What The Perfect Plate Should Look Like

Stocking the fridge with all the right foods and cooking your meals from scratch are both positive steps in the right direction. But you might be undoing all your good work when it comes to dishing up.

- Nicky Perks

Is your low-carb eating plan failing to deliver the results you were hoping for? Not sure where you might be going wrong? It’s not just about knowing which foods to eat – you also have to keep quantities and ratios in mind.

Too many complex carbs and you may be spiking blood sugar and insulin levels too much and promoting fat storage instead of fat loss. Not enough protein and you run the risk of losing muscle mass, which is a big no-no if you want to age well. Overdo the fat and you will probably overshoot on calories, making weight loss very slow and challenging.

A super-simple guideline to the ‘perfect plate’ will help you stay on track. All you need to keep in mind are some simple fractions. If you can divide a whole into halves and then into quarters, you’re going to be great at this!

These plating suggestions are for a moderately low-carb diet – one that includes some starchy veggies and less fat than one would have if following a very low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet. Most people, especially women, do really well with a moderately low-carb eating plan. It offers more variety and diversity of food, which helps to keep the diet sustainable long-term. The small amount of complex carbs keeps the hormones and thyroid happy and besides, who doesn’t love a little roast sweet potato or butternut with their roast chicken or juicy steak? Quality protein such as meat, fish, chicken and eggs are very important, as is the right type and quantity of fat.