Montignac Diet

[Eden]

In order not to hijack bleudauvergne's thread on her experiences with this diet, I figured it was time to start a seperate discussion.

After doing a fair bit of reading, including the thread above, I started the montignac diet about a week ago. I figured that it was the most likely to allow me to still enjoy cooking and eating, as well as make sure I maintained a healthy balance of many different types of foods. (my problem with the standard Low-carb programs is that I beleive many carbs are healthful and necessary to a balanced diet.)

So is anyone else out there is attempting this diet? Making food restrictions work with a "foodie" lifestyle can be quite a challenge, so I'd love to hear how other people are coping with this.

[Chris Amirault]

I'm interested, Eden, in this. Do you have any web-based resources to find out basic information about the diet? I know Lucy had book suggestions in her thread.

[Eden]

I'm interested, Eden, in this. Do you have any web-based resources to find out basic information about the diet? I know Lucy had book suggestions in her thread.

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Sure.

Here's a low-carb forum chat page talking about it. Fairly good info scattered among the noise...

Here's the official Montignac website with a brief summary of the diet, and of course pushing you to buy the products.

Another useful site is this Glycemic Index page if you go to the database link on the left and tell it to show you all the carb foods with a GI under 30, you'll get an idea of the range of carbs you can enjoy on this plan (you can have some higher carb meals too, but those are more restricted...) Note that it also includes a lot of "diet foods" with chemical additives which Mr. Montignac warns you to avoid. Not an issue for me, I try to avoid super chemically fake foods in general (except for cheetoh's of course )

I also read the chapter on montignac from "the man who ate everything", and of course Lucy's blog...

If you're hesitant to shell out the $20 for a diet book you're not sure is right for you, see if you can get a copy from a local library to flip through.

[Eden]

Just to confirm one positive aspect of this diet, I'm about 1.5 weeks in now & my biggest complaint (when I'm not actively smelling fresh pastries) is that I get full so fast I never get to dessert Seriously, I'm eating maybe a third of what I was previously & I feel full all the time.

And I'm eating a high percentage of veggies, which I am not famous for in general...

Because I'm just starting I kind of went a little bit insane to make sure Ihad plenty of food in the house that I could eat happily, so my jumbo-sized refridgerator is packed as full as it can hold with various different foods, from really excellent whole wheat bread, to a batch of "cream" of asparagus soup, to a nice little gorgonzola, and a box of "don't touch them, they're MINE" cherries

[raisab]

Hi Eden,

Montignac has flip flopped on his original views if you join his web diet. It costs 13.95 a month. I joined for one month and bought all his books in France and found they did not honor each other. He has revesed a bit on the cheeses and such. I also found his web based plan was hard to follow unless you have all day to spend in the kitchen! He gives no specifics but gives a menu with recipes. They look wonderful but alot of the products you would be running all over town for!

He also has a new book named The French Diet, the real reason French women don't get fat. It is a book specifically for the USA

I imagine the true diet is a low GI diet. How are you doing on it? Please post your results, I would love to go along with this also. I have about 20lbs I could very happily lose! But I love cooking and eating so much!!!

[Eden]

Hi Eden,

Montignac has flip flopped on his original views if you join his web diet. It costs 13.95 a month. I joined for one month and bought all his books in France and found they did not honor each other. He has revesed a bit on the cheeses and such. I also found his web based plan was hard to follow unless you have all day to spend in the kitchen! He gives no specifics but gives a menu with recipes. They look wonderful but alot of the products you would be running all over town for!

He also has a new book named The French Diet, the real reason French women don't get fat. It is a book specifically for the USA

I imagine the true diet is a low GI diet. How are you doing on it? Please post your results, I would love to go along with this also. I have about 20lbs I could very happily lose! But I love cooking and eating so much!!!

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Yes there are different details depending on which book you read, but the basic concept of low GI & not combining fats with carbs seems to be consistent.

