Sharing a Healthy Plate

   Last night I attended a small gathering of doctorate students in Public Health at my university.  We had a pot luck appetizer theme and I took that as an opportunity to get out my tulip platter and wow people with nutrient dense, calorie light treats.  I took a picture and post it below so that you might consider bringing a healthy tray to your next social event.
   Tonight I met a different set of friends.  We are planning our high school reunion.  Our meeting was at a restaurant and someone had preordered a few appetizers.  They were all calorically dense and I chose to just have a beer (:)). So on occasion, I DO drink my calories, but for some, alcohol is health promoting.  This is never true about sugar sweetened beverages!
   Tying these two evenings together is another true thing about me.  I do not eat food to make other people feel comfortable.  I eat when  it suits me to eat (which is related to what the food is and whether or not I am hungry). As you might also know, I don't take kindly to 'food pushers'. {food pushers are those that seem to feel uncomfortable by other people's not eating, or not eating "more"} And yet I am as much a food pusher as any body else and have to restrain my own impulses.[It's a phenomenon of our broader culture - of many cultures]  Last night, if someone had not made a plate of food at our buffet table, I found myself wanting to ask, "Aren't you going to eat something?"  And I did offer to make a plate for one guest in particular -(her hands were full with her twins!).  It's funny isn't it.  In my defense, I never push things that are not part of a quality diet :)
   Here is the tray - which has Wasa crackers and two flavors of Light Laughing Cow cheese wedges (they do not come that way, I bought two and mixed them), grapes in personal sized bunches (I cut them that way), vegetarian eggrolls cut into 50 calorie servings, and my own blueberry cake squares.

Beneath those goodies is a great picture of a tulip - I love tulips.