New Year, New Challenges - Low Glycemic Load Cooking

The hubby has been given orders from the doctor. Lose weight. Now, you know of course, it's my fault that the man is a pie-monkey. My cooking is going to be the death of him, so my cooking is going through a metamorphosis of sorts.

I could lose a bit of weight, too, so I've really embraced this new regime.

I've always looked askance at the "Zone" and "Beach" sorts of diets. Couldn't do Atkins anymore because it doesn't work (something about getting older, I guess), and it's really not very healthy. Oh, and did I mention - booooooooring - which to a foody is the death-knell of any sort of program.

As luck would have it, I came across a diabetes website - http://www.mendosa.com/ which has some really interesting scientific information about maintaining steady glucose levels at all times. Which in layman's terms means you never get hungry. Ever. Mendosa has an extensive list of GI's and GL's of tons of different foods, and you can find lots of info on the internet, too.

I know that is a big claim to make, but I've been doing it for two weeks and I've never been hungry - or even worse - bored.

The basic idea is that all foods have a GI (glycemic index) and also a GL (glycemic load), and in a nutshell the idea is to not spike your insulin. By not spiking your insulin and eating foods that slowly and steadily release into your blood stream you avoid not only hunger, but the crash and burn cycle that leads to over-eating carbs.

Not that you can't eat carbs - in fact you really have to, you just have to eat low GI/GL carbs like brown rice, cracked wheat, beans of all sorts and the like. Veggies and fruits are all almost no GL so they can be eaten to your heart's content.

I think it's working. I've lost five pounds in two weeks. I'm not cranky, I'm not rebellious, and not bored. I'm cooking every night and even though I'm rethinking menues, they are still interesting and I get the thrill of cooking, which is what it's all about for me.

Last night I made eggplant parmesan. I had beautiful Japanese eggplants from the trip to the 99 Ranch Market which I sliced lengthwise into pretty thin (1/4") slices. Those were sauteed in a non-stick wok (also from beloved 99 Ranch Market - $10!!!!!) with a smidge of olive oil. I added a bit more olive oil to each batch. Eggplant has a GL of 2 - and anything under 10 is considered low.

Then I sauteed onions, shallots and garlic with some mexican dried oregano, a bit of rosemary and a pinch of red pepper flakes, and of course sea salt and fresh ground pepper. This got a good blast of wine and then canned plum tomatoes and was set to simmer to reduce. I didn't reduce it quite enough - note to self, strain out some of the juice next time if I'm in a hurry.

Lastly I fried up some hamburger (99 cents a pound at the hispanic market down the street) and some sweet italian sausage from Trader Joe's (notice how it's really noooooo problem to stick to the quest - the overarching theme of the blog). This all went into the tomato sauce.

Then the layering began.

Eggplant, sauce, slices of mozzarella and dollops of ricotta mixed with an egg and some parmesan, salt and pepper. Repeat.

Once it's all in the pan - basically lasagna style - you put it into a 375 F oven for about an hour. Take out and rest for a good bit - you should start this early if you want to eat before 7:00.

We served it with a huge leafy green salad with a vinegar and olive oil dressing. Acids like lemon and vinegar keep coming up in what I'm reading about low GL diets, apparently they help lower the GL's even more, so I'm making sure some is included with every meal.

It was really good, felt like "normal food," and as usual, was so filling (even with modest portions of the eggplant parmesan) that there was absolutely no snackage between dinner and breakfast - something that has always been a huge problem here.

Tonight I'm making baked falafal, hommous, and tabouli. Maybe some stuffed grape leaves (brown rice), if I can tear myself away from puttering in the yard long enough.

The best part of the low GL is that wine is zero!