Wednesday, March 23, 2011

measuring up

As a stay at home mom I am able to make most of my meals at home (or prepare at home ahead of time the ones I don't eat at home) and I use a measuring spoon/cup for almost everything that I put on my plate. I have done it so long that now I am able to just looked at something and know about how much it is..... Like pouring creamer into my cup and looking inside the cup before I pour the coffee, but I have learned a few tricks to help me know a little better how much is too much. 
In general a portion the size of:
  • A normal person's fist is about one cup
  • a normal person's palm is 3oz. meat (also you can use a deck of cards or a checkbook as a reference)
  • 8 dice=3 oz cheese cubes
  • a normal person's thumb is about 1 Tbps (appropriate for butter)
At one point I was seriously considering carrying measuring spoons in my purse, but I thought I would get strange looks for sure. I wonder if these would be acceptable.
Today was a "guesstimate" day. I went through the salad bar with my 4-year-old daughter and had to guess how much of everything I was putting on my plate. 
In the corner is a prepared salad with bulgar wheat, raisins and apricots and almonds. It was good, about half the calories for this meal and it added 4g fiber too. 
to drink I had an apple cider vinegar drink which I really like. I am allergic to lemons and for years I have had to strictly avoid it or have instant heartburn so I got used to drinking this. I think it tastes similar to lemonade, but it is definitely and acquired taste. 
You can see the little cup there too, this is one thing I like to use to help with gauging visually. The bottom of the cup says 2 oz which is 4 Tbsp or 1/4 cup. I only used half the dressing so 1 oz/2 Tbsp. 

The good news is my grocery store has a nutritional information packet available on the salad bar so there was no guessing on the calories involved. 

Dinner tonight will be Fish, mixed veggies and macaroni and cheese with hush puppies.

What is your little victory today?

 Guitarplayingmommy,

Heather

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