Motivation

My interest in cooking has been reignited by my daughter's pediatrician appointment. She's no longer as active as she once was and her BMI is up to 26.

So I have been doling out all food from the kitchen and decreed to my husband NO SECONDS. I am the most active person in our household and my research shows that my daughter's calorie needs should be pretty similar to mine. I count my calories since I weight lift... And walk... And work retail.

We're focusing on increasing our activity as a family, recognizing proper portion sizes and making better choices when we can. 

Normal weight management wisdom says to use smaller plates for meals. I traditionally use smaller plates and have switched to regular dinner plates. Why? For plating. A larger plate allows me to arrange the food prettier and you enjoy looking at it more.

For instance:

This is a breakfast of 1/2 serving Oikos Greek yogurt, vanilla flavor, topped with PB2; a half a banana, sliced; and 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter mixed with 1 teaspoon local raw blueberry honey. The plating makes it look like a lot, but you could mix it all into one heap.

Today's lunch was repackaged leftovers:

A bed of shredded iceberg lettuce with less than a half cup watermelon gazpacho; a few tablespoons of leftover chicken salad made with cucumbers and Bolthouse cilantro avocado yogurt dressing; a tablespoon of hummus scattered around the plate and a green olive on each drop; and Simply Balanced organic blue corn chips with flax. I call this fruity chicken nachos.