Conference rocks::weight_control

    
    That's a good tip!  And it's a problem for many mothers, I'm sure.
    I still have that problem and my kids are teenagers!  But they will
    ask me if I want something of theirs that they can't finish.....so
    I'm in the process of getting them to stop doing that and them it's
    easier for me to leave their food alone.  I don't eat with them
    at home due to our different schedules so it's not as much of a
    problem at home as it is when we are eating out!  
    
    Myra
    

    I vaguely remember leftovers, but my teenage boys are usually asking
    "Is that all there is for supper?"
    
                          ).).).; (giant laugh)
    
    
    

    My husband and I always make too much of our home meals--on purpose.
    The leftovers become our brown-bag lunches for work the next few
    days.  I find, having gotten into this habit, that I look forward
    to those lunches!  I'd much rather be nibbling on Kung Pao chicken
    or garlic sauce broccoli and brown rice or some classy soup than 
    whatever the cafeteria's serving.  It's gotten to be a joke in 
    my group; everyone now cranes their necks past their own pallid 
    tuna sandwiches and asks "okay, what's from the kitchens of Chez 
    Butch today?"
    
    I guess the reasons this works for me are threefold: one, I *hate* 
    (I cannot say how much!) canned tuna!  I don't like sandwiches 
    much in general.  Most "lunch" type meals leave me cold, since 
    I am hungriest in the middle of the day.  Two, I prefer "main dish"
    meals to assembling separate components.  I agree--old, dry roast
    beef slices coupled with wilted, sagging leftover veggies are pretty
    depressing.  Bleah.  Ah, but leftover dieter's lasagna, made with
    veggies instead of meat, whole wheat noodles, low-fat cheese, plenty
    of lovely tomatoes--now _that's_ a meal!  Those are types of meals
    we tend to fix for ourselves at home.  So those are what make it
    into my lunch bag to work.  Three, it's a habit from my childhood
    (and those habits from childhood tend to last, don't they?).  Mom
    was a reluctant cook.  Leftovers often made it into our lunch bags.
    
    The one thing I never do (and Mom never did) was to eat up leftovers
    from someone else's plate.  Extras left in the serving dish--those
    became future meals.  But whatever was left on someone's plate went
    into the garbage.  Mom's sense of proper hygiene was outraged by
    the thought of gobbling up someone else's germs.  (She had a thing
    about us using each other's washcloths and bath towels, too.)  So
    she was careful not to let us take overly large first helpings ("you
    can have seconds when you've finished everything that you started
    with").  This meant that there was more left in the serving dish
    to turn into leftovers without Becoming Contaminated ;-).  And more
    leftovers meant less for her to have to cook for meals other than
    dinner.  Sneaky huh?
    
    Of course, being the pudge that I was, I always finished my first
    _and_ second helpings too.  Ah well . . .
    
    Marcia

    A trick for the fast food restaurant:  The problem happens when
    you get the salad bar and buy a Happy Meal (or 2) for the kid(s).
    They don't finish more than 2-3 bites of their hamburger.  So
    you finish it....
    
    Well, you *can* ask the servers to cut each burger in half.
    Then each child can work on half a burger, and if they don't
    finish it there's an untouched 1/2 to wrap up and take home,
    and it doesn't look like a half-eaten hamburger, it looks
    like 1/2 of a hamburger.  There's a difference, when it's
    re-served to the child!
    
    Of course, if you're not going right home, this won't work
    (thinking of the germs that can come live in meats kept in
    hot cars).  In that case, if there are 2 kids, get one
    burger and one order of fries.  Get the burger cut in half.
    Divide the fries between the children.  If they're still
    hungry, you can always get another burger.
    
    There's lots of calories in those little bits of this and
    that - 1/2 a cookie, a bite of pb/j sandwich.  Remember, if
    YOU don't need it, eating it is as much a waste as discarding
    it.
    
    --Louise

    Why not have the kids dump the leftovers in the trash and then rinse
    out the plate.  That way mom will never see whats leftover.
    
    Then have them put the plates in the dishwasher...
    
    Nan

    
    re.: .5
    
    Good point!  I'll have to try that with my kids.  
    
    Thanks! 
    
    	Myra

    It'sa not just with kids.
    
    My parents instilled in me the concept of "cleaning your plate off"
    during a meal. Everything had to go. I have a hard time when I see
    leftovers on my plate -- one of the causes for my excess pounds.
    Solution: cook smaller portions, serve smaller portions.
    
    /Jeff

    re .7:
    
    Funny, I never did figure out how my eating everything on my plate
    was going to help the starving kids in Africa...