all this talk about "hiding" veggies...

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Skinny_Beans
Skinny_Beans Posts: 405 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Who else here see's vegetable sand fruits as actual food?! It's just so weird that many people can't imagine vegetables outside the context of a side dish or appetizer.
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  • michelleepotter
    michelleepotter Posts: 800 Member
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    I see fruit and vegetables as food. My recipes are organized by the main ingredient (to make it easier for me to plan a variety of dinners for the week -- just pick one per category), and one of my categories is "vegetables." I also have another category for "beans," because I have so many recipes where beans are the main ingredient.

    My mom bought me one of those cookbooks that are designed to "sneak" vegetables into your kids' food, and I don't get it. We eat fruit and/or veggies at every single meal here, and my kids have never complained. On the contrary, they ask for seconds.
  • SweetSammie
    SweetSammie Posts: 391 Member
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    I find it interesting, too. Especially the trend with hiding them for their kids.... I really think if you feed your kids a variety from when they are young, they will eat a variety of foods. They may have a picky stage or two, but overall, they will eat it.

    Now, I don't have kids, but I am basing that on me and my brother... my mom made all sorts of veggies - broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach, carrots, peas, lima beans, squash, sweet potatoes... you get the point. As a kid I refused peas and lima beans, and that was ok - as long as I tried them a couple of times. On the days those were part of dinner, there would be another veggie as well (we normally had at least 2 at dinner). I ate everything else... but from the time we were babies we ate these things. We also ate what our parents ate as soon as we were old enough for semi-solid foods.... my mom just didn't season the veggies when she cooked them, any salt was added at the table.
    I am glad that hating veggies is one nutrition obstacle I don't have.... I love them!
  • Ralphrabbit
    Ralphrabbit Posts: 351 Member
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    Veggies are just great, good for you, full of fibre vits & a big part of my diet. Why not?!?!?
    If someone was trying to make me eat junk food with all that sodium these days, now that would be a problem as I would be sick!!
  • steph124ny
    steph124ny Posts: 238 Member
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    My only picky veggie kid has autism....and that's more a texture thing. I don't hide veggies....my kids eat them because we ALL eat them...
  • Meg177
    Meg177 Posts: 215 Member
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    I agree. I have read that a plate for a human should be 60% veg, 20% protein and 20% grain. It's 20, 60, 20 for a cat and 40, 40, 20 for a dog:)
  • Skinny_Beans
    Skinny_Beans Posts: 405 Member
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    Yeah, I grew up eating raw veggies from a garden, eating them as a snack or in pasta and pies...but vegetables are seen as the food you have to be bribed to eat, lol
  • andreamkelly
    andreamkelly Posts: 169
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    My grandkids go through 'phases' with vegetables. When they were toddlers, they both loved tomatoes and other vegetables. Now it is harder (ages 6 and 3) to get them to eat vegetables. But I am happy to say if you offer the 3 year old an ice cream or an apple, he will pick the apple. (The 6 year old always wants ice cream). Also for dinner, they normally ask for milk or water, instead of soda or juice.
  • ickybella
    ickybella Posts: 1,438 Member
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    I freaking love vegetables. I was fed veggies as a small child, though. I don't remember any mention of "Eat your veggies or...." and then some no-dessert type of threat because veggies, along with meat, fruit, chocolate, tacos, etc... were all regarded as food. It didn't really help me to NOT become overweight but hey, at least I get plenty of fiber and vitamins.
  • Bagman12002
    Bagman12002 Posts: 216 Member
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    Nothing to hide the kids have had veggies since birth now they may not like something but they try it and there is another choice, but veggies and fruits are always part of the meal plan.
  • SweetSammie
    SweetSammie Posts: 391 Member
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    That's why I didn't like peas and lima beans, it was the squishy texture. Now I will eat baby lima beans, only the frozen ones, lightly cooked.

    I will eat fresh or frozen peas IF they are mixed in something else (like soup or pot pie).

