I met someone recently who intrigued me. A man who claimed he didn’t like any vegetables. That claim always intrigues me because it’s hard to believe.

Years ago, a friend and his son made similar claims. But it turns out it wasn’t fully true. They liked some vegetables. It’s just that their selection was limited. The two liked things like corn and white potatoes and tomato sauce (in various Italian foods like pizza) and a few other vegetables.

The man I recently met told me he didn’t like vegetables because that was his understanding of what a whole-food, plant-based diet is. As in, “I could never be a vegan because I don’t like vegetables.”

But the truth is, a whole-food, plant-based diet is a lot more than vegetables. It includes fruit and whole grains and beans which can be prepared in many forms.

What I find as I further question people who make these claims is that they just don’t want to give up their meat.

I get that. I was there once. I couldn’t imagine a breakfast without eggs or cheese or a dinner without meat or fish. And I couldn’t imagine why I would want to. It wasn’t until I started experiencing health problems (see my post on diabetes) that I even considered it. And even then I only tried it, and did so kicking and screaming (not quite literally, but close).

What changed my mind was both subjective and objective. I felt great. That’s the subjective part (although to me it felt very objective). And my health data all returned to normal: blood sugar, HbA1C, cholesterol, blood pressure and heart rate

I can live with that.