THE METHOD OF WEIGHT LOSS
So here we are at the heart of the
matter. You may have found the previous chapters rather long, given that you
are dying to discover what you actually have to do and itching to get down to
applying the rules. After all, they are what will enable you to attain your
goal of losing weight and never putting it on again, and all this while
continuing to lead your normal social, professional and family life.
But I must stress, especially to
any of you who felt inclined to skip some of the preceding chapters, that they
are absolutely essential if you are to apply the principles of the method
logically and successfully. It is, indeed, vital to understand how certain
mechanisms work and also to rid your head forever of a few popular
misconceptions on weight loss, such as the calorie theory.
As I have already explained, the
method has two phases:
- the
actual weight loss phase
- the stable weight phase, when you cruise
along steadily, maintaining your new ideal weight.
PHASES I
WEIGHT LOSS
First and foremost, with a new
undertaking and an ambitious one at that it is important to set yourself a
clear goal.
So you should decide how many
pounds you want to lose. Of course, each individual's body has its own rate of
response, determined by a number of factors: gender, age, nutritional and dietary
history, and heredity. This is why it is difficult to say how many pounds a
week you will be able to lose. Some people may shed two pounds, others a bit
less. And some people experience a dramatic weight loss at first, followed by
more gradual loss. So do not worry if it takes you longer than someone else you
know.
Perhaps you already have a more or
less clear idea of how much you would like to lose. Many people would be happy
to get rid of, say, half a stone to a stone, when really they could do with
shedding twice that much. Personally, I would encourage you to aim high. After
all, you are no doubt a perfectionist in your work. Why not be a perfectionist
about your figure too?
FOODS TO
MONITOR CLOSELY
I know from experience that,
psychologically, it is not a good idea to begin on a negative note. So I always
used to try and start by emphasising to people what they were allowed to eat,
and then telling them what they were not. But this really is unnecessarily
tedious, since the list of what you can eat is so long that it could go on
forever. The list of what is forbidden is, by contrast, so short but so
important that it is worth concentrating on that first.
SUGAR
Sugar is the hands-down, outright
winner in the bad carbohydrates stakes. It should always carry the skull and
crossbones symbol, like other lethal substances. For it is indeed a product
that can be positively dangerous when consumed in large quantities as it
unfortunately is by most people in our society, and especially by children.
Elsewhere I have devoted a whole
chapter to sugar, so that you can be convinced once and for all of its evil
role in our diet and of its nefarious consequences, not only in terms of excess
weight, but also and most importantly because it is implicated in chronic
fatigue, diabetes, gastritis, ulcers, dental caries and heart disease.
You may think it is impossible to
do without sugar. Well, it is not. The proof is that for tens of thousands of
years human beings did not have such a thing, and they were none the worse for
that. Just the opposite, in fact.
Less than 200 years ago, sugar was
still a luxury hardly ever available to most of the population. Today it does
as much harm as alcohol and drugs put together.
But, you ask, if you cut out sugar
completely, how do you maintain the essential minimum of glucose in your
bloodstream?
A good question!
The answer is that the body does
not need to get sugar from outside (this is just what upsets the blood glucose
level). It can produce its own sugar in the form of glucose when it needs it,
and this is far and away what it prefers to do. Glucose is, of course, the
body's only fuel.
The body determines how much
glucose it needs as it goes along, and as it does so, body fat is simply
converted into the glucose needed. So no more sugar! You can take one of two
courses; either do without (with my full approval) or replace it with an
artificial sweetener).
BREAD
Bread could have taken a whole
chapter to itself, there are so many things that could be said about it. Good
things, if we are talking about ”good bread”, so rare a commodity these days,
but especially bad things when it comes to the unsatisfactory product being
sold by most bakeries.
