Stepping outside the comfort zone with food

"Life is what you want it to be. So don't get tangled up trying to be free."
--Fugazi (Song #1)

If you checked in on my eating habits and preferences ten years ago, besides watching me horse down a lot of beer, pasta and soy meat-substitute products, you would have, if you asked me, learned that I "didn't really like" (and, therefore, rarely ate) the following things:

Sweet potatoes
Kale
Brussels sprouts
Coconut of any kind
Asparagus
Broccoli
Eggplant
Squash
Sardines
Cantaloupe

My wife's list would have been a lot shorter. She was a vegetarian for one simple reason: meat was gross and she hated its taste.

Shift forward ten years. We both eat paleo, love the hell out of it and eat everything on those lists. Fair disclosure: Brussels sprouts are the only thing up there that I do not unequivocally love and eat with extreme frequency.

So what changed?

Not much, really. It was just a choice. We both taught ourselves to like those things because they are good for us. And it didn't take all that long for any item on that list.

"But I don't like ____," you say, knowing full well that it is good for you. Well, I know that we call it taste, but, really, tastes can change pretty frequently.

And there's where the choice comes in. You *can* make the choice to start eating something, and quite possibly learn to like it. That's not something you need to worry about when the choice is some chocolate dessert item versus vanilla. Neither one of those is doing you any favors, but it's a lot different when you are talking kale or coconut or beef or lamb (grassfed, of course). It's simply better to be eating those foods than not.

So here is my suggestion: live a little. Step outside the comfort zone and try something that you know is good for you that you think you don't like. Don't get tangled up in self-imposed rules of your own taste that may very well be completely outdated. You might be surprised at what you learn, and then reap the benefit of a good choice.

Or you might not like it after all, but, hell, you'll never know if you don't give it a shot. And I am betting that your "list" will end up a lot shorter.





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