Even Simpler?

Eventually, I'll be done with counting calories. I'll have re-trained myself, and I'll know what I can eat and how much.

But for now, I'm doing it the tedious way.

A meal is about 300-400 calories. A salad with chicken. Vegetables with low-fat spagetti sauce and soy meatballs. Something of that sort.

A snack is about 150 to 250 calories--a piece of fruit, maybe some cottage cheese or a nonfat latte.

It comes out to 1200 to 1500 calories a day.

There is a very simple way to think about it.

And the Duh! Diet is all about simplification.

If you want to picture what I eat in a day it's simple.

A meal is:

• a softball-size serving of vegetables,
• a tennis-ball serving of low-fat protein,
• a ping-pong ball-size serving of carbohydrates,
• and no more than 1 teaspon of fat--for dressing, cooking, whatever.
  

(Sometimes, it's two softball-sized servings of vegetables, but let that go for now.)

That's about it!

The vegetables are about 40 calories, the protein is about 100 calories, the carbs are about 50 calories, the fat is about 40 calories. That's 230 calories--with plenty of room for being off in your guesstimate.

If I go below the weight I want, I'll add more carbohydrates or allow myself more fat.

Is it "scientific"? Not in the sense of being precise.

Is it reasonable? Yes. I'm saying to eat vegetables and low-saturated-fat protein, to avoid heavily caloric and processed foods, like fat and starch.

It's a strategy: a way of implementing your method of reducing calories and eating more healthfully, a way you can think about and live with.

Give it a shot.

--E. R. O'Neill