Eating Vegetables

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's not easy to eat vegetables...so goes the content of this NY Times article on why Americans don't eat their vegetables.

I am having my own dilemma with the preparation or lack thereof, of the vegetable.

I am beginning the process of de-oiling my existence (more on that later) and taking on the vegetable as the mainstay of my new heart-healthy palate. Easier said than done. Last night I munched on sugar snap peas - sold at my grocery in a convenient small bag already washed and ready-to-eat. I also had a bag of carrots and a bag of grapes while on the run - sold at a convenience store in little bags already washed and ready to pop in my mouth. OK! But one can only eat so many raw vegetables in a day, no?

I am discovering that I don't know how to cook vegetables easily or well. So it is much easier to eat a bag of potato chips (still no meat!). But upon closer inspection of this issue, there is another, more dastardly explanation...

We are all junkies and the taste of fat is our drug. One of the points that Dr. Esselstyn makes in his book is that the more fat we eat, the more fat we crave. There is a chemical, biological pattern that leaves us desiring that taste. When you add that fact to the emotional tie that many of us have with foods, we are sitting ducks. In the good Dr.'s estimation - it takes 90 days of oil free, living to get rid of the cravings. Then the taste of vegetables will be quite different. It's a 90 day challenge.

BTW, oil free is not fat free. Fat occurs naturally in a number of grains and other plant foods. We all know by now that fat is actually good for your body. But the fat and oil added for FLAVOR is the killer. Remember when McDonald's french fries were the absolute best on the planet?? They were fried in LARD. Ugh. Lip-smacking good ribs are so because of the tasty fat and oil in BBQ sauce. Yum. Potato chips in canola oil or baked with expressed sunflower oil are equally tasty because we get to taste that wonderful flavor of oil/fat.

I did a taste test yesterday...potato veggie chips with sunflower oil vs. Guiltless Gourmet yellow corn chips with no oil. Both are tasty. But I want those veggie chips and can leave the corn chips. I'm convinced it is the taste of fat that I crave. UPDATE: drat...I tried the GG chips as recommended in the Dr.'s book as oil free. Then I look at the bag, advertising bolder, crispier...yep, they added oil. Up next, baked Doritos - but I'll check the label first :(

So as I transform my pantry and palate, I am weening off of the worst offenders of fat/oil, just to get accustomed to making choices. I'm working on a food menu. But I know that one day in the very close future, I will have to go cold turkey, go through withdrawal, and hopefully come out the other side with a hankering for tasty veggies!