The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies (21 page)

You're less obsessive about food and calorie counting than someone trying to lose weight quickly. In other words, you don't let weight loss consume your whole life.

Cons:

Results happen over months, not weeks. (
Note:
This varies; some people may lose 1/2 to 1 pound per week. In general, though, the overall process is slower.)

Failing to see immediate results when you're making positive changes can be frustrating, requiring you to find other ways to self-motivate than looking at the scale.

Tak
ing a Close Look at Your Dieting History

Reviewing your dieting history can give you a glimpse into whether a low-glycemic diet will work for you long term. It can also give you some strategies for approaching a low-glycemic diet differently than past diets you may have tried.

Looking back at past dieting attempts to see what worked and what didn't is alwaysgood idea. By truly evaluating your past dieting history you can prepare yourself to try a new approach instead of sticking to the same old style that never worked for you in the first place.

In the next sections, I explore a few factors to think about regarding your past dieting experience. When you know the dieting style that works for you and you're able to recognize bad dieting behaviors such as restrictive dieting and yo-yo dieting, you'll have a better shot at making your low-glycemic diet a true lifestyle change.

Evaluating types
of diets you've tried

As you determine how best to adopt a low-glycemic lifestyle, take some time to evaluate the types of diets you've tried in the past. Were they strict? Did they call for you to eliminate certain foods or follow menus? Did you have to buy specific food? Not all diets work the same for all people, which is why the goal of this exercise is to help you find your personal dieting style. (
Note:
At times you may need to use a mix of styles to get yourself on track. That's fine so long as you find those styles that work for you long term.)

So many people try to fit into a dieting style that just doesn't work for them, making it difficult for them to stick with it for the long haul. For example, if you aren't much into counting calories, like me, depending on calorie counting as the main focus of your diet is difficult. Allow yourself to let go of this model and instead focus on your choices so you don't get stuck in a behavior that isn't getting you results.

Anyone can lose weight, but only a small percentage of people can keep it off. Part of that process is discovering what type of dieting really works for you.

One of the reasons I love the low-glycemic diet is that you can really make it fit your dieting personality, thereby molding it into the perfect diet for you. For example,

If you're a numbers person and really like counting and tracking calories,you may enjoy taking the approach of counting your glycemic load for the day.

If you like structure, planning, and lists, then making a low-glycemic meal plan and shopping list each week will work well for you.

If you like simple rules, you may benefit from setting up how many low-glycemic foods you want to use in a meal or making sure you have a fruit or vegetable each meal.

If you respond better when you pay attention to your body's cues, then you'll be pleased to know that the moderate approach of a low-glycemic diet allows you the flexibility to make educated choices based on your needs at that time. (So if you're at a party and craving potato chips, you can feel comfortable balancing a small portion of that high-glycemic craving with lower-glycemic foods.)

Rethinking restr
ictive dieting

Restricting your food choices too much almost always backfires. If you've been on enough diets in the past, you've probably experienced this firsthand. I know I've seen it in clients I've worked with. I always find that people feel they need to follow a very strict diet to stay on track, assuming they'll blow it if they're given any leeway. Yet when I ask them whether they were able to follow the strict diet long term, the answer is always no. So clearly the strict approach doesn't work. But don't just take my word for it; there's a significant body of research around to back up this observation. This research shows that when you restrict yourself from certain foods, that action causes you to be more focused on the food and end up overeating when you do have it.

Makes sense, doesn't it? Imagine for a minute if I tell you that you can't eat a cookie. You then see a homemade chocolate chip cookie that looks delicious, yet you tell yourself, "No, I can't have it." Then you start thinking more and more about how good that cookie must taste. When you finally break down and eat it, you explode and say, "Well, I already ate one. I'll eat more and go back on my diet tomorrow." Such a scenario is common for many people.

Don't forget to pay attention to your dieting history too. If you've never been able to follow restrictive food rules long term, trying to be utterly strict with a low-glycemic diet will be a never-ending battle. Try not to look at high-glycemic foods as all the foods you have to restrict yourself from; if you do, you may become overly focused on them! Instead, adopt the mindset that all foods are okay as long as you balance them appropriately.

A low-glycemic diet can work very well as long as you don't approach it as restricting certain foods altogether, especially if this approach has backfired on you before.

If you feel you're having difficulties abandoning a restrictive mindset, reach out and get some help from a counselor trained to handle eating issues.

Your thinking style can affect your weight-loss results

Inga Treitler, a cultural anthropologist and researcher at The National Weight Control Registry, followed ten individuals who lost 30 or more pounds and kept it off for a year or more. She had them take the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) questionnaire that assesses thinking styles and helps people define how to solve problems. What Treitler found is that people typically fall into one of four quadrants:

"
A" quadrant:
People in this group are numbers people. They're drawn to mathematical and analytical solutions, and they often overanalyze situations so much that they have difficulty taking action. A-quadrant folks do better with a combination of number tracking (such as calories and/or the number of steps they take each day) and regular coaching or nutrition counseling to help them take action.

"B" quadrant:
These individuals love structure and routes. They always have a plan and are the type to keep a planner with all of their appointments scheduled. Guess what? This group is the most successful with a traditional diet approach of following menu plans and tracking progress, which makes sense because B-quadrant folks are comfortable following plans. B-quadrant individuals do well with menu-planning services, tracking calories, counting glycemic load, and setting goals because they feel comfortable with a specific, structured plan.

"C" quadrant:
These folks are spiritual and emotional and are very connected to the human experience. This group benefits from a nondiet approach to weight loss rather than a strict diet regimen. Why? Because these folks are more comfortable learning about their internal relationship with food, being mindful, and getting to know their food triggers. They benefit from personal guidance from a coach or nutritionist who practices a nondiet approach.

"D" quadrant:
This group is very visual, enjoys taking risks and trying new things, and gets bored easily. D-quadrant individuals benefit from a nondiet approach that uses visual examples of meal preparation as opposed to a rigid dietary plan because they'd get tired of following a meal plan or eating in a strict way.

Another interesting thing that Treitler found in her observations is that all successful long-term losers had found a coach, mentor, or guide while they were losing their weight. During this time, they all underwent some sort of major life transformation. They stepped away from their old lifestyle and into a new one, letting go of all of their old hang-ups around food. They also incorporated some sort of meditative practice into their lives, such as walking or yoga. This self time seems to be an important link to help people let go of some of the behaviors that aren't serving them anymore.

Putting a stop to yo
-yo dieting

Yo-yo dieting
— when you try a diet, lose weight, go back to your old habits, and gain the weight back — is what I consider the plague of weight loss. It's a vicious cycle that's all too easy to fall into every time a new diet comes out.

Yo-yo dieting can affect your metabolism in a negative way, making it much easier to gain weight later on. Plus you have the added frustration of always struggling with weight loss. Add to all that the fact that, according to research, yo-yo dieting may even affect your immune system in a negative way, and you realize how important it is to avoid this behavior.

If you're a person who frequently gets stuck in the cycle of yo-yo dieting, I suggest you do your best to let go of the diet mentality and look at the low-glycemic diet as a new lifestyle that requires you to be committed to a new way of living.

If you're looking at a low-glycemic diet as a temporary way to get your weight down, you'll likely end up in this yo-yo trap yet again. The trick to ending yo-yo dieting is to embrace a new, realistic diet regimen and be willing to let go of your old behaviors. Like any new thought process, reorienting how you think about food and eating will take some time, but that's perfectly fine (and normal!).