Everyday Systems

What can you eat after your dinner during the week?

Nothing.

You eat breakfast, lunch, then dinner, then go to bed and repeat. Anything else is a mod.

Since you titled your question, Dessert, I am assuming you are asking how to end the dinner meal?

If so, save a piece of fruit that would fit on your plate for dessert. The French usually have a very small cheese and fruit for dessert.

Otherwise, nothing. Your body goes into fat burning mode until breakfast. How cool is that?

A piece of fruit is almost always the last thing I eat at dinner, sometimes with yogurt or cottage cheese, if I didn't have meat. I might have tea or decaf mocha later. Nothing to chew after dinner.

We almost always have a fruit and nut plate: An assortment of cut up fresh fruit, dried fruits, nuts sprinkled over. I prepare a moderate portion. For example, today's fruit/nutplate: 1 pink grapefruit peeled and separated, small handful of dried apricots, small handful of dried plums, and almonds scattered over. (This makes @4 servings....)

Other fruits I use: apples, oranges, clementines, kiwis, pears, plus dates, figs, apricots, cranberries. In summer we eat up all the wonderful fresh fruits and berries, skipping the dried fruits.

We almost always use almonds for the crunch factor because it combines so well with fruits. Sometimes I'll also scatter a dark-chocolate covered almond or two for each person.

Another Nday meal-finisher in winter is canned peaches or pears drained, maybe macerated in a bit of Amaretto, dolloped with Greek yogurt mixed with a bit of vanilla and pdr sugar, and topped with toasted chopped walnuts or pecans.

It wasn't until I started NoS that I've built up my fruit eating habits. Pre-NoS, I always *wanted* to eat fruit so in my mind I saved it for "healthy" snacks, except when the snacking urges hit, the pretzels were far easier to grab and eat. Now, with that mindgame firmly banished, we eat fruit at nearly every meal because I fix it and serve it as part of my meal planning.

HTH,

I'd add a small serving of cheese. I find fruit, cheese and possibly nuts a very satisfying end to a meal.

Vmsurbat, I sometimes do the same thing, a plate of sliced fruit to share after dinner, but I considered it a mod. Do you virtual plate it?
There seems to be some flexibilty in the interpretation of no seconds. Some people follow a strict one plate rule, while others eat more than one course, as long as it is a planned part of the meal and not sweets.
I like the idea of eating a French/Italian style, multi course meal with fruit and maybe cheese as dessert but I sometimes need the boundaries of the one plate rule to prevent overeating.

I put everything on the plate to start. If I want to spread out the eating, I can. But I like to see it all at once.

I mix a little Hersheys Special Dark Cocoa (powdered-no sugar) with a little pack of Truvia, a tad of butter and enough milk to make it spreadable & some Pecans. Spread them on waxed paper and freeze it. Then I break off a small piece and put it on my plate for the last thing I eat at dinner. It REALLY helps and no sugar involved.

Sounds reasonable. In my mind, the most important thing is if it leads to more or less eating later. If it really sates, that's the ticket.

emmay wrote:I like the idea of eating a French/Italian style, multi course meal with fruit and maybe cheese as dessert but I sometimes need the boundaries of the one plate rule to prevent overeating.

I have some tiny bowls (intended for tapas), which I often put onto my plate to keep fruit, nuts or a piece of cheese separate. Then I can fill the plate by the book, then move the little bowl when I get to the table. I often end a meal with a few sultanas and pecans.

It's important for me that it's all eaten in one sitting. Having fruit that can be snacked on later in the evening, even if it fits on the plate, is a slippery slope for me in terms of habit. I like the "kitchen is closed" after dinner idea - I think I got that from KCCC. If I'm not hungry for the fruit on my plate at mealtime, then I put out too much food.

I use small bowls, too, but mostly for wet things, like yogurt or soup. All on the plate to start.

Same here,
being a beginner I am still too much in fear of sabotaging any good habits I have acquired so far. And I like the fence around the law concept. I usually have fruit on my plate which is kind of a dessert, of course, and it'll have to fit on my plate, usually in a little bowl, and I will eat it directly after having finished the savory part of my meal not later. But then again I have never been a big dessert-eater in the first place this probably makes it easier. A bit.

emmay wrote:Vmsurbat, I sometimes do the same thing, a plate of sliced fruit to share after dinner, but I considered it a mod. Do you virtual plate it?

