I hate vegetables

fiberartist219

With all due respect, I think you might need a therapist to get over this issue with veggies.

I can see hating a few kinds of veggies, but to despise any sort of edible plant material is a bit unusual.

Kateinprogress

Try having curry! If you like spicy foods this is great because the intense flavor of the sauce can really cover the taste of the veggies if you want it to. How I make it is to saute veggies (using water), add skim milk, water, lots of spices then toss with Rozoni Smart Taste pasta (50 calories less than normal pasta but still delicious) or CousCous and simmer until it's all evaporated. If you put lots of spices in and let the veggies cook down a lot before adding the milk and pasta you won't get much veggie flavor but still all the nutrition. (And to anyone reading this who likes veggies like I do only cook them to be al dente and semi-soft then add milk, spices and pasta so you get all the yummy veggie crunch). Traditional curry calls for coconut milk most of the time but I've found that using fat free milk tastes really great and is VASTLY healthier. Try it!

floweringcurrant

I used to eat a lot more carbs, the foods you eat are hardly a part of my diet any more except occasionally, but I did used to have a diet more like that. I think, for one, it might help you to talk to a nutritionist. A lot of people who are nutritionists understand food problems and will be interested and willing to help you out with ideas and some of the mental baggage you seem to have associated with different foods.

I personally love fruits and vegetables, love, love, love them. But for someone like you I think putting them in your food in new ways would be interesting for you to try. Food process bananas into soft serve ice cream, cook sweet potatoes into sweet potato fries, try making kale into kale chips, blend some spinach into a smoothie with some yogurt in the mornings, blend fruit and make a fruit popsicle, food process cashews, lemon juice and nutritional yeast to make a cheesy spread. Maybe if you try and make these foods taste more like the ones you like now, you will develop a taste for them. I didn't used to like sweet potato, avocado, kale or spinach - I LOVE them now! It will take some experimenting on your end... good luck to you.

aircantu1

My best advice is just to suck it up and force yourself to eat them because they're good for you. I've had to do a lot of that since having kids -- I pretend to like a lot of things that I really don't just so they won't be picky.

Smoothies aren't bad, try roasting vegetables, it's yummy

beth40n2

Here is a list of foods with carbohydrate content as well as other nutritional information. Look at the list and find out what foods you like that have zero or little carbs. A low carb diet is about 50-60 carbs per day. Because carbs turn to sugar in the blood, diabetic typically try to stay to 100 carbs per day. See what you can do to get your carbs down. All of the food you mentioned like pasta, bread, rice will be at the bottom of the list. Good luck.

http://www.ntwrks.com/~mikev/chart5a.htm

IvoryParchment

You might want to get over the veggie aversion before you actually try lowering your calorie intake. Veggies in rich gourmet foods are a lot easier to get used to. Once you've got your toe in the water, you can experiment with lower calorie alternatives.

Sounds like a very smooth puree is acceptable. You eat pasta -- with red sauce? Tomato sauce is a vegetable.

Do you like pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie? Pumpkin spice bread? Vegetables.

Fruit pie? Not much different from vegetables, just more sugar. You can make a nice quiche using eggs, shredded cheese, and vegetables reduced to an unrecognizable puree. Leave off the crust and use egg whites and it's lower calorie. Nonfat cottage cheese actually works okay instead of other cheeses, too, once it melts in the mix.

If you like potatoes, they are vegetables. It's the stuff people put on them that has most of the calories.

People eat spaghetti squash instead of pasta, though I haven't tried it. Spinach pasta was mentioned, and that's indistinguishable from plain pasta in texture. You can also get breads with spinach or tomato puree baked into them. Pretty much any baked good can have part or all of the fat substituted with pureed fruits or vegetables.

The curry idea is good, but get a recipe book for Indian foods rather than adding "curry powder" to everything.

Squash soup, with sherry and cream added, can be divine -- like lobster bisque.

