Everyday Systems

Today is my first day of my return to No-S (after a too brief trial run last summer). I'm pretty excited, since I've finally gotten zen about my weight and have decided that I will measure progress on days-on-habit for both No S and the Couch to 5K running plan.

So here's my question: How do you treat salads? They're really more a bowl food than a plate food. Plus, they're pretty high in terms of volume-to-fillingness ratio. Do you virtual plate? Do you just order the small bowl at the make-your-own salad bar and fill it up and count that size bowl as your "plate" for the meal? It seems dumb to just avoid salad altogether.

Thanks!

I don't virtual plate green salads or broth-based soups -- but I think I'm the only one that doesn't do that.

I agree, I would just put my salad bowl or salad plate to the side unless it was a huge chef salad or something (which is what I just ate )

Unless your salad was a "meal", I would assume it was in addition to the plate, just watching the dressing and extras.

SR

My salad was my meal. (It had proteiny things in it as well as veggies). So I think I'm just going to say 1 bowl = 1 plate.

I've started doing that with cereal--I had it for lunch yesterday, and for breakfast today. I start with some kind of healthy cereal in a biggish bowl (not cartoon big, but bigger than a regular soup bowl) add some fruit, and call it a meal. I've done the virtual plate thing with a smaller bowl of cereal, leaving room for toast, fruit, etc., but this is actually a lot easier.

I could see going either way with my salads. If I put a lot of chicken, eggs, or other protein in it, I'd just call it a meal. If I paired it with a slightly smaller dinner and just added vegetables and some dressing to my salad, I'd keep it in a separate bowl.

It seems dumb to just avoid salad altogether.

Absolutely!

The fact that salad isn't a very calorically dense food is an advantage.

It makes less look like more, and thus seem more filling.

When possible without offending someone, I prefer to put my salad on the same plate as the rest of my dinner. I don't starve. It's really not all that different from other kinds of vegetables.

Virtual plating is a fine option, too. The key is to try to avoid sequential courses, but instead to have both plates in front of you at the same time, so you can see what you're eating and have any excess jump out at you.

In terms of restaurants, unless you're talking very high end, the salads they serve are usually pretty enormous. They could easily be a meal in themselves.

Reinhard

You are correct about the high end restaurants. Isn't it interesting that the more expensive the restaurant, the smaller the portions. Actually the portions there are usually more in line with what might be described as a
"serving' pre-supersizing mentality. It's a quality vs. quantity. And this applies to not only salads but to the other foods as well usually.

The problem is everyone wants "McValue" these days. Why get a decent sized normal meal when you can have an entire trough for the same price? It's pathetic; I can't even eat what is considered a "normal" meal these days at most restaurants and I'm certainly not a small person.