Everyday Systems

Does everything have to fit on one plate? Or is a small bowl of miso soup, teriyaki chicken and rice and a piece of fruit for example considered a meal? On non S days, I mean. Is it a meal which can consist of several parts or is it a plate? Thankyou.

Hi JUDA. There are many more experienced No S-ers than me who I am sure will be along with some advice soon! However, my understanding is that whilst ideally everything should fit on one plate, you can do something called virtual plating. This is where you have an imaginary plate and visualise if your food would fit on it. In the case of soup I believe you can have the bowl of soup alongside a smaller plate, which could contain your chicken, rice and fruit. This is a form of virtual plating.
Hope that makes sense and please correct me if I am wrong everyone!

I would say that all you are going to eat at a meal should fit on one physical plate. My experience shows that strictness in this regard brings faster results, and is especially important in the habit-forming phase. Virtual plating which Bluebell mentions is an option, but in my opinion a risky one.
I tend to put all my food on one plate to see if it fits, and only then divide between smaller dishes - I usually eat fruit cut up and don't want it touching my fried rice, for example. Or when I'm having soup, the bowl goes on a plate, and any extras must fit around the bowl.

Soup bowl goes on my plate, too. I usually use different-sized bowls according to the type of soup. I do this for other amorphous stuff, too, such as yogurt. Fruit touching my other food is not an issue for me.

Thanks one and all. Well I failed my first night but what a valuable lesson came out of it. Finishing a meal with something sweet plus some cheese puts a line under my eating for the night. So adjust my plate components to include these things. By sweet I mean some ricotta cheese, berries and stevia instead of maple syrup. Saving the maple syrup for the s days. On with the no s adventure!!!😊

Nice meal ending. Sounds very Euro.