Oops, this became long!

After over a year of stop-start dieting, including at least 9 attempts in 2010 alone, I finally got my head together on a low carb diet called Neris and India's Idiot Proof Diet - I would assess it as a pretty standard low carb WOE, distinguished by a very cheerful, upbeat, along-side you approach in the book. Another plus for me was that it was British-food based ~ I'm going to hope that Chickies take it for granted that I'm not being anti-American when I say this but our foods can often be different, our relationship with health care providers is different etc etc. It was good.

Typically, I lost well the first week, 7lbs, which seemed amazing for someone with my dieting history - I'm no weightloss virgin! Less the next week and the next but after 4 weeks, roughly, I'd lost 12lbs; after 5 weeks, I'd lost 10 - yes, it was rolling back, however WOE-compliant I tried to be.

At first I'd felt very well - joints improved, mood improved, skin improved, insides quiet for the first time in 25 years - but then I began to feel roughish most days. When I drank the approved amount of water, I gave myself TMI! TMI! TMI! diarrhoea, and was getting very little nutrition out of my food - it didn't stay in there long enough!

I am not saying there is anything wrong with this or other low carb diets/WOEs, it just seemed to be not working for me.

I visited my GP, and she was unhappy with my blood pressure, urates and cholesterol (all rising) and told me to use a low-GI method rather than low-carb. I'm not in a place where I can reject medical advice, so yesterday I began trying to transition.

It seems sensible to me not to go from under 15 carbs to the 168 or whatever it is that 'normal' carb intake is. Yesterday I had 50, for example. I've done a lot of online research but haven't found a low GI plan that grabs me yet.

So, I wondered if anyone had done a similar transition, from low-carb to low-GI?
If anyone could recommend a low-GI plan to follow?

I had some fruit yesterday for the first time in weeks! I had half a small peach with my breakfast oats ~ I diced that peach so fine, and chewed every bit so well! (I'm afraid of fruit stirring my insides up again.) In the evening I had 3, count them 3, brussels sprouts with my meal (I adore sprouts, used to eat them by the cupful!). These too I quartered and ate very gingerly. So far, so good!

Any transition help, though, greatly appreciated!

Quick point about fruit and tummies, well, my tummy. I don't eat fruit as a pudding after meals because it seems to be digested more quickly than earlier courses which are further on in the system. And that causes trouble. No need for details ...

Good luck with the transition. Is your GP going to help out any more than just recommending a low GI diet?

She's going to help with the loud fruit. She's recommended eating it with a starchy carb, which will dampen it. If that doesn't work, she's going to look at some other ideas.

For years, as far as I can see, shops have been chock full of low GI plan books. 2 days now, can I find one? Nope. I've printed off a GI index and trying to shop to that at the mo.

I have to say, my legs feel the better of a few more carbs.

I'd look at South Beach diet.

I was going to say what Nelie said - South Beach. It's a very sensible approach to food of which I adhere to many of their principles. And if I were to *follow* it, I would have to combine it with calorie counting.

I hope you get this worked out, well actually I KNOW you will work this out and find the right mix for you.

Thanks, guys. I'd wondered if SB was low GI but didn't want to ask the duh question!

I calorie count too, RR, usually to make sure I'm getting enough - it's so easy, when I'm not eating processed junk, to accidentally go too low too soon.

Actually I think the original SBD was low GI but I think they've updated it to be low Glycemic Load which I believe is slightly better than low GI but similar idea. You can also google for glycemic load/index charts to get a general idea. SBD also mentions that you can combine certain foods with others to decrease the overall glycemic load.

I am doing a moderately low carb plan, eating an average of 85g carbs per day and trying not to go over 100. Part of my transition (when I get there) is to slowly add back SOME carbs. Not sure if this will help you at all, but in my transition phase, I'll take a couple weeks of adding back in a cup of starchier vegs, then slowly, very gradually every few weeks add in one fruit, then a dairy, then another dairy, then another fruit, then one grain serving... so that in the end my maintenance will have 2 fruit servings a day, one grain, 2 dairy, and 5 servings of vegs. The rest will be lean proteins and a bit of healthy fat. I think the key is changing it very slowly. I intend to take about 16 weeks to add all that back in.

Hope this helps a bit.

I totally, heartily recommend South Beach as well. Though, the basics of a low-GL plan are pretty easy: Lean meats, some dairy, little bit of fruit and/or starchy veggies, tons and tons of green or other colorful veggies. Grains and legumes aren't necessary, though some people like to include them.

But really, it all comes down to "Eat your vegetables!" (Thanks, Mom! )

I'm using the South Beach diet, and I like it a lot. I've read some other books about glycemic index. Since you're not having much luck at the bookstore, how about looking at amazon? I did a quick search at amazon uk and there were quite a few books about glycemic index. I haven't read any of them, amazon us has a totally different set of glycemic index diet books, probably because of the differences in food preferences that you mentioned earlier.

You're right to increase the carbs very slowly. One thing I do to get in low GI carbs is to replace some of the typical grains/starches with some more interesting choices. Now instead of the typical rice, pasta, or potato choice with lunch/dinner I have added in things like barley, quinoa, hulled wheat, rye flakes, lentils, various beans, and whatever else I can find in the grains section.

For UK based programme, I believe the Food Doctor books by Ian Maber work on low-GI principles. The diet has an induction phase which I couldn't get through but once passed this I think its a very health diet.

Kitty

Thankyou very much for all your ideas. I seem to be gently heading in the right direction.

I'll have a look at see if Ian Marber's done any books recently. It's an old one of his that I've been using this past couple of days - but unless his tablespoons are way bigger than mine, the calorie intake in his 7 day plan is way too low! And as for saving a slice of last night's omelette to eat cold as a snack today.....ew.

However, his principles are good, so I'll go and see what else I can find.
Thankyou!

They are quite old but if you've not already got the cookbook that goes along with the diet books then I'd recommend you get it. But yes, I agree, calories in the 7 day plan are much too low and as I said before I could never get through the whole 7 days. However, I think some of the principles concerning portion sizes and proportions are good guidelines to follow.

Kitty