Ask Dr. Cheryl

Topics discussed in this episode: 

• 5 categories of Your Plate (0:28)
• The Perfect Plate defined (6:40)

Transcript:

So we've talked about keto and Mediterranean and low-fat vegan, and we've talked about insulin, and we've talked about hunger hormones, and we've talked about blood sugar and not to spike blood sugar too much. And now we're here and we're finally talking about the plate, where it all really comes together and we can see: how do we actually make dinner? This is the part where it really matters and how do we build a plate? Let's pull this all together. And so it's really simple. So the plate is divided into five categories. The first, fruits and vegetables. The second is whole carb grains and starchy vegetables. And the third is your plant protein. And the fourth is your healthy plant fat, essential fats. And the fifth is what we call your happy food. So 50% of your plate is coming from fruits and vegetables. And our plate is about four cups of volume. So half of the plate, which is about two cups of fruits and vegetables, 25% of your plate is coming from whole grains and starchy vegetables. So that's about one cup. And then the other 25% of the plate is made up of plant protein and healthy plant fat. So when we bring this all together, if we look at it in a very simple way, I just want you to think about: Does my plate have two cups of fruits and vegetables? Half the plate. So if half of your plate is made up of fruits and vegetables, you're halfway there. And that's what's exciting. It's very simple. So can half of my plate be made up of two cups of fruits and vegetables and most of them fresh? So this gives you that chew factor. So you're gonna chew, it's gonna slow you down from eating just a little bit. And this is kind of the connection of what the two apples were when we talked about filling up with the two apples. So this is going to give you lots of fiber, antioxidants. And what's important here so that you can checkbox from your score is every day making sure you have that cup of berries. So choose that at least once a day. And then you've got your greens and your cruciferous vegetables. And those cruciferous vegetables are really, really important when we think about, “I don't want to have breast cancer.” Think cruciferous breast cancer. So that's my motivation when I realize that cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, arugula, kale, choose those often. Also, we have the color in the fruits and vegetables. So the colors where all the antioxidants come from. So you've heard like, “Eat from the rainbow.” That's a thing. So every one of those colors is a medicine. So think about the fruits and vegetables as the color category. All the color and that's all the medicine. That's where you're going to get the most antioxidants from the plate. And then we move to our next 25% and that's the whole grains and starchy vegetables. Whole grains and starchy vegetables, we're talking about corn and rice and as we look at like soluble fiber grains, these are the ones with the most amount of soluble fiber and we've talked about how good that is for us for really helping with that meeting your max 50 goals for your blood sugar and also dropping cholesterol. But barley is the grain with the highest amount of soluble fiber and oats are the follow-up. So they're next in line and then potatoes are really great sources of soluble fiber. And we just move right on to farro. And I call farro, this group is the slow carb grains. It's farro, quinoa, amaranth. And these are the kinds of grains that actually have the most amount of protein actually. They still are loaded with fiber but really awesome at slowing down and reducing blood sugar response. Now let's move to the plant protein. We wanna have one serving of those every meal. And we can choose from beans and legumes, soy, edamame, all of those are in the bean group. Garbanzos, lentils, split peas, those are all part of the beans and legume group. This is something that a lot of people don't eat enough of at all. And so this is a super important part. There's so many health benefits to having beans, soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, but we've got plant protein of the leanest type in nature. It's the main food that has the most amount of protein and the least amount of fat. So these are lean proteins and again, hunger crushers. So you're going to love that part of it. Nuts sit right in the middle on the plate and they can be a protein. If you're looking for, let's say you want to make a peanut butter sandwich, you can take your grains with whole grain bread and you can move right in and put nuts on it in the form of peanut butter, and that's your protein and your fat. And then we have our whole plant fat, and the whole plant fats are avocados and olives and seeds. And our essential fats, the biggie is the flax seed, chia seed, walnuts, these are all sources of the omega-3 essential fat. And we need one of those every day, and that's a part of the score as well. So making sure you get that. This is going to give you a perfect score on all the food on the score, and on the plate, this is the formula. So I have two cups of fruits and vegetables. I have one to two servings of whole grains, and that depends on how much you need to be full for four hours. That's where you can make it yours. Then we have the plant protein, one serving, and then we have one serving of whole plant fat. But there's one more, and it's going to be your favorite, your happy food. And that's topping off the whole plate, is you can bring together, you do not have to give up all your favorite foods. I've been promising you that every time we talk, and I'll continue to keep that promise, that this is where you can make it your own. You don't have to give up everything that you love, but this is about what to do more. So if you take the foundation of this plate and think of it as: this is my two apples when we talked about the Oreo cookie story. So this is how I fill up on all the whole plant foods. So 80 to 90 percent, depending on how you choose your happy foods, would be whole plant foods. Tons of carbohydrate, antioxidants, all the benefits that we've been talking about. But now I can bring in, I can top it off with my Oreo cookies. It can be whatever you choose. It's all about your favorite foods. If you feel deprived or we've restricted those foods, you will simply crave them. So we want you to think, there's absolutely no: cannot eat this, don't do that, these are the no's, this is all about more. So we start with the base of this foundation of the plate and then you top it off with what makes it yours. And that's the beauty of this plate. It's about 500 calories. We can add extra energy if you need it to keep you, keep your body weight where you need it to be. But the biggest challenge I will say is, eating this, you'll be coming back and saying, how do I eat all of it? And that's what I wanna hear from you. How do I eat it all? And yet I'll come back and say, but were you full for four hours? And you're saying, yes. So really, that's the perfect plate. We did it. That's the success that you're getting all the healthy parts you that you need and you've got the happy foods that you love. So this is the whole thing that we talked about. You've got a healthy plate, you've got all the foods that your body needs to thrive. Now you can start trusting your hunger because your body is getting the environment it needs. Now you've got your energy. The mental fog goes away. You're starting to have your skin clear up. You can be confident that you're doing everything you do you can do for the best food as medicine. But you can also feel that post-meal peace. I feel full. I feel satisfied. And that makes me feel even happier. So my happy food with the plate and I feel good, that's real living. That's real wellness. And I am so excited for you to build your next lunch with the perfect plate. Welcome to wellness.

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