The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies (84 page)
Another option for finding group classes is to look for registered dieticians who work in private practice in your local area. Do a Web search or pull out the phonebook and flip through the Yellow Pages to see whether any local dieticians offer classes.
If you can't track down a class, find a local registered dietitian and ask her whether she'd ever be interested in starting one up. If you can persuade the dietician that several people in the community would benefit from the class, she may just be willing to give it a go. It never hurts to ask!
Professional conferences
Going to a professiona
l conference on low-glycemic diets may sound a little "outside the box," but it has been done. Healthcare professionals must take continuing education classes on many different topics in order to keep up on the latest research. If you don't mind listening to a lot of medical jargon, professional conferences can be a great place to obtain the latest scoop on the glycemic index.
Note:
Not only are professional conferences costly, but in many cases you must be a healthcare professional in order to attend, so this strategy isn't always a realistic one. However, I've seen many people attend these conferences for their own information. They can be a great way to network and meet professionals who're working in this area of expertise.
Part IV
In this part . . .
Whether you're a long-time cook or a cooking novice, I promise that cooking low-glycemic foods is both enjoyable and simple (not to mention it leaves you with delicious results!). In this part, I show you how to remake your favorite recipes and give you low-glycemic tips and suggestions that you can easily incorporate into your standard cooking repertoire. I also include recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snacks and desserts. Get ready to discover just how tasty a low-glycemic diet can be!
Chapter 15
:
Low-Glycemic Cooking Tips and Techniques
In This Chapter
Giving your favorite recipes a low-glycemic makeover
Preparing grains and pastas the low-glycemic way
Adding a variety of vegetables to your diet
Embracing beans, a low-glycemic superfood
C
ooking
— it's a term that either makes you feel at ease or makes you want to run for the hills. No matter which side of the fence you're on, picking up a few basic cooking tips can help you follow your new low-glycemic lifestyle. (Don't worry. You don't need to learn how to sauté in the air, flambé a dessert, or prepare ridiculously difficult meals.)
Many people start various weight-loss programs by cooking all new recipes, especially when they're following menu plans. These recipes are handy to have and can be helpful, but they can also be a lot of work. Having that poached egg for breakfast, chicken salad almondine for lunch, and barley risotto for dinner may sound great, but it ends up being more cooking than the average person is used to, making it difficult to stay on track for long. In a low-glycemic lifestyle, you can still enjoy some of your old standby recipes, just with a few small modifications. In fact, modifying your favorite recipes is a great first step in implementing the low-glycemic guidelines into your daily life.
I cover the basics of low-glycemic cooking for the beginner (and the experienced) cook in this chapter. I also highlight the most nutritious low-glycemic foods so you can begin introducing more of them into your diet for optimal results.
Evaluating and Modifying Your Favorite Recipes
One of the great factors of a low-glycemic diet is that you can still make your favorite standby recipes, no matter whether those standbys include stir-fry, spaghetti and meatballs, burgers, or tacos. The trick is to do a
glycemic makeover
with your favorites by replacing high-glycemic foods with low-glycemic substitutions.
Many of your current recipes may already follow the guidelines or just need a little tweaking to get there. To figure out whether that's the case, you first need to evaluate what's in your current recipes. Pull out all of your favorites and quick standbys and compare your recipe ingredients with the glycemic load food lists in Appendix A.
If you find some recipes that use only low-glycemic foods, you have a winner! No change necessary.
If you have some recipes that use a combination of low- and medium-glycemic foods, these can also be good choices, but always remember to watch the portion sizes. Eating more than a serving will increase the glycemic load for that meal.
If some of your recipes use high-glycemic foods, don't throw them out quite yet. Put them aside and, in the following section, discover how to modify them to fit your new lifestyle.
Recipe modification tips
The si
mplest way to incorporate new low-glycemic foods into your diet is by modifying standard recipes. Follow these suggestions to modify your current recipes to make them more appropriate for losing weight with a low-glycemic diet:
Replace higher-glycemic foods with lower-glycemic ones.
For example, instead of having a high-glycemic bagel, you can choose a low-glycemic, 100-percent-whole-grain bread. See? Going low-glycemic can be simple!
Use smaller portion sizes of medium- and high-glycemic foods to help lighten the load.
If you like potatoes (a high-glycemic food) as part of your meal, you can still enjoy them. Just eat half a potato in one sitting as opposed to the whole thing.
Add healthy low-glycemic foods.
Instead of eating a pasta dish that's heavy on the pasta (okay, a dish that's
all
pasta!), toss in some low-glycemic veggies or grilled chicken to add volume while decreasing the amount of pasta used.