This strategy comes from Adam Bornstein in his book You Can’t Screw This Up.
For anyone looking to take the stress out of nutrition and weight loss, this book is a must read.
In the book, Adam presents 5 Simple Tools to help readers navigate their nutrition.
One of those tools is Adding a Plus One and this tool builds on the concepts from another tool (Prioritize Protein and Fiber).
This post dives into the Plus One Meal Planning Strategy and how this concept can help you with your nutrition.
Prioritize Protein and Fiber
Energy dense (higher calorie) foods are both convenient and readily available.
Studies have shown that increasing low energy dense foods (protein and fiber) increase feelings of fullness and satisfaction in addition to their health benefits.
In the book, Adam highlights the following Low Energy Density All Stars:
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Whole Grains and Oats (Dave’s Killer Bread has 3 grams of fiber per slice)
- Beans and Legumes
- Lean Meat (top or bottom round, sirloin and filet)
- Chicken
- Low Fat Dairy
- Egg Whites
Additionally, excellent choices for fiber are whole grain pasta, whole wheat bread or wraps, baked potatoes, apples, bananas, avocados, nuts, beans and lentils. Air-popped popcorn is a good choice for a snack with fiber.
Research has shown that by increasing your Protein and Fiber intake, you’re likely to reduce overall calories.
Adding a Plus One
In the book, Adam lays out a 3 step process for planning your meals:
- Step 1 – Select 1 to 2 servings of protein (size of the palm of your hand)
- Step 2 – Select 1 to 2 servings of fiber (fibrous carbs the size of the palm of your hand)
- Step 3 – Select 1 to 2 servings of a Plus One
The goal with this strategy is to consume as much as possible of the low energy dense foods (protein and fiber) and adjust the Plus Ones to help you see the changes you want.
If you consume 3 meals per day or fewer, you’ll want to incorporate 2 servings of protein and fiber with each meal.
A good protein target would be a minimum of 30 grams per meal. Adam sets a fiber foundation of at least 4 grams of fiber within 15 to 30 grams of carbs.
If you consume more than 3 meals per day, you might consider limiting your protein and fiber servings to 1 simply because you’re eating more often.
After you select your Protein and Fiber, the next step to healthy meal planning is thinking about your food preferences.
Do you prefer carbs or fats?
There is room for both so you don’t need to permanently commit to one or the other. You just want to answer the question as it pertains to this meal.
Do you want more bread and pasta (carbs) in your meal or would cheese, bacon or peanut butter (fats) be the better choice?
The Plus One is simply the addition of your choice of Carbs or Fats.
What you want to avoid are meals that have an abundance of BOTH carbs and fats.
If you’re adding fats, any portion of food that has between 5 and 15 grams of fat would be a Plus One source. Keep in mind this is added fat and you might have some fat from the foundation of your Protein and Fiber sources.
If you’re adding carbs, any portion of food that has between 15 and 35 grams of carbs would be a Plus One source
Examples
A burger is the perfect example of how to apply the Plus One Meal Planning Strategy.
If you want fries, you’ll want to trim the fat on your burger because the fries will be your Plus One.
If you want a juicier burger (bacon, cheese or guac), you’ll need to skip the fries because the additions to your burger will be your Plus One sources.
You don’t want an abundance of BOTH carbs and fats in the same meal.
Burger: Plus One Carb Version
Protein: Burger (ideally > 90% lean meat)
Fiber: Whole Wheat Bun
Fat: From the Burger
Plus One Carb: Two handfuls of fries
Burger: Plus One Fat Version
Protein: Burger (ideally > 90% lean meat)
Fiber: Whole Wheat Bun
Fat: From the Burger
Plus One Fat: Added Cheese
This example shows you how you can choose either Carbs or Fats after making your Protein and Fiber selection.
Here are a few more examples:
Chicken Breast and Pasta Marinara
Protein: Boneless, skinless chicken breast
Fiber: 1/2 cup of whole wheat pasta
Fat: Olive oil in the marinara
Plus One Carb: Additional 1/2 cup of pasta
Sirloin Steak with Baked Potato
Protein: Sirloin Steak (cooked in butter)
Fiber: From Baked Potato
Fat: From Sirloin Steak
Plus One Fat: Added butter to Steak and Potato
If you elected to have bread with this meal, that would have been a Plus One Carb and you would need to eliminate the added butter on the steak and potato.
Fish Tacos
Protein: Fish
Fiber: Whole Wheat Tortilla and Veggies
Fat: 1/4 Avocado
Plus One Carb: 2 handfuls of tortilla chips
If you elected to increase the amount of avocado, this would become your Plus One Fat and you would need to remove the tortilla chips.
Rice Bowl with Chicken, White Rice and Veggies
Protein: Boneless, skinless chicken breast
Fiber: 1/2 cup white rice + veggies
Fat: Cooked in 1/4 tablespoon of olive oil
Plus One Carb: Additional 1/2 cup white rice
If you elected to add 1/4 of avocado, this would become your Plus One Fat and you would need to skip the additional serving of white rice.
Scrambled Eggs with Bacon and Toast
Protein: Eggs
Fiber: 2 slices of Whole Wheat Toast
Fat: From the Eggs
Plus One Fat: From the Bacon
You could choose to have an extra serving of toast making this your Plus One Carb and remove the Bacon from the meal.
Additionally, you could add egg whites to your eggs to boost the protein while limiting the fat.
Wrapping Things Up
The above examples provide you with real world meal options to help you plan better.
If you haven’t read the book You Can’t Screw This Up, I highly recommend picking up a copy.
The Plus One Meal Planning Strategy helps you keep things relatively simple and hit some important nutritional targets without adding unnecessary stress.
