An experiment....

I went to a dinner party last evening in Hudson at the home of a friend, and when asked what dish I would bring, I had to kind of sheepishly admit that I wasn't really much of a good cook, so I'd bring anything that didn't require doing any cooking. A suggestion was perhaps an hors d'oeuvres tray or something of that nature, so I went to the Stow Acme store, since Kent's is under construction and the selection there has been greatly reduced as a result, and bought a rather large veggie tray, figuring that folks would dive into it with......*ahem*.....relish. Well, they didn't. The entrées were very popular and heavily consumed, as was the outstanding home baked carrot cake, but my veggie tray sat largely ignored, sadly. Oh, a few folks noshed on the broccoli and a few carrots were consumed, but that was about it, leaving me with a lot of veggies that I didn't know what to do with, so I took them with me to work today and hauled the whole thing up to the staff lunch room. The happy result has been that most of the veggies have been consumed with the exception of the celery (I wonder why?) as of day's end today.

Part of my motivation to bring the thing to work was an experiment to encourage my co-workers toward healthier eating habits and away from the candy and chips that are so heavily consumed by people at work day to day. This experiment seems to have worked, leading me to believe that most folks would eat healthier if given the chance. It just takes someone to nudge them into doing it by bringing healthier snacks to work. Maybe I ought to consider doing this on occasion as a special treat and a way to get people to eat better, lose weight and feel better about themselves (and by extension, lowering our health care premiums, which would be a nice side benefit). I know I'm working hard at eating healthier and better foods, and I do admit to feeling better as a result. I noticed yesterday while at the Stow Acme store that they have an extensive organic foods section, so I think I may shop there from now on and try to improve my eating habits accordingly. It just takes a gentle nudge by others sometimes to get us into better habits. For me, it was getting a lot of good organic foods for Christmas, which I have discovered are not only delicious, but feel better to eat and by extension, make me feel better, too. A win-win proposal, in my book!