Are your favorite fruits and vegetables more enjoyable now that you quit smoking?

Well I know I'm eating better now because I can taste my foods. That is one of the advantages of not smoking. The flavors are enhanced now. I enjoy what I eat better than I did before. My favorite fruits are grapes, mangos. I like cantaloupe. Honeydew. Apples if they're Delicious. And oranges, navel oranges. I love navel oranges. My favorite vegetables are green beans. I love corn. I like squash if it is fixed properly for me. I like some greens and I like salads. I like raw greens better than cooked greens. Every now and then I'll have cooked greens, maybe once every two weeks or so.

 

How do you get your family to eat better?

One of the things I like to do is include more fruits and vegetables in casseroles. That is a good way to get family members who don't like vegetables to eat them. My sons are not into vegetables. For my sons who don't like to eat apples and other fruits, I try to make fruit salads. Years ago I baked a lot. I'm trying to get away from the baking. My family enjoyed those things but they were not good for them. Because my husband died 16 years ago, I'm trying to help them be aware of their diets. I try to give them more fresh fruits and salads. I do bake breads with fruit a lot. Those are basically the ways I try to incorporate fruits and vegetables in our diet.

 

What are your favorite pasta, bread and cereal?

I really don't have a favorite pasta or bread or cereal. When I eat a cereal usually it's corn flakes. When I have pasta, it's usually macaroni or spaghetti. If I have a bread, I like whole wheat bread or Italian bread. If I make a sandwich with two pieces of bread, I'm going to eat only one. It is hard for me to eat two pieces of bread. I think that is because of the mind-set of my generation: that anything like that is fattening. I'm getting to the point where I know I can eat those things as long as I don't pile the stuff on it. Now we know that we need those things.