Ordinary bread, being made with
refined flour, is totally devoid of anything of use to the normal human
metabolism. Nutritionally, its only contribution is energy in the form of
starch. From the digestive point of view, it means nothing but trouble, given
that all the elements that would ensure it was well digested have been removed
in the course of refining the flour. Moreover, the whiter the bread is, the
”worse” it is, since its whiteness is the result of the flour being very
heavily refined. Wholemeal bread[1], and
especially 100% stone ground wholemeal bread, are much more acceptable, being
made in the old-fashioned way with unrefined flours containing fibre. They
release notably less glucose than white bread and are therefore less
”fattening”. But good though they are, even these types of bread will
temporarily be ruled out, at least with main meals. You should, however, eat
them normally at breakfast. We will look at this in detail a little later on.
If you are worried about giving up bread, let me reassure you right away. If,
in common with 95 % of the population, you consume ordinary white bread, you
have nothing to lose but your excess pounds by giving it up. On the contrary,
you have everything to gain from such a wise decision, refined flour being so
bad for your health. On the other hand, if you normally eat only stone ground
or other wholemeal bread, made with unrefined flour (which shows you already
have some good eating habits), you may lose the advantages of the fibre in
giving it up.
But rest assured, not only can you
go on eating it for breakfast, but we shall also be recommending that you
consume fibre-containing vegetables, which are of as much, if not more, benefit
for good intestinal function.
STARCHY FOODS
By starchy foods I mean floury
foods containing starch. Most such foods are bad carbohydrates and some need to
be completely excluded from your diet. The number one starchy food is the
potato. You nay be interested to know that when the potato was brought back
from the New World by explorers in 540, the French firmly rejected it,
considering this root vegetable fit only for pigs. They thought it so
unpleasant they refused to eat it, unlike some “northern” European peoples,
such as the Germans, the Scandinavians and the Irish, who took to it readily.
It has to be said that some of these people had relatively little choice, often
having not much else to eat.
For two centuries the French
continued to pour corn on the ”pig root". It was not until 1789, when
Larmentier published his Treatise on the cultivation and uses of the potato,
that people in France finally came round to eating it. The famine that was
raging at the time was an additional incentive. It was later discovered that
the potato is rich in vitamins and minerals, though it loses most of these when
it is cooked and, especially, when it is peeled.
Recent tests have shown that the
potato releases a very large quantity of glucose into the system. Traditional
nutritionists generally classed the potato as a ”slow sugar”, but this is
mistaken. Compared to the glycaemic index of 100 of pure glucose, the boiled
potato has been shown to have a glycaemic index of 70, which makes it a bad
carbohydrate. Moreover, it has also been demonstrated that the method of
cooking potato changes the structure of its molecule, which can make matters
worse: mashed potato has an index of 90, while baking potatoes in the oven
causes their index to shoot up to 95! So you can look upon the steaming potato
on your neighbour's plate with the utmost contempt! And remember, chips are
potatoes too. (I can feel your resolution beginning to weaken!)
Chips are a carbohydrate-lipid
food, rather like buttered bread. They simply cannot be eaten without the risk
of putting on weight, since the oil used in the frying can be laid down as body
fat.
So think of steak and chips as an
absolute heresy! Do not let the thought of this worst of all possible dietary
combinations even cross your mind! The lipid from the meat and the bad
carbohydrate from the chips constitute a mixture that goes against nature.
I know the cost of foregoing this
favourite meal, but it is the price to be paid for reaching your goal. When you
hit your target weight, you will have no regrets about the sacrifice. What is
more, chips are frequently fried in fats which are very high in saturated fatty
acids, consumption of which constitutes a significant risk factor for
cardiovascular disease.
However, once or twice a year I eat
chips: not because I give in when confronted with a plateful, but because I
make a conscious decision to eat them (when you are no longer trying to lose
weight, you can afford to make this kind of decision). But I do not eat just
any chips. If you are going to indulge in a dietary discrepancy, you may as
well savour it to the full and choose the best to be had. And for maximum
damage limitation, accompany your chips with a green salad. Not only is it
delicious, but the fibre in the salad tends to trap the starch, turning the
combination into a carbohydrate which releases a more limited quantity of
glucose.
When you order meat in a
restaurant, get into the habit of asking what is served with it. There is
always an alternative to potatoes. You can ask for French beans, tomato,
spinach, aubergines, celery, cauliflower, courgettes. And if, unfortunately,
there are only bad carbohydrates to choose from, then order a side-salad.
