"Happy Plate"

So I have decided to redefine “Happy Plate”

I’ve been writing in my journal that I have been leaving food behind on my plate and not leaving a “happy plate” behind.  I think most of us think of a happy plate as a clean plate--a plate that we have eaten all the food off of.  And as I kept writing that in my journal, it started bothering me.  I didn’t like that that is the message that I have been taking about food.  That’s also the message I have been giving my own children.  You can’t be happy unless you eat every bit of food off your plate.

What makes me happy (or at least happier) lately, is for my plate to not be empty--for food to be left behind.  From this day forward, in my family, a “happy plate” will now be a plate that has food left on it.  We will eat until we are comfortably full and not a bite more.  THAT is a happy plate and a happy tummy.