Wednesday, February 23, 2011

An Open Mind Leads to a Devoured Tomatoe


As a child I hated tomatoes. I remember one time my Mother had me stand over a sink and take a bite of a tomato in an attempt to show me that tomatoes aren't that bad and they taste good. Well I took a bite and spit it out as quickly as it went in. At the time i vowed never to eat tomatoes again and from that day forward I picked them off sandwiches and scooted around them on my plate. I did the same with olives, pickles, and onions.


6 months ago or so I started a quest to improve my healthy eating habits. As apart of this I made a condition for myself that if there is something healthy on the plate I will eat it. Granted, I try to eat healthy, the main purpose of this condition was so I didn't remove healthy food when it was put before me, say at a restaurant or at someones house. This has mostly been the case in salads, there are always tomatoes in salads. WHY?! The first few times I quickly gobbled it up so I wouldn't have to chew and taste it. After a while I actually started to taste and savor them with the meal. And ya know what? Tomatoes aren't that bad. Most of the times they compliment the dish and they make sandwiches all the more tasty. Now I don't live in regret from having never liked tomatoes. I don't think my taste buds were ready for them. And they still aren't my favorite food, but if they are there then I will eat them instead of dancing around them.


I also had the same issue with the color pink. I liked pink when I was little. I grew up on "Hand Me Downs" and my sister went through a pink phase so naturally, a few years later, all of those clothes became mine. Then in Middle School I was made fun of for wearing pink too much. (Yep, kids can be cruel.) I wasn't wise enough not let other kids bother me yet, otherwise I would have worked it with those pink outfits and did a runway walk down the hall. After that experience I hated pink and vowed never to wear it again and just got used to not having pink in my wardrobe and never put much thought into it. After high school I gave certain outfits exceptions to the color pink, but I was still a stickler. Over the last few years I have pretty much come to adore the color pink. I love it when my friends and family have baby girls cause then I can buy them pink clothes. Someday I will have a daughter and she will be dressed in pink from time to time, but it will be a strong pink.


Does this mean i am growing up more? Possibly. I think that my perception of tomatoes and pink are changing because I let myself open up to the idea of eating and wearing them. It is amazing what things can change in my mind if I just allow myself to open up and not be so strong headed or closed minded. I am sure I am still picky about other things, but let's take it one step at a time now. Tomatoes today and onions in 5 more years.

3 comments:

  1. There are very few things that I don't like. But it's weird how pregnancy makes all of those things my new favorite to-die-for item. I have always hated milk with an undying passion. And I drank about half a gallon this morning. I worship it, pretty much.

    And tomatoes, but I pretty much always have. They are super good for you too!

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  2. Oh good. Now you can have some of our home grown tomatoes when they are ready:-) I have grown out of not liking beans,eggs,avocado and actually a lot of things (I was a picky eater as a kid). I still can't do mushrooms though:-)

    Maybe you can try to talk Aaron into liking tomatoes?

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  3. I was that way with avocados, peppers, onions...all sorts of things, really. Now, I am really not picky at all.

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