You don't have to eat your vegetables. Or anything else you don't want, for that matter.
Researchers at Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh are studying adults who are picky eaters in an attempt to understand what affects their food choices. Duke has even created the Food F.A.D. Study (Finicky Eating in Adults) -- an online survey to collect data on "unusual eating habits in adults."
While it's easy to dismiss picky eaters as spoiled adults, the article paints a picture of people ashamed of their eating habits and mentally unable to process new foods. Amber Scott told the Wall Street Journal about how she sees new food:
"You wouldn't put a handful of grass in your mouth and chew it up," says the 29-year-old. "I feel the same way about spaghetti." It isn't as much the flavor as it is the texture and the way her body reacts to a new food, she says. When she tried eating an apricot last fall, her stomach churned. "I really wanted to like it, but my body wouldn't let me," she says.I'm not certain that I still buy into the idea of "selective eating" -- a potential diagnosis being considered for the 2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders. But I do believe we have more issues with food as a society than ever.
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