Eat your veggies

When I was a kid, I had the reputation of hating vegetables. Turns out what I hated was canned, overcooked, mushy vegetables.
My mother was one of those old-fashioned, eat-everything-on-your-plate-because-there-are-starving-children-in-China mothers. You ate, whether you liked it or not, and I didn't like the canned peas and carrots that seemed to come with every meal.
I washed them down with milk, but when the milk ran out, I was out of luck. I tried everything to get out of eating those, or the canned beets she also loved, but she stood, looming over me, demanding I eat because other children were starving.
I finally won, though. I had come down with a stomach virus, but she didn't believe me when I complained of a stomach ache at dinnertime. It was something I had tried again and again.
So, she set the bowl of beef stew, rich with overcooked peas and carrots in it, and insisted I eat. Gingerly, I took a couple of bites, and then a couple more.
Then it all came back up, all over the table.
My father, known for his weak stomach -- he could think of icky things and gag, and when confronted with a really icky thing, he almost passed out gagging.
He finally recovered enough to speak.
"She never has to eat vegetables again!" he thundered at my mother.
He turned to me. "Do you hear me? You never have to eat vegetables again!"
Unlike most kids who hate vegetables, I loved spinach, cabbage and asparagus. So, when I grew up and moved out, I started tasting new things. My mother hated brocolli, so I'd never had it. When I tasted it, I was amazed. I loved it.
I tried brussels sprouts and zucchini. Yum.
I couldn't get enough.
Eventually, Rob introduced me to hot peppers. My parents were New England Yankees. Food wasn't suppoded to have flavor. Only foreigners and exotic people ate spicy things.
I can go for days without eating meat. In fact, I didn't eat red meat at all for about eight years.
I'm starting the weight-loss competition thing Monday, so I went shopping today. I spent a ton of money on fresh vegetables and lean meat and poultry.
As of Monday, it's soups and salads and stir-fry and other healthy food. Fortunately, I love that stuff almost as much as I love cheesy, creamy, fatty stuff.
Almost.