Doesn't anyone each fruit and veg anymore?

I eat a lot of fruits/veggies. They're so easy! Just had 4 asparagus spears with lunch!

Ok, now I'll get on my soapbox.

I think one of the main reasons so many people don't eat (or don't eat enough) fruits, and especially veggies, is the way we train our kids from the very beginning. There are studies that show that our tastebuds/pleasure pathways are already beginning to be trained during pregnancy and before an ounce of "food" ever passes our lips. This means what mom eats also already starts training baby for preferences toward tastes - sweet, bitter, savory, etc. So if she's not eating veggies, or only eating certain veggies, baby will be more inclined toward not eating them as well.

The other issue is the foods we start babies on. It has become common since jar baby food came on the scene to start babies on fruits (bananas, anyone), rather than veggies. Or even if veggies are given, they are the "sweet" tasting ones (peas, carrots). Babies tend to like the sweet flavors better (don't you?) so they eat them easier/better (see above where baby's tastebuds have already been effected.)

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking those fruits and veggies. But the first foods baby tastes should at the very least be a variety of flavors. Our tastebuds are generally fully trained in the first year or two toward certain flavors. There is some variance for personal likes/dislikes, but we will tend to follow those preferences set in the first couple years. Tastebuds can also be retrained some, but it can be extremely difficult.

My son, 7, likes cookies and ice cream and candy, like most kids. But he also LOVES broccoli, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, and many others. The only vegetable we've found that he doesn't like is mushrooms. When I began feeding him solid foods, he started with a variety of flavors and didn't have any processed sugar at all until a year old. He only had what was in fruits. (Yes, I know, ironic that I was so intent on his healthy eating and have become so lax about mine - but I'm changing it.)

Fruits and veggies are important - even before we're born!

*climbs down* Thank you for listening! :bigsmile:

Totally agree with this. My daughter loves veggies and fruits because it was the bulk of my diet when I was prenant with her. She loves things like asparagus, brussels sprouts, and edamame...where most kids wouldn't touch these veggies.

I try to eat at least 1-2 fruits a day and several servings of cooked fresh veggies. I prepare all of my food on Sunday that way I don't have to cook all week long. I also prepare enough tilapia for at least 1 weeks worth of lunches along with white and sweet potatoes. They all hold up well in the frig and it makes eating health easy.

To be honest though - who cares what others are eating? Does it really affect you personally enough to post about it? You come off kind of smug. Maybe whoever you are looking at has food allergies (and yes many people have allergies or intolerance to both). Maybe they really just hate vegetables and fruit. They are the ones losing out on the awesome benefits of eating them.

This is actually basically what I intended to post at first.

But ya know, if people did eat more fruits and veggies, and less processed food and fast foods, the latter would be less prevalent in our society.

The problem being, of course, that we can't just regulate the fast food people eat. But I'm sure that San Francisco will find a way.

I eat tonnes, of veges! half my plate for lunch and dinner is always a salad or steamed veges, plus I normally eat a couple of pieces of fruit a day (though I try to keep that down so that my sugar doesn't go over!)

Went to a bbq the other day and saw a friend who is a notoriously bad eater by pass the 4 salads to eat chips, meat and white bread ONLY just looking at his plate made me feel queezy!

To be honest though - who cares what others are eating? Does it really affect you personally enough to post about it? You come off kind of smug. Maybe whoever you are looking at has food allergies (and yes many people have allergies or intolerance to both). Maybe they really just hate vegetables and fruit. They are the ones losing out on the awesome benefits of eating them.

Wow... well for one I like to seem how others eat, I have learnt so much seeing how NOT to eat being on here. I think your comments are off the mark, I don't see anything smug in the post. 517 posts for 3 pounds lost, is that from typing?

Actually I have a diagnosed eating disorder and have lost and gained approx 20 pounds 4 times within the past year. I have a wealth of knowledge regarding nutrition, but it does not mean I can put it into use when I'm in a dark place of my ED.

Just a few weeks ago I had to change from 17 pounds down (lost in a healthy way back in the fall) to 3 because I'm coming back and working on recovery.

but thanks for the typing joke directed towards my weight loss. I hope you feel very good about yourself right now. It's so unfortunate how much MFP message boards have changed for the worse since I joined a while ago. The amount of food policing on this website since diaries can now be made public is astounding.

