Spring Break
Trick yourself: eat fruits and vegetables without even knowing it
Issue date: 9/25/08
As the self-declared pickiest eater in the world, it has often been difficult for me to get the vitamins and minerals needed to sustain a healthy lifestyle. So I have some breaking news for anybody else whose entire diet consists of carbohydrates and desserts: There are many easy ways to sneak healthy foods into your diet without gagging.
Obviously, there are the snacks that mothers have used for generations. For instance, kids who hate fruits and vegetables might enjoy "ants on a log," a piece of celery filled with peanut butter and covered with a couple raisins. Parents also frequently sprinkle vegetables such as onions into the tomato sauce of their children's pastas.
However, these tricks never worked on me. I was picky enough that I would sit with my food for an hour, picking out the "chunky bits" of sauce when I received pasta or the "gross parts," (peas and carrots), when I was served fried rice.
As you can see, I have never in my life been able to eat vegetables. This not only caused bickering with my parents and doctors but also sparked New Year's resolutions like "I will eat three carrots this year." It also meant that I couldn't reap the benefits of such healthy foods. Eyesight benefits from carrots, cancer-fighting powers from broccoli and antioxidants from spinach were utterly unattainable, until now.
On the walk over to my first visit to Dominion Ice Cream on St. Paul Street I was told that I simply had to try the spinach-flavored ice cream. Disgusted, I vowed that I would not even sample it in those tiny spoons. If I had never liked vegetables before, I would never like them in my ice cream, right? Wrong. I was finally convinced to take at least one bite. Not only could I not taste the vegetables, the ice cream tasted exactly like vanilla. I especially enjoyed the guilt-free aspect; I was eating vegetables for the first time since those three carrots.
The restaurant features flavors such as Muscle Up, which contains the vitamins found in spinach, Sweet Tooth, comparable to sweet potato, Eagle Eye, the name for the carrot ice cream and Boney Coney, or tomato, among an assortment of more traditional flavors.
Obviously, there are the snacks that mothers have used for generations. For instance, kids who hate fruits and vegetables might enjoy "ants on a log," a piece of celery filled with peanut butter and covered with a couple raisins. Parents also frequently sprinkle vegetables such as onions into the tomato sauce of their children's pastas.
However, these tricks never worked on me. I was picky enough that I would sit with my food for an hour, picking out the "chunky bits" of sauce when I received pasta or the "gross parts," (peas and carrots), when I was served fried rice.
As you can see, I have never in my life been able to eat vegetables. This not only caused bickering with my parents and doctors but also sparked New Year's resolutions like "I will eat three carrots this year." It also meant that I couldn't reap the benefits of such healthy foods. Eyesight benefits from carrots, cancer-fighting powers from broccoli and antioxidants from spinach were utterly unattainable, until now.
On the walk over to my first visit to Dominion Ice Cream on St. Paul Street I was told that I simply had to try the spinach-flavored ice cream. Disgusted, I vowed that I would not even sample it in those tiny spoons. If I had never liked vegetables before, I would never like them in my ice cream, right? Wrong. I was finally convinced to take at least one bite. Not only could I not taste the vegetables, the ice cream tasted exactly like vanilla. I especially enjoyed the guilt-free aspect; I was eating vegetables for the first time since those three carrots.
The restaurant features flavors such as Muscle Up, which contains the vitamins found in spinach, Sweet Tooth, comparable to sweet potato, Eagle Eye, the name for the carrot ice cream and Boney Coney, or tomato, among an assortment of more traditional flavors.
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