I'm on the low-GL diet, discovered by the nutritionist Patrick Holford, and I was on it before the Christmas splurge. GL stands for "glycaemic load". "Glycaemic" is a nice Ancient Greek word meaning "sweet-blood" (glykos/glukos=sweet, haim/haem = blood) and the low-GL diet is about controlling your blood sugar. Well, much follows from that, which is a little bit complicated. But it is NOT a conventional low-calorie diet. And unlike all other diets I've tried, it works. I tried it 10 years ago and lost 1 kg a week over 20 weeks. I'm never hungry. I avoid high-GL carbohydrates such as white flour and sugar, but eat (as a vegetarian) a fair amount of low-GL carbs like beans and chickpeas. I eat lots of raw nuts whenever I am hungry. You can eat berries (delicious), nuts, peanuts, beans, veggies, tofu (meat if you have to, but I never eat meat or fish), apples, cheese with care, tehini, hummous; but you must avoid things made with white flour and sugar. I avoid alcohol; it seems to make me gain weight very fast (hence the Christmas gains). You do have to give up caffeine because it affects your blood-sugar much like high-GL foods, and that was by far the hardest thing to do. You must exercise 15 minutes a day, which I find doable.
So, by next Christmas I want to be 20 kgs (44 lbs) lighter. And I'll have got there without self-deprivation .... except for not drinking tea .....
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