Make a Fist

 Make a fist and let me know when you're done. All set? I'll explain. Your fist is about the size of your stomach. And I know I've been talking about hunger a lot lately but that's just because I'm always hungry. Just kidding. It's because hunger is no fun and you don't have to be hungry to be healthy.

If filling your stomach is the goal to not feeling hungry, then this visual aid will help you see why the right foods do the trick.

The first photo is 4 tablespoons of blue cheese salad dressing. The total number of calories in this little green bowl is 300. But 4 tablespoons which is 1/4 cup would do very little to fill your belly (30 grams of fat).

Photo number two is 2 ounces of Pepper-Jack cheese with 8 Wheat Thin crackers. Wheat in this case is hardly better than other crackers because this snack still has 20 grams of fat, 300 calories just like the example above.

Plate three was the choice I made for dinner tonight. As you can see, the size of the portion is (was) larger than my fist. This is 3 ounces of grilled asparagus with sea salt and pepper and 5 ounces of Atlantic Salmon with lemon and rosemary. I used an olive oil spritzer to put just a touch of oil on the asparagus to make it crispy. This colorful dinner weighs in at -- you guessed it -- 300 calories. And 10 grams of fat just for the record, but it's Omega 3 fat and it's actually very good for you. It also has a full day's supply of vitamin D. 

If you're reading this thinking "good for you, but foods like that are boring and I'd much rather dip that piece of Jack into the blue cheese with a cracker chaser -- trust me! I used to eat blue cheese dressing by the spoonful and have been known to bring home seven different cheeses in one grocery trip. But I'm gradually changing my tastes for what I like to eat. This week I've been crazily addicted to turkey burgers and asparagus.