Healthy Eating Blues - The Oatmeal Edition

I like food. A lot. Therefore, it follows that taste is an important factor. I like food to be delicious. Scrumptious. Scrumpdeliumptious, in fact.

Unfortunately, scrumpdeliumptious food is not always good for you. And, as my age increases and my already lethargic metabolism decreases, I am trying to eat healthier. I believe the two key elements in that sentence are the word “trying” and the suffix “-ier” at the end of “healthy.” I am trying . . . as in making an attempt. I do not yet know if I will have any measure of success (unless one attempt is considered successful, which I am not ruling out). I hope I will continue on this unknown path, but only time will tell. Also, I’m not exactly eating healthy, but trying to insert dollops of healthy in my current diet, which perhaps, if one was generous, can be described as health-as-a-well-meaning-afterthought. If one was very generous.

So, today I have begun my foray into healthier eating by having oatmeal for breakfast. Not the flavored instant oats with its high fructose corn syrup, sodium and random dehydrated fruits, but steel-cut oatmeal. Yup, I’m going hardcore.

I tried to jazz it up with some lovely, plump blueberries and fresh, sweet diced mango. By the way, “jazz it up” is a euphemism for “make it palatable.”

Now, I am not saying that healthy eating and deliciousness are mutually exclusive. I know they are not. However, I know they don’t always necessarily trip hand-in-hand down Culinary Lane. As in my current situation.

Anyway, my breakfast looked really pretty . . . purple-blue orbs and soft but firm bright orange cubes nestled in my almost fluffy looking grains. And it looked creamy, thanks to the natural starches in the oatmeal, enhanced by my addition of vanilla-flavored soymilk. And although the mango was sweet, I added a little swirl of honey from the tummy of my plastic bear.

It helped . . . a little. Not much, though. Not enough.

Apparently, steel-cut oats suck up any sugary goodness and whisk it away to someplace where my taste buds cannot journey. It was so bland and unappealing. So much so that I opened a few Hershey kisses to eat with the bland gloppiness. I figured eating some chocolate with my oatmeal is better than eating chocolate without oatmeal. It makes perfect sense to me.

Next time I’ll add more honey and see how it goes. If not, I have a bunch of pepperoni pizza Hot Pockets in my freezer.