When my girlfriend first mentioned the Montignac diet (or Montignac method) to me, I was initially sceptical.

I’ve never been a believer in ‘dieting’ and instead believe that you should eat most things in moderation, avoiding the obvious
cakes and chips and eating sufficient fruit and veg, and exercising regularly.

Yet with a combination of a new natural diet drink (I will write another post about this later) and our own take on the Montignac
method, I’ve lost 10kgs – that’s 22lb, or about 1.5 stone – in several months and with a lot less exercise than I usually do. And
I’m still eating very enjoyable meals.

Previously I was having to exercise pretty hard 5 or 6 times a week and struggling to maintain my weight. I’m now just over 2kgs
(5lbs) lighter than that with no effort.

The concept of the Montignac method lies around the understanding of the different types of carbohydrates (carbs) and their
Glycemic Indexes (GI) – a measure of how a food increases blood sugar levels – and avoiding eating those high GI carbs in
conjuction with fats.

When food is digested, carbohydrates are transformed into sugars (glucose) which raises the blood sugar level – and also insulin
levels. This hormone is related to weight gain.

High GI carbs such as potatoes will result in higher blood sugar levels than low GI carbs such as lentils. Note that GI figures
aren’t exact and can change depending on various factors, for example, the foods level of hydration, how it has been processed,
or it’s ripeness. Rice has a high GI yet a long grain Basmiti rice can have much lower GI levels.

One exception is carrots. Although uncooked carrots have a relatively high GI (this increases even more when cooked) they have a
low carb content, so are not considered as ‘bad’ carbs.

In general though, we can define ‘bad’ carbs and ‘good’ carbs.

GI levels were first determined in the ’70s to help diabetics.

Montignac was the first to recommend using the glycemic index to aid with slimming.

His theory is that ‘bad’ carbs, such as potatoes, white rice and white bread, cannot be taken with fats. The thought is that the
combination of a high blood sugar release and fat intake will result in that fat being stored as body fat.

The body still needs fat – the idea is not to consume it at the same time as high GI carbs.

There’s also ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats, as I’ve already discussed in my Keeping fit – the early days post on health and fitness. Essentially,
polyunsaturated omega 3 acids (fish fat) as well as monounsaturated fatty acids (olive oil) are ‘good’ for you, whereas you
should try and avoid saturated fatty acids such as butter and animal fat.

Montignac appreciated that most dieters suffer from a lack of food satisfaction and feeling hungry. He produced a book with
French and Meditterean recipes that were suited to his method – and sold 15 million copies! (Montignac Diet Cookbook)

However, as with most diets or health theories, there is plenty of debate and opposition.

Some scientific studies would appear to disprove it. Many nutrition experts claim that ANY calorie intake that exceeds the amount
that the body needs is converted into body fat, regardless.

Yet other studies disagree.

Let’s step back a moment.

There are so many different diets, health theories and lifestyle choices, proliferated by the popularity of the internet, that
there’s always going to be differences of opinion.

Mankind has evolved due to our ability to communicate.

But not our ability to agree. Hence wars. But that’s a bit deep for now… I can feel a separate post coming on 🙂

Anyway. My opinion is that you can’t take anything you read on the web at face value – especially regarding health and weight
loss. Hell, I don’t trust what my doctor says either.

For a start, EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. I’ve highlighted that because it’s not just relevant in health, but in all aspects of life.

People have different metabolisms and react differently to various foods.

But lets state one clear fact: The human body is not designed to consume ‘junk food’. It has evolved over many thousands of years
to adapt to a changing diet since our monkey fruit picking days, but it can only evolve so quick; and it’s pretty clear in
today’s age of fast food, junk food and processed food that there will quite simply make you fat – or more importantly – die
quicker.

So I’m going with the premise that eating well is a good idea.

None of this ‘your body is a temple’ business, as I can’t help treat myself to the odd glass of wine. Or three.

Everything in moderation 😉

There’s nothing extreme about the Montignac diet – avoid high carb foods, particularly with fat. Fat can be eaten but without carbs.

Sounds fine to me… so why not try it?

Again, there’s so many opinions out there that you only ever know if something will work for you if you try it.

I did.

See more in my next post to follow shortly…

I just want to point out again that I am not a nutritionist, a dietician or a doctor. I’m a computer scientist! So this is just
my take on things and it’s worked well for me. When dieting you should always seek professional help if in doubt.

