Food-Get Out of your Comfort Zone

Food takes a significant role in my daily life.  From within an hour of me waking up, to a couple hours before I get to bed, I am eating! I eat far more than I ever did before and am much healthier! I tend to be a creature of habit and routine, so changing up my meal plans and options for the balanced nutrition I seek daily can be pretty difficult.

I am the type of person that finds what I enjoy and sticks with it! I wouldn't call myself an adventurous person, especially when I am in the kitchen.  I have started to really enjoy taking favorites of mine (sloppy joes, mac n' cheese, and grilled cheese) and using better ingredients so I can continue to have them! 

I have made small changes like substituting whole wheat noodles for pasta recipes, and I understand now the correct portion of such foods.  I also am more and more aware of how I can make changes in my meals but have my family enjoy them as well.  It is about compromising for sure! My husband isn't a huge fan of ground turkey, so I have started trying other options like ground chicken or  96% lean ground beef. 

Chicken Meatballs

Making these small changes hasn't been all that difficult for me probably because they aren't too far from my food comfort zone.  I enjoy chicken and meatballs, so combining the two is pretty natural.  I like wheat based foods and pasta, so that was an easy transitions as well.  It comes to those foods that are out of my comfort zone that pose a challenge.  These are the foods that I have said I just don't like.  Why? Mostly I don't "like" them because I haven't really tried them!! How funny is that?! How can I not like something if I haven't given it a chance.  Have you seen that recent Silk Almond Milk commercial? The one with the guy who doesn't want to try it because he doesn't know what it will taste like? Yep, I totally feel like that guy. I grew up around my mom who has LOVED eating beets, but simply based on my ignorance of the food, said, "I don't like them." I totally devoured a beet salad during my recent Chicago trip.  Cauliflower? Yep, that is another food that I swore I didn't like, but again, I tried it at The Goat and the Girl restaurant in Chicago and LOVED it! 

When I first got to the restaurant and looked at the menu, I really thought I wouldn't eat any of it.  I went from beet salad, to a dish with goat meat, and then cauliflower.  I will say I still don't like scallops, BUT I tried them again to give them a shot with my budding taste buds! 

The point is, give different food options a chance! I am really trying to get our oldest daughter, 3, to embrace this.  I want her to at least try a couple bites of food, so she knows what she might be missing out on with the limited foods she consumes.  

So get out there and try something new this week!

Happy eating!!!