Plumfoodie's diary and ramblings

[Plumfoodie]

Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself. I have ME so am not as frequent a poster as I would like but I do lurk and comment when I can!

I have just signed up to Tesco Diets low GI plan for the second time; I did it about 5 years ago and lost well but then became ill and my weight went up. This time around I tried Slimming World initially but had very slow losses and came to the conclusion that it wasn't for me. I suffer from hypoglycaemia and was eating big portions of the wrong carbs which made me crash, and when I calculated my daily calories they were high enough that it was no wonder I wasn't losing. So back to GI/GL for me! I like the Tesco plan because the menu planning is straightforward but you have the flexibility to use your own recipes as well. And I love being able to have good fats in moderation; it really bugged me on SW that this was so difficult. You could have a KitKat but heaven forbid you want some almond butter!

On SW it took me 6 months to lose a stone; I have lost an average of a pound a week since restarting low GI four weeks ago. I don't expect this rate to continue (having ME makes your body do weird things with food - it is very inclined to put fat on and very disinclined to burn it off, and of course you can't exercise and sometimes have almost nonexistent activity levels) but it's great to see some forward progress!

I have a lot of cookbooks (both 'normal' and GI/GL) and love reading and planning to try new recipes. Since restarting Tesco Diets I have tried to be fairly good (found that on SW I was eating too many naughty snacks within my syn allowance just because I could); I treat myself to one of the Green and Black's 20g mini chocolate bars a couple of times a week or a 100cal pack of M&S crunchy lentil snacks if I'm desperate for something crispy and that seems to be working so far.

Most of my meals are from scratch as I have to avoid chemicals/processed food as much as possible. Fortunately my husband is a very good sport and willing to cook whatever is in the meal plan for that day. He's a skinny runner type so has to supplement 1000cal/day or so on top of what I eat, which is sometimes tricky!

I am trying to limit bread to a max of 2 slices/day (but usually 1 or none), or a wholewheat/Food Doctor pitta if I'm having wheat - otherwise it tends to be oatcakes. I also like the thin-sliced chewy rye bread toasted. In theory I am trying to cut down on gluten a little bit but in practice it doesn't always work out that way!

Anyway, sorry to have blathered on so long! Looking forward to reading the posts here; it's inspiring to see people who are doing really well or successfully maintaining using this way of eating.

 

[irish molly]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You sound very knowledgeable on the whole Gi/GL thing. You can share all your tips and tricks. You lost well before so can do it again. You have made a good start at dropping a pound a week.
With your illness it has to be an even tougher effort for you, so respect to you.
I love GL. I'm not active due to lot of back problems but I managed 2 to 3 pounds a week loss when I followed GL very strictly. I'm maintaining nicely and can enjoy lovely foods. I'll never eat any other way now.
Good luck and keep posting to update your progress both good and bad.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Hi Molly, thanks for the welcome. I have been reading the forum and your loss/maintenance is so inspirational. Sorry to hear about your back problems but it seems that the GI/GL way works even without much exercise.

I don't feel I've got everything sussed, not by a long shot! The Tesco plan allows for things that I wouldn't have considered to be on plan (bananas and mango chutney - though not together!) which confuses me sometimes, and I also have to swot up as I'm not sure anymore where things like carrots and couscous fit in for adapting my own favourites. Trying not to obsess too much though and just focus on what seems sensible and makes me feel good.

 

[irish molly]

You are so right about not obsessing. The thing to do is to get into a mindset that this is a way of life and not a diet.
I read Holford, Denby, etc. And pinched bits of their wisdom to follow on my own gl road.
Bananas are a higher GL food, so one small one is ok
Carrots are a root veg so have a higher starch content. Starch converts to sugar. If you love them, still have some but in a smaller quantity.
Couscous is ok but again, in slightly smaller quantities. I add about 30g to a stirfry. Quinoa is a good substitute for it and rice, pasta, potato etc and you can have a good portion, 65g, for your carb portion of your meal.
Little by little, make changes and you will soon see results. The plan you are following will have been designed to give results so stick with it.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Thanks for the info. I just get confused sometimes as one source will say one thing and then another source says something else and you start wondering who is right! But I think you're right that we all have to find what works for us personally.

The thing I keep trying to bear in mind about the Tesco site is that its main focus is calorie control rather than following the strictest of GI/GL principles. For example, tonight we are having fish with a bulgar wheat salad and almonds, which Tesco is happy with but would have Ian Marber tutting! I'll be happy too though as it's yummy.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Just curious what anyone thinks of this recipe in terms of being low GI/GL? It was quite nice although we did have to add garlic, because we add garlic to almost everything. ;-) Are the beans and carrots together too much? We had some extra broccoli with it.

Chicken & white bean stew recipe - Recipes - BBC Good Food

 

[irish molly]

Just curious what anyone thinks of this recipe in terms of being low GI/GL? It was quite nice although we did have to add garlic, because we add garlic to almost everything. ;-) Are the beans and carrots together too much? We had some extra broccoli with it.

