Why don't you eat vegetables?

geoblewis
geoblewis Posts: 44 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm just curious...

No judgment. I want to know why.

I have struggled with eating enough veggies. I've had six servings today. I want to eat 10-20 1/2-cup servings. I want to eat less protein (I tend to eat too much), no processed food, or fast food. If I ate enough veggies, I think it would be easier.

But some people have a really hard time with veggies, so...

Replies

  • paulandrachelk
    paulandrachelk Posts: 280 Member
    True-they aren't sweet. I switched to snacking on carrots/celery/radishes and lost 4 lbs in a week. Probably liver sugar. At 125 shooting for 120 that is a LOT.
  • slider728
    slider728 Posts: 1,494 Member
    Personally, I blame it on my childhood. I grew up in Alaska and the transportation infrastructure wasn't as well laid out at it is now a days. Stuff like fresh veggies were expensive. Canned veggies were there, but honestly I never cared for the overcooked salty taste of canned veggies. I wasn't raised on them so I never really cooked them myself when I became a grown up. Salmon, shellfish, venison, and crab.....raised on it and still love them to this day!

    Combine this with my career in my early 20's where I worked overseas a lot. The company doctors would pound in our heads that we shouldn't eat raw veggies unless we peeled it ourselves.

    Working hard to get my veggies in now! Probably not doing a very good job at it, but I am trying.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Grill or roast them:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlTAD5YE7m4

  • Morgaen73
    Morgaen73 Posts: 2,817 Member
    Cause they taste crap!!! I grew up on a farm and I loved (some) veggies when I was a kid but I really cant stand the taste of them, specially the sweet ones.
  • geoblewis
    geoblewis Posts: 44 Member
    Personally, I love most vegetables. The ones that don't make the cut are usually something whose texture disgusts me. Okra is at the very top of that list. No, don't tell me to dredge it in cornmeal and fry it. That would just ruin cornmeal for me.

    I did try grilling okra once. The ones that were okay to eat were the really young ones. But the bigger they got, the stringer they were. And they made me gag!
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    There are HUNDREDS of vegetables - you don't have to like all of them. If you've had 6 servings you're doing well!

    I try to get them into most meals - spinach and mushrooms in my breakfast eggs, salads or soup based lunches, snacks of crunchy cucumber or carrot, stir fries for dinner with peppers, broccoli, mange tout.
  • totaldetermination
    totaldetermination Posts: 1,184 Member
    I'm not a big fan of salads; but I like them roasted.
  • lilmissdreday
    lilmissdreday Posts: 16 Member
    Was never really bought up on 'having to eat' my veg. That and I was a smoke for 11 years (2 weeks non-smoker now!!) so taste buds not at full potential meaning every vegetable tastes like a rock.
  • geoblewis
    geoblewis Posts: 44 Member
    Thanks for posting the video, RodaRose. If ever there were a gateway vegetable, grilled zucchini is it!

    Plain, steamed veggies aren't that appealing for most Americans, I think. I lived overseas for some time, in different Asian countries. I fell in love with gulai sayur in Indonesia, collard greens in a curry sauce. My kids would eat them without being bribed. They also loved to eat young gai lan (Chinese broccoli) in oyster sauce. I'm planning to hit the Asian vegetable market when they come in season.

    I found some bitter melon there last time I went. I'm not sure about that one...
  • pensfan1
    pensfan1 Posts: 45 Member
    I'm not a veggie eater. I tend to avoid foods due to texture, so I think that's my issue. I love cucumbers and carrots but otherwise, I like starchy veggies like corn. I'm learning to hide veggies in my everyday foods. I made a pasta with chicken and and worked in a bag of frozen veggies. That seems to be the trick to make me eat a few different veggies that I would normally avoid.

    I've also found that when I try to force myself to eat things that I don't really like, I fall off the wagon quickly. This time around, I'm not forcing myself to eat vegetables if I don't want them. I wish I liked them....oh well.
  • sophomorelove
    sophomorelove Posts: 193 Member
    I love hummus! So whatever is "dippable", I'll eat.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    geoblewis wrote: »

    I found some bitter melon there last time I went. I'm not sure about that one...

