The Foods I Don't Eat

It’s my personal theory in life that it’s okay to be a picky eater as long as you’re the cook. I have, to my mind, the perfect situation in that I have a husband who will eat anything I put in front of him. He considers me a picky eater, but since I’m the cook in the family, all I have to do is just not cook anything that I don’t like to eat, and everyone’s happy! I don’t intend to give our future children the option of being picky eaters though—I like a rule of "eat what’s on the table or don’t eat at all." Of course, sometimes I choose to not eat at all, which I don’t mind. But it is much more practical to be the kind of person who eats everything. However, I’m convinced that sometimes it can be healthy to be a picky eater. Take, for example, a sampling of the things I won't eat:

• Pie. Occasionally I'll make an exception for a frozen french silk pie, but really, I'm not a fan most of the time.
• Cheeseburgers. Cheese on a hamburger? No, thank you. I also refuse to eat hamburgers at all from the likes of McDonalds or Burger King.
• Salad dressing.
• Bell Peppers. Okay, these aren't necessarily a healthy thing to avoid...but I still don't like them.
• Jelly and Peanut Butter. Eww. No, never. My Mom never gave me peanut butter until I was ten years old and that's probably why I don't like it to this day.
• Meat with bones in it. Again, this is really has nothing to do with health, because I still eat meat, just not drumsticks or t-bone steaks.
• Seafood. No lobster, prawns, squid, jellyfish, shark fin soup, etc. I occasionally make salmon or tilapia filets and I do eat them but they aren't my favorite.
• Sushi. See "seafood," above.
• Asparagus. No thank you.
• Juice. Apple juice, orange juice, or cranberry kiwi guava grapefruit cocktail--any juice from a bottle. I got spoiled growing up on fresh-squeezed fruit juice.
• Cake and Frosting. This isn't exactly true because I do eat one kind of cake: devil's food cake made from Betty Crocker's mix with store brand vanilla icing. I don't like any other kind of cake, especially cakes from bakeries.
• Bacon. If I can get all of the fat off of it I might eat a bit...but then, bacon is really all fat, so I don't like it.
• Microwave Popcorn. I'm totally spoiled by my air-popper.
• Mayonnaise, Margarine, Ketchup. I'm not a fan of condiments in general. Occasionally I'll use a little mustard, though.  
• Anything with nuts in it.
• Lasagna. Funny story. In my teens I got so tired of making lasagna for my family that I declared, "I will never marry a man who likes to eat lasagna!" Later, when I was with Angel, I told my mom, "I'd even make him lasagna if he wanted it!" and she knew then that I truly loved him. But I still haven't made him any--it's never come up because I wisely make many other delicious dishes.

 This isn't to say that I boycott all unhealthy foods. I'm a sucker for potato chips with french onion dip, which I why I only buy them when we're having a party because otherwise I'll eat the whole bag. And pizza--Mmmm! And, if, by any chance I'm at your house for dinner, don't worry, I am well-trained enough to eat whatever is put in front of me and be grateful for it too. But when it's time for the dessert round, I'll pass on the cake or pie, and tell you that I'm too full from dinner. Unless you have mint chocolate chip ice cream. I always have room for mint chocolate chip ice cream!