At home, when it comes to deciding
what to serve with meat, adopt the same principle. Dried beans
Some of you will no doubt be
expecting me to condemn beans out of hand, given what I have just said about
potato. Well, you will be wrong! In the first edition of this book, it is true,
I spared neither the bean nor that noblest of dishes in which it features, the
cassoulet. I now make amends for my hastiness. I have since discovered, to my
surprise and great satisfaction, the virtues of the haricot bean. From now on,
it must be classed as a good carbohydrate by virtue of its very low glycaemic
index[2].
In addition, it is high in
vegetable fibre (particularly soluble fibres) and in minerals.
So it is possible to eat beans in
Phase I in the course of a protein-lipid meal.
Rice
Wholegrain rice, as it is
traditionally consumed in Asia, is an entire food in itself, containing all the
nutritional elements essential to life.
The white rice generally eaten
these days, however, is heavily refined, to the extent that it retains hardly
any nutrients, except starch, the one thing we could well do without.
Ordinary refined rice must
therefore be excluded since, just like refined flour, it constitutes a bad
carbohydrate with high release of glucose[3].
Wholegrain rice, on the other hand, or even better Canadian wild rice, can be
eaten, as long as it is not mixed with lipids, such as butter or cheese. Served
with tomatoes (reduced by cooking) and onions, it can make a complete dish to
be enjoyed by the whole family. It is a great pity it is so difficult to find
wholegrain. rice in restaurants, but this may be due to its slightly
unappealing grey-brown colour.
Corn (Maize)
Maize has been cultivated for
centuries, but has only been eaten by human beings for a few decades. Forty
years ago, not a tin of sweetcom was to be found in Europe, where maize was
grown exclusively as an animal feed.
In the United States, too, it was
used to fatten cattle until the drought of 1929 decimated herds and ruined
farmers in the Midwest. Faced with the real famine that ensued, the hungry
population no longer had beef available, so decided to eat the cattle feed, or
what was left of it.
And that is how America took to
eating ”corn”, a habit that was exported to Europe in the 40s with the post-war
American occupation.
So we should not now be surprised
to discover that maize has a high glycaemic index, given that for centuries it
was used to fatten up cattle. But it is interesting to note that processing
maize pushes up its glycaemic index still further, giving products like popcorn
and cornflakes very high glycaemic potential indeed. So they are extremely
fattening. In addition, processed maize contains a substance that destroys
niacin; this is a vitamin necessary for growth, and lack of it can also cause
metabolic imbalances and abnormal fatigue.
Pasta
Non-wholewheat pasta is by
definition a bad carbohydrate, being made from refined flour, to which are
added lipids such as butter, eggs, cheese and oil. And despite anything the
advertising slogans may say to the contrary, the ”richer ”the pasta, the more
it constitutes a carbohydrate-lipid and goes against our eating rules.
I admit it is a bitter blow to have
to give up pasta, because there is nothing more delicious when it is fresh and
well made.
However, if you have the misfortune
to be served fresh non-whole-wheat pasta (pasta not freshly made is not even
worth considering), summon up your determination and refuse to eat it while you
are in Phase I, the weight-loss phase. When you are cruising along in Phase II,
have some if you think it is worth the sacrifice.
As for whole-wheat pasta, and
especially stone ground whole-wheat pasta, made from unrefined flour, this can
be included in dishes in Phase I in the course of a carbohydrate meal.
Accompanied by a tomato coulis or a
basil sauce, it can constitute a meal in itself.
Indeed, whole-wheat pasta is
classed as a good carbohydrate, having a glycaemic index of only 45.
Other bad
carbohydrates
I have deliberately discussed in
greatest detail the bad carbohydrates you are most likely to be eating on a
regular basis, and which you will have to give up, at least temporarily. Other
bad carbohydrates tend to be foods which contain a good deal of carbohydrate but
very little protein, and which have only poor quality fibre. The combination of
these factors confers on such foods a high glycaemic index. It is worth
mentioning carrots and beetroot in this category. Also to be included are all
the carbohydrate-lipid items, such as biscuits, croissants and pastries, which
should be ruled out in Phase I.
