Everyday Systems

I started this diet monday and the last two days I had a sandwich for lunch and a piece of fruit. Yesterday it dawned on me that if I put the bread separately on the plate with the filling and the fruit that the bread would fill the plate. I posted this question on the BB but I don't know where it went. Thanks, Helen

Just look at a sandwich as the finished product -- not individual parts.

You can fill the plate as high as you'd like. I'm not saying you'll lose weight if you do that, but you can do that.

It might not be the healthiest thing you ever ate, but it's not breaking any No-S rules. I'm still new to this, but I'm filling my plates with an embarrassing amount of food and just not finishing it (my husband or the dog take care of that for me). Right now it's about 2 things:

1.) Having enough food on 1 plate to get me through to the next meal without feeling hungry. This allows me to be successful at the diet instead of feeling like a failure, as I usually do on diets.
2.) Getting used to the fact that it's okay to leave food on the plate. I was a charter member of the clean-plate club, so this is a big one for me.

Nothing wrong with a sandwich. I usually make half sandwiches so that I have room for variety, which makes meals much more satisfying. Try having variety with each meal. It helps a lot.

Helen wrote:I started this diet monday and the last two days I had a sandwich for lunch and a piece of frIuit. Yesterday it dawned on me that if I put the bread separately on the plate with the filling and the fruit that the bread would fill the plate. I posted this question on the BB but I don't know where it went. Thanks, Helen

Don't overthink this.

The idea behind the plate is to have all the food in front of you so that you can see everything you're eating at once, and that you learn what is a reasonable amount of food for you. A sandwich can be huge or not. If you ate a sandwich and fruit, didn't feel stuffed, and got to the next meal, I'd say you're doing great. As time goes on, you'll figure out if you need changes.

Welcome, Helen -- and enjoy your sandwich!

The "one plate rule" is "can you fit it on a plate" NOT "could you arrange it in such a way that it wouldn't fit on a plate" (you could do that with almost anything -- imagine the square footage you could cover with thin film of lentil soup!).

It's true you can fit a lot on a single plate -- but it will also LOOK like a lot. You can't kid yourself about it. And that, over the long haul, forcing yourself to confront the sight of excess should be enough to keep you in line.

Reinhard