You can gorge on potatoes and bread and still chisel your abs to cover-model standard. Just follow these simple rules.
Burn 23% More Fat With Comfort Food
Placate your carb-hungry taste buds with beans on toast, MH style. A tin of beans, mixed with chopped tomatoes and Tabasco gives your body 30g of “resistant starch” or “RS”. This carb isn’t digested in the small intestine, so it makes you feel fuller, says food scientist Gary Frost. Research in Nutrition & Metabolism found that RS helps you burn 23% more fat. Also find it in bananas, oats and cold pasta.
Related: Feed Your Muscles And Your Sweet Tooth With This Banana Pumpkin Protein Shake
Carbo-Load To Raise Metabolism
Indulging in a buttery potato is like a scene from The Hurt Locker: timing is everything. Forget the “no carbs after 8pm” rule. “Starchy foods maximise your supply of the hormone serotonin,” says nutritionist Kim Pearson. This helps you sleep, which, according to the American Journal of Nutrition, can boost your metabolism by 20%. Or have carbs within 30 minutes of a gym session. “Potatoes provide vitamin C and electrolytes such as potassium, which you need to re-stock muscle glycogen stores,” explains Pearson. Leave the skin on for an added nutritional benefit.
Related: Here’s Why You Should Reprogram Your Metabolism–And How To Do It
Fight Cravings With A Cooling-Off Period
Cooling your potatoes before eating them increases their levels of RS and lowers the glycaemic index. “Eating low-GI food will combat energy lulls and minimise fat storage,” says fitness coach Liz Fulford. The same can be done by cooking your pasta al dente, so it has more bite. To lower your potatoes’ GI even further, dress them with a vinaigrette. Whisk together 4 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp Dijon mustard. Swedish researchers found that cold potatoes dressed with vinegar caused the smallest blood sugar spike, slashing food cravings.
Related: Next Time You’re Craving Something Greasy. Try This And Kick Your Cravings’ Ass
Gorge On White Rice, Guilt Free
Fluffy rice is another vice you can enjoy with the right tweaks. A study in Nutrition found that mixing white rice and beans – Jamaican style – blunts their fatforming spike in insulin. Kidney, sugar and black beans have the best belly-shrinking effect. And, if you find yourself stranded at an Indian restaurant, staring down a tikka masala, order long-grain basmati on the side. It has a GI of 57, around the same as the athletic choice of brown rice.
Related: Everything You Need To Know About Carbs – And Why You Should Stop Worrying About Them
Use Your Loaf To Cut Kilojoules
White bread is the malevolent king of fastacting carbs. Some loaves score as much as 100 on the GI board. But there is a way to have your BLT buttered both sides and eat it. Linseed and soy bread comes in under 55 on the GI scale, while two slices of flaxseed bread will dish up almost half of your fibre RDA . And switch butter for mashed up avocado – research found that people who stock up on monounsaturated fats like those in vegetables are more likely to keep weight off long term. The bacon sandwich just got tastier and better for you.
