Getting Over It

Today, after a couple days of rigorous grocery shopping amidst other life events, I decided to begin my Jillianmichaels.com meal plan. Originally, I had planned for Monday but my fridge was stuffed with fresh foods and I figured that there was no excuse not to get started immediately.

I noticed on the JM plan that there was a lot of cottage cheese. This was annoying to me because I have never liked cottage cheese never found a good substitute for it. I went about changing all the meals that involved this item.

When I was a kid, I loved yogurt but I turned away stubbornly at the chunky, white curds of cottage cheese. I would watch in fascination as adults in my life devoured cartons with delight. I would reject lasagna that featured it instead of ricotta.

As a young adult in the cafeteria food industry, I watched curiously as patrons would buy "health plates" that had a healthy serving of the this protein-rich food. People actually order this?

Now I'm a "mature" adult and I remember two incidents where I endeavored to include this food in my diet. The first time, it was the main ingredient in a peach smoothie. I took one sip and dumped the whole thing down the drain. Disgusting! The second time I sat down with a dish of it and added a tablespoon of flax seed while in the PT office at Goodlife. My boss watched with amusement as I took tiny bites, grimaced, and chewed..and chewed..and chewed. She came by some time later and made fun of me for making the snack last so long. I never finished. I dumped it and accepted that some foods just taste bad to me. No more cottage cheese attempts!

It dawned on me that you have to like cheese to enjoy it. I realized that I don't really like cheese that much. Let me rephrase, I don't like cold cheese. I thoroughly enjoy melted cheeses. To me, cottage cheese is like little chunks of cold cheese in a white, soupy liquid which makes the whole thing more revolting. I don't eat cheese sticks (which is another great protein choice) or any other cold, solid cheese if I can help it.

I was shopping for some specific dairy items at Meijers in the States and I noticed little individual containers of small curd cottage cheese and recalled that the JM recipes mixed fruit & nuts with it. Impulsively I grabbed a few and decided to give it another try. There's been a lot of change this year and maybe, just maybe, I could train myself to endure, if not actually appreciate, this healthy food.

Today, I pulled it out and mixed it with a cup of sliced strawberries and a couple tablespoons of chopped walnuts. I mixed it all together and tentatively gave it a try. I have to admit that the fruit & nuts made it more palatable than flax seed did and I like the small curd--it was thicker and less cheesy tasting. I was thrilled when I was able to finish the whole bowl!

This is the beginning but it is a big step for me to put aside old mindsets and allow myself the opportunity to experience change at a very simple level. It was my choice whether to keep avoiding this food nemesis or to get over it. No-one else really cares, but I feel a bit taller and empowered knowing that I chose to grow as a person in this small way.