One of Michel Montignac’s best sellers: Eat Yourself Slim: The World’s BEST Method to Lose Weight and Stay Slim

As soon as you start thinking of dieting, and weight loss, you start thinking of reducing the amount of fat you consume. And that’s fine; but the body needs some fat – it carries out many roles, such as helping absorb some vitamins, providing energy and insulation.  It’s more about eating the right types of fat, and the combinations of fat with other foods – for example, one theory is that fats on their own or with proteins aren’t so bad, but fat with carbs – especially ones with a high GI (glycemic index) – are a big no no (I will write an article soon: Montignac diet – my interpretation). Well – that’s one theory anyway, as per most diets, they are debateable and there are plenty of conflicting opinions. But it seemed to work for me, and still falls within most peoples understanding of eating healthily, so I’m going to give it a thumbs up.

But back to fats. I’ve generally avoided using butter for many years, having been told that saturated fats are bad for your heart and cholesterol levels, and that unsaturated fats – particuality polyunsaturated fats – were much better, even ‘good’ for you. So since childhood, to my early thirties, I have pretty much avoided butter, and chose a ‘healthy’ margarine. More recently I’ve skipped both in an effort to reduce general fat intake, and found that sandwiches & wraps with tasty (and healthy) fillings tasted more or less the same with or without either butter or margarine, so scrapped them completely.

However, I still had it in my head that margarine was much healthier than butter.

Until I read this:

http://www.foodmatters.tv/articles-1/butter-vs-margarine

It’s a very interesting article, and makes many good points. But in my mind, it jumps to conclusions rather quickly. I quote: “When these fats are incorporated into skin cells, their mutation causes skin cancer”. What?? Where’s the evidence to support that? It’s a bit overkill.

I’d like to read more about this debate, but I do agree that margarine is very unnatural and one key aspect of eating healthily is to eat as naturally as possible. As soon as you start processing food then you’re stepping away from that. So butter is a better choice in that sense compared to margarine. Nonetheless, the fact remains that it IS high in saturated fats and has been proven (in numerous studies, although these are often debatable) to lead to high heart and general health problems.

So which do you choose?

I’d say: neither.

I eat plenty of fish, nuts and olives, and can’t resist the lure of cheese (similar to butter in terms of it’s fats), so I get plenty of the required fats from those foods, along with the meats I eat and the olive oil I use in cooking, so there’s no need for either. I generally avoid bread too (another article coming up soon about how bad bread can be for you) and even if I do opt for sandwich or a (slightly) healthier wrap/pita, I just fill it with enough tasty health food (a dash of yoghurt is great if it’s too dry) for me to quite happily avoid either.

I’ve never really been ‘overweight’ as such, but I’ve certainly bordered on it and have been unhappy with my body shape at
several times in my life. I wasn’t confident as a youth, and ‘bulking up a little’ from my skinny frame in my teens helped.

The main problem started when I was around 20 – I was starting to get a beer gut! A very distinct belly pouch. No fat anywhere
else – just a big lump that my friends used to notice and poked!

True, I liked my beer. But I didn’t really know much about health & fitness then, other than to eat healthily and to do a bit
of exercise.

My knowledge on the former was distinctly lacking any scientific or nutritional background. True, I knew to avoid things like
burgers, crisps, chips, ice cream etc. I also assumed that the meals my parents cooked – and later, the simple meals I started
cooking for myself in my Uni days – were healthy. Looking back, they weren’t bad – just the typical meat, two veg and potatoes
of a traditional English meal in 90s/early noughties – they weren’t ideal though. The amount of mashed (or worse, roast) spuds
I ate though, usually accompanied by lashings of gravy or a cream or cheese based sauce, wouldn’t have helped at all – as
would the sugary desserts that usually followed – cheesecake, meringues, instant whip etc. And although I did eat ‘an apple a
day’ back then, I probably wasn’t getting anywhere near enough fruit and veg – save the frozen peas/carrots/sweetcorn with
meals which probably had most the nutrients boiled out of them.

Still, we generally avoided ready meals, although for a few years when the microwave fad first exploded, would have a few
merely for convenience.

