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I’m recording todays show as a reformed carb-Queen.

So please know everything I share today I’ve struggled with. I’m coming from a place of understanding not judgement.

I used to love to demolish a whole french stick in a sitting. I’d eat 6 white bread rolls with raw 2-minute noodles as the filling for afternoon tea… and Yes, I’ve consumed an entire box of cereal (straight from the box) in a single sitting on more than one occasion.

In todays show: 4 Signs You’re Eating Too Many Carbs.

4 signs I ignored for years. Because I just “loved carbs too much.” Because I figured the crazy amount of exercise I was doing was evening out all my carb-guzzling… because I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t cut out to have the strong yet ultra lean body I really wanted. 
Even, because I thought it was kinda cool to be that sorta skinny-fat chick with the “crazy-fast-metabolism” that was ALWAYS HUNGRY.

Sign One: You Train Hard and Eat Restrictively and yet, YOU STILL CAN’T LOSE BODY FAT.
In this infuriating scenario… you exhaust yourself at the gym multiple times a week. You slog it out in either tedious cardio land or even in glorious weights land – or in my case – you spend an hour devoted to each… you drag yourself home triumphant, in serious need of some nourishment and consume a low-fat-calorie-controlled post training meal – dutifully  declining the stodgy pizza or indulgent ice-cream everyone else at home is devouring.

You do this conscientiously and consistently AND you deserve to see results.

The solution?
Training hard is great. However it’s not possible every single session week in week out.
If you feel like you NEED at least an hour at the gym every single time and like you NEED to thrash yourself to have any chance of seeing results, then it’s your nutrition not your training you need to focus on.

No less food. Just some little swaps, one upgrade at a time.

I’m guessing if you relate to this first scenario then you’re currently building your meals based on calories and what you’re NOT eating. The things to avoid.

Instead focus on building your meals first around natural ONE INGREDIENT FOODS.
A good place to start is to think of your 3 fav lean proteins and your 3 fav fibrous veg and to build some meals from there. We’ll add to them in signs 2-4 however for example:
=> eggs and mushrooms at breakfast.
=> chicken and kale OR for my fellow vegos hemp seeds, tahini and kale at lunch.
=> salmon and brussels at dinner.

Sign Two: You Need To Eat Every Few Hours and yet, YOU’RE ALWAYS HUNGRY.
In this all-consuming scenario… you’re held hostage by your constant need for food.

It’s actually embarrassing that every few hours your stomach rumbles. You spend way too much time, energy and money thinking about the next meal. Or the best snack.
A mere few hours without food and you’re brain-dead. Irritable as hell. Basically incapable of effective work or a civilized conversation.

You may think this is normal for someone looking to lose fat or even to maintain their weight… however it’s NOT!

The solution?
More protein and good fat in your meals. Perhaps even bigger meals. Your body is incredibly versatile and forgiving. Even if it had to survive on low fat smaller snackie type meals every few hours – as mine did – it’ll adjust once you swap to as my mum would say “a real meal.”

Let’s take those 3 meals we started with and amp up the protein PLUS add a good fat.

So I’m hoping you have YOUR 3 fav proteins and 3 fav fibrous veg in mind however for this example let’s continue with mine…

=> eggs and mushrooms at breakfast. If you’re still hungry after a 2 whole egg omelette add a couple more whites to the mix. Cook it with coconut oil and if that’s still not satisfying add some more good fat like avocado.
=> chicken and kale OR for my fellow vegos hemp seeds, tahini and kale at lunch. Let’s add 50 grams of nuts (your fav – mine are roasted unsalted cashews) to your lunch time salad or stir-fry for a hit of both more protein and some good fat.
=> salmon and brussels at dinner. A generous serve of your fav lean protein at dinner is just fine and cook it with a quality oil like olive or even better coconut oil which I love on my brussel crisps. If you’ve not a huge fish or meat fan the way to amp up the protein at dinner is to follow your meal with some protein pancakes. I do this every single night.

Sign Three: You CONSTANTLY CRAVE Carbs.
In this constant will power battle scenario… you’ve obsessed with your next carb fix.

