Aunt Marge was Tiny!

                This entry is a little late because I spent last week in California attending to the affairs of my aunt who just passed away.  Her life has brought to my attention a lot about fit food for family.  While going through her “stuff” I came across her wedding suit.  She was married to my uncle for 53 years when he passed away almost two years ago.  The suit was tiny!  Tiny Tiny Tiny!  She came to the United States from Sweden, met my uncle and they married – the rest is history! 

                Looking at pictures of her made me think about how her life was the picture of health.  She maintained her “tininess” throughout her life. There are lots of pictures of her in bikinis and short shorts!   When she died, she was a size 10!  Even though she had gained some weight, which she was not thrilled about, she still maintained a healthy weight.  She walked a lot and kept active.

                When I talked to her niece in Sweden we talked about her wedding suit and how tiny it was and her comment was that Aunt Marge had always “thought about what she ate.”  How different from our American saying that we “watch what we eat.”  Of course we watch what we eat; our mouth is right under our eyes!  Thinking about what we eat makes a lot more sense.  Consciously deciding what to eat is a great way to maintain a healthy eating plan.  Notice I didn’t call it a diet!  When I eat something, I try to think about why I am eating something.   Is it worth the calories? Is it good for me? Will in increase my health?  Do I need more?

                When I cleaned out Aunt Marge’s cupboards and freezer I found lots of treats.  She loved sweets, but in moderation.  I found a box of cannoli in her freezer.  The box was supposed to hold three – one was gone.  She could have eaten all of them, but consciously made the decision to enjoy one at a time.  They were small – I am sure I could have eaten all of them in one sitting! 

                Her life is a reminder to all of us what we can be.  With moderation, we can enjoy treats along with the healthy foods and we can all maintain our own tininess!

Rest in Peace Aunt Marge.

               

Baking Withdrawal?

Yes, baking withdrawal!  That is what I was going through last week.  The Christmas eating season was finally over and I was going through withdrawal.  I had been baking, decorating, or planning Christmas eating events for over a month – since Thanksgiving.  Never mind the Christmas eating for that long too!  The last of the Christmas cookies were gone – carefully polished off during our de-decorating time on Jan. 2^nd.  Then the regular schedules were back in place.  What to do!        

 Sitting on my counter were some brown bananas.  My family won’t eat any banana that has a brown speck on it.  I will, but it was just too many!  There were six.  I could bake banana bread or banana cookies or banana muffins or banana something…  So I decided that I should find a healthy banana bread recipe.  I have whole wheat flour and flaxseed meal – so let’s incorporate those.  I looked up these ingredients and found an interesting recipe.  It had whole wheat flour, flaxseed meal, egg whites, no oil and not a lot of sugar.  It also called for 5 mashed bananas – I had 6 very brown ones! Was it worth a try?

If the ingredients sound good, I am willing to try any recipe.  So here is what I tried:  Whole Grain Healthy Banana Bread from yummly.com    http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Whole-Grain-Healthy-Banana-Bread-Allrecipes

Having 5 bananas in this recipe instead of the standard 2 made it moist – usually it’s oil and eggs that make quick bread moist.  I used regular sugar – it does suggest a sugar substitute (that’s another blog topic I am sure I will get to some time).  And I used plain Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream – a new substitution I have become very fond of!  For the 2 teaspoons of egg whites, I used a whole egg white – I couldn’t be bothered measuring out 2 teaspoons of egg white – you know how gooey it can be!

So, anyway it came out great.  I was a little skeptical, when I took it out of the pan and it was super heavy – I guess it’s all those whole grains in there!  My family loved it and it is definitely a keeper recipe.  It stored well and was a great snack in between ski runs on Saturday – two days after I made it. 

So, happy baking, even if it’s not fancy Christmas cookies…

Welcome to the Land of Fit Food For Family

This blog is something I have been thinking about doing for some time now.  My disclaimer is that I am not a nutritionist, but a family home economist.  I am in charge of the day to day activities of my family including what we eat.  This blog will be about the triumphs, the strategies, the miscalculations, the mishaps, and the downfalls of trying to feed my family a fit diet. 

Now, I know you are asking:  “what is a fit diet?”  I don’t really have an answer for that!  Now you are asking, “then what is she doing writing this blog?”  Well, I try to have the answers and in sharing the day to day choices and decisions I make in trying to feed my family a fit diet, it is my hope to help some of you out there know that this is a constant struggle for a lot of people.  Some days it’s easy, some days not so much! 

To me, a fit diet is one that sustains health, wellness, energy, and has long term benefits.  I will share my grocery shopping experiences, my kids’ and husband’s reactions (like when he looked at me over one recipe and stuck his tongue out when the kids weren’t looking!), and some recipes along the way.

I look to my followers for input, what you would like to see and read, and what you don’t want to see and read!

Journey with me in the land of Fit Food For Family!