    My neighbors grow bitter melon and sometimes one makes it over to my side of the fence. I use it to make a simple sabji with onion and tomato, but it is bitter!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I grew up on canned veggies too... ugh.

    Now I eat them way more than I used to, but I get bored with them. The problem is that to make them tastier, you have to add things that pretty much double their calories, which kinda defeats the purpose for me (yes I use spices but the difference is just minimal for me). I do like roasted veggies but yeah, add the oil and your 40 calorie serving of veggies is 80 calories... it adds up.

    Plus they're so expensive right now. Sigh. So I go the frozen veggies route but SO BORING. Today was frozen broccoli (2 servings), and probably some salad and potatoes tonight. I've been eating mostly salad lately (spring mix with tomatoes, carrots, red onion).

    And yeah, soup, which I prefer making myself too but again... I'm not spending $3 on a tiny cauliflower.. so I buy store made soup when it's on sale.
  • robot_potato
    robot_potato Posts: 1,535 Member
    I love veggies. I had to love then as a kid. My mother is italian and we lived off homemade bread and pasta. I hated pasta. I refused to eat it so my option was whatever veggie we had as a side, which I hated less than pasta. They grew on me. I will eat any veg besides okra and Brussels sprouts (my sister had me convinced they were mouse brains as a kid, still can't stomach them).
  • ald783
    ald783 Posts: 688 Member
    I've never cared for them and my parents didn't really force me to eat them as a kid so I think I just kind of got used to not eating them as much as I should. I also figured life is too short to eat food I don't enjoy, and I lost all my weight eating very little in the veggie department.

    I've grown to like more of them than I used to and I get a solid 4-6 veggie servings in most days. But like others have said, it's a texture thing for me. I dislike a lot of veggies that barely have a taste but I'm not into the texture. I try to just eat more of the ones I do like.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I once bought Alexia's Spicy Sweet Potato Julienne Fries, loved them, and now roast sweet potatoes with as little oil as possible, plus some chipotle powder and salt. (Obviously use other seasoning if you don't care for chipotle.)

    I'm getting ready to put some, plus white potatoes and carrots, in the oven now.
  • fishshark
    fishshark Posts: 1,886 Member
    I loved veggies when I was a kid, but only a select few. Broccoli, green beans, and artichoke i devoured as a kid (still do). Maybe I love veggies because I know how to cook them (chef for 10 years) i love most foods though.
  • itsmemaringle
    itsmemaringle Posts: 69 Member
    I think it's the way they are cooked. Growing up veggies were boiled..
    I now steam which leaves veggies like broc, cabbage and carrots etc tasting amazing and I find pretty much everything is delicious roasted! Especially butternut squash, asparagus and parsnips.
    I am trying to eat more organic too which has better flavour....
    Best of luck
  • geoblewis
    geoblewis Posts: 44 Member
    Oh, I'm loving these responses! Thanks for helping me understand!

    My youngest doesn't see openly eating vegetables as something that lines up with his macho persona. But if I hide it in meat, he's okay with it. Tonight I shredded three zucchini and a red onion, sauteed them in a little olive oil, then mixed them into a pound of ground beef. I stirred in a can of sliced black olives and half a cup of light sour cream. Served with a sprinkle of Greek oregano and shredded Parmesan cheese. It was good. And he ate it, along with a big serving of steamed green beans with a little olive oil and lemon juice.

    My mom used to make a vegetable stew that I really hated. It included potatoes, tomatoes, green beans (okay so far), fava bean pods (fuzzy), okra (boogers and slime!), eggplant (mushy!), and fennel tops (UGH! Like having hair in your stew!). It was awful! And my mom, who grew up in Greece during WW2, would not even let us pick through what we liked and leave the rest behind. Had to eat it ALL. Lots of gagging. Whining. Crying. She never backed down!

    Therapy. Lots of therapy.

Categories