"Mom, you haven't posted since Halloween," said my daughter Kellie. "Yes, I did - I posted this month, see?" "But it was about Halloween, and now it's Thanksgiving, you need to post." "Okay, I'll do it." But it's hard to write a post when you don't know what to write about. Yesterday, it hit me. Post about salad. Yes, salad.
You see, I had a salad yesterday for lunch. A salad I made myself with my own hands. And even I was struck by the irony of the moment because for at least half of my life, I hated salad and refused to eat it.
I think it all began when I was a young girl and my job every night for dinner was to make the salad (and grate the cheese, but that is another story). I detested making the salad, number one reason: I knew I wasn't going to eat it. Why should I always have to make the one thing in the meal that I wasn't going to consume? But my mom persisted and the salad I did make.
As I entered my teens, and all my friends were eating salad because it was healthy and helped you be thin, I smugly consumed my powdered, jelly-filled donuts. Did I mention that I really hated salad?
As an adult, I flirted off and on with the salad consumption. All my friends would talk about this or that delicious salad they had made or bought at Wendy's and I thought, "Maybe this will be the salad I will like," so I'd try it. Inevitably, I would be disappointed. Salad just does not taste like donuts. But I was also having babies and worrying more about my health and I knew I needed to improve my veggie intake, so I'd force some bites down and pat myself on the back for the effort.
Oh, there are some "salads" I enjoy, but can you really call the salad at Cafe Rio a salad? Come on - it's mostly tortilla, rice, beans, meat, & cheese with a big hunk of lettuce stacked on top. I don't think that counts - but it is tasty and I have used it as a salad when necessary to appease my conscience.
This fall, I got serious about the lose weight/be healthy thing and went on the HCG diet. One of the great things (besides the weight loss) is that it cleanses the palette. This is a fancy way of saying that I was completely sugar overloaded and so natural food just didn't taste good to me. After two months of no sugar, I was pleased to find that fruits really were sweet...and yummy. And I also learned that I felt a lot better if I ate some veggies every day; hence, the salad for lunch. I still have to force myself to eat it (and a little cheese and egg on it help a lot), but I'm actually choosing on my own to make and eat salad.
And that is my post about salad...and other things.
If you want to know about the HCG diet, I highly recommend my dietician sister-in-law Becky who helped my hubby and me lose a total of 45 lbs. in two months. We look and feel fabulous! And we eat salad.
5 comments:
I am glad you have come over to the salad world. I love a good salad.
I thought I would comment again because I am the only one that does. I love reading your blog. Just so you know.
Thanks, Heather - just so you know, I try to comment on your blog, too, but sometimes I can't remember my blogger log-in and then it won't post my comment (like just now)! But I love yours too. :)
I never comment on blogs, but being a big fan of salad, how can I not comment on this post? Yesterday for dinner I had a fantastic cobb salad with great chunky pieces of bacon. Tonight for dinner I went with the good ol' chef salad, boiled egg and all. It was awesome, but I will admit that tomorrow I think I will break my streak and look for some decent Texas BBQ. Perhaps I'll do a lunch salad.
I have to disagree about Cafe Rio salads. Not about the yumminess, because they are, but I am comfortable with granting them salad status.
It is the cucumber and tomato mixture drizzled with Italian dressing that doesn't live up to the salad title in my book. And any dish full of starchy gooey something should definitely get a new label (take that macaroni and potato!!)
So to wrap up my inexcusably long comment, the real mystery here is why I gain weight when I travel, when I consume at exponentially more fresh veggies on the road? Oh, right. I consume exponentially more of everything else as well.
Whoops.
Thanks for the fun post:)
I hated salad when I was younger, too...until I met Jeff. His mom made AMAZING salads. I'm now, ironically, the go-to person for salads in our whole extended family. Yep. Me. The salad hater. The reason why? I've had to work so hard to come up with salads that sound appetizing to someone like me, that I've become famous for making good salads. And I don't mind at all.
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