I have the new "French Diet" book & find that in simplifying it for the USA market he also lost a bit of clarity on how the diet works, but having read an earlier version years ago & with Lucy's thread to refer to I find I can figure things out. I also just got a STACK of low GI diet books out of the Library in order to add to my list of foods I know the GI for. Because my edition of Montignac's book was written for mainstream america it doesn't include foods like celeriac in it's GI index, so I'm having to go see what other resources might be able to tell me...

It looks like the web system gives you a menu of different items for every single meal which is indeed excessive. I make large batches of various dishes like hummous, and chicken salad, etc. at one time and alternate them around so I don't think I'm eating the same thing every day, but I also don't have to spend ALL my time cooking, which means I can still enjoy making something special for dinner every 2-3 days, which is about my normal schedule.

As to how I'm doing, I know I'm eating far less, which has to have a good effect right? I can't tell you in hard#s since I didn't weigh myself before I started, but I'll know when my clothes fit differently... So far other than some unrelated issues with not sleeping I have plenty of energy, and have NO problems with feeling hungry. I have a batch of blueberry frozen yogurt I made sitting in the freezer that I never get too because I'm always too full after my veggies & entree

[Abra]

Eden, what's the theory behind not combining fats with carbs? Normally you hear that you ought to do just that, to slow the absorption of the carbs.

[sparrowgrass]

Just poking thru this thread, and I know nothing about this particular diet, but I would say the "no fats with carbs" thing works like this: Who wants bread without butter, macaroni without cheese, potatoes without sour cream?

[Eden]

Just poking thru this thread, and I know nothing about this particular diet, but I would say the "no fats with carbs" thing works like this:  Who wants bread without butter, macaroni without cheese, potatoes without sour cream?

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well potatoes are verboten regardless in phase 1, but pasta with tomato sauce, and whole wheat toast with strawberry spread both make me happy

Re why no fats w/carbs: very low GI carbs can in limited quantities be combined with fats, and a little olive oil/goosefat can be used for sauteeing etc in carb meals, but in general this combo should be avoided because the carbs raise the blood glucose level, which in turn causes the fats to be stored in your body tissues.

[Eden]

FYI Montignac allows a square or two of dark (70% or more) chocolate as an occasional dessert. I have always found most dark chocolates too strong for me, but having now tasted several brands I find that Dagoba Conacado 73% and Lindt excellence 70% are both tasty & not so strong they hurt

[Eden]

here's another interesting website (from 2002) that talks about the montignac plan in terms of variuos scientific studies that relate to his theories. It's a little behind some of the rule changes that Montignac has included in his latest book, but pretty useful regardless.

also here is what seems to be the US Montignac page vs the intl site linked above... WAY preachy in the supposed Q&A section, but it does have a GI level search tool...

[Silly Disciple]

It's a little behind some of the rule changes that Montignac has included in his latest book, but pretty useful regardless.

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Eden, can you tell us a bit more about the rule changes Montignac has added lately? I have the "I eat..." book, which AFAIK is not very new, right?

SD

[Eden]

Eden, can you tell us a bit more about the rule changes Montignac has added lately? I have the "I eat..." book, which AFAIK is not very new, right?

apparently Montignac to reccomend that you not drink during meals, but there's nothing aobut that now, just the restrictions on what you drink.

he now mentions some higher gi fruits as being marginal besides bananas

And he seems to be down on the higher fat cheeses in the latest US book, where-as I gather all cheese is good in the French edition (for a lipids meal)

[Eden]

Today was my day off. I had a long since planned DimSum brunch, with a videos & snacks party afterwards. If I'd waited for a time in my life with no food related social activities, I would never have started, so I figure it's better to follow the diet most of the time & take a day off every 2-3 weeks than not to try at all...

I did specifically take a middle eastern snacks tray of mostly montignac-y foods (Non-fat hummous, veggies, whole wheat pita, NF feta, etc.) for the afternoon, but there was just no staying on the diet with Dim-sum... Wow, not eating sugar for 2 weeks makes Chinese food taste REALLY sweet!

