Help! I don't like "vegees"

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tuxedord2
tuxedord2 Posts: 69 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I keep reading all these posts about clean eating and advice like "fill up on your vegees." I am having such a problem with this. I WANT TO WANT to eat vegees. I want to want them. But I don't want them. I hate them.

I'm okay with carrots, and peppers (yes- the sweet ones!). I can tolerate green beans, spinach in a salad, celery and cucumbers. But I really don't enjoy my "vegees." I don't even really enjoy fruit very much, except for berries and bananas or maybe a nice melon. Perhaps I've been eating processed too long...

I know I could lose weight by controlling calories and not eating clean. But I aspire to one day WANT vegees and clean eating? Guess my question is, how do I change what I want? Maybe it's how do I change what I "crave?"

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  • tuxedord2
    tuxedord2 Posts: 69 Member
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    Edited for punctuation LOL
  • JoanB5
    JoanB5 Posts: 610 Member
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    Sounds like there are quite a few veggies you like. You may have to change the way they are prepared. My kids don't like steamed veggies, but enjoy them raw. You might have also been served them "too mushy" if they are steamed. I had to learn that most of the steamed veggies I'd been served all my life were WAY mushy and WAY gross. Try some you cook in a bag from Kroger that you just vent the bag and it gives precise microwave cooking directions. You can add some "Can't believe it's not butter" or a mild seasoning (I like Old Bay Garlic and spice).

    A second option might be to try a veggie drink (V-8) if you like tomato tastes. I really like the fruit flavored veggie drinks. Orange Splash is my fav.
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
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    Just my opinion but it's a lot of trial and error. I love to stir fry a bunch of veggies and I'll put maybe one that I don't really like in with a bunch that I do. So spinach, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, and yellow squash. I don't like yellow squash. I have gotten used to it though and don't mind it anymore. I love all the others in there so I'll eat that one because I know it's good for me.

    One of the first ways that I tried zucchini that made me like it was to slice it into strips, cook it in olive oil with garlic and add parmesan cheese on top. Tastes kind of like garlic bread.

    I spent 3 years as a vegetarian and learned to try a bunch of veggies that I had never thought of and to try them in a variety of ways. Just because you don't like something cooked one way doesn't mean you won't like it another way. I don't like asparagus unless I eat it with hollandaise sauce. I don't like celery that much but I love it with hummus.

    Vegetarian or vegan cook books or recipes are a great way to try new things. You can try them in small quantities until you find something that you like then cook it more often.

    Additionally, there isn't really anything wrong with only liking certain things and eating them over and over. But definitely trying to add new things in will help you find some things you might be surprised that you like.
  • rdonald57
    rdonald57 Posts: 74 Member
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    Thats why i drown my salads with dressings, cook bacon in my cabbage/ collards. Thankfully i like salsa, tomato soups, soups with creole flavor. I am still losing but my activity level is probably pretty high.
  • blu_meanie_ca
    blu_meanie_ca Posts: 352 Member
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    That sounds like the veggies that I eat most days. They taste fine, are usually low cost, and available year round (being Canadian, that is an issue). There is nothing wrong with green beans, I eat them often too.
    Bell peppers are great stuffed with diced chicken or ground beef, grains if you eat them, and then some cheese on top. Cucumbers are great with creamed cheese on them. Green beans work really well in beef stew.
    I also eat carrots, they are sweet when raw. I find they are good shredded with tuna and mayo (I can't eat bread, so I've had to come up with alternatives).
    Anyways, don't sweat it. I don't like sweet potatoes or grapefruit either, and I have warded of scurvey. You'll be fine.
  • MeganKSchultz
    MeganKSchultz Posts: 73
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    I have this same problem. And the veggies I DO like aren't traditional ones, like peas and carrots. I have learned to go back and try foods I didn't think I liked because our tastes change over time. So if you haven't tried broccoli in 10 years, give it another chance.
  • nvpixie
    nvpixie Posts: 483 Member
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    You could try juicing. There are tons of recipes online or you could make up your own. I like to add a few handfuls of spinach or another dark leafy green, cucumbers, carrots, celery, and apples. The carrots and apples really sweeten it up. You'd get your veggies in for the day for sure.
  • mari631400
    mari631400 Posts: 3
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    I am new here actually just signed on...i also hardly ever eat veggies, but recently after watching a video about veggies and how they changed/saved one mans life well I started juicing my veggies...I am a teacher and do not have too much time in the morning for breakfast...I dont like coffee so I get a handful of spinach, romaine lettuce & other greens like kale, a stalk of celery, 1/2 cucumber with most of the peel on, 1 red apple with skin on and whever other greens I feel like putting in a blender with a little bit of water then I liquify it....it is better & faster than trying to eat all of that stuff on its own...it gives you energy as well. Good luck just try different things you will find the one you like best.
  • squeakyfish
    squeakyfish Posts: 109 Member
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    I used to hate veggies too. I grew up with iceberg salads and frozen corn. When I started to learn how to cook and enjoy it, I began to get seriously creative with them. When I discovered roasting, it was like a whole new world opened up. Roasting a vegetable makes it taste completely different and takes very little time and attention. I even enjoy beets, parsnips, and celeriac now. (I would have laughed myself silly over that just a few years ago).

