A New Hobbie

Recently R and I have embarked on a new adventure. In eating. We decided that we want to take better care of ourselves, from the inside out. So, we're transitioning into eating a (mainly) low-glycemic diet.

The premise behind the Glycemic Index (GI) is that different foods affect a person's blood sugar differently. Foods with a high GI cause blood sugar to spike, which then leads to a crash. Low GI foods cause a more gradual increase in blood sugar, which means a gradual decrease instead of a crash. The gradual increase/decrease is preferable because it causes the metabolism to rev up and continue working longer, which helps control appetite and delays hunger.

That's a very rough explanation, since we're still learning. See www.GlycemicIndex.com for more information.

Anyway, we are making this change with the aid of a program called Transitions Lifestyle. We have a coach and a few other folks who are going through it with us, and boy is it ever worth the cost of admission (which isn't something to sneeze at, but still totally worth it...). We're getting an education about what different foods do to us, and knowing is half the battle, right? Plus we have encouragement and accountability from people who are struggling with the same things we are. I don't think we would have made it through the first week without them. (Hello fruits-and-veggies-only-detox-for-seven-days.)

The point of all this is to say that we're eating differently. And it's not always easy to figure out what we can eat. Especially when all I want is a gigantic plate of pasta and ice cream for dessert. How do you eat Asian food without rice (super-hi-glycemic) or tacos without...well, without the taco? We're currently not supposed to be eating grains at all (just one more week of that!), and even when we're allowed to, we shouldn't be eating nearly as much as we were before the transition. Sounds like fun, huh?

Bottom line—I want to start keeping track of this adventure—what we eat, new recipes we try, whether we like it or not, how we feel as we change our lifestyle, etc. So, when recipes show up here randomly, that's why. We'll be able go back and see what fun new things we've discovered (or icky things we want to avoid), and maybe along the way we can inspire others to join us in believing that we don't have to eat all those complex carbohydrates and over-processed foods our American diets are full of.

Peace,