Lessons from the Food Nanny

For the Relief Society's 170th birthday this year, (the women's group of our church) Liz Edmunds came and spoke to our Stake.  She is known as the Food Nanny.  She has this book (that I want):

She is such a bubbly, darling woman!!  Totally likeable and a great teacher.  A mother of 7 and now a grandmother, she teaches families all over the world about how important family dinners together are.  I have learned a few things from her, that I want to record so that I don't forget about them.

1.  Dinner together is the most important part of the day.  Good food and good conversation are the major components of that.

2.  Having dinner at a consistent time is preferred.  It gives a good sense of routine that your family will look forward to.  My new goal is to try to have dinner ready at 6 pm every night.  Unless we are gone, of course.  There will be exceptions, but hopefully rarely.

3.  Have at least 2-3 vegetables with dinner every night.  She uses an assortment of canned, fresh, and frozen.

4.  Portion control!  When you feel comfortable in your tummy, push your plate away.  Stay at the table and chat, but don't eat anymore.  When you go on a date, consider sharing a meal!  You won't take in so many calories, and the budget will go further which means...MORE dates!!  :)

5.  She suggests using theme nights, and planning for 2 weeks of dinners at a time.  The themes assure a good variety of food, and give the fam something to look forward to.  This only gives you one major shopping trip every two weeks.  Saves gas and time!  (and frustration)

6.  Have fish twice a week, if possible.  It's expensive, yes.  So to balance that out, have breakfast for dinner once a week since breakfast food is usually so cheap.

7.  Balance.  This isn't something she really teaches directly, but I have picked up from her.  We need time for our family, and also time to re-charge ourselves.  It's ok to have white bread every once in a while as long as you are eating all those veggies and use whole grains most of the time.  Things like that.

8.  A lot of the things I thought were too hard or time consuming, really aren't.  Like homemade pizza, or french bread.

9.  Good conversation with those we love most is so important at dinner!  I printed out several pages of conversation starters from Howdoesshe.com that we use for this sometimes.  It is so fun!

You can watch episodes of the Food Nanny at byutv.org/foodnanny.  I have watched several episodes and LOVE it.  You even get a great recipe out of every episode!  Sweet!

Why are we always in such a hurry?  She pointed out that all we seem to want these days are 30 minute meals.  (yes, please!)  But why can't we spend longer in the kitchen sometimes?  I had forgotten that!  I like cooking, so this was a good reminder for me.

Anyone meet the food nanny before?  Have her book?  Let me know if you watch and what you think! :)