My Name is Kelly and I Have a Problem

I'm here tonight to admit it to the world... I'm a picky eater.

I'm saying this because I'm trying to improve my eating habits, and through this process, I've found that time and time again, this is the one thing that constantly stands in my way.

It's one of those things you develop when you're 3 and unfortunately for me, I never grew out of it.

Foods I Enjoy Eating: Cheese, Bread, Pasta, Chocolate, Potatos, Corn, Cereal, Rice, Chips, Pancakes, Strawberries, Apples, Coke, Fries, Crackers, Popcorn, Bacon.

Besides that, all other foods fall into one of two categories... foods I hate and foods I choke down cause I know I should.

I'm sure you noticed that my list consists of mostly breads/starches/carbs. Yum. This is what prevents me from getting all of the protein, fruits, and vegetables that my body needs.

I found out recently that there is a whole group of adults with the same problem as me. The interesting part, is they all enjoy and dislike pretty much the same foods as I do. This gets you to thinking.... is it possible that this problem isn't environmental? As much as people like to think that we're just being difficult, maybe there is more to it than that.

In fact, there are quite a few studies that suggest maybe "picky eaters" just have ultrasensative senses (taste in particular). Picky eaters have been clinically known to rate sweet foods as sweeter and sour foods as more sour.

On a related note, texture seems to be one of the biggest turn-offs for picky eaters when they're choosing their foods. For instance, most picky eaters hate tomatoes because their texture is inconsistent all around... slimey outer skin, mushy inside, hard seeds dispersed throughout. Along the same line, picky eaters don't like their food to be mixed. We might like muffins and we might like blueberries, but we might hate blueberry muffins. Stir-fry, stew, soup... all just too much.

So I'm curious... to anyone who reads this, what foods do you hate? And is it the taste or the texture?