Nasty Orange Plant Root! Yea!
I’ve been thinking today about the many varieties of foods that I like and dislike since I’ve been trying to decide what my next recipe to post here should be. One thing that I’ve learned over the years of my life is that I really and truly can not stomach cooked carrots. At all. No, not even with ghastly amounts of brown-sugar/molasses. Truth be told, I’m not really all that fond of them raw either; especially after using them forever as the “approved” diet snack of my younger days. That starchy, orange taste just doesn’t do it for me. And no, making them “waffle-edged” doesn’t do it either. And it never has. But you know what? That’s okay.
All of us have different tastes. I know there are PLENTY of people out there who love carrots; those who are ambivalent about their potential as life-giving energy and then those of us who wouldn’t shed a tear if carrots were to mysteriously vanish from stores entirely.
But you know what, variety is the spice of life. Getting a great variety in your daily foods is vital to getting all the nutrients you need for your body. But MY variety could be vastly different from YOUR variety. One thing that always bugs me when I spot those magazines (or those little pamphlets of diet tips) with the latest and greatest list of “5 foods to make you slimmer” or “10 drinks that keep you healthy” or “7 foods guaranteed to make you a happier you!” is just how limiting they are. What if you don’t LIKE any of those 5 or 7 or 10 items? Does that mean now you won’t be able to stay healthy or happy?? Does NOT eating these items somehow make you LESS healthy or happy? Do you have to somehow cram down those horrid yams since they are on the list of miracle foods in order to fit the latest and greatest standards of health??? Are you a paragon of virtue upon whose door the happiness fairy will be knocking if you DO eat these particular things??
The simple answer: No. There is no one MAGICAL food that will make everyone slimmer, make everyone happier, make everyone healthier. More to the point for my post here: there is no one SET of foods; no single approved list of “variety”, which will do those things either. So we shouldn’t be trying to all focus our eating habits on the whimsical ideas of a few list-making folks (who may really LOVE the carrots, yams, raisins and yogurt they prescribe). Learning to understand and respond to our body’s actual likes and dislikes helps us to better fuel ourselves for our daily lives!
All of us have a food that will rarely fail to make us smile. Mine is a great piece of smoked Gouda cheese. Yours might be chocolate or fresh cucumbers (oh man those are a close second) or lasagna or what have you. I just find it very limiting that despite all of our very different tastes and styles, variety is only encouraged as another sort of method to railroad us all into eating the same exact foods; regardless of our actual enjoyment of them.
Food should be fun! It should be tasty! It should be tasty for YOU! No one else can tell you what your taste buds enjoy or dislike. It is up to you to listen to your body and find out what it has been trying to tell you so that you can stop trying to force-feed it foods that it doesn’t enjoy and start eating what makes you feel good. It may seem amazing but your body DOES know what it needs to function at it’s optimal level. And you know, the vitamin C you might miss out on from by avoiding carrots could just as well be supplied by that banana or watermelon that you love to munch.
Perhaps that was more rambling thoughts than informative discourse but I just felt the need to share that there is no ONE right way to eat a balanced variety of foods. Missing out on one food, even if it is one of those MAGICAL foods, does not preclude you from others that have just as much, or even more, of the same nutrients. There is no need to mentally beat yourself up because you can’t stomach a certain food that is being touted as the latest and greatest food known to humans. Accept that your body just might not LIKE those carrots. Move on, eat something you like, and enjoy the feeling of your body thanking you.
August 20, 2008 at 2:19 pm
AMEN.
I am SO SICK of people trying to get me to eat fish for health. yick.
Of course, some of the foods that make me happiest also lay me open to a charge of cultural appropriation. I don’t know WHY all the non-fish non-shellfish Korean food that I’ve ever had makes my body so happy, but it does –happier than almost every other food, even runny Brie, even chocolate, even steak or roast turkey or beef tips and mushrooms in red wine sauce.
Sorry for the tangent…
August 20, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I have a theory that I consumed my lifetime quota of carrots the summer I was 14 – when I lost a bunch of weight by eating NOTHING but carrots. My hands and feet even turned orange – [sarcasm] THAT was attractive [/sarcasm]
Before that, I loved them. LOVED THEM. Now? I’d rather eat almost anything else than carrots, either cooked or raw. Inadvertent aversion therapy. Oops.
August 20, 2008 at 3:08 pm
This carrot lover has to stand up and say amen, sister! One of the great joys in life is the fact that there is such variety and bounty out there to feed us all.
Carrots, yams…yeah, orange foods seem to make me happy, but my brother has a good friend who will not touch any food that is orange in color. That’s fine, I’ll eat her yams and oranges and kumquats and carrots and orange bell peppers.
The only sad thing is that Mr. Twistie hates so many of my favorite foods: lamb, all forms of fish, yams, eggplants, kale, collard greens…and the list goes on. On the other hand, I can eat those things any time my beloved isn’t home for dinner, or I can eat them for lunch.
I don’t want my guy to feel guilty for not liking things like watermelon and yams. He can eat plenty of raspberries and corn and get a lot of the same nutrients.
And I won’t feel the least bit bad for being absolutely prepared for mushrooms to disappear off the face of the planet.
August 20, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I wouldn’t touch carrots as a child, now I can stomach them, and only raw. Cooked carrots are ugh! And for those that have texture problems with foods, such as myself, it can be frustrating when people scold you for not eating certain items.
I’ve been teased for liking clam strips, but I love those things. I love the crunch and the slightly sweet taste as you bite down on them. Give me some clam strips, and I’m a happy girl.
August 21, 2008 at 12:51 am
I kept reading the title of this post as “I Hate Crooked Carrots and That’s Okay.” And I thought, “Well, yes, that *is* okay. Slightly weird, but perfectly fine.”
August 21, 2008 at 9:46 am
I can’t stand meatloaf. I always hurt someone’s feelings by saying this, because everyone insists that I’ll love their meatloaf, but just…ew. Ground meat always has some piece of gristle waiting in it, and hitting a bit of it is usually enough to stop me eating entirely. That and, any kind of squash, which is unfortunate because everyone is always trying to give me squash from their gardens and we could use the free produce.
I adore spinach though, and asparagus, broccoli, snow peas, black eyed peas, lima beans, chick peas, pretty much every legume now that I think of it.