BEETS! blah.

Beets taste like dirt. 

This is the second time I've had to eat them as part of the Tracy Anderson 30 Day Program.  The first time I did it by the book, steaming the beets with some orange juice as she instructed.  I could barely get one down.  It was pretty sick.  These aren't like pickled beets (which I happen to think are pretty good).  No no...the beets I cooked retained their flavor of the earth in a strong way.  And by earth I mean dirt. 

So imagine my horror when yesterday, as I was planning my trip to the store, I saw that, once again, beets were on the menu.  Ayy dios mio!  No no no no no, I said out loud, emphatically shaking my head.  I told myself I would skip the beets this go around.  Tracy Anderson and her diet be damned!

But then as I'm walking into Whole Foods, (stopping on the way to say hi to the cart guy who is, by now, recognizing me and bringing me the little cart which is the one I prefer) I start to feel guilty about not eating the beets.  I start to beat myself up over not following the program, and how far I've come to bail on it all now.  I pass by the raw beets and shudder, telling myself I will pick them up on the way out.

But then, in the prepared food aisle, there they are!  Steamed beets!  Surely these would be better than mine!  Surely Whole Foods knows the magic secret to make beets taste good! I didn't have to skip out on my program! I could have it all! This was a win-win! 

I asked the girl dressed as a teenage mutant ninja turtle behind the counter for some help.  She had on crazy green sunglasses so I couldn't see her expression when I asked for a small container of the beets. 
It looked like I was the only person to ask for beets all day as they were still piled high.  She was probably thinking just before I got there that she was going to have to dump out the beets again today and what a waste it is to prepare them since nobody, I mean nobody, orders them.  But, alas!  There I am with my cart full of salmon, endive, and tofu asking for beets. 

I wasn't even worried as I brought my beets to work today.  I just knew that these were going to be much better than mine.  So at 3 o'clock, I go get them out of the refridgerator and sit down at my desk to partake in my afternoon snack.

My fork goes into the beet easily.  I take this as a good sign that they are soft.  I take a sniff of the beet.  Smells alright.  So far so good.  I bite bravely.

Beets taste like dirt.  :(



** to be fair, apparently beets have lots of health benefits.  see: http://hubpages.com/hub/Health_Benefits_of_Red_Beets