Dark chocolate, if it is the bitter
kind with a high cocoa content, has a low glycaemic index. However, it should
be eaten only very exceptionally during Phase I, as it too constitutes a
carbohydrate-lipid. There is one more rather special kind of carbohydrate we
now need to look at: fruit.
FRUIT
Fruit is a sacred subject. I know
if I was tactless enough to advise you to exclude it from your diet, a good
many of you would shut the book forthwith, scandalised at the mere suggestion.
For fruit has a symbolic value in
our culture. It stands for life, health, prosperity. It is, first and foremost,
a source of vitamins at least, that is what we believe. Well, first let me set
your mind at rest; we are not going to exclude fruit. But it is a question of
learning to eat it in a different way, if we are to enjoy all its benefits
without also suffering its drawbacks, such as a bloated abdomen.
Fruit contains carbohydrates (glucose,
sucrose and especially fructose), but it also has fibre, which lowers its
glycaemic index and reduces the amount of sugar absorbed by the body.
Apples and pears are particularly
rich in pectin (a soluble fibre), which limits the rise in blood glucose.
Energy provided by fruit can be
used rapidly by muscles and is therefore less likely to be stored and to lead
to the accumulation of body fat. This point is not relevant just to the
weight-loss question that we are concerned with. It is based on the chemistry
of digestion. When fruit is eaten with other items, it interferes with the
digestion of those items, while itself losing most of the properties (vitamins
and so on) for which it has been consumed. This is why eating fruit at the end
of a meal is the biggest mistake you can make.
I know that you are probably
viewing this notion with considerable scepticism, so I will explain it a little
here and now, even though these points really belong in another part of the
book.
For starch to be digested, it is
essential that an enzyme called ptyalin is present. This is secreted in the
saliva. Most fruits have the effect of destroying ptyalin, with the result that
any starch consumed along with fruit cannot be digested. The food bolus remains
”in limbo”in the stomach, where the warmth and humidity will cause it to
ferment. Bloating, flatulence and indigestion can often be attributed directly
to this phenomenon. Maybe this explanation sheds a little light on these
familiar symptoms.
Let us now consider what happens
when fruit is consumed with protein-lipids, such as meat or cheese. Fruit
requires rapid passage into the intestine, where it is normally digested, but
in this instance its journey is interrupted for a while in the stomach. For
meat remains for some time in the stomach, where the essential enzymes account
for the most important stage of its digestion The fruit is therefore also
trapped in the stomach where once again the effect of the warmth and humidity
causes fermentation, even producing alcohol, and the whole digestive process is
upset. At the same time not only does the fruit loses all its vitamins, but
(problems never come singly) the protein metabolism is also upset, and the
abnormal decomposition of the proteins results in abdominal bloating.
So fruit must always be eaten on
its own!
That rule should be taught in schools. If it were, children would have fewer
stomach upsets. It has to be said of course, that at their age the body has the
capacity to compensate for errors; but for an adult, and especially for an
older person, fruit at the end of a meal is nothing short of poisonous.
So then when can we eat fruit?
At any time, on an empty stomach.
In the morning for example, before breakfast. But you will then need to wait
about 20 minutes before starting your breakfast You can then eat a
carbohydrate-protein breakfast (wholemeal bread, cereals, skimmed milk)
It is preferable not to eat lipids
after fruit The small amount of insulin triggered by the fruit could lead the
body to store the fats in the ham, eggs, bacon or cheese you might eat for a
protein-lipid breakfast. You could also eat fruit last thing at bight before
bedtime. It would need to be at least two to three ours after your evening
meal. For those who suffer from insomnia (which ought in Any case to be partly
cured by following the Method suggested in this book), it is not a good idea to
consume oranges just before bed, as vitamin C can act as a stimulant.
