Week 18: Portion Control and Deodorant (not at the same time)!

I'm getting to the point in this journey where I've taken care of the biggest things and now I'm have one of two problems.  One, I can't come up with anything feasible to change (which I know isn't true, it's a mindset thing) or two, I have soooooo  many things I want to change that I have trouble deciding.  This week would be the week of too many things.  I've decided to tackle two very different things:  portion control and deodorant.  Yes, I know.  They are radically different.  LOL

Portion control has bothered me for quite some time.  I have been using smaller salad plates instead of dinner plates and have been dividing our food with one quarter of the plate being protein, another quarter, grains and half the plate for fruits and veggies.  I'm not sure why I started doing this, but I read it somewhere and it makes sense to stack the plate in favor of fruits and veggies-gotta get the 5-9 servings, ya know!  The problem is that the girls and Hubby clean their plates and go back for seconds (generous helpings) on the grains and protein.  Would they overall eat less if I just gave everyone a little more of what they want the first time around?  Since I've tossed about 85% of what the USDA says is a healthy diet (GMO-laden, artificial junk), do I need to keep this aspect?  I will be doing some reading and reporting about what I find on this subject.

Deodorant has some nasty chemicals in it.  I use Degree anti-perspirant.  As listed on the Environmental Working Group website, Skin Deep, the ingredients are: Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex Gly (17.8% W/W) (anti-perspirant)Inactive Ingredients: CyclopentaSiloxane, PPG 14 Butyl Ether, Stearyl Alcohol, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Talc, Fragrance (parfum), BHT, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch.  I only know what a few of these ingredients even are, so the question is, "Do I want to put this on my body on a daily basis?  Hmmmm, probably not.   I've wanted to change what I use for quite some time, but always seem to find a reason not to switch:  natural brands don't work, I still have another stick in the cabinet,  I don't have the right stuff to make my own, etc.  Well, I got my 1 gallon container of coconut oil last week, and I found the organic cornstarch that I purchased months ago (for this very reason), so this week I WILL make my own deodorant.  I will keep everyone updated as to how it's working.

I still have several recipes that I want to get posted.  The Curried Chicken Salad never happened because my family, who doesn't understand portion control, ate all of the chicken.  I did make a Fruit Salad and then used the leftovers to make a wonderful smoothie.  I also made a cauliflower and broccoli salad.  I was so frazzled on Sunday that I forgot to get pictures of any of the food, so I don't even have pics to share. :(

I did make meatball sub sandwiches for the kids for lunch today and got pictures of those, so the recipes for grinder rolls and meatballs should be forthcoming.