My Mother’s Blue Willow Plates

I tend towards the hedonistic and have little to no self-control (see my elementary-school report cards.) If I like something, then I want a lot of it. I don’t count calories nor do I regularly exercise.

My short stature and slim physique belies my ability to drink a whole pitcher of beer by myself accompanied by a large sausage pizza.

I am one of the last American citizens who admits to smoking cigarettes. For a while, I also smoked cigars and have my own cigar clipper and cigar lighter.

I am a big fan of Devil Dogs and Hostess Orange Cupcakes and eat a box of each per week. (One orange cupcake plus one Devil Dog per snack, washed down with a large glass of milk.)

So I totally understand why people say to me, “you must have one hell of a metabolism to stay trim”…or “you work out, I can tell you are religious about working out.” Or “how in hell do you stay thin when you eat like a horse?”

Here’s my secret: every day for each meal unless of course we’re out in a restaurant – I eat my dinner off of my mother’s old blue willow plates.

They are the size of today’s dessert plates or salad plates.

They do not take up two square feet like the plates that you buy today. They are small and dainty and if you eat on a small plate all the time, you reduce the amount of food you can possible fit on it…although at times, I do create some plates for myself that are filled with vertical towers of food -- usually I just plate up my dinner on these 8 inch plates and by doing so consistently reduce the amount of food I might eat if I had a larger plate.

It’s plate-size mandated portion control.

So that’s my diet tip for the day. Dump the ten inch plates you’re eating on and find some old dinner plates that are usually a couple of inches smaller. It works for me.