Fruit can also be eaten in the late
afternoon, provided it is well after the mid-day meal (about three hours) and
at least an hour before any evening meal. You can even eat a meal consisting
entirely of fruit, as long as you really do eat nothing else. As lemon has
virtually no sugar, lemon juice (unsweetened) can be drunk at any time or used
freely in seasoning (with fish or in salad dressings, for example).
Melon as a starter should also be
avoided, though, as it prompts just enough secretion of insulin to trap the
lipids contained in the main course.
I should like to make one last
observation on the subject of fruit. Whenever possible, leave its skin on. The
skin contains most of the fibre that is valuable for intestinal function, and
in some cases most of the vitamins too.
Eating fruit skin and all reduces
its glycaemic potential, too, so you will lose more weight (or put on less) if
you follow this rule. Among the foods to be monitored closely, there remains to
be considered the question of drinks and, chief amongst them, alcohol.
ALCOHOL
Alcohol is fattening! That is what
you believe, because that is what you have been told. You may even have been
made to feel guilty by people who have implied that all your unwanted pounds
could be put down to alcohol, with no need to look further. Let us try and make
an objective assessment.
It is true that alcohol is
fattening. But much less fattening than sugar, white bread, potatoes or rice.
That is why, very soon after you have shed your unwanted pounds, you will be
able to reintroduce wine into your diet in reasonable quantity (up to about
half a litre of wine a day, about three glasses, for a man, though women should
reduce this by a third). The energy provided by alcohol is used by the body as
a first resource for immediate needs, and while the body is using this fuel it
will not be burning up stored body fat. This means that the alcohol is
preventing you losing weight. However, this happens in particular when it is
imbibed on an empty stomach. When the stomach is already full, particularly if
it is full of protein-lipids (such as meat, fish or cheese), the alcohol is
metabolised much less rapidly because it is mixed with these other foods, and
so produces little stored fat. What must be categorically given up is the
aperitif. If you really feel you have to keep your guests company, have
something non-alcoholic like tomato juice or mineral water.
The only noble aperitif, to my
mind, is a glass of good champagne or good white wine (I say ”white”
advisedly). But, I implore you, do not let people adulterate your wine, as
often happens to disguise its mediocre quality, with blackcurrant liqueur or
those other weird syrups which people come up with just for the sake of
something new.
So, if you really must, accept a
glass of champagne but, above all, do not drink it on an empty stomach.
Help yourself to a few ”nibles”first. Beware, though! They must be
non-carbohydrate ”nibbles”. You will soon learn to recognise them. Crisps and
cocktail biscuits of all sorts are out. Olives, cheese, cocktail sausages or
fish are acceptable.
In Phase I, though, you should try
to exclude aperitifs completely. Phase I is the time for being really strict in
applying the basic rules of the Method, as this is the way you will lose
weight.
AFTER DINNER
DRINKS
Cross these off your list too.
Cognac, armagnac and many liqueurs are delicious, and may be an excellent thing
for the French balance of payments, but they will do nothing to improve your
waistline.
Maybe you think that such drinks
(known as ”digestifs” in France) will help you digest your meal. Well, rest
assured; once you have mastered the eating habits advocated in this book, you
will have no indigestion to worry about, even after the most copious of meals.
BEER
I am not going to be much kinder
about beer. In my view, it is a drink to be consumed in the strictest
moderation.
Just as you may know skinny people
who incessantly stuff themselves with bad carbohydrates with no ill effect, you
have probably also met heavy beer drinkers with stomachs as flat as a pancake.
(The wife of one of my best friends falls into this category.)
You do not need to have visited
Germany to know about the usual side-effects of beer drinking, though :
bloating, weight gain, bad breath and indigestion, all of which occur despite
the presence of diastases (small enzymes whose function is to aid digestion).
Let us just say that without diastases the consequences of beer drinking would
be catastrophic.
Beer contains everything that is
bad for you : alcohol (albeit in moderate quantities), gas and, above all, a
large amount (4g per litre) of a carbohydrate called maltose, whose glycaemic
index is 110, higher even than that of glucose. Furthermore, the combination of
alcohol and sugar tends to lead to hypoglycaemia, and therefore tiredness and
under-performance (see chapter on hypoglycaemia). So it is a drink with high
energy potential, which means a high potential for creating stored fat.
