Variety is the Spice We All Need

By Tara Gidus Collingwood, MS, RDN, CSSD, ACSM-CPT

PHYSICAL HEALTH FOR WIDOWS

When I was in grad school I brought my lunch to work and school every day. It didn’t vary much: yogurt, baby carrots, crackers or pretzels, and usually a piece of fruit. Sometimes a sandwich would sneak in, but always with baby carrots. I loved the crunch and the fact that they were low in calories.

One day I picked up a baby carrot and literally could not take a bite of it. I had eaten carrots every day for months, and something took over that simply made me feel ill at the thought of biting into another carrot.

To this day I do not eat many baby carrots. If I buy them, they sit in my crisper drawer and get all dried out. I may eat one here and there on a vegetable tray at a party, but I can’t bring myself to eat them regularly. Why? I simply OD’d on carrots! I had eaten them so often that I could not do it anymore. The same thing…