Mailbag Day 3

This will be a short one, but once again Maureen Allen is the winner with a great question:

Were you a picky eater before your diet? Have you had to start eating foods that you didn't like before?

I was definitely a picky eater.  There were so few fruits and vegetables that I was willing to eat on a daily basis that I have definitely had to expand my horizons just to avoid ingredient burnout.  Part of the reason this blog has turned into as much of a cooking blog as a personal journal is because as I discover new preparations and techniques I discover that, prepared the correct way, I like many more fruits and veggies than I thought, and that I can tolerate most of the rest.  It sounds counter-intuitive because I would have been eating less calories, but if I had been a bit more militant about oils and dressings and those types of extra calories I probably would have been much less successful to this point.  They have been the spoonful of sugar that helps my veggies go down.  Over time I have been able to strip away the extra flavorings because I have grown accustomed to the flavor of the veggies.  It boils down to what my friend Michael told me about developing habits with food.  It takes a few weeks for your taste buds to accommodate a change in diet.  Once I cut out all of the extra sugar I was eating I was much better able to appreciate the natural sweetness of things like peppers, carrots, parsnips, and even broccoli.