You can Eat Delicious Pastries and Lose Weight?

Yes, it’s true. Eating pastries at the end of your meal has little impact on weight gain.

I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s scientifically proven and it makes sense. You see, when I go back to France in the summer, I’m always amazed by what French people eat.

This, for instance, is a typical family meal when I visit:

  • We start with either a homemade soup or a salad. Baguette bread is served with the first course.
  • Then the main course is something like a stew or a roast, or a grilled fish, with plenty of vegetables and a starch.
  • You’d think that would be enough, but we keep eating: a cheese board comes with at least 3 or 4 kinds, and more bread.
  • To finish things off in style, we have a dessert, which often consists of delicious pastries.

That way of eating gives a new meaning to my motto: Eat More, Burn More.

We all have heard that French women don’t get fat. The fact is, the order of foods we eat has an impact on fat loss.

NOT all of the calories we eat are available to our organism immediately after we consume them. And we can use that to our advantage. When you eat sugary pastries on an empty stomach (Don’t do it!) for instance, the carb gets almost totally absorbed by your intestine.

However, eating sugary pastries (something we all love doing) at the end of the meal has practically no impact on the meal’s glycemic outcome.

As long as your meal is nice and healthy, full of vegetables and wholesome proteins, then sugar absorption is considerably reduced.

Further Reading:

How Does a European Lifestyle Keep People Thin?

Fiber = Weight Loss: Here’s a Simple Plan to Get Your Daily Dose

Gui Alinat

Gui Alinat is a Tampa, Fla.-based American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef, published food writer, and the owner of Artisan Boutique Catering. He is the author of "The Chef's Repertoire," and "Eat More, Burn More." Born, raised and classically trained as a chef on the Mediterranean coast of France, he traveled extensively, working in restaurants around the world. Chef Gui promotes an active lifestyle, sound nutrition, and believes that fresh and tasty food is resolutely compatible with fat loss and bodybuilding alike. He lives in Florida with his wife Carissa and their five children.