It’s really swings and roundabouts. First it was salt, then fat, now it’s sugar but when the late Dr Michael Mosley says “sugar”, I take notice. For almost two weeks I have been following his advice in The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet and it’s working.
Already I am pretty sure my tummy is flatter. It amazes me when anyone says, “Sure you’re grand just as you are.” No, I’m not. I don’t weigh or measure but I know I’m dragging myself around, there’s too much of me.
This isn’t an ego thing although I would like to look like Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County. The nearest I got to glamour was in London when a taxi driver was convinced I was Dame Judi Dench: “I don’t often get a titled lady in my cab.” I denied his mis-recognition but he wouldn’t have it and wouldn’t take the fare.
No, I want to lose weight to take the strain off my heart and my hips. A recent X-ray suggests I have problems and will soon have to consider a replacement - hip, not heart. Soon? I don’t think so, unless my ship comes home and I can ‘go private’.
Revelation
Michael Mosley’s book is easy to read and I’m hooked; it explains the inner workings of the body, especially the danger of high blood sugar levels. It’s aimed at people with diabetes and the huge numbers of pre-diabetics but it’s a game changer for even those who are not carrying extra pounds.
Keeping the body pure is important but not easy: “The old age instruction to eat low fat has been seriously undermined by numerous studies which show that such a regime is rarely effective and people rarely stick to it.”
On a crash diet you’ll lose weight but you’re only losing fluid so the weight will pile on again, according to Dr Mosley. It’s vitally important to understand your body and your diet if it’s to be effective, he also maintains his advice for turning to the Mediterranean diet for eight weeks will have amazing results not only on the scales but perhaps more importantly to your organs - the build up of fat especially in the liver and pancreas, the organs responsible for controlling our insulin and blood sugar levels.
In his book, Mosley talks common sense and immediately you come to understand how we react to both lifestyle and diet.
Hard To Believe
When he discusses the importance of fibre it’s alarming: “Fibre not only slows the absorption of sugars but because it passes largely undigested through the small bowel it also provides for the trillions of healthy bacteria that lurk in the large bowel. There are thousands of different species of bacteria living in your gut, as rich an ecosystem as you will find in a rainforest and having the right mix is important for your health.”
Eating plenty of fibre helps the good guys thrive; he lists beans, chickpeas, bulgur wheat, artichokes, leafy green vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, oats, nuts, raspberries, blackberries, apples and pears.
The book contains menu suggestions. However, I make broccoli salad, shave the flowers off the broccoli, mix with nuts, grapes (not recommended but everything in moderation), sultanas with a small spoonful of mayonnaise; delicious. Slice cauliflower and lay on a roasting dish, recommended extra virgin oil on top and roast; delicious.
Butter is OK, so lots of boiled carrots tossed in butter is also delicious. He’s very keen on avocados and these are great with a poached egg. It’s a challenge but it’s also a challenge to find items with no sugar.
A blackcurrant ‘sugar free’ drink lists sugar on the contents list, ‘no added’ sugar in others - what’s that about? Even mixed nuts have sugar, so read labels although understanding them is another thing.
Mosley makes it sound easy. Ignore everything white - bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, no melon, grapes, pineapple, bananas and processed meats including sausages and bacon.
Drinking much more than seven units of alcohol a week can be harmful. It’s worth following his advice for eight weeks if it’s going to cut the risk of heart disease and diabetes, plus sorting out your gut.
He suggests practical things as well. Sit at the table, don’t eat on the hoof; when you are reading or typing, set a timer for 30 minutes then get up and walk around; leave the television control on the table so you have to get up to change channels; take a stroll during the commercial break and take short walks in the fresh air, and as you begin to feel fitter extend them.
And take time to yourself, sit and meditate and think of the new you who’s just round the eight-week corner.