You should give up beer, especially
between meals. If you really cannot resist it, consider beer in the same way
you consider chips. Indulge yourself once or twice a year, by having a pint or
two of the best beer your local can provide, but make sure you choose a quality
brew.
In Phase I, I would advise you to
drink no beer at all. In Phase II, though, just as you can reintroduce wine in
moderation, so you can, from time to time, enjoy a small quantity (33
centilitres at most) of beer with a meal.
WINE
I have left wine until last, it
being the only alcoholic drink I am not entirely against.I shall make no distinction between
red and white wine, except to say that red wine generally contains more tannin.
Tannin possesses particular therapeutic properties; in particular, the
procyanidin it contains helps prevent atherosclerosis, with the polyphenols
also present in it having a protective effect on the artery walls.
It is only a short step from this
statement to the assertions of many scientists, including Professor Masquelier,
that wines rich in tannin contribute to some extent to the prevention of
cardiovascular disease[4]. A
highly reputable medical survey, carried out in Britain in 1979 and bringing
together evidence from eighteen countries, concluded that the death rate from
heart attacks was lowest in populations which habitually drank wine (three to
five times lower in France and Italy than in Northern European countries).
So, following our Method, wine can
form a part of a normal diet, as long as reasonable limits are observed (about
half a litre a day for a man, but only two thirds of this for a woman), and as
long as it is consumed as late in the meal as possible, once the stomach is
full of food.
In Phase I it is as well to stay
away from wine if possible. In Phase II it can be drunk on a daily basis
without affecting your weight. However, wine consumption will need to be
juggled carefully with other carbohydrate intake. I am thinking in particular
of chocolate and desserts in general. But that will be the subject of a
paragraph further on.
While you are in Phase I, the stage
where you need to be very strict with yourself, it may prove difficult to enjoy
a family occasion or a meal with friends without touching a single drop of
wine. If you suddenly announce you are not drinking, others may feel awkward
about it.
My tip is to allow your glass to be
filled and to pick it up as often as you would if you were drinking normally.
But just wet your lips with the wine rather than actually drinking any.
I used this trick over several
weeks and I assure you that no-one ever noticed I was not drinking.
In the same way, no-one has ever noticed
that I am not eating a crumb of bread. To keep up the pretence, I always take
my piece of bread and break it, but it stays beside me uneaten. Vinegar
contains only a negligible amount of alcohol, so it can be used to season
crudites and salads, unless, of course, you prefer lemon. Really strong coffee,
Italian espresso with a caffeine content that would waken the dead, is out.
Drink decaffeinated or weak arabica coffee, which contains much less caffeine.
Decaffeinated coffee can be found everywhere these days and it is usually good.
At home, too, you can make a very good decaffeinated brew. Even serious coffee
drinkers cannot tell the difference.
If you are a heavy drinker of very
strong coffee, it is probably because you feel the need for a stimulant to wake
you up.
If you regularly ”run out of steam”
round about eleven o'clock or in mid-aftemoon, this is because you are
hypoglycaemic (see the chapter on this subject).
Caffeine is not permitted here
because, although it is not a carbohydrate, it has the effect of stimulating
the pancreas into producing insulin. If you have just finished a meal with no
bad carbohydrates, and all surplus energy is being accounted for, it would be
silly to undo the good work by drinking a cup of strong coffee and prompting
the pancreas into secreting insulin that will set the fat accumulation process
going. If you are a coffee drinker, you should have no difficulty in going over
to the decaffeinated variety when you start applying the Method. You will soon
find yourself not even feeling the need for coffee.
It is important to stress, in any
case, that coffee drinkers (whether they drink coffee with or without caffeine)
are laying themselves open to a further risk: that of a raised blood
cholesterol level (see chapter on high blood cholesterol).
Beware of tea, too, as it can have
as much caffeine as a cup of coffee and, in addition, contains tannins which
can inhibit the absorption of iron!