Well, I put the fruit/nut plate on the table at dinner time as a reminder to us all that it is part of our meal. But, I don't serve from it until after I've finished my main meal. I have learned to just put out a reasonable serving that I expect us all to eat.

This notion of offering/serving reasonable portions is something I've been learning throughout my NoS journey.

I slowly realized over the years that I had the habit of preparing MORE than enough food to serve and thus subtly encouraged seconds and larger-than-needed portions. Wasink states in his book Mindless Eating that people will eat until the plate/bowl/platter is gone, whether they are hungry or not, and that has certainly proven true in our family. Now, I prepare what I think are reasonable servings (considering the family make-up: mix of adults and teens) UNLESS I want to have leftovers for another planned purpose.

Putting out the right amount of food to begin with helps me and my family with good eating habits by making it much harder to overeat at all.

HTH,

Wonderful and helpful thread. Thank you!
I often have an orange or apple after meals. Minutes later I'll have some loose-leaf (!) green tea with 1/2 small tsp of honey. Mmmh.
Citrus fruits and good-quality green tea, I found, help me especially with sweet cravings.

Bye the way, about 30 min. after the honey I'll brush my teeth or chew teeth-cleaning gum; honey can do a number on your teeth
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Love and peace
H.

I would personally consider taking from a second plate to be a mod or an advanced manoeuvre! I'm pretty sure I could not pull that one off yet, but my habit is still quite new, and I'd like to think that a few years in I will be able to act a little more naturally.
I do have a set of ramekins I use to block off space on my plate for fruit, cheese etc which I eat after dinner sometimes, but the key for me is to physically see it all on the plate together, as otherwise my sneaky appetite will overload the plate every time!
Fruit salad with a little single cream is also allowable on N days, although I only do this on occasion.

Thanks for the tips, everyone. Great question Andylandy!
It is often nice to have a little something to finish a meal. A little bowl or ramekin on the plate, to section off a serve of fruit, nuts, cheese is a wonderful idea.

Minkymoo wrote:I would personally consider taking from a second plate to be a mod or an advanced manoeuvre! I'm pretty sure I could not pull that one off yet, but my habit is still quite new, and I'd like to think that a few years in I will be able to act a little more naturally.

The wonderful thing about NoS is that we get to decide for ourselves what works best for us! I'm sure it IS helpful to really get a good grounding in what a full but reasonable plate of food looks like. So put that fruit on the plate.

But, I suspect that if you stick with NoS habits of moderation, you might find yourself amazed by a before/now comparison. After 4+ years, I'm still "naturally" changing what I put on my plate/how I eat because my good habits are leading the way.

For example, my whole first year of NoS I took advantage of Sday freedom and had a sweet treat at both lunch and dinner both days.

Sometime after that first year I dropped the Sunday evening dessert because I realized that I was starting to feel slightly sick by the time Sunday bedtime rolled around and I really didn't like it.

Then, between year 2 and 3 I realized that two hefty desserts (eg. cake one day, cobbler the next) was leaving me feeling overloaded so I stopped being so gung-ho on the baking of treats and let one day's treat be a simple homemade cookie, keeping Sunday as a feast day with a "real" dessert.

Now, after 4+ years, even that feels like too much sweetness, so I'm pretty much sticking to the fruit/nut tray for the first S day, maybe adding some of those dark chocolate covered almonds or a few candied walnuts. Sundays are company days so I still make dessert, but I've gone from a 9x13 pan providing 12 servings to a more reasonable 18-24 servings. Note: These aren't rules that I follow, so I'm free to switch it up, but it is what I generally do....

So, snapshot: First year NoS: 4 desserts every weekend. Today: 1 small serving on Sunday. Why? Because that is what I *now* enjoy most!

We're all different, and that is good.
To elaborate on my first post, unless it's an S-day I (we) like to keep it frugal with the *desserts.*
Concerning nuts, I usually eat them as part of my main meals, in salads, mueslis, curries, etc. They are high in calories and filling, as most of us know...I am not so keen on adding them on, after a meal...
Dried fruit I am also careful with; they sometimes *re-awaken* my appetite/sweet tooth after a meal. So, fresh, natural fruit, a tiny fruit salad, a piece of (Swiss ) cheese, hot tea with a little sweetener does the trick for me...during the week.

