Size of your plate?

[jfalvsie]

I am trying to understand the ratio of protein to vegetables.  One of the recommendations in It Starts with Food is to consider a serving size of protein to be based on the size of your palm and fill the rest of the plate with vegetables.  My question is what size plate are we talking about?  8 inches, 12 inches, smaller, bigger or somewhere in between.  I understand that there will be some experimenting with determining how much will hold me over until the next meal and based on activity level.

[SugarcubeOD]

We're not that prescriptive with the amount of veggies that we outline the size of the plate.  Most of the recommendations we give here on the forum are to eat 1-3 cups of veggies with every meal... more if they are leafy greens as those cook/chew down to almost nothing.  In that 1-3 cups, part of it can also be a fist sized serving of starchy carb at at least one meal.  I would recommend you use your normal sized dinner plate and start a journal - write down how much you eat (in approxmiate cup sizes, don't actually measure and weigh the food) and then how you managed between meals... did you get 4-5 hours between, were you starving at 3 hours or did you feel like you couldn't eat another bite 6 hours down the line... it's not really veggies that are going to trigger this satiation as much as fat tho so write down how much fat you're eating as well and then yes, play around with your meal composition until you get what works for you.  You may also find that if you're eating something more soupy/liquid like chili, you need more fat and veggies to feel full longer whereas a steak, potatoes and roasted green beans with a plated fat is going to be more satiating... it's all an experiment

[jfalvsie]

Thank you.  I appreciate the advise.  

I lost 27 lbs in 45 days the last time that I followed the Whole 30 plan, about 4 years ago.  I just didn't transition into Whole Life properly.  Last month I re-read It Starts with Food, and started following the plan on February first.