The Harvard Medical School guide to a good night's sleep

243 Pages·2007·1.377 MB·English

by  Lawrence Epstein, Steven Mardon

the
G l y c e m i c
L o a d D i e t
A POWERFUL NEW PROGRAM FOR LOSING
WEIGHT AND REVERSING INSULIN RESISTANCE
R O B T H O M P S O N , M . D .
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DOI: 10.1036/0071462694
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Part 1
Insulin Resistance: A Hormonal Imbalance,
Not a Character Defect
1. Understanding Why You Gained Weight 3
It’s Not a Matter of Willpower 4
Sleuthing the Hormonal Culprit: Syndrome X 7
Solving the Mystery: Insulin Resistance 8
How You Can Reverse Insulin Resistance 13
2. Starch Toxicity: How Our Staples Turned Out
to Be Toxins 17
Bread, Potatoes, and Rice: How “Natural” Are They? 18
Starch Poisoning: The Price of Civilization 19
The Obesity Epidemic: How America Got Fat 22
Too Much Starch, Not Enough Exercise, or Both? 26
v
vi Contents
3. Understanding What Makes Bad Carbs Bad 29
The Weight-Loss Power of Low-Carb Eating 30
Why Some Carbs Are Different from Others 33
Moving Beyond Atkins 36
Part 2
The Glycemic-Load Diet and Slow-Twitch Muscle
Activation Plan
4. Lightening Your Glycemic Load: The Key to
Easy Weight Loss 41
Understanding Glycemic Indexes 41
Why Glycemic Indexes Are Misleading 42
Getting It Right: Glycemic Loads 44
Reducing Your Glycemic Load: A Simple Plan
for Effective Weight Loss 45
5. Job One: Purge Starch from Your Diet 49
How I Became a Human Glycemic-Load Meter 50
Strategies for Eliminating “Starchy Fillers” 50
Cushioning the Glucose Shocks from Starch
in Main Dishes 54
6. Eliminate Sugar-Sweetened Beverages 63
A Glucose Shock in a Glass 64
Alcohol: Beware of Its Appetite-Stimulating Effects 66
Milk: Acceptable for Glycemic-Load Watchers 66
Coffee and Tea: Good Beverages in Moderation 67
Water Is Great, but Do We Really Need Eight
Glasses a Day? 67
7. Make Friends with Your Sweet Tooth 69
Exonerating Sugar 69
How Sugar Can Help You Lose Weight 71
Keeping Sugar in Its Place 73
Contents vii
8. Activate Your Slow-Twitch Muscles 75
You Can Gain Without the Pain 76
Muscles That Don’t Fatigue 77
Turning on Your Metabolic “Switch” 80
The Forty-Eight-Hour Rule 81
9. Avoid Diet-Induced Metabolic Shutdown 85
Crash Dieting: A Metabolic Train Wreck 85
A Role for Resistance Exercise 87
Heading Off Metabolic Shutdown Before It Hits 89
Part 3
Strategies to Balance Your Metabolism
and Stay on Track
10. Crafting a Fat-Balancing Strategy 93
The Differences Between “Bad” and “Good” Fats 94
Improving the Quantity and Quality of Fats
in Your Diet 97
11. Managing Cholesterol with a
Low-Glycemic-Load Diet 99
Rethinking Cholesterol 100
Determining if You Have a Cholesterol Problem 103
Crafting a Cholesterol Strategy 104
12. Rebalancing Your Metabolism 107
Avoiding Distractions 107
Focusing on What Caused You to Gain Weight 108
Taking Inventory 110
Relieving Insulin Resistance: The Rewards 114
Freedom from Dieting 116
viii Contents
13. Low-Glycemic-Load Meals and Recipes 117
A More Exciting Way to Eat 117
Breakfast Dishes 119
Salads 130
Soups and Chowders 146
Red Meat Dishes 153
Chicken Dishes 166
Seafood Dishes 171
Vegetable Side Dishes 180
Desserts and Sweets 190
Concluding Remarks 199
Appendix A: Glycemic Loads of Common Foods 201
Appendix B: Converting to Metrics 209
Appendix C: References 211
Appendix D: Websites 215
Index 217