As you may have guessed, I say it like it is! I have hated vegetables ever since I was a small child. As I’ve matured, my “taste buds” have maintained their adolescent preferences. This simply means that as an adult, I continue to HATE VEGETABLES! How have I handled this dilemma?
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I EAT 6-8 SERVINGS OF ASSORTED HEALTHY VEGETABLES EVERY DAY!
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My “taste buds” HATE ME, but every organ and system in my body LOVES ME. This means I have learned to ignore my “taste buds” in favor of supporting the NEEDS of the REST OF MY BODY! This trade off has resulted in my 57 year old body:
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avoiding cardiac disease, diabetes, vascular disease, gastrointestinal disease, liver and gall bladder disease, etc…
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requiring NO MEDICATIONS for blood pressure, cholesterol, testosterone, illnesses, pain, inflammation, etc…
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experiencing the joy in participating in all social, recreational and athletic activities I choose
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experiencing clarity in brain function important in the research I enjoy doing
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experiencing and enjoying a passion filled, purpose driven, meaningful blessed life
Visiting Italy with my lovely wife, Elaine.
Many of you are probably thinking, “I doubt eating VEGETABLES caused all those bullet points!” You’re CORRECT. Eating vegetables (for me) has become more than just nutrition. It has become part of a discipline that has taught me to focus on the “BIGGER PICTURE.” It has helped me overcome the obstacle that “taste buds” used to control. I gave my BRAIN permission to determine whether it was more important for my “taste buds” to be satisfied or my heart, gastrointestinal tract, immune system and vascular system to be satisfied. In my case, my mouth LOST OUT! My brain decided my QUALITY OF LIFE outweighed ANY FOOD CHOICE AVAILABLE.
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My “taste buds” have finally conceded, although I have learned to satisfy them as well with HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS. Does this mean I NEVER eat unhealthy foods? No, I remain as HUMAN as everyone else. The only difference is, I have worked with my BRAIN to decide WHEN these unhealthy choices FIT into my eating habits. It is a CONSCIOUS decision and not based solely on EMOTIONS.
MY BRAIN HAS INSISTED I FOLLOW TWO RULES:
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I NEVER eat unhealthy choices to deal with problems.
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I NEVER eat unhealthy choices to “reward” myself.
These two situations remove the BRAIN from CONTROL and shift the decision process to the EMOTIONAL CENTERS of the body. It is UNHEALTHY (physically and emotionally) to use ANY DETRIMENTAL VICE as a reward or a “solution aide” to a problem.
Whether you are making poor choices in life by deceiving yourself of the harm they cause or avoiding healthy behaviors that should be included, why not give your BRAIN a chance to HELP YOU DECIDE. You can start by asking your BRAIN:
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Is my behavior supporting or competing with the life I wish to live?
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Am I willing to accept small sacrifices to experience a better quality of life?
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Am I happy and satisfied with the path I’m following or has my path become a toxic habit?
All About Healthy Choices 
You and your wife look great, a healthy lifestyle indeed
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Thank you Lyn. We work hard doing what it takes to ENJOY A QUALITY LIFE! It is absolutely worth all the effort.
Stay healthy and happy!
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Thanks
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Great post! will do the same!
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Excellent! Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
I DISLIKE TONS OF SALAD—GUESS WHAT FILLS OUR FRIDGE?
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A man after my own heart. I’ve learned to eat my vegetables FIRST. I get them over with and then look forward to the other foods on my plate. I applied this same concept to life. Do the tasks I would normally put off (by procrastinating) FIRST and then pursue the tasks I enjoy. This has really been a beneficial philosophy!
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Yup…when I follow it! 🙂
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Very nice, Jonathan. It is good to see how much living a healthy life takes place in the mental world before the physical one.
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Like BOTH of us discuss, it’s about BALANCE!
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I love those 2 rules, I have to keep those in mind. This is similar to the topic I posted about today – great minds think alike!
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Yours is a great mind; mind is just pretty good. 🙂 Keep sharing your wonderful messages. As more people read our overlapping messages, more people will consider making life changing decisions to improve the quality of their life and health.
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Yes, I hope so!
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Love the sugar/brain graphic …. will have to work out how to print it and place on the fridge for not only myself but my teen boys. I feel they do appreciate why I don’t buy them all those after school snacks that their friends are indulged in, however we still consume too much processed food. A hard battle with kids when you feel like you are on your own!
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It is a tough balance to create. One important trick is removing the processed foods from the house. If it’s not around in can’t be eaten. Getting the kids involved in food decisions and meal planning is another tool them helps children conform with less resistance. When they are part of the decision making process, they will not be combative at the table. I hope these ideas are helpful.
