help I don't eat fruit or veggies.

Dear Doomed,

If you do not eat fruits or vegetables, you may be doomed to a life of over-weight and poor health. I am wondering, without any fruits and vegetables, what are you filling your day with? That is probably the problem. If you have trained your tongue and brain to love sugary or fatty foods, then the pleasure center of your brain will fight back and tell you that healthy food does not taste as good. Without the junk food to compare to, fruits and vegetables will begin to taste good. Use fresh fruits rather than canned. Frozen fruit is flash frozen right after picking and is healthy and easy to use in cereals, salads, smoothies. You can get bags of frozen bing cherries, blueberries, peaches and even pineapple at Walmart or grocery stores. Try steaming your veggies slightly (or blanching in boiling water for 1 minute) to make them easier to eat and then enjoy them with some light ranch dressing. I bet that if you told yourself you had to eat 4 servings per day of fruit or vegetables for 1 month, at the end your would like them better and be eating less junk food. Remember - you are what you eat! God Luck!

Fighting the Bulge,

Well done for asking for help -- you must be serious about this if you're willing to open up about your fruit/veg problem.

There's been a lot of good advice, and I just wanted to give you a couple of examples from my life about problems trying new foods. Before that, though, please please keep in mind that your tastes DO change as you get older -- I can see that you're 26. I remember trying various foods when I was in my late 20's that I just *hated* as a teenager, only to realize that they weren't so bad. And don't tell my mother, but part of it was that I didn't like certain foods the way she cooked them, but I liked other peoples' recipes. lol

We have a rule at our house called the 'one bite rule'. No-one has to eat everything on their plate (I don't think that's a good habit, anyway, for people who struggle with their weight!) but you do have to have one bite, even if it's something you don't like. My step-daughter, in particular, has changed from a child who would only eat potatoes and chicken to a teen who eats a huge variety of food. We still get the 'I don't like that' comments regularly, but she still ends up eating the food so I just ignore the complaints.

The other thing I want to mention is how I learned to like olives. I've always hated olives, and avoided anything that contained olives. But as I've gotten older, I've seen some good recipes with olives that I wanted to try, if only I could eat the olives. So I decided to 'train' my palate to tolerate them. Another poster mentioned that it takes 15 or so attempts at a new food to be able to like it. I had read that years ago (hence the one-bit-rule in our house) so thought I'd use it on myself. Any time I was at a restaurant that had olives on the table, I'd eat one. And do you know what? It took a few years (as I didn't have them very often) but now I'm ok with olives. I'm not saying I love them, but I wouldn't avoid eating something just because it contained olives. I really do like black olives with feta, but it's so high in fat I can't really eat them often.

I hope you have some time to reflect on all the comments that have been posted, and come up with a way that you can change your eating habits and eat more healthily. If you start out with supplements while just taking tastes of things or having fruit/veg smoothies, that's ok and way better than just avoiding them altogether. Just work toward making the changes, and be open about new veggie tastes (or the tastes of the same old veggies cooked/seasoned differently!) and in a couple of years you'll be eating a wide range of food.

HTH

I'm 55 and still cannot swallow cooked cabbage or spinach. I've tried and tried but I gag. The best way I've found to eat it is in coleslaw but I use plain yogurt and a little horeradish sauce mixed in instead of the mayo.

I can't eat strong oily fish either and it's a bit cruel to more or less say grow up.

The other problem is the cost. My food bill has escalated with the healthy eating. Not easy when on a tight shoestring.

Do you like stuff like tomato sauce (I think it's marinara sauce in the US) and pasta? My aunt used to hide veg in spaghetti and meatballs for my cousin, who was the fussiest eater! In fact, the only thing he would eat for 6 months was speaghetti with meatballs and spag bol!

You basically just sautee onions and carrots 9and anything else - maybe broccoli, red peppers, more tomatoes) in a little oil, then puree it and add to pasta sauce. You'll not really taste the difference, but you won't see the veg so it might help!

She also used to add pureed cooked carrots and onions to the meatballs.

This is a real problem for people nowadays. Many people were not fed fruit and veg from an early age, so as they grow older, they become very picky about what they eat. Unfortunately this trend can be passed on from generation to generation. I'm not sure what the answer is, but good luck in your quest.

AnnieeR has a good response. It does take time to reprogram your tastes. Don't give up. Fruits & veg can be a life saver!

Some others have already said it, but just to help support their advice/suggestions/opinion, it's something that can & does change. Generally, I've found that it has to do with the way the food is prepared and not always about the food itsself. There are exceptions, though. Like my bf hates broccoli, he'll eat the stems, but not the crown because of the texture. However, I get him to eat broccolini! He refused to eat asparagus, so I appealed to his inner child and told him how his pee would smell funny if he ate at least 5 stalks...and now he loves it. (He even suggests we make it for dinner!) He's even asking me to make him spaghetti squash again.

When I was younger I loved TGI Fridays, now I can't stand it. Your tastes definitely change in time. In this trip through losing weight and becoming healthy, it's all about retraining yourself. Fast food and all that jazz just isn't good or appealing to me anymore. Seriously. I wondered what people were talking about "How could you NOT want McD's fries?!" But now, I know exactly what they are talking about. I prefer the taste of my zucchini from my garden or my homemade stirfry to Burger King or Pizza Hut. Shoot...when I get chinese take out, I go for the steamed chicken and veggies - I don't even want the sauce!

Work on trying new things in different ways and I bet you'll slowly come to love the taste of more real foods. You don't have to like everything, you already mentioned some things you DO like. I hate raw tomatoes, but I've found I like paddy pan squash now. You can do this! In the meantime, get some supplements so you can at least get the vits and minerals your body needs.

There are hundreds of fruits and veg out there. Go to a farmers market near you. Pick out a small amount of something new each week and then try it just during one meal. You will find something you like!!!

You might want to check into a couple of books that help "hide" veggies in meals - "The Sneaky Chef" or "Deceptively Delicious".. written primarily for kids who don't like vegetables, they contain some great strategies that you might be able to use yourself. It could be that you just haven't found a way to enjoy them yet. Good luck and don't give up asking for assistance when you need it. That is what we are here for.

Honestly, my fruit consists of bananas, oranges, and apples for the most part. Veggies I like are carrots, green beans, peas, and corn. Oh, and celery and mangos! We also have the one bite rule in our house and its helped alot with getting the kids to like what we like. However, the palates of the grownups are strict and unchanging. I think I will be stealing some of the ideas listed here, and thank you for bringing up the subject. I hope you find a way to get all these yummy nutrients in. At least eat what ya like, maybe you will get bored and be forced to try something new :P