I would suggest that you try pureeing cooked vegetables and straining them, so there are no lumps or seeds. Try unfamiliar vegetables that don't remind you of people trying to force you to eat. Turnips and rutabegas can be cooked and mashed like potatoes. Various spices can create all kinds of ethnic flavors.

chocolateandvodka

I love fruit, but won't eat veggies, red meat or pork

you have to be creative. there are a few recipes in my blog that i use pretty frequently... and then i eat a lot of seafood.

ultimately it comes down to what you choose to do. there's no shame in being picky, i'm totally a picky eater. but you CAN find some low cal, low fat options.

econut2000

I honestly had the same problem. My parents had to force me to eat 1 TBLS of corn with my dinner and that was the only veggie I would get all day. Corn? Hardly a veggie. I still didn't eat vegetables other than what was served at dinner at all through my early 20's (although I knew I had to eat more than a spoonful). It's now 10 years later and I eat ALL vegetables! I actually have adopted a flexitarian lifestyle. My dishes are so colorful! And like you.....all I ever wanted was cheese (and milk!!). Now I have drastically reduced my intake. This is what has worked for me, but has definitely been a process that has taken a long time for me.

1) Keep trying those veggies (and fruit)! Pick one that you think is "ok". There HAS to be something out there that you don't despise and eat it regularly. The more we're exposed to things the more likely we are to get used to them. That fruit or veggie will be like a gateway to liking others.
2) This I think is the most important step!!! GET RID OF THE PROCESSED CRAP!! That's all I grew up on. If it didn't come in a box or bag, we didn't eat it. Well, guess what, processed food is addictive and actually engineered to taste better than "real" food. So by eating it, you are training your tastebuds that processed food tastes better. After eating whole foods for a while, you will find the processed crap doesn't taste so good. (And, yes, I do still eat it on occasion).

It's going to take a while and you're probably going to feel like you're suffering at first. You have to make a promise to your body that you love it more than you love pasta! Once I adopted these changes it's amazing the difference I feel. I have a lot of health issues and eating this way has really allowed me to notice an improvement in these problems (some food related, most not). Good luck!!!

Strivn2day_4aBtrTmrow

your best option would be to juice them and down em quickly. Then the texture issue is gone and for a quick glass you can ignore the taste and take it for the cause.

runnercheryl

My fiance has exactly the same problem, and it's certainly psychological. It took four years of knowing him to encourage him to eat a carrot after he used to gag whenever he tried. Now, he has them roasted but still on rare occasions. I'm still, two years on, trying to encourage him to take the next step.

It's a slow process, but do-able if you want your health enough.

firesoforion

If you want to loose the weight you want, you can't make excuses. You really need to cut a lot of you diet, and eat more of the fruits and veggies, and make yourself like at least some of it. There are some foods I cannot stand, but sometimes I eat it over the junk because I know it is good for my body. I don't even buy the junk or keep it in my house, but you do have to treat yourself some of the time or you will binge. I am not trying to be offensive at all, but at your weight you are going to have to change a lot to lose the weight you say you want to lose. A long time ago, I said I would never consume raw veggies, but here I am, eating veggies with no dressing, and I actually like the taste of it now. It takes time, persistence, and hard work. You can do it, I promise, but you have to tell yourself you can do it.

Great answer.

becoming_a_new_me

This may sound weird, but you may have a form of lachanophobia (fear of vegetables). Check out this story - the woman sounds similar to you http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6526816/Woman-diagnosed-with-fear-of-vegetables.html

I agree with the general concensus....juice them, puree into soups, et cetera, but most of all get help!

Mary Ann
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/iddreams/view/overcoming-the-obesity-mindset-194711

IvoryParchment

There was a spot on NPR recently about how kids have more acute senses of taste, but that some kids are especially sensitive to bitter tastes. They literally do gag on broccoli. They can outgrow it, just as all people become less acutely aware of flavors as they get older. But being forced to eat nauseating food could make you associate the aversion with the texture and everything else about the vegetables.

The solution the researchers in the story tried with kids was to offer them dips that reduced the bitter sensation. Kids with normal bitter sense ate the same amount of raw broccoli if they had a dip, but kids with heightened ability to sense bitterness ate several times more than they did if the broccoli was by itself.

It would seem the solution is starting with tiny amounts of vegetables mixed with large amounts of food you like, then gradually increase the proportion as you learn to tolerate it. It may mean temporarily eating more junk instead of less, if having a cheeseburger with a little bit of pureed vegetable mixed into the ground beef is where you have to start.

sweet_lotus

@ sarackr The only fruit I can eat whole is an apple...without the skin. I cant eat anything else whole. Bananas are too mushy, strawberries have seeds and hair on them. Blueberries are rubbery. I wish I didnt have this problem. You dont know how many times I have sat at the table WANTING to eat these things and gagging on my plate.

