The goal of the 50/50 plate is to lower the calorie density of your meal. Simply put, fill one half of your plate with a non-starchy vegetable and the other side of your plate with minimally processed starches.
By doing this, you are greatly lowering the calories of your meal without losing the food volume. This is why the 50/50 plate is so effective because you are not left feeling hungry after a meal.
For example, when eating a plate of delicious lentil Bolognese and pasta you would serve yourself the pasta on one side and broccoli on the other. You want to see a clear line down the middle of your plate so you know for sure that you made the 50/50 plate equal.
So the biggest change in calories of a food is how much water and fibre is in it. Because when you remove water you make the food a more concentrated calorie source. This is why ANY kind of food processing makes foods MORE calorie dense.
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These two plates are similar in calories but you’d feel somewhat FULL on the grapes and scoff the raisins in a few seconds. Plant foods in their natural form perfectly safeguard us from overeating, because we physically struggle to eat too many calories.
If you’re trying to get into a calorie deficit for weight loss you don’t need to know your calories in OR your calories out, you just need to work on reducing your calories in now! The 50/50 plate is the easiest and most effective way of doing just that.
Real life Example
Think of it in terms of money. You need to save money, so you start spending $50 less each week. You don’t need to know the current balance in your bank but rather, just reducing the amount of your current starting point. If you know that most of your spending goes towards eating out 5 times a week, rather than calculating how many meals you need to cut out a week to get to $50 you could just stop eating out during the week.
The 50/50 plate is a proven way to REDUCE your overall calories without counting… they’re actually more effective long term and more enjoyable.
