Thin or thick?
Asparagus comes in several sizes, ranging in diameter from thinner than a drinking straw to fatter than your thumb. Cooks of the world have debated for ages over which are more delicious: thin asparagus or thick. Some prefer the smaller spears for their delicacy and tenderness. Others enjoy the fatter ones for their more robust flavor and meaty texture – something they can really sink their teeth into. Whichever size you chose, look for firm, brightly colored stalks with tightly closed tips.

Prepping & preparing
• Tiny, tender spears come from young asparagus plants, fatter ones derive from older plants. The smallest spears will only need to have their very bottoms trimmed before cooking. They can be sautéed, or rubbed lightly with olive oil and grilled.
• The bottom portions of larger asparagus spears can be chewy and woody; they will need to be trimmed or snapped off. To prepare them, steam or boil to make them tender. To snap off the tough portion, simply grasp the stalk with both hands and bend the bottom portion until it breaks off. The asparagus will naturally break at the point where the tender portion ends and the tough, stringy part begins.
• If you want to be less wasteful, you can peel your asparagus instead. Simply lay a stalk of asparagus flat on the countertop and strip away the tough outside layer with a vegetable peeler, beginning just below the tip and working your way toward the bottom.

Storage
Asparagus begins to lose its sweetness as soon as it's picked, so try to cook it as soon as possible after you buy it. If you plan to store it in your refrigerator for a few days, treat it like a bouquet of flowers: trim a small amount from the bottoms of the stalks using a sharp knife and place them in a tall glass with a little water in the bottom. Cover the top loosely with a plastic bag, and store in the refrigerator. This will keep the stalks firm and crisp until you’re ready to cook them.

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. The mornings are warmer, the days are longer and daffodils cheerfully bloom to remind us of new beginnings. It is also when I plan and prepare my garden with an annual goal of having a few seeds sowed prior to Mother’s Day. Once the nights get a tad warmer, the rest of the garden is ready and waiting to be planted.

Spring is a time to refresh, rejuvenate, wake up, and come out of our winter hibernation. And it’s a great time to resume outdoor exercises. When spring arrives, I enjoy riding my bike, taking my dog for long weekend walks and spending time perfecting my yard and garden. Crisp cool mornings, longer days and warmer weather provide a perfect setting for these types of outdoor activities.

One of my new spring activities is to commute to work on my bike. It’s a great means of exercise, saves gas money and provides an opportunity to self reflect on what I need to accomplish that day. Then, after work, it allows me to decompress on my journey home. Best of all, I have completed my exercise for the day, and it only added 20 minutes to my work commute!

Step 1: Understand how you eat
To eat healthier, you first need to know what constitutes a balanced diet. The food pyramid is a great guide to understanding nutritional requirements. You can even customize your plan at www.pyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx by entering your gender, age, height and weight. Once you understand which food groups and portions make up a balanced diet, you can decide what changes to make.
I usually recommend keeping a food diary for a week or two. Recording everything you eat and drink helps you gain a better understanding of how well you’re meeting your needs and determine areas for improvement. After the first week, review your food diary.

Ask yourself: “Do I…”
• Get the minimum number of servings for each food group?
• Eat enough fruits and vegetables each day?
• Consume mostly foods low in fat, sugar, and salt?
• Prepare my meals at home, or instead eat fast foods or convenience foods?
• Drink beverages that are high in sugar?
• Drink plenty of water?

Step 2: Start thinking about changes
Consider this: If you…
• Eat out a lot, you may be consuming more fat, salt, and calories than you need or want. Try to prepare more meals at home.
• Eat a lot of meat but not many vegetables, your diet may be too high in saturated fats and too low in fiber. Eat smaller meat portions and add more vegetables to your plate.
• Rely on packaged convenience foods, you may be getting too much salt and sugar. You have more control when you make your meals from scratch and avoid pre-packaged foods.
• Find your portions are larger than recommended, you may be getting too many calories. Using a smaller plate can help reduce portion sizes.
• Miss meals, you could end up overeating later. Try to keep healthy snacks around – fruit, yogurt, nuts – in case you have to skip a meal.

Step 3: Start small
Don't try to make big changes in your eating habits all at once. You will likely feel overwhelmed and deprived of your favorite foods and, therefore, will be more likely to fail. Start slowly, and gradually change your habits. Try any of the following:
•    Use whole-wheat bread instead of white bread.
•    Eat brown rice instead of white rice.
•    Try whole wheat pasta instead of pasta made with white flour. Or try a mixture of the two.
•    Use skim (nonfat) or 1% (low-fat) milk instead of whole milk or 2% milk.
•    Try low-fat cheeses and low-fat yogurt.
•    Add more fruits and vegetables to meals, and/or have fruits and vegetables available for snacks.
•    Add lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions to sandwiches.
•    Add fruit to cereal.

