For those that don’t like raw tomatoes, give them to me. Along with fresh corn on the cob and fresh raw lettuce and spinach, I love to eat them, along with grape tomatoes.

And about the cottage cheese? Try it with salt, cracked black pepper, and chopped green onion. It is AMAZING. I used to live on that stuff, not because it was “diet food” but because it tasted great!

Oh, no kidding! The first time I had a full-fat yogurt was Brown Cow brand, plain vanilla, that I bought for the first young’un on advice from a friend. FREAKING LAYER OF CREAM ON THE TOP, PEOPLE. That had to be STIRRED IN. Heaven in a little plastic cup. And I hate anything more than skim milk, so I have no idea what the fascination with the milkfat is, there.

None of my relatives except my oldest uncle even liked snacks or sweets when I was growing up. My mom’s weaknesses for sweets meant apples, asian pears, and some fruits.

However, I turned out to be an extreme carnivore/omnivore. Go figure. I guess nurture and genetics are sometimes 50/50 but sometimes one has more influence more than the other. I followed my father’s genes even though I was close to and raised mostly by my mother’s side of the family. Loved snacking as a kid which puzzled my family quite a bit. They used to talk amongst themselves that I was a carbon copy of my dad. Genetics is amazing.

But one thing about nurture is that now that I am older, I think I am eating more like my mother’s side and eating a lot more vegetables than I did as a child and as a teen. So, it feels like it is always a push and pull between nurture and genetics from my experience.

If you throw in trauma, unhealthy family environments, dieting, etc… yep, our eating pattern can get messed up. I’ve come to terms with my appetite and now enjoy my appreciation for food and good living. I am also blessed that my body is healthy and will do what I want it to do. For me, good living means walking and doing light exercises as well to keep me feeling good.