Glycemic Index (GI) is a measure of the rate at which the food you eat causes your blood sugars to rise. Low-GI foods cause blood sugar levels to rise more slowly than high-GI foods, and this helps you to feel fuller for longer. Refined and starchy carbohydrates normally have a high GI; this means they cause a spike in blood sugar levels, which then crash, leaving you feeling hungry again and so encouraging you to eat more.
The size of the spike in blood sugars is not just a result of the type of food you eat, but the amount—which is measured in Glycemic Load (GL). Eating a big bowl of pasta is going to produce a larger, more sustained spike than eating a small bowl. For more information, go to: http://www.glycemicindex.com/.
As a rule of thumb, be wary of carbs with a GI over 50, or a GL over 20, such as pasta, bread, and processed cereals. Switching to lower GL versions of these staples can produce impressive improvements in blood sugar control. You should also be aware that GI and GL only relate to carbs. You won’t find foods rich in protein or fat (such as chicken or butter) listed in the database above as they don’t significantly affect blood sugar levels.
Ideally not. We have tried to avoid use of sweeteners of any kind in our recipes, because they tend to perpetuate hunger signals and sugar cravings. Part of the aim is to help people lose their sweet tooth. So for the occasional sweet treat we aim to use sugar from fruit such as dates or include a small amount of maple syrup.
Olive oil and rapeseed oil are rich in “monounsaturated fats,” which are also found in avocados, olives, almonds, and hazelnuts. Monounsaturated fats are not only good for you when they are cold, they are also better at resisting damage caused by heating than the polyunsaturated fats found in sunflower and other vegetable oils. When fats and oils are heated to “smoke point” (when frying or baking) they undergo oxidation: they react with oxygen in the air to form aldehydes and lipid peroxides. Consuming or inhaling these, even in small amounts, has been linked to increased risk of cancer and heart disease. We have chosen olive, rapeseed, and coconut oils for this book as they release less of these nasty aldehydes.
We like coconut oil in particular because of its flavor, but also because there’s evidence it can be helpful in reducing central obesity (i.e., visceral fat). In one study,I 40 female volunteers were randomly allocated to either 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of coconut oil or soybean oil per day for 12 weeks. Unlike those consuming soybean oil, the women consuming coconut oil saw significant reductions in waist size and improvements in their cholesterol profile. For drizzling on salads and over vegetables, you might prefer the stronger, slightly nutty flavor of extra-virgin olive oil. Continue to avoid foods containing trans fats (present in many processed foods and some margarines).
We recommend you keep snacking to a minimum. In the time between meals your body has a chance to go into fat-burning and repair mode. That said, we understand many people starting this diet have had fairly haphazard eating patterns as a result of busy lives and may have ended up relying on starchy meals and snacks. To counter this, we include lots of options for practical and healthy light meals or snacks to keep the wolf from the door.
If you are clear about why you are doing this diet, and what you want to get out of it, you will find sticking to it much easier. Consider your GOAL:
Get. What do you want to get out of it? What target do you want to get to? Is your main aim to reach a specific weight? If so, write it down. Is it to improve raised blood sugars? What level are you aiming for? To reverse diabetes? To avoid starting extra medication or starting insulin? And what is motivating you to get there?
Opportunities. What resources or opportunities do you have around you? Family? Friends? Professionals? Diet buddy? You could join the community at www.thebloodsugardiet.com
Approach. How will you approach this? What do you need to do before you start? Set up a diet diary first?
Look for successes. Little by little, you should find this new approach will improve your life in all sorts of unforeseen ways. Notice the positive changes along the way and celebrate them—whether it is improved blood sugars, blood pressure or blood lipids, losing weight, or simply having more energy and feeling better. Enjoy the change.
You should avoid a low-calorie/fasting diet if you are: underweight and/or have a history of an eating disorder, are under 18 years of age, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a significant psychiatric disorder, or are recovering from surgery. It is unwise to diet if you are unwell, frail or have a fever, or if you are under active investigation or treatment, or have a significant medical condition. You should consult your doctor before starting any diet, particularly if you are on certain medications such as warfarin, insulin or drugs for diabetes or blood pressure. Likewise if you are a type 1 diabetic.
It can be helpful to confirm with your doctor that you really are a type 2 diabetic as there are other rarer forms of diabetes that will not respond in the same way to weight loss. A gentler approach may be more suitable—simply following a low-carb, Med-style approach, in which you watch your portions but don’t count the calories. You can use these recipes as a guide to do that, doubling quantities, and adding extra vegetables and non-starchy foods. Although it takes longer, many people get on well with this approach.
Many doctors and health professionals are already enthusiastically on board and supporting patients doing the Blood Sugar Diet, with considerable success. Some are even doing it themselves. However, there are also health professionals who are understandably cautious about supporting new diets with which they are unfamiliar.
It may help to print the following document from Dr. Roy Taylor who has helped many patients to successfully reverse their diabetes on an 800-calorie a day diet. He is a world-renowned diabetologist and has produced lots of research demonstrating the health benefits of the diet. Go to http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/documents/Informationfordoctors_revised_April14.pdf.
Either way, before you start, if you have not had your blood tested for diabetes and raised blood lipids, or your blood pressure, weight, and waist measured recently, it would be worth doing so. There are some helpful tests for assessing your diabetes risk on our website thebloodsugardiet.com.
All calorie counts and nutritional information in these recipes are calculated per portion.
First things first—a bit of kitchen hygiene. This doesn’t mean getting the bleach out. It means removing those temptations hidden in the corners of your kitchen drawers—chocolate, Nutella . . . whatever it is that might test your resolve.
If you do quite a bit of cooking, you probably already have a lot of the things on the list below. However, if you are relatively new to cooking or you are going to radically change your diet and way of eating with this book, you may find it useful to go through your kitchen cupboards and then stock up at the local supermarket. You certainly don’t need to buy everything on the list. But you are more likely to cook something if you have most of what you need in store.
Some of these ingredients may look unfamiliar and some frighteningly wholesome, but bear with us and try them if you can, as variety is hugely important to your diet and we are hoping to introduce you to an enjoyable and healthier way of eating. Some of the ingredients were new to us, too. We are still having fun working out interesting and tasty things to make with chia seeds. (We have marked with asterixes the items that we use a lot.)
cardamom pods*
cayenne pepper
Chinese 5-spice
cinnamon (ground or sticks)
cumin (ground & seeds)*
curry powder (or paste)
garam masala
nutmeg
paprika*
piri piri flavoring
red pepper flakes*
sea/table salt*
spice mix
turmeric (ground)
bay leaves (fresh or dried)
coriander (ground)
oregano*
tarragon
thyme*