THERE WAS ONCE A TOMATILLO in a grocery store that loved junk food. “Junk food is so tasty!”, the tomatillo used to say to other fruit and vegetables and order burgers, pizzas and carbonated beverages.

“If you keep on like that, you’ll end up reeeeallly fat”, the guava told him one day, who really loved working out and was extremely mindful of the kind of food she consumed. Not wanting to change his habits, the Tomatillo then thought of joining the guava in the gym. “Let’s lose weight together then!”, he told her and the very next day bought new sports shoes and comfortable clothes. Furthermore, and in order to make sure he would have enough energy, he drank a beverage the night just before they went to the gym.

The first day, he hit the treadmill, running for thirty minutes straight. Proud of reaching his first goal, he went straight to the changing room to take a shower and change clothes. As soon as he was back home, he devoured a hamburger so as ‘to have energy for the next day’.

The second day, he raised the standards: he decided to stay on the treadmill for a whole hour. Going through much pain and sweat, he reached his goal, then walked off the treadmill and went straight to the locker rooms to have a shower. “I deserve it after going through all this”, he thought, then ate some pizza when he was back home. “You are becoming a real athlete”, told him the guava, who was impressed with his progress.

The third day, he set the goal of running for 2 hours straight. “I’ll definitely make it after having pizza for dinner”, he thought, then stepped on the treadmill. After only a few minutes, however, he got dizzy and felt like fainting. “Help me, I feel weak…”, he shouted to the other fruit and vegetables of the gym. They stopped their training right away and went over to help him get off the treadmill. The guava then took him to the changing rooms and gave him the first aid.

“But I had pizza for dinner yesterday…”, the tomatillo told the guava and showed her the empty pizza box as soon as they were back home.

“That’s why they call them ‘junk food’, as the only thing they offer is taste”, told him the guava and explained to him that true athletes are always mindful of what they eat. “It’s like putting bad quality fuel to a racing car”, she added and the tomatillo realized that if he wanted to get fit he would have to change his habits.

The very next day he decided to quit junk food and only eat properly cooked, nutritious food so as to have 'fuel' for the most demanding training routines.

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