Giving Kale the Old College Try

I’m a big believer in trying foods more than once, you know the old adage “everyone deserves a second chance”. Well I feel like I’ve given Kale a second, third, fourth, and fifth chance and I feel like we should just part as friends and call it a day.

It’s important to me to be as open and honest as possible on this blog. One reason being that I think that people constantly think that Dietitians eat only poached chicken and steamed vegetables all. the. time. I’m being a bit sarcastic there but it’s true that people hear “dietitian” and think all healthy, all the time.

Speaking only of personal experience, that’s completely not true. I love food. I love it. I love cheeseburgers, pizza, anything with ranch dressing, cheese (#allthecheese), candy and banana splits. Oooh and I can’t forget Big Macs….is there anything better than a Big Mac?

Photo Cred: Peadoodles

I feel like I’m rambling. Back to the topic at hand…kale. I just can’t get behind it. I know it’s a superfood and nutritional powerhouse but I just don’t like it. This past month, I think I’ve honestly tried 5 different recipes and the only one that I could even remotely tolerate was what I call a Super Kale Salad. Ask my husband, he’ll tell you. We’ve tried sautéed kale, adding it to soups, 3 different salads, adding it to smoothies, and the pinterest-popular kale chips. I just can’t do it.

The purpose of my blogging about my dislike of kale is to show others that it’s okay not to like something. More importantly, I think that if you really dislike something, don’t try to trick yourself into thinking you should add it to your diet simply because it’s healthy.

I’ve counseled a lot of people in regards to nutrition and you would be surprised at the number of people that make a goal to “eat more ____” simply because it’s good for them only to find out they don’t actually like “____” food.

I truly believe that in order to have a chance at reaching your goals (you can read more about my thoughts on goal setting here), they have to be attainable. If you are like me and don’t like kale, don’t make it a goal to eat more kale. You are just setting yourself up to fail. I encourage you to take a look at your goals and make sure that they are attainable. If not, adjust them to fit your needs. For example, many of the kale recipes I’ve tried I’ve remade using spinach (something I love) and found that I actually like the recipes.

Are you a kale fan? If so, what’s  your favorite recipe? I’ve shared my Super Kale Salad recipe below and have finally come to terms with the fact that it’s only way I can tolerate it. So long kale, it’s not you, it’s me.