Cheese
From now on you must get used to
eating cheese without bread or biscuits. It is not at all impossible and you
will soon discover it actually tastes much better this way. And you will enjoy
it all the more before long, when you are allowed to drink some wine with it.
In Phase I, more or less any kind
of cheese is permitted. Exceptions need to be made for cantal and for goat
cheeses, which contain a little carbohydrate, so it is better to avoid them in
the early stages.
There is no reason why you should
not finish a meal of this kind with a yoghurt or some fromage frais, but do not
eat more than 100 to 125g, because both do contain some carbohydrate. Anyone
who is overweight and still very sensitive to carbohydrate may find that,
although their glycaemic index is very low, fromage frais or yoghurt can
trigger an undesirable secretion of insulin at the end of the meal, and that
could result in body fat being formed from the contents of the main course.
Desserts
Some desserts can be made with
artificial sweeteners, if they do not require lengthy cooking. Egg custards or
similar desserts are possibilities.
Drinks
We have already noted that in Phase
I all alcoholic drinks, including wine, should be avoided Drink water or tea,
or herbal teas if you prefer. But avoid sparkling waters, as these can cause
bloating and upset your digestion.
In any case, I suggest you drink
very little water with your meals, as you risk diluting the gastric juices
thereby upsetting your digestive system. At least if you must drink, do not
start doing so until half-way through the meal. Do not drink as soon as you sit
down to eat; this is a deplorable habit people have fallen into, which accounts
for a good many of the metabolic problems they run into in digesting their
food. Drink between meals, instead (at least a litre of water a day). And see that
you do!
A reminder that, if you have to eat a
large meal while you are in Phase I, you must abstain from the alcoholic
aperitif. Try a tomato juice or a Perrier instead If you really cannot get out
of accepting something alcoholic (if, for example, your host has made a kir for
everyone), then do so, but do not drink it. Moisten your lips with it from time
to time, to be seen to be taking part in the general conviviality of the
occasion but do not swallow any. Sooner or later you can find a convenient
moment to”abandon”your glass somewhere without anyone noticing. If you find it
difficult to get rid of, you can always use a little ingenuity Put it down
within reach of someone who is knocking the stuff back; people like this can
generally be relied on to pick up someone else's glass by mistake, especially
if it is full. As a rule, there is at least one of these individuals at every
gathering. If all else fails, there is always the flower-pot, the champagne
bucket, the open window in summer or the basin in the cloakroom.
Advice if you have to attend a
social function when you are in Phase 1 : Accept the glass of champagne
that is handed to you, and hold on to it for a while. Put it to your lips from
time to time if you can bear to do that without drinking any. Then discreetly
put it down somewhere.
Party food, though, can constitute
a real headache. But it need not be an insoluble problem.
There is no question of eating
sandwiches, however dainty they are. But what is in the sandwiches is good
stuff: slices of salmon, sliced sausage, egg, asparagus, and so on. If you have
the nerve and skill to separate the topping of an open sandwich from its base,
good for you! Where there's a will, there's a way. But failing this, there is
always party fare which comes within our rules.
Cherchez Ie fromage! There is
always cheese around, in one form or another, in slices or, more usually, in
little cubes.
Failing this, try to track down the
cocktail sausages! But exercise restraint; think of the cholesterol !
If you think you are one of those
people who just cannot resist a table laden with food, if you think you will
inevitably succumb to temptation because when the hunger pangs strike your
will-power will evaporate, then try this : before you go to the party, nibble
something that is within the rules, to ”line your stomach”.
In the mid-nineteenth century a
forbear of mine (my great-great-grandfather), who had six children, was invited
with his family to lunch with the managing director of the company he worked
for. I am told that my great-great-grandmother took good care to see that the
children were fed a hearty soup before they went. With their stomachs thus
lined, these delightful children showed a good deal less unseemly enthusiasm
than they might have done, when dishes of a magnificence they were quite unused
to were set before them. And my great-great-grandparents acquired the instant
reputation for having extremely well brought-up offspring.
