After I had Finn, my eating habits start resembling that of a teenage football player. The physical demands, however, are also similar to that of a teenage football player, so in the weight department it was really a wash. When I got serious about dropping the final five though, I knew that cutting way back on food was not going to do it (the team needed me to keep my caloric content high), but the vain cheerleader in me needed to get back into her skinny jeans.  The “diet” that kept all sides happy? Low glycemic foods — ie. the slow-burn, slow digest kind.  I didn’t care about the caloric content, or the fat content, all I focused on was the slow-burn kind (and yes, cheese is on that list).

What’s great about this sort of eating is you can pretty much do it even when you’re sleep deprived, mentally saturated or prone to putting a container of hummos in the utensils drawer and leaving it overnight. (Yes I did.)  All you have to do is cut out bread, pasta (though ever once in a while a small bowl of fussili was essential), refined sugars and that’s really it.

I will say this though, I am also a HUGE believer that even when you’re focused on dropping weight, the best way to succeed is to not deprive yourself every once in a while of things you love.  My so-not-on-the-diet-but-can-not-live-without-it, food is dried mango.  I swear they coat those little orange slabs with something illegal.  Try as I might to stay clear of them when I walk past the Whole Foods bulk bins, I can not. I’m like a divining rod to an underground well. Without even thinking about it, all of a sudden I find myself in front of the mango bin, pulling the slices apart with those plastic tongs, dropping them into the plastic bag and it’s all over …

There seems to have been quite a few recent studies that support this notion of the low- glycemic diet being the most effective for long term weight loss. My theory as to why is: 1) You really don’t feel any sense of deprivation while “on” it and hence you can stick with for a long time – really a life time ideally and, 2) The foods that are low glycemic hit your blood system much more slowly, keeping you full longer.

One food I’ve been eating a lot of is eggs and am always looking for a new twist.  Enter coconut and herbs … I mixed some coconut milk along with fresh parsley and thyme into the eggs (plus onion and cheese) and it was outstanding.  I made a frittata which is really just eggs stuck under a broiler but there is something about the act of putting it in the oven and then slicing it into triangles in the cast iron pan, that makes it seem more substantial.

Parsley and thyme

It’s even better in real life.

Get the recipe for Coconut Herb Frittata.  

Your thoughts on dropping pounds without dropping the pleasure of food?

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