Unadulterated Fruits & Veggies

jrbowers83

I have a lot of trouble eating raw vegetables and even some fruits. I just don't care for the taste or texture. For instance, I love broccoli...smothered in cheese or butter sauce. But when I try to eat it raw it seems spicy and I just can't manage to swallow it. I do occasionally eat it steamed, and it's okay. With fruit, I really like pears, apples, berries, bananas. But I like to dip or top it with cool whip, jello, sugar, caramel, etc. The thing is that I'm watching my sodium so all of the dips and toppings add alot of cals and sodium, and I find that instead of going for the unadulterated stuff, I just push the fruits and veggies out of my diet altogether. My kids are the same way...my son wouldn't touch cantaloupe, berries, or broccoli until I started offering them with a little Splenda or cheese sauce. What is better, get your veggies and deal with some of the toppings, or forego the toppings and only occasionally eat the fruits and veggies steamed or raw as I should?

erickirb

It would be better with the toppings then not at all as they are essential to good health and you need 5-7 servings daily. Just make sure you account for the calories, and slowly over time use less and less "topping" and you may eventually be able to eat them on there own. Fruit is high in sugar already so for fruit I would not add any additional sugar, maybe try natural peanut butter or cheese.

Magenta15

I am a dipper too you just have to watch what you dip...

veggies i love with hummus or a low call dip made with sour cream or greek yogurt or even just a low fat dressing you like.
I don't really put anything on my cooked veg other then a lil s&p...
do you make your own cheese sauce? - switch to using skim milk and low fat cheese to make it....and don't drown the veggies in it, you can also sneak veg into many recipes...boil a head of cauliflower and like 2 potatoes and mash it ( you don't need any potatoes, but you could wean them into this. it's just like reg mash! chop or GRATE veg into soups and sauces you wont even taste them, I like veg so i don't need to hide them, but used to with my ex and grated things like carrot, fine chopped celery, and mushrooms into spaghetti sauce and he was never the wiser... lol
there are so many ways to add veg to things

for fruit, re-evaluate your dips, how a bout a lil yogurt type dip, PB i love my apples, pears, bananas with a lil pb...i bet you could even thin out the pb with some plain low cal yogurt and make a nice lil fruity dip
also light cool whip mixed with a lil yogurt makes a nice dip.

just look for healthy alternatives

Pieater

I find that quitting the things that I like, but don't need is a task better achieved over time. Maybe try this: Measure the toppings that you use on the fresh fruits and veggies, and reduce the amount of the toppings that you allow yourself over time. Also, look at alternative toppings such as low fat dressings or lite cottage cheese on your broccoli instead of a bunch of cheese. I've also found I enjoy a touch of lemon pepper seasoning salt on my steamed broccoli - but this isn't for everyone, my wife hates it. Raw fruit or fruit salad can be topped with low fat vanilla yogurt and sometimes a few tablespoons of granola for treat that makes me feel like I just might be cheating a bit.

CSimpson

If your having problems eating raw veggies, check out your local grocery stores freezer section for Birds Eye Steamer bags. I love raw veggies but get bored with them quickly so when I need to incorporate a serving or two, I grab one of the bags, pop it in the microwave and in about 6 minutes you have vegetables that are lightly seasoned and taste amazing. It might not be economical for a large family but for 1-2 people it's a quick & healthy choice.

kristinlough

I had cold marinated veggies from a Mexican restaurant this weekend. I'm still trying to figure out the recipe, but it looks like they're soaked in a vinegar (I'll try before I confirm), and they are SO good. They're great with the SUPER hot camarones a la diabla that we ordered Maybe you can check out some things like that?

And also, have you looked into fresh veggies from a farm stand in a rural area? I grew up eating veggies that had never been refrigerated, and they are SO SO SO much better. Picking strawberries (or whatever) also makes it a lot more fun to eat them.

With dinner almost every night, we sautee mushrooms, onions, zucchini, squash, and whatever else we can throw in there with some of the flavors of our dinner. Doing that and doubling and tripling the veggies on my sandwiches, etc., I've eaten a lot more veggies

I don't think there's anything wrong with a spoonful of Splenda on berries, but I think with a farm fresh cantaloupe, it's a sin Have you thought about eating your food outside (patio, porch, etc.) where the sauces and dips aren't available? (can you tell I'm trying to come up with 1000 ways to cut out dips, sauces, etc. when you don't have to have them?)

Hopefully you'll get some good ideas here, I know I have!