Go! Eat! Skip Dessert!

To finish up this week's theme, lacking inspiration to finding motivation, I would like to talk about food.  Surprised, right?  The weekend is coming, Summer dawns tomorrow and the kids, spouses, dogs, cats, neighbors, relatives, golf buddies or book club'ers are in the kitchen;  three to five meals a day must be prepared and enthusiastically enjoyed by all.  Instead of toast and coffee for breakfast, in place of ham'n'cheese for lunch, may these foods inspire you to fill your table with guests and sink with dishes~

Enjoy an impromptu brunch:  Call three friends and assign a dish (Lisa, anything fruity; Dan, anything mixed with an egg; Carla, something French) and you provide coffee, mimosas, bacon and the table.  You can be creative and assign a country instead of a dish and let your guests surprise you!  Brunch is a meal that can last an hour or three while nourishing your body with great, fresh food and conversation.  Pump music through the speakers, fill some water balloons for the kids (water guns work, too) and enjoy a long morning or early afternoon full of fellowship.

Do not make something familiar for dinner!  We all have googled recipes that look delicious, clipped a magazine of it's scrumptious shrimp instructions, or drooled over a dish in a restaurant too expensive to frequent.  Make those recipes!!!  When you shop, buy fresh, buy whole, buy good quality ingredients.   Invite your guests to bring a bottle of wine to share, make sure to allow enough time for conversation and maybe top the night off with a game of charades.  If guests aren't available, substitute a romantic dinner for two~

Don't eat dessert.  If you are brunching with champagne and dining with wine, dessert is the last thing you need.  Alcohol packs 7 calories per gram (2 less than fat, 3 more than protein).  Enjoying a long brunch, indulging in a sensational dinner and sipping cocktails and wine is replenishing in an immeasurable way.  Don't ruin it with a heavy, creamy, sugar storm.   You can place a plate piled full of grapes, pineapple and raspberries in the center of your table and pick away.  Grapes are low in sugar but high in phytochemicals and antioxidants.  Pineapple has fantastic digestive properties.  Raspberries add dietary fiber to dessert.   If you must, bits of dark chocolate are perfectly acceptable.

No go!  Eat real, delicious, naturally occurring foods.  Remember to give your vitamins their vitamins.  Make sure water is present at all times.  And, as always, remember to wash your hands.  I will see you all here next week~

Anna