Everyday Systems

Hi all,

My name is Laura, I am 33, single, lacto-ovo vegetarian, no kids and about 80lbs overweight. I found out about the no-s diet from a blog post on sparkpeople.com. This seems to make SO much sense!

The S that causes me the most trouble is the sweets - I am a major junk food eater - I can eat wonderfully healthfully, but then pick up a bag of chocolates ... and before I know it, they're gone.

I was wondering about breakfast, and how to fit that onto a "plate." My usual breakfast is a banana, bowl of cereal/rice milk, and a two egg whites scrambled/cooked. (I pour the egg whites in mini muffin tins, bake them, and then freeze them.)

On Sundays I might have 4 or 5 dollar pancakes (made of oatmeal, banana, chocolate protein powder and quinoa) with syrup and maybe peanut butter and applesauce.

How does amount of cereal fit into the "plate" idea?

Also, sometimes I will make a fruit/protein smoothie (usually - banana, frozen berries/other frozen fruit, protein powder, flaxseed, rice milk.) How would you judge a "plate" portion on a smoothie? Would something like this be better saved for S days?

Thanks!

I'd been doing this for about a year before I realized that we were supposed to use one plate. I had one serving of whatever was being served. If it was on more than one plate (or bowl), so be it. I've kept that up.

I find a single physical plate is helpful, and I try to stick with that unless it would be ridiculous not to.

What I ALWAYS insist on is seeing my entire meal in front of me at one time, so I can't sneak excess past my in increments that never seem like much at once but add up to a great deal.

Most of what you describe sounds pretty easily "plateable." A bowl can count as a plate. If you want a banana on the side, and want to be a stickler about the single physical plate, put the bowl and the banana on to of a plate, sort of like a teacup on a saucer. Looks rather elegant, actually.

Put the smoothie into a wine glass to emphasize its caloric potency (and give it a bit of class).

Hmmm... maybe I need to add a "rate my plate" photo upload service

Reinhard

I am a bad No S-er in this department, and I eat a lot of "stuff in a bowl."

I use the smallest bowls in the house if I'm having something else on the side -- we have two sets of cereal bowls, and one set is literally twice the size of the other -- and I put the "something else' on a salad plate instead of a dinner plate. I see it all in front of me at the same time, so at least I know what I'm eating.

Thanks everyone for your replies. They're quite helpful.