Eat your veggies, people!!

I find it strange that so many people don't log their veggies. It's food, isn't it? I monitor my fiber intake so not logging veg would be stupid for me. Also, I occasionally like to click on the reports tab and check out my vitamins and whatnot. And finally, veg has calories, too. Some days my veg calories can be a few hundred. Why would I not log those? It would screw up my entire count for the day. Strange. :huh:

Great reminder! This week I'm really focusing on eating more fruits and veggies. With my lunch sandwich today I had a couple carrots and an orange instead of the handful of Special K cracker chips I was thinking about. I'm planning on cooking at least two sides of veggies (or 1 side and a salad) with dinner for the next week!

I don't understand the not logging veggies thing. The whole point of logging your food is to see what you're eating (*all* of what you're eating) and to keep track of your calories. Leaving out an entire food group seems bizarre to me and when you're looking back it won't provide a clear picture of what you ate.

While some people do well with other people pushing them, most of us don't. We grew up in an environment where our eating habits were always a source of judgement from others. "Should you be eating that?" "You don't need to get a second plate, do you?"

With that mentality, having the guts to log everything you eat is a big deal. Having the guts to make your food diary public is a giant step. Don't ruin that momentum by nitpicking over vegetables.

P.S. You can call them vegetables or veggies. You can make them sound fun. You can arrange them on a plate with pretty colors. But they still mostly taste like crap! HAHA!

Eat em if you like em, try to eat em if you don't, but don't make eating a chore.

Well said (apart from the bit about vegetables tasting like crap, heheh!)!

I suspect that lots of people's views on veggies are formed at an early age, when possibly their parents/carers may not have cooked them in the nicest of ways. For example; my English grandparents insisted on us always eating fresh veg as much as possible, so my grandfather grew almost everything my grandmother needed for the kitchen. However, all these good works were offset by the fact that my grandmother had a very Edwardian approach to cooking said veg; i.e. they are indigestible, so boil them until they are mush!

Also, she *only* ever boiled veg - with the exception of potatoes, which might also be roasted, mashed or fried. And she would never have dreamed of using a vegetable, other than possibly an onion and a carrot, as an ingredient! So while I grew up loving most veggies (despite the awful sogginess!), some I absolutely loathed because of the way they'd been served to me as a child. It was only as an adult when I had to cook for myself, that I learned to love things like kale, spinach, cabbage etc.

With that in mind, it's unsurprising that some people just find it difficult to get on with them. No matter what their good intentions, the biggest hurdle is often in overcoming their childhood conditioning. I really believe that instead of a didactic approach regarding the nutrition of others, we should try to understand (as Coyla rightly pointed out) that just to make that step toward healthy eating *is* a huge step. It's also a step in the right direction, this should be encouraged. Remember; *Roma non fu fatta in un giorno!*

It's no good telling someone they *should* be doing a thing (by virtue of the fact that they are here, the chances are they are well aware of it. Most people are not stupid.) - the more they are told, the more they may resist.... to their own detriment. Who would want that for someone? Change, I find, is best effected with gentle nurturing and encouragement.

Besides, who are we to tell others how they should live their lives? We may think we're doing it with the best intentions, but are we really? Do we consider how our well-intentioned advice might actually affect someone? And will the recipient see it as good intentions, or just some smug git, telling them what to do?!

Also, when someone has logged a particular dish instead of ingredients, it could be that the recipe contained lots of veggies but you're not seeing them. If you look at my diary, you will mostly see entries which begin with 'The Goktor's....' - there may be little evidence of vegetables, yet all my recipes contain lots. It wouldn't necessarily be apparent just by a glance through my diary!

When all is said and done, I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions, and actually, it seems like incredibly bad manners to me, to look at someone's diary, and then start a forum thread about how unhealthy they are....even if it *is* done with the best intentions. We humans can be fragile creatures, y'know - the last thing we need is to be pulled up by our peers for not eating our vegetables!

The price of veggies is getting higher its cheaper to eat hot chips!! That's why I made a veggie garden it's free and today I picked lettuce, spinach and tomato for my sanger nothing fresher!

And even if you only have a windowsill in a dorm, you can grow salads in pots...if you are so inclined! And MiniBelle tomatoes!

ETA: Not saying anyone *should*, just that it can be done!

and i do eat a fair amount of fruit and veg normally

If one doesn't really like veggies then try mixing them in a casserole, a chilli, soup, throw some in the skillet with chicken...the list could go on. Instead of thinking of vegetables as single item on a plate, mix them in with things you love to eat.

I use V8 to help with my veggies!