Can I still eat carbs and lose weight? I got to test that in real life on Sunday.
Potato salad. Quiche. Pissaladière. Gougères. Coffee cake.
That was my lunch. Basically a festival of carbs.
I ate some of everything. And the next morning? The scale hadn’t moved.
So yes. You can still eat carbs and lose weight. How much you eat matters way more than what you eat. Get the quantity right and you don’t have to give up carbs to be at the weight you want.
By the end of this post you’ll know why. And you’ll have the simple secret to finding that beautiful nirvana for yourself.
My Sunday Carb Festival
I’ve just joined a new cookbook club. We choose a cookbook. Everyone cooks something from it. Then we come together and eat.
It was a beautiful spring day. We had a picnic lunch. And on the table was literally all the carbs.
- Potato salad
- Quiche Lorraine
- Pissaladière (I’m still struggling to say it). Think thick, deep pan pizza with caramelised onion, anchovies and olives on top. So delicious.
- Gougères. Savoury choux pastry with cheese.
- Soup
- Coffee cake for dessert
Normally I don’t eat a lot of carbohydrate. I have diabetes, so it’s something I keep an eye on.
But know having some carbs isn’t a problem.
So I put a little of everything on my plate. I went back for a bit more pissaladière.
I didn’t freak out. I didn’t think “Oh, I’ve blown it. I may as well just go all in.”
I let myself enjoy every single thing.
I also listened to my body. I stopped eating when I felt that sense of satisfaction. And I saved space for coffee cake.
The next morning I was prepared for the scale to have jumped up.
It hadn’t.
It was such a great reminder of everything I teach. HOW MUCH we eat is way more important than what we eat.
It’s Not Just Me
This morning I was coaching someone who’d just got back from a week away.
She’d eaten out. She’d had wine most nights. A couple of nights they had dessert. (She didn’t finish it.)
She came home and for the first time ever after travelling… she’d actually lost a little bit of weight.
So it’s not just me. This is what happens.
Why There Are No Bad Foods
We’ve been fed a story. Carbs are bad. Fat was bad. Processed food is bad. Broccoli is good.
The problem is, when we label foods as bad and make them forbidden, it increases our desire for them.
So if you’ve been avoiding carbs and all of a sudden you’re at a carb fest like I was… that restriction is sitting in the back of your mind. And it’s so easy to end up hoovering up absolutely everything.
Restriction causes overeating. Overeating brings guilt. And round we go.
It doesn’t feel good. And it’s also not true.
I’d love you to adopt this idea. There are no bad foods. Nothing should ever be off limits for you.
The research backs this up. When people go without a food they love, their cravings for it go up. And especially for people used to dieting, they eat more of it once it’s back on the table.
How Much Matters More Than What
What is true? How much we eat is way more important than what we eat.
It’s overdoing the carbs that causes problems with our weight. Or having too much fat.
When we get the quantity right, the scale stops being a problem.
Which is really great news. Because it means we can have carbs. We can have ice cream. Quiche. Cheese. All these beautiful foods.
We don’t have to miss out on anything to be in the body we want.
We just need to get the quantity right.
A big year long study from Stanford found something similar. People followed either a healthy low carb or a healthy low fat diet. Their weight loss ended up about the same. Cutting carbs wasn’t the magic ingredient.
Super Size Me vs Portion Size Me
You might remember the movie Super Size Me.
A guy had to eat every meal at McDonald’s for a month. Whenever they asked if he wanted to super size, he had to say yes.
He was eating way more food than his body needed. By the end he’d gained weight and he was feeling terrible.
Most people took away one message. Fast food is bad for you.
But there was a follow up movie. A university in the South of the US ran the same experiment. Every meal at a fast food restaurant.
Only this time they didn’t super size. They portion sized.
The movie was called Portion Size Me.
They ate the right amount of food for their bodies. At the end of the month, neither of them had gained weight. Neither had any negative health effects. They actually felt good.
Same fast food. Just the right amount of it.
How to Get the Quantity Right
So how do we get the quantity right?
It’s a skill. Listening to our bodies. And stopping when we feel that sense of satisfaction.
Letting ourselves feel satisfied. Then stopping there… without going into too much territory.
That’s all I did at the cookbook club. A little of everything. Stop when satisfied. Save room for cake.
Your Home Play This Week
I’d love you to experiment with this.
- Think of something you’ve been avoiding. Something you’ve been telling yourself you shouldn’t have because it’ll make you gain weight.
- Make a plan to have it.
- Have a reasonable portion. No need to overdo it.
- Notice how it feels. Notice what happens on the scale.
- Enjoy it.
One of my clients told me she had lasagne last night. She hadn’t had it for ages. And she loved it.
Want to Learn the Skill of Listening to your body?
In case we haven’t met, I’m Jules Clancy. I’m an Australian food scientist turned certified health coach. My life’s work is helping food lovers like you and me reach and stay at their ideal weight with ease and joy.
If you’d love to become one of those mythical, naturally healthy unicorns who loves food, enjoys all the carbs and isn’t stressing about their weight… check out my free class.
The Secret to Eating What You Want and Feeling Good in Your Clothes
In the class you’ll discover:
- The number one essential skill for a naturally healthy relationship with food
- The four sneaky reasons your past attempts to change haven’t worked, so you know what to do differently
- The three phases of healthy eating, so you know where you are now and where you want to get to
- My counterintuitive, simple approach to nutrition that cuts through all the conflicting information and helps you feel in control
My Best Bite
My best bite wasn’t actually from Sunday lunch. Even though that was all very delicious.
Last week we had friends over for afternoon tea. So I made a cheesecake.
The base was ginger biscuits with rosemary through it. The filling had honey and white chocolate.
So good.
I hadn’t had cheesecake for a long time. I had a tiny piece. It was so satisfying and so delicious.
Have a beautiful week.
In your corner,
Jules from Stonesoup xx
(Your favourite Australian Food Scientist)
See my bio
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