Mother's Day Reflections

Special day's can be more than a bit hard on healthy eating plans. Mother's day may mean breakfast in bed, dinner out, and specially made sweets by the ones who love you. And plenty of extra unhealthy calories...

We're a society that loves to celebrate every occasion with food. Lots of it. And, most of it not so healthy. Weddings, new babies, birthdays, graduations, winning ball games, dance recitals, retirements. And, those are in addition to all the other food holidays throughout the year. 

This year, my Mother's Day started with me sleeping in a bit, which isn't easy with a dog that has an earlier wake-up call than most roosters.  When I go up, my husband had ready a wonderful bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with an apple-walnut-cinnamon topping he made himself. Not only did it taste great, but it was a fantastic way to start the day.

My daughter (who recently graduated from college) gave me an insulated water mug all decked out in yellow and blue polka dots and her school logo. It even came with a lifetime warrantee, which is perfect for me and my tendency to drop them on concrete every once in awhile, like I did just this week! I love drinking ice water out of big 24 glasses with straws, and take one most everywhere I go. The insulated walls keep them from weeping with condensed water.

After a long walk and calls from my out-of-state sons, my husband served a yummy dinner of BBQ pork loin, fresh fruit salad and colorful coleslaw (Ellie Kreiger's Comfort Food Fix) topped off with a lighter version of strawberry-rhubarb crisp. Just perfect.
And the moral of the day? It certainly is possible to enjoy special days keeping health in mind.