Adding Fruits and Vegetables

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MeganKSchultz
MeganKSchultz Posts: 73
in Health and Weight Loss
I've tried for years to like raw celery and carrots. That's not happening. I love vegetables but more "non traditional" veggies, like bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli and tomatoes. (I don't like peas, green beans, lima beans, or raw celery and carrots.) I also love fruit, but not always the "traditional". I'm fond of green apples (hate red delicious) tangerines and cutie mandarins (not the big pulpy oranges,) and berries. But I hate bananas, and don't like peaches or pears.

I don't feel like I'm a picky eater because I like a lot of fruits and vegetables, but I'm not the type of person to munch on bananas and carrots all day. Any suggestions on how to add more fruits and vegetables to my diet? Particularly into regular meals?

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  • dysonsl
    dysonsl Posts: 11 Member
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    the veggies you said you like make for a great salad! you should try making a salad out of those for every meal on the side. i got one of those oil sprayers from bed bath and beyond. so i put oil and balsamic in it and spray it on my salad. you use way less dressing when you do that. dressing is the culprit. as for the fruit, toss the ones you like in yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast. and of course munch on them for snacks. i have a hard time getting veggies too. i wind up eating a lot of veggies by roasting them. just take the ones you love and toss them with olive oil and salt and pepper and toss them in the oven on 400. it's suuuuuper easy. the oil provides you with the good fat you need. and i always have left overs so i can munch on them the next day. you got this girl! you're doing a great job and making some fantastic changes!
  • StrongAimee
    StrongAimee Posts: 6 Member
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    Try making some smoothies! You can "hide" lots of delicious vegetables in them. Google for "green smoothies" and you'll find lots of great recipes.
  • JTS_go
    JTS_go Posts: 65 Member
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    A wedge of raw green or red cabbage can be really filling. I have that with lunch a lot of days. Plus, it's super easy to just cut a slab off, rinse, and you're ready to go.
  • lioness803
    lioness803 Posts: 325 Member
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    Nothing wrong with just eating the fruits and veggies you like! I love making soups and stir fries, and both are easy to customize with whatever veggies you like.
  • nayla1984
    nayla1984 Posts: 17
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    You can juice your own veggies and fruit. I sometimes buy Naked drinks..
  • litatura
    litatura Posts: 569 Member
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    As long as you are eating multiple servings fruits and veggies everyday, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to the ones you like.
  • rebelate
    rebelate Posts: 218 Member
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    Nothing wrong with sticking to what you like. You're eating them, and that's good!

    I could eat a bucket of tomatoes and be happy, but I'm not really a fan of carrots, and I really hate celery. I don't eat green beans unless it's in a casserole. I don't eat lima beans, ever, or peas. I stick to what I like - tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and most lettuce. I recently started adding kale to spinach when I sauté it and I can eat it that way.

    It goes with fruit too. I like peaches, berries, pineapple, cuties, grapes, and sometimes I like apples. I eat what I like.

    There's no use trying to force something down and wind up hating it / being miserable or hating that food even more.
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
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    You can easily eat a bell pepper as a snack. I don't even bother cutting them into strips anymore. I just bite into them like an apple. There is no reason to eat fruits and veggies you don't care for. Just eat the ones you enjoy. Try new ones that you haven't experienced before and integrate some you like into your diet. I put veggies in everything. Peppers, onions, and mushrooms are some of my favorites and I use them all the time.
  • HopefulLeigh
    HopefulLeigh Posts: 363 Member
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    veggies, like bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli and tomatoes. green apples, tangerines and cutie mandarins and berries.

    All of the veggies go great in a spaghetti. All of those fruits go great in a salad. Just eat what you do love and don't worry about fitting in raw celery or carrots or bananas.

    Have you tried spaghetti squash? If you like it, prep it up as noodles for your spaghetti, chunk up some bell peppers in red, yellow and green and toss those in a little olive oil with a bit of garlic - onion if you like it - and mushrooms and cook it until the peppers are a little softer and the mushrooms are cooked to your liking. Toss in some sliced zucchini and chunked tomatoes and cook until the zucchini is tender. Add in any seasonings you may like - salt, pepper, onion powder - again, if you like it - and italian seasoning usually goes wonderfully with this in my opinion. Add some prepared spaghetti sauce if you like, heck, even add a little meat if you want, and pour it over your prepared spaghetti squash. Boom, tons of veggies.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    I utterly hate celery. I can't even have it in the house because I hate the smell of it so much.

    If you want a wider range of fruit veg, try new and unusual ones rather than forcing yourself to eat ones you don't like. I'm pretty sure most people have at least one fruit or veg that they hate. There are none that I hate quite as much as celery but I'm not keen on pears, I also don't like red delicious apples(but love granny smiths), and vegetables I hate are swede and parsnip. I like most fruit and veg though, and eat a fairly wide range of them. And far too many brussels sprouts and blueberries these days.
  • PototaeLuvvr
    PototaeLuvvr Posts: 38
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    two words ; the pototae cleanse.
  • koshkasmum
    koshkasmum Posts: 276 Member
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    The veggies you say you like are all good munched raw too.

    We all stick to the veggies we like - I am living proof that one can live a long time without eating lima beans and beets. As long as you have a good variety - which you seem to - and eat enough servings per day, you'll be fine.

    You might want to consider experimenting and trying some new or less frequently encountered fruits and veggies - bean sprouts, asparagus, jicama, gai lan, nectarines, different plum and melon varieties - you may find some new stuff to like. Also, I find that some veggies I like raw and not cooked, some I like cooked some ways and not others (ie: I hate boiled squash, but like it roasted with savory spices, I hate boiled spinach but love it saute'd with some garlic .) And most veggies taste best when not out of a can - I find canned peas and asparagus particularly unpalatable. If you decided you didn't like something based on the canned version, try them fresh - they might surprise you.
  • AchievingHealthy
    AchievingHealthy Posts: 3 Member
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    For me it's a texture thing. For instance, I LOVE the flavor of onions, but I HATE the texture and it makes me gag. I'm also pretty picky when it comes to a lot of different veggies. So what I've found that has been working well for me lately, is making pureed veggies soup. I toss whatever veggies I have in the fridge into a big pot with some chicken or vegitable stock and boil until tender then toss it in the blender with different seasonings and a little bit of salt. That way, I'm getting all the nutriants from the veggies I don't normally love, but covering them up :)

    Good luck!
  • AchievingHealthy
    AchievingHealthy Posts: 3 Member
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    Also-
    While I agree on one hand that you shouldn't force yourself to eat the veggies you don't love- if you're anything like me, you get sick of the same old stuff very easily. Often times, I've found that learning how to prepare a veggie a differnt way than I knew how to before, really helps me enjoy it. So don't write off carrots (or whaterver you don't like) completely! Try finding a new way to eat it first before you give it the nix!

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