Food choices

I love food and have always considered myself to eat anything. However I realise that I LEARNED to eat so many things that I didn’t like so as not to upset people. I was the youngest of 5 children and I remember my dad saying that I was the fussiest.
I have realised now that i am an adult that it’s ok to have the food I like and I can make my own choices. There is not much I won’t eat because I really don’t like it apart from mussels. There are a few things which make me feel unwell such as oily fish and batter. I never was keen on meat and only ate it because I wanted to conform. These days I rarely touch it. As a child I struggled with pulses and still won’t eat them unless I can’t get round it, I just don’t like their heavy, dense texture. Whole grains have always caused me problems too so I stick to refined. I can eat and enjoy some of the things I couldn’t eat as a child but I think that was persevering that helped there, green beans and broad beans are now favourites. 

I still don’t eat boiled potatoes. We had them so much as children to bulk out meals, I think I was put off for life. They are simply awful. I eat them every other way though.

From what I've been told by my mother, I would pretty much eat anything that was put in front of me... until I suddenly didn't and got very choosy about the food I liked and was willing to eat. I'm guessing this started around the age of 3 or 4 and continued until I was in my late teens.

For years, I wouldn't even eat potatoes, but now I love them (boiled, mashed, roasted, baked). The next thing on the list of things I was willing to start eating again were peas, broccoli, and parsnips. There's a bit of a veg theme going on here. 

They are just the best aren’t they? I’ve had my boys about 11 years now. They give me so much comfort. They certainly are members of the family

That’s good. Biting them must have tasted awful.

I do cook from scratch about 4-5 days a week. It is a struggle, but if I don’t eat I feel even worse. And because I work out, I need the fuel. I find if I plan it, I will make it. But cooking means I have no energy for anything else .  Baking relaxes me, and the end result is pretty tasty lol. I make simple things,  various cakes (only vegan now so my daughter can enjoy them too). Madeira, lemon drizzle, banana, banana and chocolate, Romanian apple pie, crumbles, muffins…fruit or cheese scones etc. I live alone so I don’t bake as much as I used to when I had a family, because there’s no one to eat it lol.

I can't swallow pills with water, nor will I bite or chew them. I have to take them with food and use that to swallow them. Otherwise they stick in my throat. Even tiny ones. Huge problem if there are ones I have to take on an empty stomach! Fortunately my regular ones either should be or can be taken with food.

I filter my tap water as I can't deal with the plastic waste of bottled water.

My husband used to be a pill chewer, now he can just about swallow them with a lot of grimacing. He won't take my advice to use food.

Without derailing your page too much I am also a cat lover. My cat Phoebe has been with me six years. She was abandoned, all bone and crying... she's now healthy and happy again and a big part of my family. 

I think I actually eat less now than when I was a child.

I didn't like different foods but the foods I did like I ate all the time growing up. I had a good varied diet then. I don't eat so much now... I have Lupus and my digestive system is constantly inflamed and causes me pain and stomach upset... so I keep to a basic diet of not a lot. Just the basic boring stuff so I don't get too much inflammation.

I was also thinking of the phrase yesterday as I was using a fine toothed comb on my daughter's hair, getting rid of things that shouldn't be there, and thinking about how it was an apt metaphor.

I can now swallow tablets whole.  

Until a few years ago I was still biting tablets despite the medical advice to swallow, not chew or bite.  I have finally learnt to swallow with water, that is expensive spring water, I can't drink tap water.  The problems with chewing/biting is the horrible taste, the medicine gets absorbed too quickly and I got terrible headaches from blood pressure tablets.

What do you like to bake? :) that’s amazing :) 

I’m trying- I am not cooking at the moment and am turning into the expert of healthy ready meals but for me this is a huge improvement- I spent over 6 months living off whole grain rolls, eggs, apples and carrots only... I go through phases of only eating the same foods over and over. 

It is so impressive that you are cooking! I used to cook a lot with my mum when younger but none of those recipes are practical or agree with me and I have no energy for cooking at present. It is great that the UK really makes life easier in terms of healthy convenience options- it’s not at all like that in Germany or in Luxembourg- there are very few options there, especially in Germany.

That’s great. I think trying new things is a good move. It can really change mealtimes for the better. 
Luckily, my diet is very varied, although I do sometimes get lazy and make the same type of meals for a week or two before regaining my cooking mojo again! I think I’m more into baking at the moment!  

It’s interesting you mention temperature - I’ve realised recently that I am sensitive to that too

Sounds nice, chilli is nice. 

I try, my wife makes a wicked chilli, I have to pick all the red kidney beans out, they are too much like baked beans, squidgy and soft, they change texture in my mouth.

Yep- I was quite fussy at a child, though at some points in my adult life I was even more restrictive in terms of variety... living off only a handful of the same foods for months... A lot of the foods that I struggled with as a child I still struggle with now though I improved in some ways... One of the things I cannot cope with at all is soft bread...As a kid i did not eat bread at all, then only things like the crust of a baguette, now I can have bread if it is toasted, or bread rolls with a crunchy outside... Also cheese was a complete NO for me ... I still can't cope with it though I was able to have mozzarella for a while... I'm fussy about lots of other things too, taste texture etc. Also as I child I really struggled with creamy sauces and sauces in general (though for some reason curry was always ok...), not much has changed... 

The other day though I was surprised at myself as I had a ready meal with lots of foods in it that I never thought I could deal with but I actually liked it! (it was a mexican chili with beef, beans, rice with sweet corn etc. it had loads of foods that i would usually not go near but I liked it surprisingly...) 

I am trying to diversify my diet at the moment due to health reasons and I have been pleasantly surprised sometimes when trying new things... 

I tried the smooth version, too slimy. I can stand beef mince, pork sausages and sliced ham, it’s processed, a Sunday roast is now horrible.

Crisps as well I love crisps and pizza all my life. Nothing beats a crisp sandwich