Haters Gonna Hate

So I was recently doing some research online recently about corn, beans, and potatoes and seeing if they counted for vegetables since this week's bonus challenge is eating and taking pictures of your vegetables and a controversy arose over these three foods.  Some said they are starchy carbs, others veggies so I looked it up and Wow!  The controversy online!  I made sure to pull reliable resources like the mayo clinic and if you are wondering here were the results: ground corn and popcorn are grains while corn on the cobb and canned corn are vegetables, potatoes are botanically a vegetable but nutritionally a starchy carb (we are not really interested in gardening here so I ruled potatoes are not a vegetable, but sweet potatoes are, interestingly enough, a vegetable).  Beans can be counted as either a vegetable or protein, you just can't count it as both in one meal.  But the real thing I want to talk about today is the huge controversy that I found on the internet about corn.  All I wanted to know is if corn was a vegetable or a grain and I found so many corn hating articles online it was crazy!  And so I started thinking.

This journey is all about progression, and this journey is unique to the individual.  If you are striving to make healthy eating changes and you choose corn for your vegetable then good for you!  Because it is an improvement from other worse habits.  What did you use to make as a side dish?  Nothing?  Fast food?  White bread with butter? Something fried? Something super creamy and equally as fattening?  Did you even used to cook at home?  Corn is so much better than all of those things and I would much rather see someone eating corn than getting so caught up in all the internet nutritional controversies that exist today that they stop progressing.  Seriously you can find haters for practically every single food out there.  Here are some super popular ones: Sugar, Wheat, Dairy, Corn, Red Meat, Meat in general... Say what?  That is like every major food group in existence, but wait there's more!  You can even find groups of people who say you shouldn't eat any fruit because it contains too much sugar and even people who say eating vegetables doesn't really benefit your health.  What?!?!  Good Grief.  As soon as people start getting fanatic on me I just roll my eyes and stop listening.  The second someone tells me I should ditch an entire food group I tune out, and I hope you do to.  At least until you are ready, willing and wanting to jump on board that band wagon (any Paleo fans out there?  Good for you, I'm glad you found something you like). 

Now I'm not talking about people with food allergies.  Obviously if you have a food allergy you should  avoid that food.  What we should be focusing on is our own individual journey, what is it we really want to do?  If you get really into the anti wheat movement and you decide to cut wheat out of your diet for life and you are loving it then great!  It doesn't mean you should force your views on others because what is right for you may not be right for others.  Heck, what is right for me may not be right for you so while I'm sitting here saying that I refuse to cut out food groups you might be stewing and saying "that crazy person doesn't she realize how dangerous the legumes are!"  (But this is my blog so I get to state my opinion :-)

We are all transitioning into healthier eating, maybe some of us are already there, but then I'm not sure why you read my blog, unless it's for my charming personality :-p
The point is progression not perfection as I stated in earlier posts.  There is no way to please everyone, so don't try to.  If you need to eat corn as a vegetable then by all means go for it.  Substitute something better for a bad habit you had.  Substituting corn for french fries is a huge improvement.  (Unless you are allergic to corn).  Make the changes that are right for you, if you make slow improvements that you know you can sustain you will find much more lasting and greater success than if you make a huge change, like cutting out an entire food group, and then realize later you don't want to live that way. 

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