I have given you TONS of tips and ideas on how to get your body in motion.  I hope you will make them a habit in your quest.  NOW, let’s move onto eating habits.

The first thing to learn for healthy eating is portion control.  Our nation has gotten out of hand in this area.  We need to reconnect ourselves to how God intended us to view food.

The **SECRET** to portion control:

We MUST understand and apply to our lifestyle that there is about a 15 minute delay that exists between when we eat and when our bodies tell us that we are FULL!

This is why it’s SO important to slow down and enjoy our food.  We need to look at our meal time as a festivity.  This is the time we can honor and send up praise to our Father for “Giving Us Our Daily Bread” and a time to rejoice with our family, the way God intended meal time to be.  When we take the time to pray, praise, laugh and enjoy our family, eating becomes second and it gives our food time to travel throughout our body.

Learning to stop eating a little early will NOT come instinctively.  Just as we have trained ourselves in daily Bible reading, prayer, making our homeschool schedules we must train ourselves in eating right.

If we can apply the 15 minute delay to our meal time your quest for health and fitness just got off to a SUPER start!!

Approach to developing portion control habits

ä    Serving Size—Take the time to educate yourself on what a portion size is.  Remember this

     Serving Size Equivalents…

     Meat- a deck of cards

     Potatoes, pasta or rice- light bulb

     Fruit or vegetable- tennis ball

     Butter, oil or dressing- 9-volt battery

     Dessert- cassette tape

ä    Smaller Dishes—If you switch to smaller plates you will eat smaller.  But remember, when you finish your one plate, walk away!  If this seems hard for you to do then start with one meal till you have accomplished this habit for ALL meals.  You MUST set goals for yourself!!

ä    NO More Seconds—Make sure there are NO seconds to go back for!  If your family is still hungry keep fresh veggies on hand.  If they don’t want them then they’re not REALLY hungry after all.

ä    Soup or Salad Anyone?—Having a salad(easy on the dressing) or small bowl of soup before your main course will help give you a full feeling.  Remembering to drink a glass of water about 20 minutes before meal time will help also.  Don’t forget to stop and enjoy your family after your salad or soup.  There is NO hurry to be finished with dinner in 15 minutes.  This will help with the 15 minute delay as well.

Just like teaching our children takes discipline so does our quest for health and fitness.

Blessings Everyone!