Health Nuts (and fruits, and veggies, and ...)

My friend Kit posted this link on her blog, and being both curious and in need of entertaining at the time, I followed it. How many calories does blog hopping burn, by the way? Because lately, that's the only exercise I get!

I got a kick out of reading the lists of healthiest foods, and realized that many of them are things I can at least tolerate...if not outright enjoy. My weighty issues are less about ignorance and more about application - I know what I should eat...and I even like eating the healthy stuff...I just don't apply that knowledge. Silly human. It's a fun site to poke about on, and while I was poking, I started thinking about the things we eat in this household.

Here's a breakdown, by category, of what I will eat versus what Bird, T, or J will eat (that I've seen, anyway - for all I know they're secretly eating healthy things when I'm out of the house...but I am doubting that). The list has (at my count) 139 items on it.

Vegetables (35 items listed): Me - 23, Bird - 12 to 13 (depending on whether they're cooked or raw), T - maybe 10 (if pressed), J - 1 or 2, maybe a third if I hide it in something.

Seafood (6 items listed): Me - 6, Bird - 6 (although sometimes he needs a little prompting, he's so visula about his food right now), T - 6 (he does love seafood!), J - 1, and only if it's battered and fried (oh, dear).

Fruits (21 listed): Me - 18, Bird - 14 (to be fair, some of the fruits he's never seen, since I don't care for them and thus do not purchase them), T - 1 or 2, fresh (every now and then I can get him to eat a fruit cup, but I don't really think of that as fruit, since it's been cooked and sugared into submission), J - 1 or 2 that I know of.

Dairy (5 listed): Me - 4, Bird - 4, T - 3, J - 1.

Beans/Legumes (12 listed): Me - 9, Bird - 4 or 5 (it's that visual thing again, and I won't eat tofu or it's kin, so he hasn't had exposure), T - 10 (I am giving him one more than me because he'll eat tofu...I think...), J - 0.

Poultry/Lean Meats (6 listed): Me - 5, Bird - 5, T - 5, J - 2 (a third if I mix it with something else). None of us eat liver. Just blech.

Nuts and Seeds (9 listed): Me - 9, Bird - 6, T - 7, J - 2.

Grains (10 listed): Me - 5 to 8 (depending on how they're prepared), Bird - 4 (but again, he hasn't been exposed to some of them, yet), T - 3, J - 0.

Spices and Herbs (18 listed): Me - 16 to 17 (depending on use/preparation), Bird - 14 to 15, T - 14, J - 0 to 3, depending on whether I cooked what he's eating.

Sweeteners (4 listed): Me - 3 , Bird - 3, T - 3, J - 0.

Other (3 listed): Me - 3, Bird - 1, T - 1, J - 1.

So of the 139 healthiest foods (according to this one list), I will eat a total of 105 various things. Not terrific, but nothing to sneer at. There were a number of things listed that I've just never had...but maybe I should try them sometime. There were foods that I love that weren't listed, but after reading the criteria I understand why. Bird will eat 54 of them...but he's only five, so I am kinda proud of him. T will eat 64 (hmm, maybe we need to work on that), and J will eat 14. Guess which one of us had a sextuple bypass two years ago??

I enjoy websites like this because they assuage my feelings of inadequacy, both as a mum and as a diner. I worry that our diet isn't varied enough, but then I see that we (at least, some of us) do consume healthy things more often than not. Bird will grow up with a well educated palate and (I hope) a sense of adventure in trying new things.

Perhaps I can shed my fifty-acre ass after all. T may live to see 50. I'm not holding out much hope for J if I can't get him to at least try more colorful foods. His food palate consists mostly of brown with the occasional red (Ketchup)...unless it's something artificially colored, that is. What, Froot Loops don't count as fruit??

I'd be interested in hearing your own breakdown of the list, if you feel like sharing.