At what point in our lives did our meal turn from good for us to good tasting?
Remember when you were a child, held hostage at the dinner table until you finished “5 more bites” of the food you inevitably hated? We all have stories of hiding our cooked carrots inside of our baked potato, or spitting our green vegetable into our napkin and wadding the napkin up into the trash can.
Then came the teenage years, when we simply argued our way out of eating what we hated, or simply left it on the plate in obvious dispute. Our near-adulthood status made our tantrums scarier to our parents (and likely battles not worth fighting), so we got out of anything good for us merely for the parental hope that we at least eat something.
Then, we go on to college and/or adulthood, and we spend the first few years expressing our freedom with outward rebellion. ‘It’s 2a.m. and I have no one to report to? THEN I’M GOING TO TACO BELL, so BOOM!’ ‘I have extra money on my college meal plan that has to be spent? I should most definitely stock up on Oreos… hundreds of dollars worth of Oreos.’ (Ahem, Chris Swisher).
And then somehow, in the midst of life and work and stress, we find ourselves overweight, lacking confidence, and wishing we could change, yet knowing how uphill the battle would be. We join a gym and start exercising, which is great, but then reward ourselves with that Philly cheesesteak that sounds so damn good. We ask ourselves, “What sounds good for dinner?” when we should most likely not be asking anything, and sticking with what we planned. Having a significant other to ask the question warrants us asking it in the first place, as if we truly want our loved one to make the bad choice that really “sounds good” to both of us.
I’ve got news for you. And you’re probably not going to like it.
You need to grow up.
In case you haven’t had a wake-up call in this regard, I’m here for ya, clanging a loud gong over your sleepy head to tell you these three things:
1) You are an adult.
2) You are the result of your own choices.
3) Only you can decide to make a change.
For those of you who don’t know, I own a fitness studio where I am a Certified Personal Trainer/P90X Instructor. At our studio, we offer a basic nutrition assessment, meaning that folks fill out a food diary for a few days and submit it back to me for review. You would not believe the number of times I have heard, from grown men and women, statements like:
“I just don’t like fruit.”
“Green vegetables creep me out.”
“Water? Ew, that’s boring. What could I add to it to make it taste better?”
Just yesterday, I had a client who is in his 40’s, a former military man, tell me he eats absolutely no green vegetables and despises fruit of any kind aside from bananas. Another client told me today that he thought he ate healthy… When I asked him why there wasn’t a single vegetable aside from potatoes and corn listed in his food diary, he told me he wasn’t “big on vegetables.”
GROW. UP.
We all have things we don’t like. Me? I despise beets, and I absolutely can’t stand cooked kale. But I eat it. Why?
Because I know better. Because I’ve educated myself on how my body feels when it’s properly fueled, and I crave that feeling more than any temporary satisfaction of something that tastes good.
I encourage each and every one of you to ask yourself two things:
1) Am I being stubborn about my food choices and asking myself “What tastes/sounds good?” instead of “What’s good for me?”
and
2) If I reverted back to age 5 and my adamant father was sitting at the kitchen table across from me asking me to eat just 5 more bites of carrots, could I do it if I tried?
My guess is that the answer to both of these questions is likely Yes. Yes, you’re being stubborn. Yes, you’re simply acting out of the freedom that you’re entitled to as a grown adult. Yes, you like things to taste good all the time. And yes, you’re likely still scared of your “Don’t make me count to 10” father.
So do it. Start today. Try a food you haven’t had in years, or eat one you know you like but usually don’t choose because it doesn’t taste as good as those nachos. What you’ll start to see is someone inside of you that’s open to change, not just wishing for it. And by trying and doing, you may get to stay and feel alive that much longer.
Happy kale cooking to you, friends. And, you’re welcome.