Like mom always said, you’ve got to eat your veggies if you want to grow up big and strong.  There’s plenty of scientific evidence to back that claim up now, but even before the medical experts decided to weigh in and add legitimacy to that classic parental insistence, it was an unarguable fact that those leafy greens were the key to a healthy adulthood. Instead of reaching for the spinach like so many trendy mothers, however, mine would bust out the most unsuspecting subjects… Like mushrooms.

Balking at the power of a simple button mushroom, I resisted just like any average child, squirming in my seat until dinner time was over and I could toss out the offending fungus on my plate. Clearly, my mom had a few tricks up her sleeve, and over time I caught wind that these were no average mushrooms at all.

Sure, they looked different than their brown brethren, but when I would finally oblige with a few tentative bites, it felt as though my energy levels suddenly went through the roof, like a new set of batteries had been installed inside me. It’s a crazy concept to be sure, but I’m convinced to this day that those mushrooms and veggies were what always charged me back up, almost like magic!

Of course, I still could never bring myself to eat those suspicious red-capped ‘shrooms… Perhaps that’s why I never grew so tall!