Relishing my freedom within the NoS boundaries. YaY

Wishing you all a great weekend (11:30 am here)
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H.

vmsurbat wrote:So, snapshot: First year NoS: 4 desserts every weekend. Today: 1 small serving on Sunday. Why? Because that is what I *now* enjoy most!

I admire this and wish I could get to this point regarding sweets. That is my problem area, not plating. I can virtual plate non-sweets to my heart's content and don't overdo it. It's sweets that are the problem. Controlling sweets on an S-day is not somewhere I can ever imagine myself being. But good for you.

I thought I couldn't limit sweets and didn't for two years! I'm flabbergasted by people who talk about one or two desserts at first on S days. I was still having pancakes with syrup for breakfast and a half a bag of Hershey's kisses before noon for 6 months. And more later. Felt crappy but almost wept at the thought of reining myself in. But feeling crappy became less and less acceptable. I still sometimes eat more than others, as I hang out some weekends with a pretty moderate eating group, and if anyone overdoes sweets there, it's me. But less and less. I still make a conscious effort about it, but it's not a terrible burden. Sure, it might be nice to be one of those skinny people who can chow down on crap, but it's not meant to be, and I don't feel sad about it anymore.

Keep working the program honestly and hold out for miracles.

leafy_greens wrote:

vmsurbat wrote:So, snapshot: First year NoS: 4 desserts every weekend. Today: 1 small serving on Sunday. Why? Because that is what I *now* enjoy most!

I admire this and wish I could get to this point regarding sweets. That is my problem area, not plating. I can virtual plate non-sweets to my heart's content and don't overdo it. It's sweets that are the problem. Controlling sweets on an S-day is not somewhere I can ever imagine myself being. But good for you.

Don't give up yet! I NEVER would have believed I would one day actually *not want dessert* when I legitimately could. Like Oolala53, I didn't restrict myself artificially ("Oh, I ought to really only have 1 dessert today"), but rather found that I didn't feel good when I had two desserts (lunch and dinner), so I *wanted* to drop one because I *wanted* to feel good. When you are doing what you want, saying "No Thanks!" to a sweet gets easier and easier.

Note: This doesn't mean I *never* overindulge, just that my normal day-in, day-out N days and S days have evolved naturally over the years which is a great benefit of NoS habits.

I have gotten away from adding fruit to my plate. A few weeks ago I had a small bowl of sliced Fuji apples with lemon juice and fresh ginger with my dinner. It was a small bowl that fit nicely on my plate. My husband looked at it and asked what it was, I told him and then he wanted some, everyone ate my apple, I was so annoyed at everyone for eating MY apple.

Fuji apple with lemon and ginger is delicious. Other combos I like are sliced oranges with u sweetened cinnamon, same with apples, in the summer I love watermelon with lime juice and if I have mint I add that too. I might try bananas with cinnamon later. More for a reminder for me, I find it helpful to eat fruit with dinner.

So the distinction is that you just put it in a little bowl instead of on your plate?

I put it in a little bowl because it was wet and took it off my plate to eat it and my husband noticed a little bowl of apples......he very rarely eats any fruit at all and usually it's a banana so I only made some for myself. My kids mostly prefer summer fruits and usually choose carrot sticks and red pepper strips over apples and oranges.

snapdragon wrote:I put it in a little bowl because it was wet and took it off my plate to eat it

Ditto, snapdragon, I do the same. I put different things in a tiny bowl, a little fruit/fr.salad, a small handful of chips...and put it on my plate. Before I start to eat, I usually take the bowl off the plate.
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H.

snapdragon wrote:
Fuji apple with lemon and ginger is delicious. Other combos I like are sliced oranges with u sweetened cinnamon, same with apples, in the summer I love watermelon with lime juice and if I have mint I add that too. I might try bananas with cinnamon later. More for a reminder for me, I find it helpful to eat fruit with dinner.

Thanks for the idea! Only fresh fruits currently available here are apples, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, with pears and bananas occasionally available. We don't have fuji apples, but love ginger, so I'll give it a try with the local variety of apples!