You’d think carbs were a drug the way you think and talk and eat them… and to a degree, they can be. The fake-processed-addictive ones anyway. Millions of dollars have been spent by the big food companies to manufacture the perfect most addictive balance of fat, sugar and salt to the point of… I-must-have-it-NOW-and-I-must-demolish-it-ALL!

Although it may seem like nothing compares to carbs… the fact is you crave what you eat. As such you have the power to change what you crave.

The solution?
Start with saving your fav fake and processed carbs for treat day. Keep them to one day a week so they are not infiltrating your every day and every food thought.

You’ll find that gradually as you start to evict fake from your every meal and replace it with real food your cravings will start to change. Your appreciation of the taste that real food has will grow too. If you’ve been consuming man-made refined food for every meal and snack for years it’s been dulling to tastebuds to the intensity of real food.
With time, as you feel ready start to upgrade the quality of your treat day food as well. Do it as it feels natural. I used to enjoy Maltese’s and cheap-mass-produced ice-cream once a week and now I’m really not interested. I just don’t crave that stuff.

Sign Four: You Struggle with PORTION CONTROL.
In this losing battle scenario… you just can’t stop. You always want more.

The great news is, once you’ve implemented the actions I covered in signs 1-3 I really don’t think you’re going to struggle with portion control anymore.

For two reasons:

A) You’ve swapped a restrictive, calorie controlled, low fat, processed food eating approach for a one ingredient based, lean protein, fibrous veg and good fat eating approach.

B) Because of A you really don’t need to worry about portion control. You get to eat huge, generous, indulgent meals.

Basically when you cut the processed crap-o-la out of your eating you get to eat A LOT of everything else. Instead of trying to restrict your unsatisfying-craving-causing-high-caloric-density fake food you get to build meals that are both nutritious, delicious and appealing to your stomachs eye!

Let’s take those 3 meals we started with and make them nutritious, delicious and appealing to your stomachs eye!

=> eggs and mushrooms at breakfast. With a couple more whites. Cooked with coconut oil and served with a side of avocado. You can add as much fibrous veg and herbs to that mix as your eggs can hold! I love: spinach, broccoli, red onion, zucchini, capsicum and coriander + chili + smoked paprika + garlic powder + onion flakes.

=> chicken and kale OR for my fellow vegos zucchini hummus made with high protein hemp seeds + tahini and kale at lunch. With 50 grams of nuts. You can add as much fibrous veg and herbs to that salad or stir-fry as you like. I love: spinach, rocket, red cabbage, tomato, spring onion, mushroom, cauli, eggplant, basil leaves and also basil pesto and balsamic.

=> salmon and brussels at dinner. Cooked it with a quality oil. Even followed with some protein pancakes. You’ve picked my pattern right? You can add as much fibrous veg and herbs to that meal as you like. I love: kale, broccolini, mushrooms, zucchini, onions and also some nutritional yeast to make my kale or brussel crisps all cheesy and finally sea salt, chili, coriander and lime for that fish.

We must be at the time of the actionable. As a starting point how did you score so far signs 1-4? To recap:
Sign One: You Train Hard and Eat Restrictively and yet, YOU STILL CAN’T LOSE BODY FAT.
Sign Two: You Need To Eat Every Few Hours and yet, YOU’RE ALWAYS HUNGRY.
Sign Three: You CONSTANTLY CRAVE Carbs.
Sign Four: You Struggle with PORTION CONTROL.

I used to answer YES to all 4. To get actionable today, if you answered YES to one or more… then I’d love you do the meal planning exercise from sign 1.

That’s where you: focus on building your meals first around natural ONE INGREDIENT FOODS… and think of your 3 fav lean proteins and your 3 fav fibrous veg and then start to build some meals from there.

I’m not sure who to attribute todays quote to: “Calories. Noun. Tiny creatures that live in your closet and sew your clothes a little bit tighter every night.”

It’s amusing for sure – however – my take on it is don’t count or count on calories… those creatures shouldn’t be trusted. Always focus on quality rather than calories.

In the Wednesday show I’m Weighing-in on: ACCOUNTABILITY. I hope you can join me.

If you liked this you’ll also like: How To Cut Carbs To Lose Weight

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.