So if you are afraid of giving in
to temptation, eat a hard-boiled egg or a piece of cheese before you set off
for your party. And you can get into the habit of always having with you some
of those little individual cheeses like ”Babybel” or ”Laughing cow”'.
These items can also be dipped into
whenever you feel peckish, though dried fruit or high-fibre bread is even
better. However, except for children, who should eat something at teatime,
hunger should not strike between meals, as long as your meals are well thought
out and are high in fibre. In any case, do not confuse having tea and having a
nibble between meals! And be careful about consuming lipids when you have had a
carbohydrate meal. Do not, for example, eat a piece of gruyere at 9 o'clock in
the morning if you only breakfasted at 8 o'clock.
What if you are invited to friends
? This can be a trickier situation, and you will have less room for manoeuvre.
Well, let us look at various
possibilities. Maybe these are friends that you know well ? They may even be
relatives. In that case, you will be relaxed enough with them to ”put your
cards on the table”. Ask them in advance what is on the menu. You need not be
afraid, even, to make a suggestion or two.
But let us suppose that you do not
know your hosts very well. In this case you will have to play it by ear. If the
occasion is a very special one, it will be a meal in line with the occasion,
and I should be surprised if rice, pasta or potatoes figured as a major part of
the menu.
If there is foie gras, go ahead and
eat it, even though it is not to be recommended as food to be eaten freely in
Phase I. But just once in a while it will do no harm. But please do not eat the
toast served with it. There is no reason why you should; even politeness does
not demand it.
If you are served a magnificent
cheese souffle, you can eat it along with everyone else, even though it will
contain flour. But knowing that it puts you ”in the red”, exercise restraint.
Do not make a bad situation worse by accepting a third helping.
If the starter is a pate en croute,
you can eat the pate, which is generally protein-lipid, and leave the crust
discreetly on the side of your plate. Given that you are not among close
friends, no-one is likely to be rude enough to remark that you ar e ”leaving
the best part”! And even if the hostess is wondering why you did not like her
pastry, she is unlikely to ask you outright.
When it comes to the main course, I
should think you would have no difficulty, as the accompaniments are usually
optional. You can take a symbolic helping of rice or pasta, but no-one can make
you eat it.
If all this leaves you still
starving, you can make up for it with the salad, if there is one, and,
particularly, wi th the cheese. If you help yourself generously to the cheese,
your hostess will be pleased and will find it easier to forgive you for leaving
the crust from your pate. An attractive cheese-board needs to have a good range
of varieties, and guests rarely try many of them because they have no room
after all the bread they have eaten. So it is up to you to do justice to the
cheese-board!
The dessert is likely to be the
most critical point of the meal, as it is always hard to say “no, thank you”.
So insist on a very small portion and, like others who have eaten too much
already, you can leave a substantial part of it on your plate.
Wait as long as possible into the
meal before you start to drink. Give priority to drinking some red wine with
the cheese. Should the whole situation turn out to be worse than you expected,
and, despite being still in Phase I, all your ingenuity could not protect you
from the assaults of the bad carbohydrates, then your only recourse is to be
more vigilant than ever thereafter in pursuit of your new way of eating.
You must realise that in Phase I
you are still very sensitive to glucose. The object of this phase is to raise
your tolerance level; as long as it has not reached a satisfactory level,
your sensitivity to glucose remains high.
Obviously, if after denying your body bad
carbohydrate for a while, you quite suddenly feed it a huge quantity, your
metabolism will have a field day. And in a single evening you will bump up your
fat reserves by more than the amount you have taken up to a fortnight to lose.
The further you are into Phase I
(which should last at least two or three months), the less catastrophic the
effect will be.
On the other hand, if you ”go
overboard”two or three weeks after starting Phase I, you run the risk of
returning virtually to square one. This can be pretty discouraging. If this
happens, you will just have to tell yourself that although you may have lost a
battle, you still have a good chance of winning the war.
EVENING MEAL
The further you are into Phase I
(which should last at least two or three months), the less catastrophic the
effect will be.
Posts
.png)
.png)
0 Comments