My exercise knowledge came from my Dad, who always maintained an excellent almost triangle like figure with large shoulders
and flat stomach. I figured that if I ate the same as him, and did the same exercises he did at home, such as the sit ups,
press ups, and curls with his weights, then I’d be the same. He drank plenty of his home made (and very tasty) beer and
certainly had no beer gut. What I’d not taken into account at this stage was the fact that his manual job as a printer was a
very physically demanding job. He’d basically have a 12 hour workout each working day – and he cycled the 5 miles there and
back whenever the weather allowed. My problem was that I never liked sports as a kid – wearing glasses from the age of 6 and
not being able to see a damn thing without them being the primary reason – and got hooked on computers at the age of 10, so
aside from the daily 15 mins of exercise I was copying from my Dad, I was basically sitting in front of a computer the rest of
the time!

At Uni, I probably ate healthier than most of my colleagues, but most of them were into mountain biking, rock climbing and
other activities. In the final year, I got hooked on having bacon baguettes – the bacon fried in butter! – with my house mate
Leighton as part of a routine, washing down with Rolling Rock lager – and that’s when I decidedly became close to being called
“fat”. My face shape changed – not massively, but I was starting to get a double chin. And I just didn’t feel good. I felt
heavy. I felt lazier. I sweated more. I didn’t like it. So I started going to a gym regularly and paying closer attention to
what I was eating, and started feeling better almost immediately.

By this stage my 2 years younger brother had got seriously into his fitness and sport, and was in excellent shape, after
having been somewhat chubby as a child due to his sweet tooth. His confidence was massive and his prowess with the women when
he started at University was legendary. I was still rather shy and had been a late starter in this respect – too much of a
computer geek! I started following more what he was doing and looking up to him and tried to get more into sports. When I
started my first job after Uni, I joined their 5 a side football team. It was a great workout and fun for a while, but because
I’d never really played football in my life, I was absolutely bloody useless, and pissed off a few of the lads. Some were
understanding and supportive – Big Pete was great – and Ed was terrible too (sorry Ed!) so I wasn’t alone – but the captain
and a few others were really competitive and continually shouted at me, and I stopped enjoying it and eventually quit.

At that stage though, I’d started Taekwondo lessons. This was a FANTASIC fitness workout, and huge confidence booster. In a 2
hour lesson, we’d do about 90 mins of ‘warm up’ (more like overheat & destroy) exercises and stretching. I was eating
reasonably well – although I’d started brewing my home brew beer which I enjoyed rather too often – and with all this exercise I managed to get in quite an acceptable shape. But the younger lads at Taekwondo – it was at Nottingham Uni and there were a few lads in
their first year, so about 4 years younger – all seemed to have pretty much 6 packs – I wanted a piece of that! I foolishly
believe at that time that I would be able to get girls easier if I had one – ah, the naivety of youth.

My brother then got even more into his health and became a fitness instructor and nutritionist. This was great for me and
transformed my understanding of healthy eating.

I regularly made ham or chicken sandwiches for work, and had always used margarine, believing it to ‘healthy’, compared to
butter (see my later post, Fat content – butter or marg?), but he advised against using either. With a few slices of cucumber, or
tomato, to moisten the sandwich, I realised I had no need for the marg. I stopped taking sugar in my tea – it took about a
year; reducing the amount gradually so I eventually didn’t notice the difference – which probably helped a lot due to the vast
volumes of tea I used to drink. I also started drinking more water, changed from full cream milk to semi skinned (I actually
went to fully skimmed at one stage but it tastes like water and you need a little fat anyway), cut down on beer and replaced
with red wine, and finally shook the notion that pizza was good for me because it had cheese and, erm, well, cheese is good
for you, right?!?

I won’t waffle on much more – I’ll do that in other posts and explain how I’ve achieved an ideal weight – but to summarise, I
learned that my original understanding of healthy eating and fitness routines weren’t quite up to scratch. By my mid 20s, I
was back on track!

These days it’s not so much about how I look or any lack of confidence, it’s more about keeping in shape from the health
perspective, feeling fit and healthy, and treating your body with respect. I’m not going to quote ‘my body is my temple’
because I can’t resist ‘poisoning’ it from time to time with the odd treat, especially alcohol! Red wine and Pina Coladas mean
too much to me 😀 Besides, what’s the point if you can’t enjoy yourself? You only live once – unless you’re a cat.

Or James Bond.

My outlook is to be as healthy as possible whilst enjoying myself – and I’m continually seeking to find that perfect balance.

And I think I’ve finally found that balance. But more about that in future posts 🙂