I don't like veggies so how do I eat healthy?

ProjFit

Here is what I do, I also hate veggies. The veggies i do eat are romaine lettuce, and red/green/orange peppers. Other than that I stick to healthier choices rather than rabbit food.
Multigrain breads, I cant believe its not butter (when you must eat butter), fruit, fruit, fruit!!, low calorie snacks, low sodium, water instead of pop and high sugar juices, thinsations.... they are the best for when you have a craving.

melissaw78

My new best friend is butter or margerine spray. It lets me add what seems like way too much butter on veggies and makes them more palatable to me!

ljwskinny

find it really bizarre all these people saying you don't NEED to eat veggies/salad etc. ER, if you don't want vitamin deficiencies, really you do, and ideally a third of your plate should be filled with them.

and to the person that talks about buying a blood glucose meter and watching your sugars go down, er, if you don't have diabetes, it really shouldnt make any odds what you eat, your blood sugar will be normal regardless of diet (i have type 1 diabetes, this isnt the case for me, but my pancreas doesnt work, if yours does, you really dont need to waste money on a glucometer!)

re the low carb suggestions, this isnt for everyone. reducing the amount of carbs you ingest is obviously going to help you lose weight, but diets which drastically alter the proportions of food groups/eliminates food groups in your diet, and hence how your metabolism works, aren't for everyone, and probably not a great suggestion to someone who's diet is already lacking in vital nutrients and YES there ARE vital nutrients in fresh fruit and veggies please dont listen to anyone that says you don't need them thats absolute rubbish.

pdworkman

You're certainly not alone, there are hundreds of articles and forums on trying to like vegetables! Here are some tips. Some of them you have already been told in this thread.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/eat-your-vegetables-15-tips-for-veggie-haters
http://www.livestrong.com/article/85756-eat-dont-like-fruits-/
http://www.chefhome.com/Vegetables/Vegetables.shtml
http://foodtoglow.wordpress.com/nutrition-and-cancer/learn-to-like-love-vegetables/
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipes/healthy/love-veggies-0607#slide-1

But let's talk specifics.

Hamburger meat
- add shredded vegetables (potato, carrot) or other mild vegetables (corn, peas, beans, mushrooms) to burger patties. You can also extend and boost burgers with cracked wheat, oatmeal, etc. Add tomatoes and lettuce to your burgers. Saute mushrooms and put them over your burger.
- add veggies to meatloaf. Any of those mentioned above, squash, sweet potato, etc. Top your meatloaf with tomato paste. Extend it with beans, lentils, cracked wheat, oatmeal, etc.
- hamburger soup
- tacos - layer meat mixture with salad veggies, beans, salsa, guacamole
- lots of hamburger meat recipes use tomato sauce. Add extra tomato sauce, puree other vegetables to add to it, or add chunky tomatoes and vegetables if you can tolerate them. Cut back the amount of ground beef and add a bit of lentils

pork chops
- add a tomato based sauce, a fruit/vegetable chutney, some bbq beans on the side
- serve with roasted baby potatoes, baked potato, home fries
- add a side of the vegetables that you can stand

chicken
- serve a side of coleslaw or potato salad
- stir fry with some peppers, onions, mushrooms, top with a sauce if you like, serve with rice or quinoa
- serve in a casserole or soup with some veggies cooked in
- if I remember right, one of Jessica Seinfeld's recipes included pureed vegetables in the batter for fried chicken
- add celery, onions, green peas to your chicken salad
- chicken sandwich with lots of shredded lettuce, tomato, onions, etc.

