The “Three Sides” Diet

Back when I worked at a com­pa­ny that had a cafe­te­ria, I didn’t have to pack my lunch. I could put togeth­er a tasty, low-fat sal­ad from the sal­ad bar. If I felt like eat­ing a hot meal, I could get a big plate of food from the “hot” por­tion of the cafe­te­ria line. The “main dish­es” usu­al­ly includ­ed some sort of meat or dairy prod­uct, so I’d get the “side dish­es” instead.

My usu­al lunch con­sist­ed of “three sides”: usu­al­ly a starchy side dish such as rice plus two veg­eta­bles. I got a big plate­ful of tasty, zero-cho­les­terol, low-fat food, and I spent less than the peo­ple who ordered the main dish. I can find a sat­is­fy­ing meal at near­ly any restau­rant, just by ignor­ing the main dish­es and order­ing the side dish­es instead.

Pho­to by mack reed (fac­toid)