Mother Knows Best

The USDA recently replaced the iconic food pyramid with a plate. The USDA offers the plate as a guide for daily food intake. Bottom line - We should have a lot of vegetables and small servings of meat, dairy and grains. The plate reminds me of childhood dinners with my family. My mother always made sure that we had vegetables on our dinner plate. We always had a salad followed by a dinner that consisted of at least two vegetables and a meat. We rarely had bread with dinner. Looking back at my childhood meals I realize that my mother was way ahead of the USDA, Mr. Atkins and the whole gang. :) 

Mom relied on the basics of nutrition. She put together meals that were based on the old rule of "eat your vegetables." This rule pre-dates microwaves and TV dinners and quick fix meals. My mom's home cooked dinner menu consisted of portion controlled traditional foods that were natural and delicious. Guess what? Mother knew best. We were not fat. We were all slim and trim. 

Today, everyone in my family struggles with weight. Maybe it is because we stopped following the basic rules. The modern way of fast food and quick fixes makes it easy to forget about the basics.

I think we need to get back to the basics. The USDA food plate is not news to those of us that were raised by health conscious mothers. It simply affirms the fact that mom was right along when she said "EAT YOUR VEGETABLES."

Tip: Salads are a great way to load up on veggies BUT watch the dressings. Dressings can often have 15-20 grams of fat in one tablespoon. Below is a light dressing recipe from Martha Stewart's FOOD magazine. 

Here is a great salad dressing base that you can use to morph into a variety of tasty toppings:

NOTE: 2tbs = 1points plus value on WW before additions

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream (you can replace with low-fat Greek yogurt)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

coarse salt and ground pepper to taste

Green Goddess

add 1/2 mashed avocado, 1/4 cup chives, 2 tbs lemon juice, 2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Thousand Island

1/3 cup ketchup

3 tbs sweet pickle relish

Blue Cheese

3 ounces crumbled blue cheese (3/4 cup)

Have a Veggie Great Day,

FitandSlim4ever