On a recent trip to France, Dr. Meghan Garcia-Webb was struck by an age-old paradox.
Everywhere she looked, she saw people enjoying cheese, wine, and bread — yet the average person seemed much healthier than the typical American.
In France, despite their reputation for rich cuisine, the obesity rate is a fraction of what we see in the United States, for all our calorie-counting and protein maxxing.
“There isn’t this pervasive diet culture of going to a restaurant and seeing how many calories are in this and how many carbs,” Garcia-Webb told Business Insider. “I do find it is refreshing in the sense that there’s not this fear around food, and the food is very satisfying.”
It’s just one example of how stressing less about your diet can lead to better weight loss and long-term health, she said.
In her concierge medicine practice, Garcia-Webb specializes in helping high achievers, such as CEOs and attorneys, manage their weight. A lot of her job is pushing back on extreme diet fads, including the trend of tracking everything.
“I really enjoy food and the more I do this work, the more compelled I feel to show people that it actually is possible to be healthy and really like to eat,” she said.
Garcia-Webb said her favorite food hack makes it easy to eat well without turning your food journal into a full-time job. Here’s how to try it at home for more nutritious meals.
A stress-free guide to healthy eating
Everyone loves a food hack, and Garcia-Webb said hers is simple: when you prepare a meal, start by making half the plate fruits and non-starchy vegetables.
“It’s actually very easy,” she said. “You don’t even have to cook them if you don’t want to.”
Think carrots, cucumbers, peppers, greens, tomatoes, berries, grapes, citrus — anything you’d find in the produce aisle (except potatoes). To make it even easier, opt for pre-cut options that are ready to eat or frozen produce, which is as healthy as fresh.
From there, Garcia-Webb builds a full meal by adding a source of protein, like lean meats or fish, to fill another quarter of the plate. The last quarter of the plate is for starchy foods like whole grains, pasta, rice, or potatoes.
The strategy makes it simple to get five servings a day of fruits and veggies. Each serving is about a handful when you’re eyeballing it.
As you fill up on produce, the high-volume, high-fiber food keeps you full and satisfied after eating, so you’re less likely to reach for junk food later. That means you’ll find yourself eating healthier without having to count a single calorie or even measure a portion.
When to track your food for weight loss
There’s nothing inherently wrong with tracking your eating habits, and calculating every gram of protein is fine if that works for you.
Still, for most people, too much tracking can be a burden, taking away the enjoyment of food and making you less likely to stick to your healthy habits long-term.
Instead of trying to track everything you eat forever, Garcia-Webb recommends keeping a food log for a few days: it can give you a baseline sense of your current habits and what you can change to move toward your goals.
“You build this intuitive knowledge, and then you have a rough sense of what it looks like for you,” she said.
A temporary habit of food tracking can be helpful if you feel like you’re doing everything right and wonder why you aren’t losing weight.
Garcia-Webb said if you’ve never tracked your habits, it’s common to eat more and exercise less than you realize.
These days, plenty of convenience foods disguise ultra-processed junk with a “health halo” of added protein or other nutrients to make you believe you’re making a nutritious choice.
“People think that they’re eating healthier than they are,” Garcia-Webb said. “Something that we can all fall prey to is very good marketing.”
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