mac-n-cheese
- add some salsa, ketchup, or tomato sauce to your mac and cheese
- use one of Jessica Seinfeld's recipes with steamed cauliflower pureed into the cheese sauce
- add some died tomatoes, peppers, or other veggies while it is cooking
- serve some raw veggies on the side

rice
- there are lots of kinds of vegetable fried rice, rice casseroles, etc.
- make Mexican rice by adding salsa to rice as it cooks
- experiment with various beans and rice recipes (many cultures have their own versions with different spices)
- fiesta salad of rice and corn, with some nice colourful peppers
- try some vegetarian sushi

gravy
- if you like gravy, then you would probably like a number of different creamed vegetables (basically veggies in gravy/white sauce)
- shepherds pie
- potatoes and gravy
- mushroom gravy

corn, sweet peas
- wonderful! You have two vegetables that you know you like! Great start! Add them into various soups, stews, and other dishes that you enjoy. Serve them on the side when you don't have vegetables mixed in with a dish. Experiment with all kinds of different dishes based on these veggies. When you read a recipe that has a kind of vegetable in it that you don't like, substitute one of these instead. I can't eat corn, and when I run into it in a recipe, I often substitute small-diced carrots. You could do the opposite, and whenever you see carrots, substitute corn.
- lots of Mexican recipes use corn
- sweet peas are really nice added into cold salad recipes (not just lettuce salads, but potato salad, rice salad, etc. too)

spaghetti
- since you like spaghetti, I have to assume you like tomato sauce. Guess what? It's a culinary vegetable! Use lots of tomato sauce. add extra chunky tomatoes or vegetables if you like. puree cooked sweet potato, squash, etc. to add to your tomato sauce with no great change in the taste. Experiment with adding some roasted red peppers. Add onions and green peppers and puree if you don't want to see them.
- reduce meat/meatballs and add lentils, beans, etc.

hot dogs
- add onions or sauerkraut
- eat with coleslaw
- experiment with different kinds of relish - sweet corn relish, pickle relish, pepper relish

boxed foods
- I'm not sure what kinds of boxed foods you're eating. Hamburger helper, frozen dinners, soups, etc. But you could add some frozen peas/corn to them as you heat them up.
- You can throw on some salsa, chutney, or other vegetable or fruit based condiment
- serve with a salad - doesn't have to be a lettuce salad if you don't like lettuce. Coleslaw, potato salad, rice salad, marinated vegetables, etc.
- have some tolerated vegetables to fall back on to serve as a side when you are having a processed food. A side of corn, peas, raw carrots, tomato soup, whatever you like. Just plan to have a vegetable you know you like with every meal.


Don't forget about fruits. We have classified vegetable foods into culinary "fruit" and "vegetable" categories. The fruits are sweet and the vegetables are not. Even though the foods may be from the same family, and the same part of the plant, we classify them as one or the other based on taste. So a sweet gourd becomes a fruit (melons) while a non-sweet gourd becomes a vegetable (squash, cucumber, zucchini). Both have similar nutrient profiles. So if you can't stand the vegetable, and don't have any issues with sugar, then go for a fruit instead. You can also add fruits to a predominantly vegetable dish to sweeten it up - adding pineapple or mango to a stir fry, for example. Or having a smoothie or fruit based drink that also has greens or vegetables in it.

Another way to drink your vegetables is with V8 or tomato juice, if you like those.

Look at the foods that you do eat. Do they have a small amount of vegetables in them? You might like pizza, for instance. Go for a supreme (with veggies) instead of a meat lovers. Ask for double tomato sauce. Make your own at home and add a little bit more of a tolerated vegetable each time. If you end up with too much, or they are cut too big, go ahead and pick the big bits out and try again next time.

Go to a recipe site and enter in one of the things that you have said you like to eat. Look through the pictures and pull out one that has a little more veggies than you would normally eat. Maybe it has some corn in it. Or is topped with tomato sauce. Maybe the leftovers could be made into a nice soup with a tomato base. Maybe in the picture it is served with corn on the cob. Pick one day a week to experiment and make a more involved recipe than you would normally have.

Or go to a nice restaurant and see how the veggies in the dish that you order are done. My hubby would never eat asparagus when I made it, he was too afraid of it, but when eating at a restaurant with friends or colleagues and the dish he was served came with some asparagus, grilled and topped with some lemon juice and honey, he did try it, and found that he liked it. So now if I make it like that, he'll eat it.

