Dr Bridell’s logical and rational & poetic and beautiful & completely guaranteed Diet
#2: The Basic Concept of the "Eat Half" Physical Diet
By the Mysterious Dr Bridell

Author’s note:  This is the second installment of a column that explores a new diet based on spiritual rather than physical paradigms. It is arranged in "bite-sized chunks" that come each Friday and that build on each other.  The first few concepts sound deceptively simple but require discipline and commitment to implement — and they lay the foundation for the more enlightening and revealing concepts to come.  Your challenge as a participant is to put the principles into practice each week as they come to you.  If you missed earlier columns, catch up by clicking here to go to the Bridell archives.  Good luck!

There are just so many good, natural, tasty, nourishing things on this earth to eat, and guess what?  Your body wants all of some of them and some of all of them and needs some of most of them!  Diets that eliminate all the carbs, or all the proteins, or even all the fats are taking away things that your body needs.

At its best, your appetite, far from being your enemy, can be the sensor that tells you what your body needs.  (Your appetite probably isn’t doing that for you right now because you’ve messed it up a bit.  But you can fix it to where the things that sound the best to you — or look or smell or taste the best to you — actually are the best for you.)  Our appetites are good, our senses are good, the earth is good; and natural food, in all its variety is good.

The problem is that appetites don’t know when to quit.  They tell us what we want, but they don’t tell us how much of it we need.  There’s no overload bell or back-up beeper.
   
So here’s the deal: Eat what you want, but only eat half of it.
   
Simple as that sounds, here is why it makes sense:    

On average, Americans eat about twice as much as they need.  Since the quantity is too high, the quality goes down.  (That’s because the body can get the same amount of what it needs out of twice as much bad food as it can out of half as much good food.)    

So what could be simpler?  Eat what you want but only eat half of it.  Over time (a fairly short time actually) your body will adjust and start being more selective in what it tells you it wants since it is getting only half as much.  Vegetables and fruits will gradually look better; “fluff” foods will start to look worse.    

One rare and unique thing about this challenge is that it’s actually easiest to implement when you’re eating out.  At restaurants, you order what you want and they bring you, on average, twice too much.  You eat half of it — half of each thing on the plate.    

If your mother, in addition to telling you to clean your plate, told you that the children in India would starve if you didn’t finish your food, then you may have a hard time throwing half of your meal away.  So have it boxed or wrapped up and give it to a homeless guy on your way home, or to your teenager or your dog when you get home.  As a last resort, eat it yourself — but for an upcoming meal, not for a midnight snack.    

The principle is the same for eating in.  Just make half.  (Be honest — you know what half is!)  If you’re not the “maker,” just take half servings.    

In theory, it’s totally simple.  Eat three “half-meals” a day.  And you can also get away with a couple of half snacks. But nothing else, nothing in between. What’s hard is quitting when half is gone.  It’s hard to shut down — not to fudge.  It’s hard, but it gets easier.  Your discipline increases even as your body (and stomach) adjusts.    

That’s it.  That’s the core and the essence of the first part of the physical diet. And that is your first week's implementation challenge.  See if you can do it for a week until next Friday and then join me back here on Meridian for what comes next. (Clue: The next few weeks will be suggestions and methods to make it easier, more interesting, and more fun to "eat half," so don't be discouraged if this first week is tough).  More help is on the way!