Eating Philosophy - No extremes

When it comes to eating I have one main theme that I try to achieve (and believe me I am not perfect but it is what I try to do ). That is the 6 small meals throughout the day. And although you are always eating and pretty much satisfied it is not an easy thing to do. It takes lots of preparation an planning. I find that when I eat this way I get less headaches and I achieve and maintain my goal weight more quickly. There are a few other ideas that go along with this. Portions sizes stay small and I add a small amount of protein to about half or more of the meals. I also try to incorporate a fruit, veggie, grain, protein and dairy in at least three meal. Either the fruit or the veggi is fresh.

Sometimes I have to get creative with my kids and make faces out of the food to get them to eat well. For example, I make a peanut butter sandwich, I cut it into squares. I use two of the squares as eyes and raisins for the pupil, then the raisins are also the mouth in a curved line. Then I take a baby carrot and cut one end off and it is a nose. Slices of aplles make good eyebrows. If they hesitate eating sometimes I have to say "Oh no don't eat his nose" and they usually do. Hopefully they will develop a taste for good food before they get older. They also love to eat "sunshines" That is apple sauce in a small bowl with little sticks of gram crackers in a circle around it like sunbeams around a sun. They dip the gram crackers in the apple sauce and have either milk or chocolate milk.

I also believe what you see is what you eat, that is why advertisers spend billions on commercials and print media. A fruit bowl in plain sight has done wonders for our family. At first I would buy fruit and would throw it away but now my kids and husband will grab it for a quick snack. I buy Gala apples usually because they come in kids size and they are sweet. I try to have them eat different colors of fruits and vegetables on different days. Variety is good.