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Gorgeous picture of you both! I’m so glad I love veggies because I’ve never eaten them so much on a daily basis as I do now! Your brain power is amazing Jonathan! And really you set such a great example! 🙂
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Thank you Maureen. I believe in the lifestyle I live. I know the BALANCE it has brought to my life. I know the benefits it CAN bring to others as well. When they are READY and WILLING, I will gladly offer any assistance to help them.
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Well I for one am very thankful for the assistance! that is for sure! 🙂
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I confess, I do reward myself with a lot of unhealthy foods…. So that’s where I was wrong !😅 Thanks ….great post!
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I used to when I was younger as well. Then I saw the pain and suffering it caused in my practice which gave me a new perspective on everything in life where self imposed detriment occurred. I’m a realist. I have learned to teach 80-90% clean eating provides 10-20% comfort eating. This satisfies people’s food desires while keeping most people within a physical and mental HEALTHY BALANCE.
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Thanks for the wonderful advice sir 😊
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Brain Power is amazing ! Excellent post Jonathan 🙂
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All we have to do is decide to LISTEN TO IT!! Thanks for reading and commenting. 🙂
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You and your wife look fantastic! I totally agree that unhealthy food shouldn’t be seen as a reward.
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Thank you for the compliment. One day I hope pictures like the one I included of my wife and me are viewed as “NORMAL” as opposed to “LOOKING GOOD FOR OUR AGES.” If we learn to take care of ourselves AND THEN PRACTICE WHAT WE’VE LEARNED the end result takes care of itself.
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Very true!
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Could have had a V-8 !!
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LOVE IT!! Did you remember to hit yourself in the forehead before writing this comment? 😀
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Yup, and actually tried to think of a way to put it in the comments. Like : ‘Thunk”, “bonk” , “Smack” – but then thought better of it.
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😀
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Great post. Great pic. Great information!
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Thank you so much. I’m getting creative in my old age… I’ve learned to combine photos and write on them. It has helped me convey my messages using my personality.
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How do you actually write on them? I need to learn that too!
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I import a picture into a drawing program like publisher or Apache “drawing” and save the picture as a .jpg.
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Cool. Thanks. I’m gonna have to practice!
By the way, I tried eating food in the order you suggested last night and was truly amazed that I did feel satisfied much sooner!
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The tongue/brain combo is a fine example that draws a laugh while making the point.
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It also demonstrates the limited computer talent I have creating my own “art” work. 🙂 People are more prone to take the time to scan these articles when they offer a bit of humor along with a bit of substance.
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This is amazing advice. The brain is truly a powerful organ! It’s true that health, as well as fitness, is a mental challenge and not a physical one. The body only does what the brain tells it to do. I’ll be sharing this!
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Getting people to understand we must do things in life (we may not enjoy doing) for the benefit of the body and mind is a critical concept to learn. Once it’s learned, it must then be IMPLEMENTED. If people follow this advice, they will see a dramatic improvement in health and quality living.
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Reblogged this on Wonder Fabi and commented:
Did you know you can use your brain to improve your health and fitness? Check out this post by Dr. Jonathan Colter to find out how you can train your mind to eat healthier, even if you hate it.
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Thank you for reblogging this post. I hope your readers will find the information useful AND beneficial.
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I sure found it useful, I’m sure my readers will too!
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I love vegies….anyway you can cook them and raw….some people who are not fond of vegies but yet like you eat them for the nutritional value, use an emersion blender and make soups….just a thought…I am sure you have thought of this, but just thought I would throw it out there….great picture of you and your wife….kat
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I think I’ll try liquifying my veggies and take them intravenously while enjoying an ice cream sundae! 🙂 Doesn’t this qualify as BALANCED? (ha ha ha)
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Another wonderful post Doctor Jonathan! Two points in particular: I NEVER eat unhealthy choices to deal with problems.
I NEVER eat unhealthy choices to “reward” myself. The first one I still stumble & trip over at times…. It seems I crave the salty pleasures of life in stressful moments, but I am much more resolute in my desire to not ‘listen’ to the whispers of temptation to give-in and I have taught myself to “reward” myself with a bouquet of store-bought flowers, or a donation to a cause-in-need in lieu of the bags of chips once purchased in days of old! Thank you for the post on honesty and the need for reflection!! Hugs!
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Finding alternative HEALTHY concepts and tangible objects to satisfy the need for “reward” is a wonderful concept to have shared with all of us. We are all searching for ideas that help us through physical and mental challenges we face. The bouquet of flowers satisfies the visual, gustatory (smell) and tactile sensations without adding 1 calorie to our bodies. This is pure genius!!