    Take it one step at a time. Find a recipe that uses a vegetable that you don't normally eat and try it cooked a different way. Boiled veggies are boring. Use stir fries, roasting, grilling, etc. then add seasonings or marinades. It really took a while before I started to love veggies, I tolerated them for a long time before I learned to enjoy them. Good luck!
  • Barbarella44
    Barbarella44 Posts: 15 Member
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    You should throw an assortment of vegetables in a pot with some wheat free vegetable stock! Trust me any vegetable in a soup with a stock or bouillon powder you enjoy will make any vegetable taste spectacular! A hand blender will mash and mix the veggies together so you won't even taste the ones your not accostomed to. You say you enjoy carrots?! Well that is always an excellent soup base! I personally love yams, kale, sweet potato, butternut squash, rutabaga, as the base of my soups. Just experiment and see what works for you. This way you'll get proper nutrition and hide any flavours that you may not like. Hope this helps
  • ArchangelMJ
    ArchangelMJ Posts: 308 Member
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    Veggies make me a little depressed too, especially raw ones, yuck. The funny thing is that the ones I really like ( avocado, zucchini and mushrooms), aren't even really vegetables.
  • xiofett
    xiofett Posts: 138 Member
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    I'll second the roasting/grilling option. My favorite things to grill (other than a nice ribeye) are fingerling potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini and corn on the cob. Mushrooms tend to do well also, especially a nice big portobello cap(just treat it like you would a hamburger patty). Peppers always grill up nice, but I'm not fond of how a tomato turns out.

    Of course, I'm a country boy, I grew up with a huge garden and damned near lived on the veggies during spring and summer months/ Cabbage, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, if it grew in the garden I ate it. Except cantaloupe. Horrible stuff. Don't get me started on the time the bees cross pollinated the watermelons with the cantaloupes. Such a heart breaking experience for a little kid to go through. ;)

    You don't mention if you enjoy cooking or not. If you do, experimenting with various recipes is a great way to add vegetal variety to your life. Play with spices, sauces and cooking styles. It's a blast, and you get to eat when you're done!
  • Erin1836
    Erin1836 Posts: 14 Member
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    Definitely it all goes in how you prepare it. I'm finding out I'll eat roasted eggplant if I sprinkle it with goat cheese or lemon juice and seasoning. A lot of people fry eggplant but it absorbs SO much oil I haven't bothered.

    Mushrooms. I love mushrooms. Baked, sautéed, perfected.

    Roasted parsnips are pretty good and just need salt and pepper.

    I tried asparagus for the first time today and enjoyed it--my bf boiled it in a skillet, drained the water, added a little butter, salt, and pepper.

    Mixing veggies in the crock pot with chicken stock and some chicken makes a great veggie stew that pretty much all tastes like chicken--I put mushrooms, zucchini, leeks, onions, and eggplant in mine.
  • tuxedord2
    tuxedord2 Posts: 69 Member
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    Thanks everyone! You've inspired me!
  • dimsumkitty
    dimsumkitty Posts: 120 Member
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    I think scientific studies show that if you try a food 10-20 times, you start to like it! And it's even faster if you eat it alongside things you already like. So if there's something nutritious that you want to like, just prepare a little bit of it every meal and eat it with the rest of your meal, and it shouldn't be too long before you start enjoying it.

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