I must say though I didn't like how my body felt afterwards & am raring to get back on plan in the morning. Can you say Carb-Coma?

[Silly Disciple]

apparently Montignac to reccomend that you not drink during meals, but there's nothing aobut that now, just the restrictions on what you drink. 

I posted this question on Lucy's thread but I'll post it here again: What does Mr. M say about diet soda beverages?

he now mentions some higher gi fruits as being marginal besides bananas

which ones?

And he seems to be down on the higher fat cheeses in the latest US book, where-as I gather all cheese is good in the French edition (for a lipids meal)

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Is there an indication on whether this is related to weight loss or cardiovascular health (ie. cholesterol)? It seems to me that a book oriented to the US market might come out stronger regarding cardiovascular problems.

thanks for the info.

SD

[Eden]

I posted this question on Lucy's thread but I'll post it here again: What does Mr. M say about diet soda beverages?

He says to skip them in general. "avoid drinking diet soda on a regular basis as it maintains sugar addiction"

he now mentions some higher gi fruits as being marginal besides bananas

which ones?

Mangos, pinapples, grapes, papayas - I think that's it...

And he seems to be down on the higher fat cheeses in the latest US book, where-as I gather all cheese is good in the French edition (for a lipids meal)

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Is there an indication on whether this is related to weight loss or cardiovascular health (ie. cholesterol)? It seems to me that a book oriented to the US market might come out stronger regarding cardiovascular problems.

I'm pretty sure this is just CV related, so if you have good health in the CV department, cheese away

[Silly Disciple]

Mangos, pinapples, grapes, papayas - I think that's it...

arghh!!! not mangos!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure this is just CV related, so if you have good health in the CV department, cheese away 

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ok, he says, munching a buchette de chevre au lait cru

thanks again for the info,

SD

[Eden]

So Having heard of the lower GI levels of Kamut® flour, I bought a bag, and threw together a loaf of bread yesterday. It was not bad for whole wheat bread, (it's hard to go wrong with bread fresh from the oven ) but it had a decidedly "health-food" taste to it.

here's a pic of the Kamut® flour (top left) as compared to whole wheat (top right)and regular AP white (bottom)

I found the kamut® flour a bit grainy, along the lines of semolina or corn meal. So I would use the flour again for say pasta, but the bread is not likely to be part of my regular repertoire when at only slightly higher GI level, I can just go buy Essential Baking's whole wheat Desem loaf, which I really love.

A few more photos are over in my album...

[Eden]

Hi Eden,

I imagine the true diet is a low GI diet. How are you doing on it? Please post your results, I would love to go along with this also. I have about 20lbs I could very happily lose! But I love cooking and eating so much!!!

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As to how I'm doing, I know I'm eating far less, which has to have a good effect right? I can't tell you in hard#s since I didn't weigh myself before I started, but I'll know when my clothes fit differently...

I'm at 3 weeks now, and while I don't know the #s exactly, I know it's over 5 lbs, because I've dropped 5 from when I looked at the scale about 10 days ago, when presumably I'd already lost some...

Also my tightest pants are now looser, and my loosest pants are a bit too loose - this despite some notable days off the diet.

Yay!

[doronin]

Recently I noticed the new Montignac's portal. Well, it's very good indeed, with very updated data, etc.

I'm just wondering... it contains explanation for all the principles of the Montignac Method, as well as enormously detailed Q&A - doesn't it make his books somewhat obsolete?

[Eden]

Recently I noticed the new Montignac's portal. Well, it's very good indeed, with very updated data, etc.

I'm just wondering... it contains explanation for all the principles of the Montignac Method, as well as enormously detailed Q&A - doesn't it make his books somewhat obsolete?

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My impression is that the website has a basic description of the plan, but the books are far more detailed. I would not feel as certain of where to start just from reading the website as I did after reading the book. Also I don't see the exampe menus & recipes that the book provides.

However I do like the upgrade to the site. And they seem to have a much more comprehensive list of low GI foods which is useful.