Emma Francis talks about healthy foods and yukky foods

Did you know that research shows that you can learn to like foods?  What if I told you that in a month you and your family could be enjoying a meal full of vegetables?  Emma Francis is a picky eater.  I grew up with a mom who didn't know how to cook and thought that if you stuck a fork in a vegetable and it didn't slide off into two pieces, it wasn't finished cooking yet.  As a result, I hated vegetables.  I hate any slimy texture and the thought of overcooked vegetables still makes me want to gag.

I went out on my own and decided there is a world full of food out there that isn't spaghetti-O's, but by that time I was such a picky eater that I didn't like anything healthy.  Then one day I was reading a way to get kids to eat vegetables and I decided to give it a try.

At first I was scared.  I was too scared to go for a potent tasting vegetable, so I decided to go for cantaloupe.  I hated it.  The thought of all that orange yuk was disgusting.  The first day, I cut a piece and held my nose and licked it.  That was all I could manage.  I LICKED IT.  I couldn't even stand the thought of putting it into my mouth.  This was not going to work and I knew it, so the second day, I stared at it for ten minutes, then put it into my mouth and practically gagged chewing it.  Even two weeks in, I felt that I would never learn to like melon.  I would eat my piece daily, but I was more than happy to toss the rest out when it went mushy.

I am not exactly sure when the transformation took place.  At some point, I looked down, and the entire half melon was gone and I had enjoyed the sweet flavor of it while I ate it.

So far, I have learned to eat rice, green melon and cantaloupe, broccoli, hummus and onions.  There are probably a few other foods that slip my mind right now.

Currently I am working on beans.  Beans are going to take a while.  I can easily eat a ground up bean, like hummus or a white bean dip, but I cant stand the texture of beans in general.  Right now, I am finding ways to hide them in foods so that I develop a taste for them.  I will smash them and put them into spaghetti sauce or chili.  I even smash them and put them into burritos instead of leaving them whole.  Next, I will stop smashing them in foods.  After I can tolerate them whole, I will work on beans by themselves.


Have you learned to like any food?  How did you do it?