Chicken & white bean stew recipe - Recipes - BBC Good Food

That's a lovely recipe and very Gi friendly. I'd use less oil and add a red pepper and one carrot.
Why not copy and paste it into the recipe thread in the stickies section.
Personally, I'd omit the oil. I follow Holford's tip on dry frying or steam frying. You don't add oil just pop food in a good non stick pan with a lid. I got a great one off Qvc from the cooks essentials range. Not dear either.
The thighs will release enough fat in them to fry the other ingredients. I love haricot beans too. I must make this next week.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Good idea to sub red pepper for some of the carrot. The recipe comments also suggest adding some leek which I'll do next time. Let me know what you think of it if you try it!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Chose to be a bit naughty last night! Although wound up being a bit naughtier than I'd meant to originally as we ran out of time to cook dinner before going to the cinema. So had a small burger before my planned small pick'n'mix indulgence. Now that I'm eating low GI/GL, even a very small amount of sweets seemed like loads and I enjoyed each one instead of just mindlessly stuffing them into my gob.

I know sugar is probably the worst thing to cheat on, but it's not every day you watch the last ever Harry Potter film!

 

[irish molly]

Ah HP deserved a bit of sweet treat. No harm done once you can get back on track. Adopt the 80/20 rule. You decide when and what your 20% treats are.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Back on track today, apart from missing breakfast due to sleeping in! Can't do these late nights any more and for some reason when we got in at 11 decided we couldn't leave the raspberries/redcurrants already picked from our garden (why we were running late for dinner) until the next day as they were starting to look smooshy, and so started making jam! Which we've labelled Midnight Mystery Jam, the mystery being why we weren't sensible enough to leave it 8 hours until the morning to make it!

 

[irish molly]

Ah I love the idea of making jam so late in the night. Raspberries go off so quickly.
I hope you froze some. A 150 g frozen berries with a 100 ml of yoghurt makes a fab dessert.

 

[Plumfoodie]

All the home grown raspberries tend to end up either in jam or just eaten fresh, but I do keep a big bag of frozen mixed berries in the freezer for puddingy-type occasions. Expensive to buy in the normal supermarkets but Costco do a huge bag at a very reasonable price.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Can't believe I have only just found out that the flavoured low-fat EasiYo yoghurts are unsweetened! I had been avoiding them and only having the plain slimmers or low-fat Greek varieties as I was sure the others would have artificial sweetener (which I can't have) in them. But they don't!

I'm so excited; I've added them to my shopping list along with Nakd bars. Nice to have some flavoured yoghurts instead of always plain (I do like the plain Easiyo too, not as tart as some of the shop-bought ones) and can always add a tiny bit of honey to sweeten if needed. I find most commercial flavoured yoghurts too sweet anyway so this may be the perfect solution.

 

[irish molly]

I love Easi yo too. There is such variety in them. I don't worry if some of them are sweetened as I just have a little less of them. The Greek n honey one is fab!! Sweet but fab!!!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Aggravated this week as I've put on 1.2lb. Not feeling good about trying to lose at the mo and unsure about carrying on with Tesco or just doing meals from my books. Ian Marber says you shouldn't restrict calories (relative to what your body needs, obviously) as your metabolism will just drop, and that the low GI/GL way of eating should make you lose anyway. Any thoughts on this?

I shouldn't be surprised really, apart from the Harry Potter sweeties, I had a small glass of wine last night and a (within my cals but not low GL) chorizo pasta recipe AND a small 20g dark chocolate bar. I knew at the time it was a bad idea but was knackered and fed up from work. And I didn't have a weekly plan this week, which never works well for me. My weight has been up and down every day this week, which is unusual for me, but my digestion has also been a bit screwy (sorry if TMI) as I haven't been having as much veg or crispbreads as I did on SW. Going to try to really up the veg this week to see if that helps and build more Ryvita in as snacks.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Also am curious what people consider a portion of porridge oats? One of the Tesco recipes uses 50g which seems high to me after SW!

(the recipe itself is really nice: put porridge in a bowl with a grated apple, 4 dried apricots and 4 fl oz milk, stir and leave overnight in fridge - in the morning I microwave for 1 minute to take the chill off, then top with 5 fl oz lowfat natural yoghurt and 10 chopped almonds. I do wonder if it's too much porridge/fruit though, but the cals work out ok for a breakfast so I just don't know.)

 

[irish molly]

That sounds a huge breakfast. Are you sure it's not for two!! The 50g porridge is ok but all the fruit really ups the sugar content.
I have 40-50 g porridge made on water and add 15g mixed seed and 20g mixed dried fruit OR one apricot chopped finely. I find this very filling.
Any week I gain weight it is always down to portion sizes getting too big and/or too many snacks.
If you don't want to follow a particular GL plan like marber, Denby,Holford or tesco etc then follow GL principles and keep an eye to overall calorie intake. A couple of weeks tracking cals of GL friendly foods will give you a better handle on portion sizes.
Eat three small meals a day and have a mid morning and afternoon snack. Regular intake is the best way to keep sugar levels even.
I've posted my weeks menus on my thread and this will give you an idea of daily intake.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Thanks Molly, it did seem like a huge breakfast which is why I was asking. That is definitely for one person! I will modify it to be less huge and also less sweet. This is an example of where I don't feel the Tesco low GI diet really is one. :-/

Thanks also for the other tips; I get discouraged easily so everything helps. Hope you are having a good week!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Also, I hope you don't mind me asking, but when you were losing did you try to have a calorie deficit (ie 500cals less a day than your body needs will make you lose 1lb a week) or try to have the amount of calories your body needed but all from low GI foods eaten as small meals/snacks spread through the day to keep your blood sugar level?

That is what I am struggling with at the moment, which of those two options is best? With the calorie deficit I am worried about my metabolism dropping but with the second option am having trouble finding faith that I wouldn't stay the same that way. If that makes sense!