"Oldways" Food Pyramid

When we're stressed, what can be more comforting than food? After all, we often put the two words together into a phrase, "comfort food". Only it's not comforting (or comfortable) to be overweight.

Speaking of comfort, I came across a resolution that I had written before the beginning of the year: "To be able to tie my shoes without pain." At the time, I thought it was a clever way to resolve to lose weight. Only I found a better way to get to my shoes than by leaning straight over. I DID find a way to tie those shoes without pain...while continuing to gain weight. In my defense, I kind of got hit with another major stress in January when Paul lost vision. I don't drink; I don't smoke; I don't...oh, aren't these excuses for overeating g-o-o-d?

A few years back I lost 25 pounds on the South Beach Diet. I didn't gain it back until I got super-stressed when Peter lost vision, and then I gained it back very slowly. So that diet can work. My best long-term benefit from having been on that diet is knowing that I really can lose 25 pounds! I just don't think that particular diet is the right route for me this time. For one thing, it's not the thriftiest way to eat. For another, I think it has a little too much emphasis on protein for my current leanings.

We've been trying to use more of a Mediterranean type diet for awhile now. Read "diet" as in "nutrition plan" rather than as in "weight loss plan". Where the weight control aspect comes in, I believe, is portion size -- and cutting out the cheating. What I need to change is the snacks. I've been using this type of diet for meals...but "cheating" crazily for snacks.

Does this mean our meals are composed of Greek foods? Nope. Actually, a Mediterranean diet shares the same basic food principles with a traditional Latin diet and an Asian diet. There is a website called Oldways, the Food Issues Think Tank, which shows the "Eatwise Pyramid"; they share information on how the typical food pyramid for each of these ethnicities is similar.

Whether you want to lose weight or not, you might enjoy checking out these food pyramids. They leave room for lots of variety, are good for the whole family, and are economical, too. What more could we ask for?

Meal Plans & Grocery Lists

Years ago I read a book called Sidetracked Home Executives, written by Pam Young and Peggy Jones, two women from my own home town of Vancouver, Washington. The best idea I got from them was to have an ongoing week plan for menus. Chicken on a certain day of the week (however you might like to cook the chicken that particular week), Beef another night, Leftovers another night, and so on. It made it so much easier to plan the menus each week.

Over the years I have tweaked the plan. I find it so much easier if I don't have to sit down each week and plan what chicken dish we will have on Monday, what beef dish we will have on Sunday, and so forth, and then have to look up the various recipes and list all the ingredients needed for each meal. Instead I made a master plan for two weeks, with two master shopping lists to go with the menus. Before it's time to shop, I simply go through the appropriate shopping list and check inventory. If it's on the list and we have it, I cross it off. If we don't, we know we need to buy it. With this plan, I have sometimes made my list for the week in as little as five minutes.

Our tastes and needs will be very different from someone else's, but just to demonstrate the idea, here is my dinner plan for two weeks:

Week 1
Sunday-Spaghetti
Monday-Nacho Chicken Casserole
Tuesday-Country Bean Soup
Wednesday-Tuna Noodle Casserole
Thursday-Bean Burritos
Friday-Pasta Extravaganza
(that's a pasta dish with cheese
and tomato sauce created by two of my sons)
Saturday-Clam Chowder, Homemade Bread

Week 2
Sunday-Stroganoff
Monday-Chicken Chow Mein
Tuesday-Split Pea Soup, Biscuits
Wednesday-Macaroni & Cheese
Thursday-Chicken Rice Broccoli Bake
Friday-Fish, Potatoes
Saturday-Pizza (frozen pizzas from Sam's Club)

Potato to the Rescue

Meal planning used to be my nemesis. With one family member who has gastric reflux disorder, someone who has a strong gag reflex for certain textures, and the need to be thrifty, it was always a challenge to figure out what to serve for seven days' worth of meals. Enter the baked potato.

I could plan a meal that would suit almost everyone. The one who couldn't eat it could have a baked potato (or two). He could even make it himself. (And yes, in my family, it often is a "he"!).

A baked potato can be served with the same salad or vegetable that everyone else in the family is eating, but the potato itself can also be individualized regarding protein and condiments. Some have cottage cheese on the side. Some have shredded cheese on top. One son even adds ketchup to his potato.

Meal planning is so much more fun now!

Emergency Dinner

For weeks now, my dear husband has been working so many hours that the company has actually been bringing dinner in to the office for him and some others.

This afternoon I got a call, that he was coming home for dinner tonight! Terrific! But oh, I've been putting together "whatever" for the kids and me...and you know, I just couldn't have macaroni and cheese on Mardi Gras, anyway. However, I'd already planned to go to the mall to get a battery for Peter's talking watch, and to spend my Penney's gift card. I was looking at two challenges: I didn't have the food to make a great dinner, and I didn't have the time to do it in. So when Peter suggested I get chicken from the grocery store deli, it sounded good to me.

But when I finished at the mall and got to the grocery store, I didn't see any cooked chicken. So I headed over to the other grocery store down the street, where I saw a big sign, "Rotisserie Chicken available from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., guaranteed." I looked at the clock: 7:15. I looked at the display: enough chicken to feed one or two people.

On the way to the second store, I had passed a Subway, and that thought came back to me now. Ah, ha. Now that was an idea! I could do that at home. I looked at the bakery shelves and actually saw something labeled "Sub buns". I picked up a couple packs of store brand deli meats, and some Swiss cheese on sale. I had lettuce and condiments at home. It was expensive, as at-home dinners go, but it cost us about half what it would have cost to get the same amount of food at a sub sandwich restaurant...even before the drinks and chips that no one asked for, since we were at home.