I'm very similar to you except I had a little bit of a larger repertoire. It was meat and bread for me as a child; I HATED vegetables, fruits, beans, and condiments.

When I got to college I was embarrassed about how many different foods I didn't like. It became a social issue. Also, I was worried about the vitamins and minerals that I was missing out in my diet.

It was more smell/taste for me than texture -- I hated how vegetables and many fruits smelled, and I despised anything bitter. But texture was distressing too. Disguising food in other food - creaming cauliflower in cheese for example - never fooled me. I smelled it and wouldn't eat it.

I had to get over it. What I did was pick a food I wanted to eat, and desensitize myself to it. Just one food. For me it was broccoli. I cut it up into microscopic pieces and swathed it in bread and ranch dressing to disguise the smell and weird texture. And I even though I could taste that nasty little piece in there, and even though it made me gag, I ate it.

I did this every day until I could eat that tiny fleck of broccoli without totally being grossed out. I think it took me two weeks. Next, I cut larger pieces, and repeated until I could eat a little sprig.

This was maybe 15 years ago. This worked for me and now gradually, over years and months, worked on other foods. I can eat many fruits and vegetables now. There are still many that I never became OK with - raw tomatoes, for example. But, I'm actually a vegetarian now which my family never would have believed after catering to a picky eater for so many years.

Carbs are not your enemy in excess, but in moderation they are fine.

You need to try *something* to expand your food horizons. You're missing out on a lot of delicious food. Good luck!

Kjessica79

Okay, the first thing first...you aren't insane and you don't have to feel awkward about what you do and don't like. It's not helpful to have some act like you just grew a second head just because you don't like vegetables. I'm the exact same way and I know fair amount of people that are the same way. I'm having the same struggle everytime I try salad. My husband tells me I just don't like one of the lettuces in the mix but that's not true. I don't like salad. I like peas, carrots, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. That isn't good enough for the critics that need to criticize me choices. You get credit for trying. Trying evenutally becomes succeeding. (I hope)

For tips... Bottled smoothies are better if you mix them with a yogurt drink so they taste creamier and not as overwhelmingly sweet. However, don't have them more than once a day. I did and it led to sweet cravings. I use crushed tomatoes in place of tomato sauce in recipes. To make spaghetti sauce I use a blender and dice up carrots, onions, and celery. I'm not trying to hide the vegetables (although I do like to feel sneaky), it's just a standard thickening method for tomato sauces. When I have managed to eat lettuce, it's because I've forced it down with water. In regards to the salad dressing, it's a foreign taste that feel extremely invasive on the crunchy food. So I don't put the dressing right on on lettuce, I put it on the side.

Keep trying, I know how frustrating it is because I'm the same way. I'd rather eat chips. You can do it. If I find something that works for me, I will let you know. I would appreciate any tips you find helpful as well.

Squirkie

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GinaKB12

I'm like you. I hate veggies and I have problems with textures. I now just put everything in a Ninja and drink it down. Also, I add Perfect Food Super Green into my smoothie. It stinks something awful and taste worst unless you use a strong juice like apple but I feel better thinking I'm getting some type of fiber/veggies in my system.

Kandygirl

I have a 3 year old that hates fruits and veggies, too AND I'm a vegetarian so I don't cook meat. He loves waffles with applesauce and pumpkin, though. Mac and cheese can have any yellow, orange or white veggie puree blended in the cheese sauce and he'll eat it. Baked goods with prunes (if they are chocolate or dark) or applesauce (if they are light) instead of oil and half the white flour with wheat. There are several cookbooks out right now (like Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious) that sneak fruits and veggies into lots of different foods. Hummus (bean spread) can be made from lots of different beans and he likes that on bread or crackers. He likes Dave Butternut Squash Pasta sauce (amazingly). Puree your veggie soups and put wheat pasta or barley in there. He eats Boca Burgers and veggie sausage. Is any of this helpful? I can go on all day

you are amazing. i'm going to have try some of those for my picky little eaters.

Wuggums

Lots of good tips here. Another thought since you don't seem to get much protein in - try substituting your normal pasta for something with a bit more nutrition. I personally love farro. Quinoa is another good option, and you can also find "pasta" made from quinoa. Both are similar in taste and texture to pasta, but have about 7 grams of protein per serving.

LS7301853

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