Hello all. Everywhere I read, to eat healthy it talks about eating veggies, salads, etc. I don't like the majority of vegetables and the ones I do are not considered good veggies. I don't like salads either. So, how is it possible for me to find a healthy eating habit with that said? I don't want to force myself to eat something that I don't like because I know I won't stick to it. Please help.

Here are a list of foods mostly eaten in my house: Hamburger meat, pork chops, chicken, mac-n-cheese, rice/gravy, corn, sweet peas, various boxed items, spaghetti, hot dogs.

I'm really trying to make a lifestyle change and I've gotten my exercising down but I know my eating habits are keeping me from progressing more.

Any help, tips or suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

MyM0wM0w

find it really bizarre all these people saying you don't NEED to eat veggies/salad etc. ER, if you don't want vitamin deficiencies, really you do, and ideally a third of your plate should be filled with them.

and to the person that talks about buying a blood glucose meter and watching your sugars go down, er, if you don't have diabetes, it really shouldnt make any odds what you eat, your blood sugar will be normal regardless of diet (i have type 1 diabetes, this isnt the case for me, but my pancreas doesnt work, if yours does, you really dont need to waste money on a glucometer!)

re the low carb suggestions, this isnt for everyone. reducing the amount of carbs you ingest is obviously going to help you lose weight, but diets which drastically alter the proportions of food groups/eliminates food groups in your diet, and hence how your metabolism works, aren't for everyone, and probably not a great suggestion to someone who's diet is already lacking in vital nutrients and YES there ARE vital nutrients in fresh fruit and veggies please dont listen to anyone that says you don't need them thats absolute rubbish.

Absolutely all of this.

jerber160

gravy
- if you like gravy, then you would probably like a number of different creamed vegetables (basically veggies in gravy/white sauce)
- shepherds pie
- potatoes and gravy
- mushroom gravy


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shepherd's pie? i only have a recipe for it, from scratch, not left overs and it's a beautiful display of fat and grease.... it's tasty as anything but I can't imagine eating much of it while I'm dieting... do you have a good , somewhat healthy recipe to share?

MelStren

When my kids were little and wouldn't eat veggies, I learned to hide them. I would puree them in the blender and then hide them in all kinds of foods. The loved egg rolls so I'd pour the puree'd veggies over the meat. I've hidden it in browned, ground beef. Poured them into creamy cheese sauce for mac-n-cheese. Hidden them in tomato sauces for spaghetti. Lots can be done with them other than just putting them on the plate to stare back at you.

CrystalDreams

i hate vegetables. someone once asked me why i eat them if i hate them so much. I replied because i want to be healthy more than this tastes bad ( i was eating carrots at the time). sometime you have to just man up and do whats good for you.

xLexa

Thank you all for your post. As several suggested, I just need to do it and find a way to enjoy them. Guess I'll try buying a bunch of different veggies and try cooking them in different ways to see if I can find ways that I will like them.

hide them in juiced fruits? I do this with my son because he hates vegetables... if only he knew....

kjwillie

Maybe try some pureed vegetable soups such as organic tomato or butternut squash soup. Just watch out for the fat content in those. Also, maybe you could stick a few veggies in a fruit smoothie like spirulina and carrots. Try a few things. Experiment.

MrGonzo05

You don't have to like something to eat it. I've never had a broccoli craving, but I eat it often.

hannahamay

I usually cook for my family (they don't like vegetables either) and I "hide" them in the dishes I make. I like to put bell peppers in my spaghetti, and I mix broccoli or peas in with cheesy dishes, and I add carrots and corn with chili mac. I personally don't eat what I prepare for them because I like vegetables the way they are, but they don't seem to notice them at all. Stir-fry is also a good way to mask the flavor of vegetables, but still being able to get the nutrients from them.

fteale

I don't like vegetables either, but as a vegetarian, I have to live with what I have. There are a million and one ways to disguise them and make them edible, you just have to read a few cookery books and get some good ideas.

