September 2011

Your Plate, My Plate, Our Plate!

Parents, do you remember being taught the 4 food groups and your kids being taught the food guide pyramid? Well, now the USDA has adopted a new symbol or tool to help us Americans eat right, and it’s called MyPlate!

That’s right, MyPlate, which replaces MyPyramid, shows us that serving sizes matter and helps us to visualize what our plates should look like when we fill them with food.

So let’s talk about what your plate should look like:

1. Build a healthy plate by filling half your plate with fruits and veggies (fresh is best),

2. Build a fourth of your plate with lean protein like beans, eggs, and lean meat.

3. Fill the other fourth with grains--whole grains are best!

4. Add a dairy like fat-free or 1 percent milk and you’ve made your plate!

5. And it always helps your body if the food on your plate is low salt, low saturated fats, and low in sugar. But that doesn’t mean low on taste!

Ever leave the buffet table with a heaping plate? Maybe all your life, YOUR plate has been filled with oversized portions. Start thinking portion control and check labels to see exactly what a serving size is. For example, a serving of ice cream is only a half-cup! An ounce of cheese is about 4 dice! Even foods we assume are healthy like trail mixes can have as many as 150 calories for just 3 tablespoons! Serving sizes are MUCH smaller than we think!

And remember: children should not be eating adult portions. So when you’re dishing out servings, serve not for yourself but for a child. We tend to assume others want to eat as much as we do, or should eat as much as we do, but the reality is we all tend to eat what’s on our plate, even if we’re full and don’t want it. Parents, it’s a long-standing tradition to make kids “clean their plate,” but please rethink that notion. Telling kids they must eat everything regardless of whether they are hungry sets in motion a habit of eating not because they are hungry but because they should.

Give your kids small portions and ask that they try everything on the plate. If they are truly full (and parents can usually tell this), then excuse them from the table. On average, children need about 5 grain servings, 2 vegetable servings, 1.5 fruit servings, 2-3 dairy servings and 4-5 protein servings. Adults on average need 8 grain servings, 3 vegetable servings, 2 fruit servings, 3-4 dairy servings and 6-8 protein servings. So, we need to dish out the right size serving size and not “supersize” our kids or our plates.

Speaking of supersizing, recent studies show that restaurant portion sizes have increased significantly over the last 30 years. So when dining out, don’t feel obligated to eat what you’re given. YOU control your portion, not the restaurant! Why not eat some of your meal and take the rest home? Or split a meal with a friend or family member. And, it’s easy to overeat at buffet restaurants so, look through the buffet before you decide what you will eat and, only go up once. Research shows those who sit far away from buffets tend to eat less. So, avoid sitting right in front of the buffet table. Buffet style restaurants want you to think you need to “get your money’s worth” so you tend to think you can eat more for less. Your pocketbook may not suffer but your waistline will! Adults and kids tend to overeat at buffets so remember these tried and true tips the next time you visit a buffet.

And whether we’re talking about MYPlate or my anything, please eat mindfully and slowly! Give your brain time to register that your stomach is full. If you’re full while you’re still eating, you’ve overeaten! Mindless munching can also come when we eat from a bag or carton. Always put a serving in a small bowl or dish so that you know how much you’ve consumed. We focused on eating, but of course, having a healthy body means moving and grooving your way every day for 60 minutes!
For more tips and great recipes visit www.myplate.gov and watch Wellsville Saturdays at 8 a.m. on Fox 66!

Here are some quick, healthy energy tips that can make a difference:

Eat breakfast – power up with a healthy breakfast every day. We all concentrate, focus and have better sustained energy when we start our day with a brain boosting breakfast!

Drink up! Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

Get moving! - Even 15 minutes of physical activity a day can make a healthy difference.

Eat fresh – the fresher the better! Fruits, veggies and homegrown foods are better for you and your family than foods with ingredients you can’t even pronounce!

Get your ZZZ’s – adults at least 7 hours, most kids 9 to 11 hours of restful sleep each night can rejuvenate and refresh our minds and bodies!

Recipe of the month -- Egg Omelette

Ingredients

- 2 eggs (or 4 egg whites/egg substitutes)
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons grated cheese (2% cheddar or part-skim mozzarella)
- non-stick cooking spray
- 2 teaspoons butter

Method

1. Whisk the eggs in a metal bowl with the salt and pepper
2. Heat pan over medium heat until warm and then spray with non-stick cooking spray
3. Add egg to pan
4. When the eggs begins to set, lift them and let the uncooked egg run to the bottom
5. Loosen the egg from the bottom of the pan. Tile the pan so theomelet is up on the left side of the omelet pan. Sprinkle the cheese down the center of the omelet.
6. Fold the right third of the omelet over the filled center. Tilt the pan and align the left edge of the pan with the center of the serving plate. Quickly flip the omelet out and over on itself. Serve. éed onion, diced ham, crumbled, cooked bacon, sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes, salsa, diced potatoes.

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