Introduction (see the end of this excerpt for a recipe for Smokey Black Bean Soup)

In 2002, I launched my first book, The G.I. Diet, with some trepidation. It wasn’t the diet’s effectiveness that I was worried about -- far from it. I knew from personal experience that it was the best weight-loss program available. The book was based on the latest scientific research and had been endorsed by a number of physicians. I myself had lost twenty pounds on it after all but giving up hope of ever slimming down. What did concern me was that it might get lost in the sea of diet books crowding bookstore shelves -- books that were full of empty promises, that promoted diets that were dangerously unhealthy or that simply did not work.

I wanted to let people know the real cause of their weight problem and that they could lose the extra pounds easily, without having to perform difficult mathematical calculations or having to go hungry. I’m convinced that the reason Canadians are gaining more weight than ever before is because they have simply been given the wrong information. The truth is you can eat as much or even more than you currently do and still slim down. All you have to do is choose the right foods.

Fortunately, people took notice of The G.I. Diet and it clearly hit a chord with them. The book became a national bestseller, and tens of thousands of Canadians have lost weight on the program! It is so rewarding to receive everyone’s e-mails describing their successes -- and they are the real motivation behind my writing this second book, Living the G.I. Diet. I wanted to provide even more information and lots of wonderful recipes to help you continue losing pounds or to maintain your new weight.

For those of you who didn’t read The G.I. Diet, I’ve started this book with a short outline of its principles. This summary will give you everything you need to get started on the program right away. If you feel, however, that you need a more detailed explanation, you may want to read my first book. Those of you who are already familiar with the program can read the summary for a quick refresher or just skip over it. I should mention, though, that the G.I. Diet Food Guide on page 20 has been expanded to include even more foods than appeared in the first book.

I’ve also decided to enlist the help of experts in writing this book. I’ve asked my wife, Dr. Ruth Gallop, to write a chapter on how to deal with the emotional reasons why we eat. She is a professor at the University of Toronto and an international authority on childhood trauma and its impact on our behaviour as adults. Though not all of us have suffered trauma, most of us do use food for reasons other than physiological need. If you have a bad day at work, do you buy a box of chocolates on your way home? If you’re alone on a Saturday night, do you indulge in a tub of Häagen-Dazs ice cream? Ruth will tell you how to ease yourself out of the habit of turning to food for comfort when you are feeling stressed or depressed.

I’ve also asked Emily Richards, who you may know as the co-host of the popular TV show Canadian Living Cooks, to create a cornucopia of delicious green- and yellow-light recipes for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and yes, even dessert. You can eat a wide variety of flavourful, appealing dishes on this program and never feel as though you are on a diet. In fact, many of them are sure to become family favourites.

To further motivate you, I’ve shared some of the e-mails I’ve received from people who are on the G.I. Diet. Their stories are often moving and truly inspiring. I am so proud of them and so grateful for their feedback. I hope that their experiences will help you as you embark on your journey to a new, slim you!

Part One: The G.I. Diet in a Nutshell

Chapter One: The Secret to Easy, Permanent Weight Loss

For years doctors, nutritionists and government officials have told us that the way to maintain a healthy weight is to eat a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. So if you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’ve probably started by reducing the amount of fat that you eat. Instead of having bacon and eggs for breakfast, you switched to cornflakes with skim milk. Instead of eating a hamburger at lunch, you opted for chicken noodle soup and a slice of white bread without butter. Instead of snacking on potato chips, you munched on a couple of rice cakes. You made these healthier choices, felt good about yourself, and at the end of the month, you eagerly weighed yourself again -- to find that you’d gained another two pounds! What happened?

Well, first of all, let’s dispel a widely held myth: fat does not necessarily make you fat. Fat consumption in this country has remained virtually constant over the past ten years, while obesity numbers have rocketed. Obviously fat isn’t the culprit. But that doesn’t mean you can eat all the fatty foods you want. Most fats can be quite harmful to your health. It’s alarming to read some of the popular diet books on the market today and find that they advocate eating lots of cream, cheese and steak. These foods are all high in saturated fat, which can thicken arteries, leading to heart attack and stroke. There is also increasing evidence that colon and prostate cancer as well as Alzheimer’s are associated with high levels of saturated fats. These are definitely the “bad” fats and are easily recognizable because they solidify at room temperature and almost always come from animal sources. There are two exceptions to this rule: coconut oil and palm oil are two vegetable oils that are also saturated. Because these oils are cheap, they are used in many snack foods, especially cookies.

There are three other types of fat: the “best,” the “acceptable,” and the “really ugly.” The “really ugly” fats are potentially the most dangerous. They are vegetable oils that have been heat-treated to make them thicken. These hydrogenated oils or trans fatty acids take on the worst characteristics of saturated fats. So don’t use them and avoid foods whose labels list hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated oils among their ingredients. Many crackers, cereals, baked goods and fast foods contain these really ugly fats, but since labelling of nutritional components has until just recently been voluntary in Canada (unlike in the United States), you’ll find that some packages do not list their ingredients. A good rule of thumb is to avoid these foods, because the manufacturer probably has something to hide.

So we’re avoiding the “bad” fats and the “really ugly” fats, but we mustn’t eliminate fat entirely from our diet. Fats are absolutely essential to our health as they contain various key elements that are crucial to the digestive process. The “best” fats are monounsaturated fats and they are found in foods like olives, peanuts, almonds and olive and canola oils. Monounsaturated fats actually have a beneficial effect on cholesterol and are good for your heart. So try to incorporate them into your diet and look for them on food labels. Most manufacturers who use them will say so, because they know it’s a key selling point for informed consumers.

Another highly beneficial oil, which is in a category of its own, contains a wonderful ingredient called omega-3. This oil is found in coldwater fish such as salmon and in flax and canola seeds, and it’s extremely good for your heart health. “Acceptable” fats are the polyunsaturated fats because they are cholesterol free. Most vegetable oils, such as corn and sunflower, fall into this category.

Smokey Black Bean Soup
1 tbsp canola oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 cans (19 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
6 cups chicken stock
1 smoked turkey leg
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander
1/4 cup light sour cream

1. In soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic and pepper for about 3 minutes or until softened. Add beans, stock, turkey leg and tomato paste. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour or until turkey begins to break apart.

2. Remove turkey leg and set aside. Pour soup into blender in batches and puree until smooth. Return to pot over medium heat. Add peppers and tomatoes and heat until steaming.

3. Meanwhile, remove meat from leg and chop; add it to the soup. Serve sprinkled with coriander and dollop of sour cream.

Makes 4 servings.