Carb Curfew Essentials
The two keys to making carbohydrates work for you are:
1. Operate the Carb Curfew to decrease total calorie intake.
2. Consume five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
What is the Carb Curfew?
As we discussed in chapter two starch, processed sugars and fruit and vegetables are all carbohydrates. The starch foods are potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and cereals, all of which provide a good source of fuel for the body to use during the day.
The Carb Curfew means you can eat starch at breakfast, lunch and in your mid-afternoon snack but you are not allowed to eat it after 5 p.m. The evening meal now comprises of protein, fruit and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and essential fats. It is a strategy that allows you to get the right balance of calories and nutrients at the right time in the day. At first this may seem a little difficult to apply but you will soon feel the huge benefits in your energy levels and you’ll certainly appreciate the change in your body shape as you become less bloated.
The Carb Curfew however is not just about saying no to starches after 5 p.m. – it is about getting the right balance of your overall intake of starches and nutrients throughout the day. For example you may be consuming too many calories from starch foods which are contributing to your body fat, so once you reduce the amount of starch you eat you will lose weight and body fat. Also, you will be more in control of your energy levels as you will be eating the right amount of starch at the right time for optimum energy. We will talk more about this later in the chapter.
Are You a Carb Comfort-Eater?
Answer the following questions to find out if you are prone to overeating on comfort starches such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes.
If you answered yes to most of these questions you are sensitive to comfort carbohydrates, specifically the comfort foods that are starch-based. You probably have a tendency to eat more of these foods than is appropriate and this causes you to feel lethargic and out of control. As well as operating the Carb Curfew, you need to use the starch-free zone (see page 61) when faced with an excess starch situation.
If your answers were mainly negative, you are less prone to overindulging on carbohydrates. If you experience problems with your weight it may be due to excess calories consumed through carbohydrates or an imbalance in your nutrient intake. Introduce the Carb Curfew as a tool to control calorie intake.
Watch Those Calories!
I developed the Carb Curfew concept as a nutritional diet tool when I realized a number of my weight management clients were experiencing initial weight and body fat loss but then they were reaching a plateau with their weight loss and their efforts seemed to go no further. This seemed to be a recurring theme, not just with my clients but also with other people’s initial weight-loss success stories.
My clients were all very efficient at decreasing the overall fat in their diets, but because their focus was on fat their attention slipped from their carbohydrate intake – specifically bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and cereal were all being over-consumed and often in the evening as opposed to during the day when our body may burn these nutrients more effectively. A typical daily food intake looked something like this:
Breakfast: cereal with skimmed milk and banana
Lunch: large jacket potato with sweetcorn, one banana
Snack: chunk of bread with fruit jam
Dinner: pasta with homemade tomato sauce, brown bread roll
Now at first glance this seems to be a pretty healthy diet and to a certain extent it is, however what it lacks is essential fats, a minimum of five portions of fruit and vegetables, protein and suitable portion sizes. The classic mistake is that too many calories were being consumed. So while fat intake was decreased and in fact very low, the consumption of calories through starches was increasing.
Total calorie intake does count. So while we may be very good at reducing the amount of fat in our diet, if the total number of calories consumed is higher than the amount of calories being burnt off through exercise and activity, then weight gain can actually occur regardless that the source of calories were ‘fat-free’.
Have a look at the table below to see the calorie content of some typical starch foods – this will help you to see how excess calories from starch might be contributing to your body fat.
Calorie Content of Starch Foods
| Food | Calorie Value |
| 1 large slice wholemeal bread | 100 |
| pasta (100g dry weight) | 405 |
| rice (100g dry weight) | 400 |
| 1 jacket potato (200g raw weight) | 160 |
| 1 bagel | 225 |
| 1 croissant | 295 |
| 1 large pitta | 180 |
| 1 hot cross bun | 190 |
| bowl of bran flakes (40g) | 147 |
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1 naan bread
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