip of all is: Believe you can succeed. Your self-belief and the way you talk to yourself will influence your ability to stay the course. Supporting each personal ‘wish’ with a positive programme of action will help you to maintain momentum. (more…)

All low-GL foods will help to maintain your blood sugar levels, but there are some that could be considered as ‘wonderfoods’ for their all-round benefits to nutritional health and well-being. These are the shopping priorities and include the best foods for breakfasts and snacking.

Strawberries, raspberries and blueberries have the lowest GL rating of all fruits. They are delicious on their own or with yogurt, or mixed with other berries, and are packed full of antioxidant vitamins as well. (more…)

Foods (and drinks) that are ‘out’

Avoid sugar in its many disguises and foods that contain fast-releasing carbohydrates with a high-GL score.

Avoid bad fats, which occur in foods high in saturated, hydrogenated, processed fats or damaged fats, such as sausages, fried food and junk food.

Stop eating any foods you’re allergic to, and find alternatives. Avoid alcohol during the first two weeks to a month on your diet, as its effect on the blood is similar to sugar.

Limit or avoid caffeinated drinks. Ideally, avoid coffee altogether and have no more than two cups of weak tea a day. Caffeinated fizzy drinks are very bad news as they play havoc with your blood sugar levels and will leave you craving more. (more…)

All diets focus on weight loss, and there is general acceptance that the closer you are to your ideal weight, the healthier you will be, with less risk of life-threatening and debilitating diseases.

However, your weight is only a part of the picture. Your lean muscle tissue is important as well. Vital body organs, such as your heart, liver and kidneys, need to be supported by lean tissue, as does your whole body. That is why fitness is so important. When we exercise we shape up on the inside as well as the outside.

Muscle uses up more glucose, and therefore calories, than fat meaning that muscle (or lean mass) helps you burn fat. This means that if you are heavy, but fit, your weight may not be as much of a problem as you think. On the other hand, if you are thin, but lightweight and lacking in muscle tone, you may not be as fit as you suppose. How can this be? (more…)

5 EXERCISE - FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES

Exercise - for at least 15 minutes a day - helps to stabilise your blood sugar levels and reduce your appetite.

It seems that the less we move, the more we eat - and vice versa. The human body needs physical activity to work properly, just as it needs water or vitamins. The right kind of exercise will increase muscle and boost the rate at which you burn fat for up to 15 hours afterwards. A pound of muscle burns many more calories a day than a pound of fat, so every pound of fat you lose, and every pound of muscle you gain will further increase your body’s long-term ability to burn fat.

To kick-start this process, start by doing 15 minutes exercise a day, or 20 minutes five times a week, or 35 minutes three times a week. Go for it! The short and long-term benefits will far outweigh the initial strain. (more…)

There are five core principles at the heart of the Holford Low-GL Diet. Each of them is a positive guideline in its own right, and each supports the others. All five are easy to follow, and essential if you are serious about achieving permanent weight loss and 100 per cent health:

1 Balance your blood sugar.

2 Eat good fats; avoid bad fats.

3 Eliminate allergies.

4 Supplement for success.

5 Exercise for at least 15 minutes a day.

The 21 days of menus listed later articles do all the initial meal planning for you. You can use the recipes as part of your weight-loss diet, or follow the recommendations to modify them for a maintenance diet that will keep you at your ideal weight. (more…)

We are built of what we eat and the balance of our diet can affect both our physical and mental well-being. Many dietary imbalances may cause some depression of mood.

BLOOD SUGAR

If you take in too few calories, as you may during a fast or aperiod of dieting, you may feel tired, lethargic and low. This is because your level of blood sugar has decreased — energy, well-being and clear thinking require an adequate level of sugar in the blood so that the brain, muscles and other organs can help themselves to as much immediate energy as they require from moment to moment. The brain and nerves are completely dependent on blood sugar since they cannot get energy from other foods in the blood, such as protein. (more…)

1. Diabetes

Insulin is a hormone that controls the provision of blood sugar (glucose) to the tissues of your body where it’s used for energy. Diabetes is a metabolic disease that affects your body’s ability to make or respond to insulin. Type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes, is an inherited disease that affects your pancreas, destroying its ability to make insulin. Type 1 diabetes usually occurs during childhood or adolescence.

Ninety per cent of people with diabetes have type 2 (or non-insulindependent) diabetes. In this type, your body cannot use the insulin properly. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs after age 30.

Take charge, take care, take action

A. If you have a family history of diabetes, watch out for any signs or symptoms. (more…)

Knowing how to read nutrient labels will help you to make better food choices when shopping. Marketing slogans that call a product ‘healthy’ or ‘natural‘ can make a food sound a lot better than the ingredients would merit. When we are too busy we tend to believe what is written on the front of the package, rather than taking the time to read what is on the back. For example, popcorn is considered a great low-fat snack. However, if you buy the microwave or prepared versions, you will find they can be a lot higher in salt and fat than if you buy dried corn and pop it yourself. If advertising can be misleading, let’s have a look at what some of these terms really mean.

A. ‘Lite’ or ‘Light’

This can mean a number of things and not necessarily that the product is lower in kilojoules or fat. Lite potato crisps may be thinly sliced and lightly salted, but they may still contain a high fat content. Light olive oil has a lighter flavour, light beer has less alcohol content, light margarine has less fat, light cheese has less fat and salt. It is important you check the label for what it is that has been ‘lightened’. (more…)