I had the opportunity to attend a food talk with Mark Bittman, writer of all things ‘foodly’. It was to discuss his latest book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating.

It’s simple really. Eat less meat. He’s not a vegetarian; he’s not dogmatic about healthy food. He just reversed the proportions of what he was eating and discovered it made him a bit healthier. Well, a lot healthier, actually.

I tend to get my rah-rah out when it comes to portions. I’m on the less is more side of the equation. As a whole, Americans consume too much food and I strongly believe over-sized portions are to blame. If you’ve ever bought vintage tableware, you’d notice that the dinner plates are smaller (9″) than their modern versions. Today, eating off a 12” plate is the norm. And the food is piled high.

Socially, we’re led to believe that more=value. Think Costco. (aka ‘buy more, eat more’)

Large portions are everywhere. It bothers me how much restaurants serve. Personally, I can’t even make it through the children’s meal without leftovers. My 4 year old eats more than I do if given the opportunity. He likes to eat. I like that about him but I’m a mom and sometimes I have to pull back the food. Trust me; he’s getting plenty to eat!

Most kids have no problem with starches and will gladly eat a meal comprised of 50% garlic bread. Other kids are meat, no veggies kind of folks. It’s our job to create a better balance. It is possible to create healthier eating habits at the family table.

So what is the right balance?

According to the USDA and the ADA

• ½ vegetables
• ¼ startches/carbs
• ¼ protein/meat

TEN WAYS TO STOP OVER FEEDING

1. NO SERVING DISHES ON TABLE. It only encourages over eating.
2. EAT LESS MEAT. I know it’s hard to believe, but 1 pound of meat feeds a family of four.
3. LEAVE THE TABLE A LITTLE HUNGRY. Your body will train itself to eat less.
4. CUT DOWN ON SALT. Studies show that we have a hard time saying no to salty food.
5. COOK! When you cook, you can control the portions and the ingredients.
6. KEEP IT UNPROCESSED. Fresh, simple ingredients nourish us instead of addict us. This week, try to get rid of 3 processed foods in your kitchen. Start with boxed macaroni!
7. EAT MORE VEGETABLES – It’s hard to over eat fresh vegetables. Your stomach will be full long before the calories have exceeded their limit.
8. NO SECONDS – I know, sometimes you want to lick the serving dish. Try to refrain from loading up on seconds. Give it ten minutes. If you really want more, limit it to a couple of spoonfuls and not another whole plate.
9. USE SMALLER PLATES – Try 9” dinner plates
10. GET ORGANIZED! Plan out meals using good vegetable-meat-starch-fat ratios

I’m not talking about anything drastic. It’s possible to combat over feeding and over eating by simply changing a few dinner table habits. If you can think of a good reason not to, I’m open to suggestions. Now, if I could only stop at one chocolate chip cookie!

School is back in session for us in two weeks, so we have been spending some time getting things in order for the new school year. I have one child entering 4th grade, one entering Kindergarten (sniff, sniff) and one continuing on in a Preschool program. I can’t believe how big these kids are getting!

Here is what we did this year to organize our school shopping experience:

Consolidate Your Lists

With three kids I was done shuffling multiple lists around so we consolidated everything we needed into one big list. After the fact, I thought it would make a great printable for my readers so if you need one, you can get your FREE School Supply Checklist here. Having a master list saved on time dramatically which is a necessity when shopping with the kids in tow!

Shop For Sales

The school supply circulars are starting to come out in the newspapers, so be on the lookout for the best deals. If your state has a tax free weekend take full advantage of the savings. Tennessee’s Tax Free Weekend is August 6th-8th. Since our school starts before that I went ahead and stocked up on supplies. I find that if I wait until the tax free weekend the more specific things we need are already gone.

Sort It All Out

While you most certainly don’t have to dump everything out to begin the sorting process it definitely got the kids excited. They loved rummaging through the pile of school supplies. Ok, I liked it a little bit too To make sorting easier and to coral all of the school supplies I used a separate bin for each child. As we checked the supplies off of the lists we then put them in the designated bin. Now we can tuck them away until school starts and easily add the few extra things we need to pick up.

Label It

Now that you have all of your school supplies neat and orderly, don’t forget the labels! Every school has different rules for what should be labeled. My daughters preschool wants each and every crayon labeled so this year I was really excited to have my Mabel’s Labels! (I have a nice stash as one of the perks for blogging with them.) Make sure you label backpacks, lunchboxes, clothing and outerwear too! After you make the investment on all of your back to school gear you don’t want it to end up lost forever!

Have you started back to school shopping yet?

Walt Disney Signature upscale lifestyle brand and contemporary design innovator Cappellini announced their collaboration last month at DIFFA show in New York. Disney created a dining table together with Cappellini and gathered around the table many of Capellini’s famous chairs, and Cappellini even gave a few of them a new look. On last week’s Milan Furniture Fair in Italy they revealed five Disney-inspired Cappellini chairs which will be available in limited editions.

Read more about each special edition Cappellini chair and see pictures of also the Disney inspired chairs not available for purchase at Skimbaco Home.

What do you think – isn’t the Disney & Cappellini design marriage made in heaven? Hidden Mickeys are sure looking good when designed by Cappellini.

Share your happiness!

America’s favorite potato chip Lay’s is hosting the world’s largest “Happiness Exhibit” – and they are asking you to join in. The Happiness Exhibit is a digital work of art made entirely from photos of simple happy moments. Get your camera out and submit a photo to the exhibit through May 31, 2010. Visit the exhibit at Lays.com and upload your pictures and view the collage that celebrates simple happiness in America. Your photo might be selected to be featured on millions of Lay’s potato chip bags sold nationwide, and in ads in PEOPLE magazine. Photos for a special American Summer-themed spread running in the May 24th dated book can be uploaded between April 1 and 18, 2010.

I have another way to share happiness – Lay’s is sponsoring a Happiness Picture Pack Giveaway right here and you could win a super cool product pack for your summer photos. Enter now to win a digital camera, printer and a digital photo frame!

HAPPINESS PICTURE PACK GIVEAWAY
The prize pack includes:
Canon – PowerShot 10.0 Megapixel Digital Camera – Blue ($98.99) (and 2GB memory card)
Kodak – Pulse 7” LED Wi-Fi Digital Photo Frame ($129.99)
Canon – Selphy Compact Photo Printer – Silver ($99.99)

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:
1. Comment here what happiness means to you. Leave a way for me to contact you in case you win.
FOR EXTRA ENTRIES:
2. Tweet about the giveaway with a hashtag #skimbaco and link to this post (leave a comment you did, you can do this once a day).
3. Become a fan of Skimbaco Lifestyle at Facebook.

GIVEAWAY ENDS: April 30th Midnight EST.

And what is happiness to me…? These three…

Welcome to ForGoodnesSake.net, a site dedicated to finding the good in every situation, no matter how trying it may be. Someone cut you off on the highway?  Find the good in it. Were you late for an important appointment? Find the good in it.

We know…it’s easy to say that. This site is here to help you put this positive thinking into practice. We struggle with this every day, so you, the readers, can hold us accountable. Every now and then, we may slip and get upset at the circumstances of a situation. At the end of the day, we are all only human.  So this blog is here to act as a reminder — a boundary, if you will — so that we will never forget that no matter how bad a situation may in the moment, we have to focus on positive thoughts and energy to attract that into our lives.

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Your Goodness Guide,

Baba Ites