Question re 50-50 plate

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Question re 50-50 plate

Postby JOJO1947 » Sun Jul 03, 2022 12:38 pm

Hi Mark, I am unsure if MWL requires a 50-50 plate. Can the food be 75% starch 25% non-starch? Just wanting to know if the 50-50 guidelines are flexible or if you recommend the 50-50 plate for everyone. Appreciate your answer. JoAnn
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Re: Question re 50-50 plate

Postby JeffN » Sun Jul 03, 2022 12:51 pm

The 50/50 plate method is a guideline and the “method” means “up to” 50% non starchy veggies and/or fruit”. It’s not a black and white rule that the plate be 50/50, It might be 25/75 or 33/67 or 40/60 (non starchy veggies and/or fruit/starch).

Everyone has to find their “sweet spot,” which may be the most important concept, and is a combination of water content (weight and volume) weight, calorie density, satiety, fiber/cal etc. Calorie Density just happens to be the best surrogate marker of all this.

This is how it is taught in the lecture at the 12-Day Program too.

These are all guidelines to help people find their sweet spot.

Jeff
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Re: Question re 50-50 plate

Postby JeffN » Sun Jul 03, 2022 2:04 pm

Let me clarify with some slides from the current Calorie Density lecture and some older ones...

This slide represents the original McDougall Program

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These next few slides represent the stages of the MWL Program and the way it was originally described in the book and in the lectures.

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This last plate was part of the original but soon abandoned as while some may have lost more weight and faster at first, it didn't last as it didn't produce enough satiety and people were hungry, tired, irritable, etc. There wasn't enough starch.

This is why there is a caution about lowering calorie density too much and we retuned to this one.

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One could go right to the 50/50 or do it in stages and one might even find that 25/75 or 33/67 or 40/60 is enough for them (their Sweet Spot).

While Dr McDougall has always described it using thirds of a plate, I have always described it using fourths of a plate which I show here.

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You can also see the same progression in fourths in my original slides from way back in Pritikin.

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It was always meant to be "up to" 50% non-starchy vegetables, which became known as the 50/50 plate, the 50/50 Guidelines or the 50/50 Plate Method for simplicity. Many jumped right to the 50/50 because they wanted to maximize the principle.

It is easy to see how this may not have been clear to someone if they didn't hear the full discussion of it or if it was not covered in detail (which would have been my fault). I hope the above helps.

Onward!

In Health
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