Carbohydrates are a four-letter word in many dieting circles. I used to think that sugars gave grains a bad name, but am refining my belief after some recent reading (much of it documented in this blog), and my own personal experience.
True, sugars are to be limited severely. Simple sugars (like sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup should be avoided as much as possible. If you like a little sweetener in your tea or coffee, use honey (as your ancestors did).
But what about grains? When I was married, my wife was in remission from Hodgkin's disease, and I learned to cook macrobiotic for her. The basis of the macrobiotic diet was grains (mostly brown rice) and beans. Many grains are good for you, but if you're looking for a rule of thumb, consider the degree of processing they've undergone. Oats in oatmeal are good. Wheat in pasta or bread is bad. Brown rice or barley, when eaten in their barely refined form are good. White rice and most corn products are bad (much of today's corn is GM - or genetically modified, and the effects such modification has on your health is not well known; the modifications were designed to make the crops yield more and be resistant to pests; since pests have much the same biology as you do, I'm very suspicious of GM crops).
Many beans are high in carbohydrates, but they're also low in fat, high in protein and fiber. I recommend beans as a substitute for meat if you're trying to eat less meat (to lower your cholesterol, save money, or reduce your carbon footprint - yes, a vegetarian diet is better for the planet too).
My experience? Yes, I began to digress. At the start of this year (nearly three months ago), because of an article I shared with you, I slashed my intake of bread and pasta. The two used to be staples in my diet. Instead of a sandwich for lunch, I wrap meat and cheese in romaine lettuce or layer it on green pepper slices. It adds a little to my lunch budget, but is very tasty, and better for me. For dinner, instead of pasta, I'm making mostly meat and veggies (broiled chicken and fish, eaten next to my veggies cut up and mixed in with them in a lettuce-free "salad" are the most common meals). Immediately I saw a decline in my weight.
Normally I gain weight in winter and lose weight in summer. My goal each winter is to gain less than I lost the previous summer, whereas my goal in the summer is to lose more than I gained the previous winter. Needless to say, as I've gotten older (just turned fifty at the end of last year), my metabolism slows and achieving those goals is more difficult.
So the fact that I lost weight in winter was very encouraging to me. Coupled with my increased physical activity level in the summer, I expect this new diet (and I want to stress that this is diet with a lower case "d," in that I expect to remain on this forever, as opposed to Diet with an upper case "D" that is something people adopt for a short period of time to lose weight quickly) to yield great results.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure and honesty, I have to say that while I lost seven pounds the first month of my new eating discipline (much better than the word diet), my weight has remained at that level since then. I attribute this to complacency (so happy with my new success, I allowed myself a few more snacks - mostly mixed nuts - than I ought to have been eating), and believe that it ought not to be hard to get serious again and see another weight drop. The fact that I didn't gain weight this winter, and will even end winter at a lower weight than I began it, means that I'm well-positioned for a very fit summer.
Oh yeah, there's that word "fit." Fitness is more than weight. Far more. In fact, I used to think I was both fit and fat. My strength and endurance were more than up to the task of any activity in which I chose to engage (mostly hiking, biking, and snowshoeing), but I carried some extra weight, so I didn't look as good as I felt. The new slimmer me ought to change all of that. Also, if I have less weight to carry around, then I ought to be able to hike longer and farther this summer. Heck, merely dropping twenty pounds is like the difference between hiking with a pack and without one!
Stay tuned to the Revolutionary Diet blog to see how my progress goes.
