The first thing I would say is that No S is a way to get into the habit of eating moderately within a culture that does not support moderation. It does not address every point about good nutrition and healthy eating, and doesn't attempt to. To quote from Reinhard on the front page:
The No S Diet is a framework for controlling excess. Beyond that it makes no stipulations about your nutritional or gastronomic choices. That doesn't mean they're not important, they're just separate issues. Fight one enemy at a time, not three at once.
That said, I find that having a limited number of limited quantity meals makes me take them more seriously, both from a gastronomic and a nutritional point of view. Pretty much every meal I eat is delicious or healthy or both.
If you don't have the book, the
front No S page on this site is well worth a read and addresses many questions like these.
lagflag wrote:it is ok to fill my plate with junk food, but it is not ok to put some nuts in a second plate and eat healthy food in the first plate instead
When you say "ok", you mean "within the letter of the law for No S". Sure, a plate full of (single layer) savoury junk food is within the letter of the law for Vanilla No S. And sometimes my dinner plate is a single layer of pizza.
However, you can't avoid reality. Your body will not be fooled if you keep the letter of the law (one plate) and ignore the spirit (eat moderately). If I was eating a plate spread with pizza frequently, and was not meeting my health or weight loss goals, I would know, very clearly, what the culprit was. There would be no hiding from myself. What I like about No S is that very visibility. There is no handful of nuts here, banana there, and me at the end of it sighing "I eat so healthy, I don't understand why I keep gaining".
Merry addressed the snacks stuff perfectly - the idea is to break the habit of eating between meals. Obviously, if you spend your time between meals drinking loads of calorie rich drinks (e.g. wine, beer, milky coffees) you may not lose weight. But that's a decision that No S leaves up to you. A quote on this from Reinhard, answering the question "what about healthy snacks":
Eat healthy meals. If you know you have just three, you'll make them count. I'm perfectly aware that an orange between meals is not going kill you, that, taken in itself, it's perfectly healthy. But the idea is to have the orange instead of, not in addition to, and in justification of, some unhealthy part of your meal. The problem is primarily one of self-discipline, and if you start making all kinds of exceptions, you'll fail.