DISCLAIMER: I am in no ways a dietician or a health care professional. The below is merely an opinion of what works for me. If you try it and it doesn't work, I'm not responsible, ok?
I decided that my partner and I need to be on a diet. Not a crash and burn "must lose 50 pounds NOW" kind of diet, but one that's sensible and sustainable. Here's what I came up with that works for me. Rule Numero Uno of successfully dieting is to slow down one's pace while eating. The thought here is that by slowing down, we can be more in tune with our body's signals that we're full. Good enough. In order to do this and to get more nutrition into my diet, I'm following a basic Japanese concept of eating: "Ichi-jyu San Sai." Basically, this translates to "one soup, three sides." With an understanding that rice is assumed in any Japanese meal, you end up with five dishes consisting of soup, main dish, two sides, and a bowl of rice. While that may sound like a lot of food, it's not -- Japanese rice and soup bowls are very small, and the point is to limit the amount in terms of quantity of foods that are taken in. By having various flavors and textures on your plates and picking and choosing while eating them (the dishes are all served at the same time, and are supposed to be eated in a "bite of this, a sip of that, a little rice..." fashion), you automatically slow down the pace of eating, and end up being more satisfied with less. Not only that, by having all these different ingredients, you are more likely to get more essential nutrients than eating that big steak with mashed potatoes (not that I'm against that either... love steak).
In addition to this, the original intent of Ichi-jyu San Sai, was to follow two other principles than just the course list. One, each meal should have items of all food colors represented (red/yellow, green, white, brown, black), and two, all the items featured should be cooked in a different manner, i.e. items could be grilled/broiled, sauted, boiled, steamed, fried, raw, etc. By having items with different colors, you broaden the nutritional base of your meal, and by using different cooking methods, you can make your brain more satisfied by giving it a wealth of textures in addition to flavors that make the meal more interesting.
Is it a little more work... yes. Cooking like this does require the use of more pots and pans in the kitchen, but I think that the rewards are highly worthwhile. Here's an example of a meal I might make with these premises.
1) Soup: small serving of miso soup with daikon and tofu (brown/white, boiled)
2) Main/Protein: salt grilled chicken thigh with black sesame seed (white/black, broiled)
3) Side 1: carrots simmered in dashi (red, simmered)
4) Side 2: small salad of lettuce, cucumber, and grape tomatoes with non-oil dressing (green/red, raw)
5) Starch: brown Rice (brown, steamed)
Ok, so you can see above that I have five dishes, with each color represented, each with a different cooking method. While it might seem like a lot, remember that the portion control is in the "three to four bites per item" range. Too Japanese? No problem. I've found that the premise works well with even a decidedly Western bias. For example:
1) Soup: French onion soup au gratin (brown/white, boiled)
2) Main/Protein: parmesan crusted filet of sole with lemon caper butter (white/yellow/green, pan-fried)
3) Side 1: creamed spinach (green/white, steamed)
4) Side 2: wild rice salad with golden raisins, celery, and peppers (black/yellow/green, boiled/raw/dried)
5) Starch: half a baked potato (white, baked)
See, it works with no weird Asiatic twist to it too... although I do get stumped sometimes in finding "black" ingredients... dark brown and purple seem to work ok as substitutes too. And there are days that I have three simmered items on the menu, but I think that's ok... this is a general guideline, not a strict science. I try to cook like this at least once a day, usually for dinner. Just remember, portion control is everything here. A little bit of this and a little bit of that makes for great eating.
I don't count calories, or really restrict myself too much. The only thing, if you must know, that I look at on a nutrition label, really is the saturated fat content of something. I try to keep my intake of saturated fat under 15 grams a day. It's really not that hard... I look for "better" fats like olive oil to do my sauteing in, and hold off of butter and cream for the most part. Once a week or so, I go all out and have a big fatty piece of meat with a side that's oozing cheese and butter. I enjoy it then without feeling too guilty.
Hope this inspires you a bit.
Happy Cooking!
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