Step 4: Make healthier choices more often
We don’t have to be perfect in how we eat, just work on eating healthier more often!

Our Basic Needs

Grains: Aim for 6-11 servings each day. Choose whole grains whenever possible.

Example	One Serving	Size of
Bread	1 oz (1 slice, ¼ bagel, ½ small bun	Index card
Cooked grains	½ cup cooked oats, rice, pasta	Billiard ball
Dry Cereal	½ cup flakes, puffed or shredded wheat	Billiard ball

---

Fruits and Vegetables: Aim 5-9 total servings each day. Choose fresh fruits and veggies whenever possible.

Examples	One serving equals	That's about the size of
Raw fruit	1/2 cup raw, canned, frozen fruit	Billiard ball
Dried fruit	1/4 cup raisins, prunes, apricots	An egg
Juice	6 oz 100% fruit or vegetable juice	Hockey puck
Raw vegetables	1 cup leafy greens, baby carrots	Baseball
Cooked vegetables	1/2 cup cooked broccoli, potatoes	Billiard ball

---

Meat and Beans: Aim for 2-3 servings each day. Choose lean meats and plant proteins whenever possible.

Examples	One serving equals	That's about the size of
Meat & Tofu	2-3 oz cooked beef, poultry, fish, tofu	Deck of cards
Beans	1/2 cup cooked beans, split peas, legumes	Billiard ball
Nuts & Seeds	2 Tbsp nuts, seeds, or nut butters	Ping pong ball

---

Dairy: Aim for 2-3 servings of calcium-rich foods each day. Choose low- or non-fat products whenever possible.

Examples	One serving equals	That's about the size of
Cheese	1 ounce or 1 thin slice of cheese	A pair of dice
Milk	1 cup milk, yogurt, soy milk	Baseball

---

Fats & Oils: Eat fats and oils sparingly and in small portions. Choose heart-healthy fats whenever possible.

Examples	One serving equals	That's about the size of
Fat & Oil	1 tsp butter, margarine, oil	One die

You may not realize it, but your bagel and glass of soda have doubled in size over the past 20 years – most foods have. This increase in serving size has gone largely unnoticed, so has the extra 200 to 300 calories that accompany it.

Eventually, you may feel those extra calories sneaking up on you if you don’t increase your activity. Consuming those extra calories can mean 20 to 30 pounds in weight gain over a single year. This increase in portion sizes has likely contributed to the increase in our waistlines and obesity in our society, as a whole.

Research shows that the larger the portion, the more people tend to eat. Given a one-ounce, single-serving bag of potato chips, a person generally stops eating when the bag is empty. Give that same person a seven-ounce bag of chips, and he or she will likely eat more than one serving – it’s all about packaging.

Don't get me wrong, it’s OK to eat a large amount of one food or have a big meal – just be sure to balance it out by eating fewer calories at subsequent meals. The problem is, many of us have a difficult time striking that balance because our image of portion size is skewed. We call this “portion distortion.”  To avoid it, we must come to realize the true meaning of a single portion.

Servings vs. Portions

A serving is a recommended amount of food. A portion is what you serve yourself - it is often larger than a serving. For example, a serving of cooked pasta is ½ cup. But the portion that you put on your plate may measure 3 cups. That equals six servings. (Remember: it is fine to eat more than one serving at a meal, as long as you stay within your daily limits for each food group.) For more information on the number of suggested servings for each food group, go to the MyPyramid Web site at: www.mypyramid.gov.

Portions by Measure & Weight

When in doubt, measure it. You may be surprised by the results. If you don’t know what ½ cup of cooked rice looks like, measure it. Then put it on a plate or in a bowl to see how much space it takes. For drinks, measure 8 ounces of liquid, then pour it into a drinking glass to see what a suggested serving looks like.

More Tips:

• Read food labels. Many foods come in packages that contain more than one serving. Read the Nutrition Facts Label to find out how many servings are in the package and what counts as a single serving.

• Use smaller plates, bowls, glasses and mugs. Studies have shown that if you use a smaller plate, you will feel content and satisfied on 40 percent less food.

• Leave serving dishes off the table. This makes it harder to reach for second helpings.

• Focus on the meal. If you eat while you do other things, such as reading or watching TV, you may forget to keep an eye on portions.

• Eat slowly. You can eat a lot in a short time if you gulp down food.

To learn more about “portion distortion” and how portion sizes have changed over the last 20 years, visit http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/portion.