Posted on 03/19/2018 11:29:57 AM PDT by Simon Green
Bruce is a 56-year-old man who’s never eaten a vegetable in his life. His mom claims she fed him pureed peas when he was a baby, but he’s not buying it. “I’ll straight up gag if I try to swallow vegetables,” he says. “Every single time.”
So now the Scranton, PA father of two subsists primarily on chicken. “Lots and lots of chicken,” he explains — typically oven-roasted with a generous side of mashed potatoes, rice or noodles. When Bruce isn’t biting into one of the 8 billion chickens consumed in the U.S. every year (and washing it down with “oodles and oodles of Diet Coke”), he nukes a box of mac ’n’ cheese, preferably Velveeta Shells. Meanwhile, breakfast includes a bagel or “something straightforward” like Cheerios or Rice Chex. Pizza’s good for lunch provided it’s plain cheese or pepperoni. Otherwise, twice a week, he’ll drive thru McDonald’s for a 10-piece Chicken McNugget with fries.
Yes, Bruce is a man who eats like a boy.
Nor is Bruce alone according to Nancy Zucker, director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders. As she told the New York Times in 2015, in a sample of 2,600 adults who identified themselves as picky eaters, 75 percent reported that the pattern started in childhood. As it did for Bruce, who says his middle-aged diet is virtually indistinguishable from the one he kept throughout adolescence.
“Most of what I make for dinner are things my mother made,” he explains, as is his usual restaurant order of spaghetti and meatballs. Thankfully, he says he’s less OCD about it now. Vegetables hidden in spaghetti sauce used to freak him out — he feared they’d infect the entire plate — but now, he explains, “I just kinda nudge them aside and work my way around the meal.” He does admit, though, that it’s “peculiar to be 56-years-old with all that stuff piling up along the edge of your plate.”
(excerpt)
...and still watch cartoons.
Potatoes, rice, and noodles are not “vegetables”?
I hate to say this, but I’m 55 years old. I’m not past heating up some shells and cheese and pizza rolls.
It has nothing to do with maturity but more with what’s on the shelf, what I feel like eating and what I can afford.
And we watch comic book movies.
Almost 57. I will eat anything my wife puts in front of me and enjoy it. That includes any vegetable as I love them all. On the other hand when I am the one that has to cook or alone for a meal then yes it is all about what is easy, fast to clean up, and healthy is not a consideration.
Ummm.. I liked veggies as a child.
Just not all veggies.
Still can not abide Lima beans!
I’m 45 and I love cartoons.
When yer starving everything looks good, when you have options you can do as you please.
My wife and I spend over $600 a month to eat well. We buy our meats from a butcher, vacuum seal, and freeze them, and we buy produce and dairy from the grocery store once a week. We avoid the middle of the grocery store for the most part except for essentials like oils and spices.
It’s very expensive to eat properly. The draw to frozen, boxed, and canned foods is understandable considering their convenience. We usually “cheat” once a week and go out for a meal, but we shy away from fried foods and most starchy options.
Eating healthy is a choice nowadays. Most people opt for fast and cheap. If you can afford it and have the patience to cook every night, eating healthy has its benefits.
60 years old. Grow my own veggies and love ‘em. Since I was a kid, I love vegetables, meat, seafood, foreign food, K-rations, C-rations, MREs, fast food, slow food and food that drives in the middle lane.
I love to cook, too. Give me something good to eat and I start thinking about how to make it—what’s in it, spices, etc.
I’m hard pressed to think of something I don’t like.
The only think I won’t eat is monkey brains like in Indiana Jones or eyeballs—I saw Bear Grylls the Brit survivor dude suck a dead yaks eyeball into his mouth—wouldn’t do that.
You know what’s great?
Breakfast at Huddle House watching Tom and Jerry LOL
Of course noodles are vegetables. Have you never seen rows and rows of noodle plants, ripening in the sun? Just don’t harvest them too soon—talk about al dente!
Hey, Brucie, potatoes are vegetables.
55 and likewise...and I'm also a foodie. Just went on a food tour of Thailand a couple of months ago.
I also enjoy superhero movies...and classic films as well. If "Casablanca" is on, I'll watch it every time. The same goes for "The Avengers".
I’m like that, but quit eating hamburgers in 1996. Still eat nearly 100% fast food — mostly chicken. Will have a few vegetables at the occasional trip to the buffet, though.
Dear Old Miss Brooks drug me by the ear to my Mom when I was wee kid... “I found this one in my vegetable patch!”
She was pulling weeds, then she found me eating tomatos on the vine, pulling up carrots eating them dirt and all LOL
She was pissed!
Swiss spaghetti trees. Tough to find seeds for, though.
Fried mountain oysters!
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