Okay, so folks kept asking me about this “dim sum diet” thing I mentioned offhand. It’s not really some fancy plan from a book, just something I kinda stumbled into trying myself.
Honestly, I got real tired of eating the same big plate of food for lunch and dinner. You know, the usual meat, starch, and sad-looking veggies. It felt heavy, and frankly, boring. I’d finish eating and just feel sluggish. Plus, making big batches of one thing meant eating leftovers for days, and I just got sick of it.
How I Started This Whole Thing
I was thinking about eating out, specifically dim sum. You don’t get one giant plate, right? You get lots of little baskets or plates. A couple of dumplings here, a small bun there, maybe some greens. You try a bit of this, a bit of that. Felt more interesting. So, I thought, why not try that at home?
First thing I did was buy some smaller containers. Not tiny, but definitely smaller than my usual meal prep boxes. And I got some small bowls and plates out of the cupboard, the ones you usually use for snacks or sauces.
Then, when I cooked, instead of making one huge pot of chili or a big casserole, I started making smaller amounts of different things. Like, I’d bake a couple of chicken thighs, steam some broccoli, maybe cook a small portion of rice, and have some leftover soup from the day before. All separate.
Putting It Into Practice (The Messy Part)
When it was time to eat, I wouldn’t pile everything onto one plate. I’d put a bit of chicken in one small bowl, the broccoli in another, the rice in a third. Kinda like setting up my own little dim sum table.
The key thing was variety and smaller portions of each item. Instead of a huge pile of rice, just a small scoop. Instead of half a chicken, maybe just one thigh or part of a breast.
- Focused on having maybe 3-4 different small items per meal.
- Used the small plates and bowls I got out. Seeing the food in smaller dishes kinda tricked my brain, I think.
- Tried to include different textures and flavors. A little protein, a little veg, maybe a little carb, maybe something pickled.
Did it work perfectly at first? Nope. Sometimes I’d still make too much of the “small” portions and end up eating the same amount, just spread across more dishes. Took a while to figure out the right total amount. It’s easy to grab five small plates and have it add up to more than one big plate!
So, What Happened?
Well, I didn’t magically lose 50 pounds or anything. That wasn’t really the goal. But I did stop feeling so heavy and bloated after meals. Eating felt more interesting again, less like a chore. Because I was making smaller amounts of different things, I felt like I wasted less food too, or at least got less bored with leftovers.
It forced me to think more about balance, strangely. When you only have a small bowl, you kinda want to put something decent in it, not just fill it with junk. So I probably ended up eating more veggies overall.
It takes a bit more planning, maybe a bit more washing up with all the small bowls. But for me, it broke the monotony. It’s just a way of thinking about putting your meal together, like picking from a cart instead of staring at one giant buffet plate. That’s my “dim sum diet” story. Just something I tried, and it kinda stuck.
