Increase Your Mental Toughness With Broccoli and Beets

“Do I have to eat my green beans?” My 7 year old daughter asked me last night at dinner.

Every parent has to answer this question eventually, if not about green beans, then about broccoli or spinach. Up to now, I always answered short and sweet. “Of course you need to eat your green beans.”

“Why?” She quickly asked.

My son piped in with “because they are healthy for you”. I turned to see he ate his green beans first, before touching his meatloaf or rice.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized a seven year old could give a flip about health. There had to be a better answer. So I thought back to when I was a kid so I could see if there was some benefit to eating green beans I could remember from when I was a kid.

I recalled a time when I was her age sitting at the dining room table in my parents’ house staring at a big pile of broccoli on my plate. “If you don’t eat your broccoli, you won’t get any cake for dessert.” My mother chided.

I really hated broccoli back then. But I loved chocolate cake, still do in fact. So I thought hard. “How can I eat this broccoli with the least amount of ‘throw up’ feeling so I can get to the cake?”

I sat there a long time. I remember my Dad saying “just eat it. It’s not that bad.”

I tried a little taste. It was bad. I made a face but I wouldn’t let him or my mother take my plate. Had they done that, my dreams of chocolate cake would be forever lost.

“There had to be a way to make this easier”, I kept thinking. It’s funny how things haven’t changed much in all these years. Difficult goals and projects always summon the words “there has to be an easier way.” don’t they?

Fact is, there was an easier way and I learned it right there at that table with a plate full of broccoli staring back at me. For eventually, something in my brain changed. I feel like I may have matured a little right then and there.

I decided that although intensely unpleasant, I would do the thing that lead to a great reward. I told myself that I could muscle through this broccoli and get on to better things. So I did. I held my breath and dug in. Once my mental state had adjusted to determination, I noticed the vomit urge wasn’t there. I could “turn off” the taste sensation to an extent and muddle through those little tree-like veggies on my plate.

After clearing the broccoli, I got that big hunk of chocolate cake I was dreaming about.

So going back to my daughter’s question about why she had to eat her green beans I told her “Because it makes you tough.”

“Really?” She asked.

“Yes, there are many things in life that are unpleasant but good for us. Green beans are one of those things.”

I could tell she was confused.

“Honey, you may not like the taste of green beans, but if you eat them anyway, it will make you tough. Being a strong and healthy young lady means eating vegetables every now and again – even though they taste bad. All strong people have to eat vegetables even though they may not like them.”

Suddenly, I could hear the words of my grandmother when she’d say “eat your spinach, it makes you stronger.” As kids, my cousin and I thought she was full of it. But as I get a little older I realize how right she was.

Spinach may not build muscle mass and strength. But if you don’t like the taste of it, it does make you stronger mentally. By doing what is both unpleasant but good for you, you develop mental toughness that can benefit you the rest of your life.

I think about some of the parents I’ve known who don’t share this philosophy. They think the ways of the past are old fashioned. They wouldn’t listen to the wisdom of their grandparents if delivered on a silver platter.

One woman, who was head of our son’s daycare years ago, said “I never make my children eat anything they don’t like. In fact, one time, my daughter wanted to eat nothing but candy. So for a solid month, she ate nothing but candy, sweets and junk food.”

Pardon me?!?!

That week, Kim and I pulled our son out of daycare. This lady sounded like a maniac to us. We couldn’t get over how she’d let a child (who is by nature impulsive) decide to eat candy for a month. She told us, “I knew she’d eventually grow tired of it and want real food.”

I have a question. What if the kid wanted to drink vodka instead of milk for a month, do you just let her do it because “eventually she’ll tire of it?” How about if her daughter wanted to smoke cigarettes instead of play outside? “She’ll eventually get tired of it” isn’t good enough. Often, parents have to protect kids from themselves.

Giving into our vices does not make them go away. True, her daughter probably did tire of the candy binge and eventually ate real food, but what lesson did she really learn during this month of candy?

She learned to do what feels good until it hurts. Then find something else that feels good and do that until it doesn’t feel good. Picture what that means for her long term.

• It feels good to not study, so let’s do that for a few months until they want to kick me out of school. The pain of that will make study much more appealing.

• It feels good to drink too much, I’ll drink until I throw up, then I can back off a little.

• It feels good to not work so I can sit around until I experience some pain like being evicted from my apartment.

Brussels sprouts teach a far better lesson. Brussels sprouts teach that there are unpleasant things in this world we have to get through if we want a successful life.

“But I like Brussels sprouts” you might say. Well, then it’s too late for that vegetable. Brussels sprouts have already taught their lesson. Try some eggplant instead.

• The broccoli young entrepreneurs eat every day is in the form of getting up earlier than others and missing out on TV shows, movies and social events.

• The spinach of a painter is the unpleasant cold calling and face to face meetings to get their art prominently displayed in restaurants and galleries.

• The beets of the trim and fit person are in the form of occasional hunger pangs and a daily dose of sweat.

• The cauliflower of a Dean’s list student is in the form of late nights at the library studying while their friends are partying and playing Xbox 360.

So like my daughter, who did eat all of her green beans last night, I’ll ask you. What vegetables are you hiding under your napkin or scattering around your plate so it doesn’t look like so much? What unpleasant action or actions are you not taking even though it would be good for you?

Do you really want mental toughness? If so, are you willing to do the tough things like suffer though some things you don’t like so you can get to the treasure you do like? We all have to make a decision eventually.

The neural connection in your brain will be made or it won’t.

You can decide right now that you will turn off the resistance to small unpleasantries so you can get to the good stuff down the road. Or you can do just what feels good and leads to mediocrity. It’s up to you.

Personally, I recommend you eat your broccoli.

-Brad Isaac

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