Thank you so much for sharing this idea. (I also enjoyed the hug! 🙂 )
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I am definitely a fellow veggie hater – but I have a select few I really enjoy, and eat them daily!
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…and your body and mind would like to take a moment to thank you!!…
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Can’t thank you enough for it..i so needed someone to tell this to my brain which is being dominated by emotions these days
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It is easy to become distracted with the “NOISE” we’re exposed to every day. As we turn this FOCUS to our own NEEDS (both physically and mentally) we begin viewing our own SELF WORTH and SELF VALUE in a much more POSITIVE light. This helps us regain CONTROL over our lives and helps us make better decisions (even if we don’t like them) to propel us forward to achieving a healthier and happier outcome.
Always focus on the PROCESS and the PATHWAY; never on the “NOISE.”
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No words to describe how thankful I am
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I! Love! This! Message! For so long, I have been trying to convince myself to eat healthier–and, I’m guilty of scarfing back poutine and bacon cheeseburgers (for example) as a comfort/reward for getting through a rough day. Your words/logic hit me so hard…rang so very true…and, I wouldn’t have made the transformative-connection that eating something toxic, as a remedy for enduring something toxic, is a perpetuating approach to compounding what ails you. I mean, I knew these foods weren’t good for me, but somehow, I didn’t allow myself to grasp that they are unhealthy (if that makes sense to you). Denial is a powerful thing. I am in,ongoing, awe of your ability to place the dots so ideally…you are so easy to follow, and you take us to places that would have eluded us otherwise…thank you for your generosity and your leadership…your message really resonates with me, and, starting today, I am going to make a small change, and build on it every day…God bless you 🙂
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You have discovered another key to successful health improvement. Small DOABLE changes over time synergistically become enormous positive changes. As we feel accomplishment from these small changes, they motivate our desire to continue to succeed. This POSITIVE cycle becomes a lifestyle much more easily maintained for the LONG TERM.
Nothing is more enjoyable to me than reading about self motivated individuals who share their techniques so others can achieve beneficial results for themselves. This community of ours has all the knowledge necessary to achieve these goals. All we have to do is adjust our MINDSET and apply these ideas and BELIEVE we are WORTH the LONG TERM BENEFITS!
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I love this post and I admire your honesty. Just because you’re a doctor who advocates making healthy choices doesn’t mean you are a veggie fanatic. Yet you still make sure you eat enough of them daily. This alone makes you a very credible source for health; you remain objective and make choices in the name of health, not “sugar rush.” I mean, I’ll openly admit that I love restaurant food even though I co-run a nutrition website! But just because one enjoys something more, doesn’t mean they should do more of that.
It’s a matter of doing what makes your body happy, not your taste buds.
What’s crazy is I despised vegetables growing up. Fruit too. I wouldn’t eat much of either, unless it was fruit juice. I actually lived off of mostly milk, pasties, pasta, hot dogs, and fast food for a while. D: Then there was a sudden shift in me after going to the ER for some sharp, unexplained gut pain… I dropped junk food cold turkey and ate as many vegetables and fruits as possible. Somehow, I began to become addicted to them.
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Thank you so much for sharing your story. I lived off the same foods you mentioned as a kid. I came from a family where morbid obesity affected function and quality of life. I’m sure this played a big role in shaping my lifestyle patterns as an adult. I also found “LEARNING” CONTAGIOUS. The more I began to open my eyes to REALITY, the more I began to understand that my health (to a large degree) was IN MY HANDS! I continue to share this message with the public to help them see the realities I was fortunate enough to see at a relatively young age. I also offer this advice without compensation to add credibility. When people see I have nothing to gain except satisfying a PURPOSEFUL MEANINGFUL life filled with PASSION, they are less defensive in their responses to my suggestions. I hope this concept attracts many people to improving their lives and helping others to do the same.
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So glad I found this post, I am constantly battling with my self as I’m such as fussy eater and hate veg 😦 its always worrying me cause I cant eat it without feeling crappy or sick its daft but its just how my brain reacts. I need to just eat it and deal with it I dont want my health to suffer because of my taste buds this post is great and great blog defo following 🙂
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You can always find more appealing alternative methods to get veggies in one’s diet. You can use them in smoothies; you can mix them in pita sandwhiches. You can mix them with salsa and plain greek yogurt to make a dipping sauce. Learning to become creative helps get these “bad boys” into the digestive tract! 🙂
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This is fantastic! I love the 2 rules of your brain, I’m going adopt those too! Great blog!
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So glad you liked it. I checked your blog as well. You have a lot time, experience and credentials behind your information. Keep sharing with all your heart. People desperately need this type of PRACTICAL information.
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Thx so much! So kind of you:)
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