Comprehensive diet and nutrition info.

Typically, the best foods to eat when trying to lose weight are whole, unprocessed foods from a variety of sources. As long as you’re sticking to these guidelines, there’s not a whole lot that’s off limits.

Sticking to overly-restrictive rules about what you eat may leave you short on nutrients and energy if you’re only eating low-calorie foods. As a general rule-of-thumb, include a wide range of the below in your diet:¹

• Plenty of high-protein foods like lean meat or fish (such as chicken breast or salmon), eggs, tofu or tempeh. Protein helps build muscle and supports healthy digestion.
• Foods rich in both soluble and insoluble fibre, such as cruciferous vegetables, beans and legumes, and fruits like apples, can help aid digestion and help you feel fuller for longer.
• Gut-friendly foods, rich in both pre- and probiotics. These foods help support your gut bacteria, which can be beneficial for digestive health and mood.
• Healthy, whole carbohydrates. Sourdough bread and oats are great breakfast alternatives to white bread or cereal, and try swapping refined cards like white pasta and white rice with whole-wheat pasta and brown rice.
• Unsaturated fat sources, like nuts and avocados. While high in calories, unsaturated fats are essential for supporting body function and increasing satiety.Just keep an eye on portion sizes if you eat them often.

Highly-processed, calorie-dense foods generally tend to be less efficient at delivering energy and nutrients than whole foods. So you’ll be more likely to consume a higher amount of calories if there’s a lot of this type of food in your diet, and this can lead to weight gain.

And many of these processed, calorie-dense foods you’ll be aware of: chocolate; biscuits; crisps; deep fried foods like chips or donuts; ice cream; white bread, pasta and rice; sugary drinks; fatty meats like steak, sausages and bacon; dairy products high in saturated fats like cheese and butter… you get the picture.

This is broad advice, though — we’re not saying you can never eat these foods as part of a healthy lifestyle. Just that eating a lot of them, regularly, isn’t good for you. It’s important to view health at the macro level (pun absolutely intended). The occasional indulgence won’t derail things as long as the majority of your diet is made up of a variety of whole fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes.

The idea that carbs cause weight gain is a myth that’s largely been dispelled. It’s basically an oversimplification. Pretty much any food can cause you to gain weight if you eat enough of it, and carbohydrates are one the most important energy sources our body needs. You’ll struggle without them. Carbs are in a whole load of foods that are really good for you, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Often, when people advise you to cut down on carbs to lose weight, they’re talking about refined carbohydrates. These include white bread and pasta, breakfast cereals, sugary drinks, biscuits, snacks and sweets. That’s because the process of producing these foods strips the ingredients of their nutritional value and makes them really easy to digest. This gives them a high glycemic index, meaning they cause your blood sugar levels to increase dramatically after eating them, causing short-term rather than long-term feelings of fullness. This means you’ll be more likely to overeat, and therefore more likely to gain weight. But there’s nothing inherently about carbs that’ll cause you to gain weight. ²

If your goal is simply to lose weight then technically, yes, you can eat whatever you like — so long as you eat fewer calories than you use. But if your goal is to lose weight in a healthy, sustainable manner (which is what you should be aiming for), then no, you can’t eat whatever you like.

If you follow a calorie deficit diet that only contains ultra-processed ‘empty calories’, you’ll probably end up feeling hungry, tired and energy deprived throughout, alongside some likely digestive trouble. It’s important to make sure you’re eating a wide range of whole foods to maximise your nutrient intake, maintain good energy levels, and feel fuller for longer.³ Your body will thank you for it.