Globetrotting Americans say they come home from Europe with more than a colorful souvenir: a lower number on the scale.
Some travelers have said they lose weight despite eating more of the foods they would normally restrict at home, especially bread, pasta, cheese, and whatever sweet treat is for dessert. This concept is getting renewed attention. On Aug. 7, The Wall Street Journal published a piece titled My Secret Diet Is a Trip to Europe, checking in with Americans who noticed their weight go down after traveling.
Then, on Aug. 26, The Guardian proposed a different way to look at the phenomenon—one that is less about the food itself and more about everything that changes when people travel. Online, theories range from differences in wheat and additives to claims that European food is simply healthier.
Experts, however, point to a less dramatic answer: there may not be one single reason, and a more nuanced explanation is also the more correct one. Changes in diet, portion size, food processing, walking, stress levels, and daily routine can all impact how much energy—aka food—people take in and use. The bread may be part of the story, but it does not tell the whole story.
The Bread May Be Getting Too Much Credit
File Photo. Image Credit: Soham Chadha on Unsplash
In My Secret Diet Is a Trip to Europe, Erika Armetta, a registered dietitian who specializes in weight management at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told The Wall Street Journal that she would look at the entire lifestyle rather than blame a particular pesticide, preservative, or other ingredient. Cooking more, eating slower, and consuming fewer processed foods will all have an impact on an individual’s weight.
Bread and pasta are rich in carbohydrates, but that does not actually make them inherently fattening. Registered dietitian Natalie Romito told the Cleveland Clinic that carbohydrates do not cause people to gain or lose body fat on their own. Rather, weight gain is impacted by how much energy someone takes in vs. how much their body uses.
It is helpful to understand what carbohydrates actually do for us, because their importance cannot be overstated. The body breaks many of them down into glucose, which is a major source of energy for our cells, tissues, and organs, as outlined by MedlinePlus. Think of energy as a currency, and food is how our body refills its wallet to spend on all manner of activities, from walking to swimming, and even blinking and thinking. The body can use that glucose right away, or store it in the liver and muscles for later use.
So, eating a plate of pasta does not mean those carbohydrates immediately become body fat. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases explains that weight gain can occur over time when the body consistently takes in more calories than it uses, with some of that excess energy stored as fat.
Additionally, the exact type of carbohydrate can determine its nutritional value or how full a person feels after eating it. Foods that are fiber-rich, like whole grains, beans, fruits, and veggies, are digested differently and help a person stay fuller longer, writes the Cleveland Clinic.
What Happens Around the Meal Matters, Too
That does not necessarily rule out the different processing methods that food undergoes in Europe compared to the United States.
In a carefully controlled National Institutes of Health experiment, 20 adults were given either ultra-processed or minimally processed diets for two weeks at a time. Participants could eat as much as they wanted. On the ultra-processed diet, they consumed about 500 more calories per day and gained an average of 2 pounds. The same people lost about 2 pounds while eating the minimally processed diet.
Lead researcher Kevin Hall made an interesting connection thanks to the experiment. “This is the first study to demonstrate causality—that ultra-processed foods cause people to eat too many calories and gain weight.” The experiment does not prove that European travelers are losing weight because their food is less processed, but it shows how the type of food people eat can affect how much they end up consuming.
Portion size may matter as well. Research teams from France and the University of Pennsylvania compared portion sizes in France and the United States. They found French portion sizes to be smaller in comparable restaurants, supermarket food, and cooking recipes. It’s worth noting the study was conducted in 2003 and does not represent every meal served across Europe today, but it may help explain why eating pasta or dessert does not necessarily mean eating more calories overall and thus gaining more weight.
Factors Beyond Food Are Also At Play
Highly varied methods of travel in Europe also play a role, especially where cars are not as prevalent.
The CDC estimates that a 154-pound person burns about 280 calories during an hour of walking at 3.5 mph. Actual energy use varies by body size and pace; however, days spent walking between train stations, restaurants, museums and tourist attractions can add up fast.
That is the explanation Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi suspects gets overlooked. Americans accustomed to driving can suddenly spend a European vacation walking quite a lot throughout the day, and for days on end.
Additionally, some fluctuations on the scale do not reflect changes in body fat. Leslie Heinberg, Ph.D., told the Cleveland Clinic that normal body weight can fluctuate by several pounds for a wide variety of reasons: water retention, digestion, hormones, activity level, and many more. Even just the inherent nature of traveling can change several of those at once.
The debate surrounding the weight-managing power of a European visit persists. Before looking for answers in the bread, however, it is important to consider all other factors at play, and to understand that weight is incredibly nuanced from person to person. What seems the sole work of special bread and pasta might just be the tip of a particularly delicious iceberg.