    Canned lima beans and peas are still gross to me... but I literally cannot think of another veggie I don't like. (Thanks, Mom!)
  • Alex_is_Hawks
    Alex_is_Hawks Posts: 3,499 Member
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    I don't understand hiding vegetables either. I have never hidden vegetables in my food to encourage my daughter to eat them. My daughters Grandma (on her dad's side) ALWAYS hides vegetables under sauces, other foods, slathery things like sourcream or mayo.

    My daughter will eat almost any vegetable out there, the only one she won't really eat is peppers and she's tried them over and over and still finds the taste/texture unbearable. So, I allow her that caveat, no peppers for her, but she will eat everything else and LOVES them.

    Her father? He can't eat a vegetable to this day, and won't. unless it's swimming in sauce or slathery things.

    So as far as I'm concerned that little experiment failed.

    Ex Mother in law - 0 Me - 1

    Lauren
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
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    WebMD actually had a slideshow about picky eaters. It suggested that you are better off if you offer the vegetable multiple times to the picky eater rather than hiding them. If you hide the vegetables, the kid never develops the habit of eating them. But it can take upward of a dozen times of introducing a new food before a child will actually eat it.
  • ShalisaClam
    ShalisaClam Posts: 190
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    When I was growing up, we didn't usually have any veggies served at dinner except mashed potatoes (really?) and corn. That's what I can remember, anyway. Sometimes we had carrots. As I got older, I have tried a variety of vegetable. I love 'em. And I love to try new ones/recipes. It was the same with fruit.

    I just can't seem to figure out why I've been overweight since I was a child. Hmmmmm
  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    I LOVE all foods, including veggies and fruits
    IMO the biggest culinary sin is putting whipped cream and sugar on strawberries
    why would you like to spoil the taste of fresh delicious strawberries??
    Tomorrow peas, carrots and baked cauliflower with chicken for lunch... can't wait :)
  • Skinny_Beans
    Skinny_Beans Posts: 405 Member
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    I ate a lot of veggies as a kid, but over time I craved junk food, since it was sort of forbidden in my house. Now I try new foods and new veggie dishes all the time, and it's really opened up some cooking opportunities for me (once I'm able to get the groceries :p)
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I was always a veggie eater. But an interesting caveat on this subject is genetic "bitter tasters". There is an identified gene for bitter tasting, and there is a particular chemical in certain vegetables that "bitter tasters" taste, that the rest of the population, the non bitter-tasters, simply can't taste at all. Most kids that are violently opposed to vegetables have the bitter tasting gene. Interestingly enough, its not an excuse to never eat vegetables, as people with the gene can develop a tolerance for the bitter taste, and as they get older get less sensitive to it- but I just think its really interesting that most of the people that really hate veggies have a physiological reason for it!
  • AmyWho
    AmyWho Posts: 6
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    I don't really understand people who don't eat vegetables. I love ALL vegetables and fruits and can't imagine a meal without them!!
  • Beautiful_Ideal
    Beautiful_Ideal Posts: 69 Member
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    My family is from the Midwest and there it is very common not to think of veggies as actual food, because "you can't make the main dish of a meal out of them." Of course, from a Midwestern perspective, a real meal means meat and potatoes. And corn, when in season.
  • Meg_78
    Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
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    I love veggies, I was heavily force fed them as a child, but it meant that I grew into an adult who loves the natural taste of them, I don't feel a need to hide them or cover them or disguise them. Many of my main meals are Vegetarian. There is just so much you can do with veggies! I'm not as big a fruit fan, but I do miss veg when I don't get it regularly enough (Like when I go to my MIL for example, who's idea of veggie's is a garden salad!

    Actually right now, as a gainer, my love of veggies is actually a slight curse cause they are so damn low in calories, I can't understand why many people with low calorie goals are not eating more of them!
  • Jennyisbusy
    Jennyisbusy Posts: 1,294 Member
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    I do both, serve up regular veggies and mix some into foods sometimes. I am not really trying to hide them as much as I am adding a vege boost to stuff like mac and cheese which can be a little on the naughty side.

    The only thing I would do differently with my kids would be to go back in time and never let them have a chicken nugget. Even though we only eat them occasionally they stay in my kids minds and it's all they can request. I don;t know if it is marketing or MSG that makes them so damn attractive to kids.

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