I eat fruit...ALOT of fruit. I eat veggies. There could be afew things going on.
1. SOme people dont log veggies..like me sometimes. I made a pork roast in the crockpot. I used carrots, tomatoes, onion homemade chicken stock and spices...I wrapped the roast in lettuce. I didnt enter any of those veggies. I feel they are miniscle.
2. Money. Its cheaper to eat potatoes, beans, rice. If your household doesnt agree on a veggie then alot of waste is involved
3. Cycle of familarity: Alot of us grew up in households of meat and potatoes. each generation is losing the "dinner hour".
4. Taste: Its been proven Americans have altered tastebuds from their nasty nutrition. We "need" salt and butter. So cooking veggies just doesnt give that satisfaction to most or they have to load it up with ****

That is just my take. I shove veggies in. We restricted alot of crap a few yrs back in my household when we did South Beach and we never really went back to much. I started a no starch, no sugar,no caffeine, no dairy (except greek yogurt), no processed food thing this yr and so far has been wonderful.

People who are big and need to lose weight know what they need to do....Its just doing it and doing it over and over and over.

To be honest though - who cares what others are eating? Does it really affect you personally enough to post about it? You come off kind of smug. Maybe whoever you are looking at has food allergies (and yes many people have allergies or intolerance to both). Maybe they really just hate vegetables and fruit. They are the ones losing out on the awesome benefits of eating them.

Wow... well for one I like to seem how others eat, I have learnt so much seeing how NOT to eat being on here. I think your comments are off the mark, I don't see anything smug in the post. 517 posts for 3 pounds lost, is that from typing?

Actually I have a diagnosed eating disorder and have lost and gained approx 20 pounds 4 times within the past year. I have a wealth of knowledge regarding nutrition, but it does not mean I can put it into use when I'm in a dark place of my ED.

Just a few weeks ago I had to change from 17 pounds down (lost in a healthy way back in the fall) to 3 because I'm coming back and working on recovery.

but thanks for the typing joke directed towards my weight loss. I hope you feel very good about yourself right now. It's so unfortunate how much MFP message boards have changed for the worse since I joined a while ago. The amount of food policing on this website since diaries can now be made public is astounding.

So let me get this right, you have now changed tact from accusing the OP from being smug to this being a MFP issue (no one can see your diary if you choose) and in the process hijacked an excellent, educational thread and made it all about you.

So let me get this right, you have now changed tact from accusing the OP from being smug to this being a MFP issue (no one can see your diary if you choose) and in the process hijacked an excellent, educational thread and made it all about you.

Seriously? I'm always amazed at how little thought people put into comprehension, responses or ... or ... just not being a ****!

Firstly, there's nothing excellent or educational about this thread. Whatever, no offense to anyone. The thread is a question, and a rhetorical one at that. It seems more an opportunity for pompousness, all in all. (And if this thread's question isn't rhetorical, then it is entirely without merit, because clearly people do eat vegetables and this hasn't encouraged conversation ...)

Seriously, what's educational about this thread? It hasn't even been disclosed as to how many fruits and vegetables one should consume in a day—which is now at about two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables for a 2,000 calorie diet. The average response is "I eat vegetables ..." There's no discourse regarding the average persons' eating habits, for the most part. In fact, all in all, there is ONE intelligent response to this thread. (Thanks for that ladyhawk00, that's something I think about. Also, healthy_is_best's second reply had some good and applicable thoughts to it.) Not that the others aren't in the least intelligent, but they're mostly just a casual response to a question that doesn't illicit conversation.

In fact, the only discourse anyone has engaged in is whether the OP should attack the eating habits of others' or not. And as it were, that's the one thing I'm not necessarily sure of in this context.

Furthermore, I'm not really sure what the difference between a non-practicing doctor and not-really-a doctor are ... wait, no, I am, but I'm not sure that either you, or the OP, are. [/cheap internet shot]

Finally, the obesity epidemic IS "a lot more complex" than people just not eating fruits and vegetables. It also pertains to processed foods, the fact that people are less active than they should be, genetics (probably ... to a degree ...) and, in my opinion the biggest contributor to the obesity epidemic ... government subsidies! (That is, the concept of, "Heck, let's make foods that ain't got no nutritional value cheaper than good foods!" plus my "booyah" search of "government subsidies making me fat" came up with this: http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/314/corn-subsidies-make-me-sick-and-fat )

All right, I'll leave it at that.

I love fruit & veggies - can't get enough of them!

Me too!

I eat about three servings of spinach a day like my main man Popeye. :smokin:

I'm the same way. Spinach is a huge part of my day to day eating.