I play an amusing little game with myself when thumbing through magazines at doctor’s appointment that talk about “How to Lose Belly Fat in 10 days” or “See what Ms. Celebrity ate that shed all her baby weight in just 6 weeks.”

It usually goes something like this: 6am green smoothie in the am, 9am egg white, spinach and feta cheese omelet with 1 slice of ancient sprouted bread smeared with avocado, Noon: kale salad with grilled salmon, dressed with EVOO and age balsamic, 3pm handful of almonds then Dinner: boneless, skinless chicken breast, brown rice and broccoli.

It all sounds good until Dinner. Hey I like a good smoothy although still have a problem with green ones. I enjoy feta and spinach but need some yolks in my life. And I’ll skip the ultra dry bread but LOVE me some avocado. But I can’t think of a more unappetizing meal that includes boneless skinless chicken breast.

Boneless skinless chicken breast has become the staple it seems to any cardiac or diabetes pamphlet ever made. And I’ve read a ton. Hospital coworkers will stop me in the hall, wanting to know what they can bring to a family member that just had a heart attack.

The conversation starts like this; “I figured I’ll bring boneless, skinless chicken breast and a salad, but what else can they have?” This is usually when I frantically wave my arms in a sinking SOS motion and shout “No, please don’t do it! Not the boneless, skinless chicken breast.”

They find my antics amusing and usually think I’m joking. Then I ask them, would you want to eat that? To feel like you are doomed to a life of colorless food. And let’s face it, most people butcher cooking boneless, skinless chicken breast and overdo it removing any resemblance of moisture that screams can someone put a saltlick condiment on me!?

And this is why, when as a registered dietitian the most common statement I hear from my patients is “I know what to eat, I just don’t eat it.” That’s because somewhere at some time in your life you’ve read a cheap pamphlet, listened to some doctor show or thumbed through enough magazines convincing yourself that eating healthy was bland and boring.

And when bland meets boring, that’s when bacon and cheese win. When you justify adding cream o something to your boneless skinless chicken breast, surrounded by white noodles, specks of broccoli and topped with crushed potato chips and then convince yourself it’s healthy. Trust me, that won’t keep you out of cardiac rehab.

And have you ever tried counting the carbs in a creamy, crunch top coated noodle casserole… forget about it! Let’s get real. You will casually forget about checking your blood sugar after this meal.

So for the sake of all those being told they have to start eating “healthy”, do me a favor. In lieu of dropping off some bland meal or ANOTHER kale salad, bring them a party! To me there’s nothing more festive than Mahi Tacos with a side a black beans and rice, heavy on the homemade guac!

Do you have an amazing, fail proof recipe for boneless skinless chicken breast? PLEASE send me the recipe or link. And please share this post. Keep others safe from having dry poultry delivered to them. Don’t forget to sign up for my weekly fun blog where we talk food, fun, life and occasionally diabetes.