Sometimes we think more is better.

, Look at this salad, it has fresh Roma tomatoes (3 to be exact), 10 walnut halves that I personally toasted and my husband most likely picked, 3 cups of spring mix and about 1 1/2 cups of baby arugula.  All the ingredients are healthy including the light dressing I used...BUT it does not fit in the bowl.  In fact when I jabbed my fork into the pile to obtain a mouthful of the healthy delight, a whole bunch of goodness fell to the table top.  Thank goodness I was not at a restaurant so others could mock my mess, nor was my little Margo there to watch her mother be so messy....But in that moment I had a thought.....How much stuff do I try to pack into my life all because I think it is healthy. 

Think about it...we have our lives that we try to stuff all kinds of 'goodness' into it....it could be friendships, vacations, money (yes money can be a good thing too)..my favorite TV show...or whatever the moment or item might be.  What are the things or feelings that spill out when I try to shove too much inside of my one life?  The Salad still looks pretty, but the shoved out parts left on the table top are usually left there and no longer consumable. 

 

Moderation, MommyMax you hear that, moderation to the rescue....It really is that simple, with eating healthfully and living my daily moments...moderation.  Yesterday we went out to eat some Chinese food at the local panda express, we ended with fortune cookies.  It was tasty I was fine with that...my little Margo was saving up for a piece of cheese cake...which she deserved as she had just completed an hour of swimming laps.  So we all went to the Cheese Cake Factory, and as we stood in front of the counter window looking at the giant pieces of cheese cake, I suggested that Mark and Margo share a piece of pie.  I heard the words, 'but we don't eat this that often', which is true I attested, but are we that hungry for a whole piece?  He thought a moment, and then agreed to share with his daughter....It was enough...sometimes even the words 'we hardly ever do this' catch up to us, and soon the hardly ever do's become the part of the daily routine. 

 

Bottom line, it is not just Moderation that helps me walk through these healthy choices, but in reality it is simply being aware of the moment.  This applys to eating, health and simple living.

 

By the way the salad described above contains 349 calories....