Rhea30

Hello all. Everywhere I read, to eat healthy it talks about eating veggies, salads, etc. I don't like the majority of vegetables and the ones I do are not considered good veggies. I don't like salads either. So, how is it possible for me to find a healthy eating habit with that said? I don't want to force myself to eat something that I don't like because I know I won't stick to it. Please help.

Here are a list of foods mostly eaten in my house: Hamburger meat, pork chops, chicken, mac-n-cheese, rice/gravy, corn, sweet peas, various boxed items, spaghetti, hot dogs.

I'm really trying to make a lifestyle change and I've gotten my exercising down but I know my eating habits are keeping me from progressing more.

Any help, tips or suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

The veggies you now just make sure to keep it up and eat them with your meals. You can slowly start to work in other veggies and you might get use to them and even start to like them. I enjoy broccoli, Brussels sprouts and asparagus now. Also yellow squash so you might want to pick a veggie you think you could like and start to add that with a meal (I suggest eating it first to get you full then your meal) and just slowly start to change.

If portion control of those foods have been a problem then work on that, making smaller portions and filling up on veggies (it can be your peas if you like) until you get use to the portion size. You didn't mention any fruit, unless I just didn't catch it.

Try to see what fruits you like and add them into your diet, they are good for you and make a great snack and can help with hunger. I normally get whatever bag of fruit that is cheap at the moment. Might get a bag of oranges, or bag of apples and sometimes a case of strawberries or something.

tourettte

You remind me of me 5 years ago, then I started to crave food i never thought of eating before.

Try low carb and maybe watermelons and some other fruits.

texaricangirasol

I hate salads...always have, but i could eat sandwhiches with veggies and salads in there, so i started making the salads like if it was a sandwhich minus the bread.

To me the difference is in the seasonings and the dressings.

I do like to put cheese on veggies, and/or make a sauce with the veggies blended into them (little to no chunks) Cream cheese with asparagus and spinach with some seasonings (goes over pasta or chicken very well). using beef or chicken stock to cook the veggies may help. If i don't see them, but they are in there then i am getting what i need.

I have recently tried the mcdonalds caesar salad with grilled chicken (grape tomatoes help) and the ranch dressing only half the pack i was surprised i ate it.lol

good luck to you. I don't know about you but i have to be craving the food i am eating or it just wont go down.

elyelyse

I just want to add another vote to it being an acquired taste for some people, and that cutting back on processed foods, especially high in salt, brings an appreciation for simpler flavors.

bohonomad

you should try to incorporate veggies into the food you already eat and maybe once you're used to them you might end up liking them. If you're making spaghetti, throw some zucchini/squash and bell pepper into the sauce. Chicken and avocado sandwiches are one of my favorite things to eat and avocado burns fat.

LifestyleChange33

Many people who don't like vegetables haven't tried them in many different ways. Have you tried grilling or roasting various veggies? Have you tried different seasoning or dressings? Look for recipes that do weird things with veggies- I am sure you'll find that you enjoy at least some of them!

Some ideas for getting your veggies: Soups, raw with hummus, grilled or roasted (with olive oil and garlic), as a mixture (tabouli, for instance), with dipping sauces (watch out for calories here), cut up a different way (sliced cucumber is way different than eating it whole), as part of a different food (veggie sandwich for instance- I hate tomatoes, but I'll happily eat them as part of a sandwich).

If all else fails, you can juice veggies (hit a juice bar to get delicious ideas).

Good luck!!

KelliW_runner

I'm sure this has been posted multiple times over...find ways to incorporate veggies. Smoothies with fruit are a good way to incorporate veggies (there are some store bought brands - V8, Naked) or make your own. Veggies can also be incorporated into baked goods - shred zucchini or carrots to incorporate into whole grain muffins/breads. Chop spinach and incorporate into pasta sauces or even into meatloaf mix. Cauliflower can be mashed with potatoes. After a while, you may find you like the taste and get used to the texture without going to great lengths to "hide" them.