Healthy Foods For A Picky Eater

My suggestion? Don't do it until you find something you enjoy that is "healthy." If you try to change what you're eating to something you don't enjoy you will find your weight loss will severely stall because you won't be sticking to what you need to be doing more of: portion control.

Actual advice based on what you say you want: try different foods. Everywhere. You may be a picky eater, but that just means you haven't experienced a lot of what you may enjoy. I make green beans with dinner very regularly, and when they are soft and ready to eat I put some grated Parmesan cheese on them and throw them in the oevn for a while with a little olive oil. Nothing too much. The extra cheese and flavor that adds really makes it so everyone in my house loves them, including my two kids. Maybe try something with that? Find a food you are willing to give a try and add something you do enjoy to it. Don't "mask" the flavor, enhance it. Really bring out the best of both worlds.

Salad? Add cottage cheese, a little vinaigrette, and some chopped up pepperoni to add some flavor. Broccoli? Buy some flavored olive oil and sautee it with some chopped garlic. Makes it a very interesting flavor choice.

I also am not a huge salad fan and picky veggies eater. I do a lot of soups instead. I like butternut squash soup, pumpkin soup, and I just made a new cauliflower and potato soup. I can even do kale now, although I do it in soups and bake it so it's crunchy like chips.

Tuna, canned chicken, lean Turkey ham, ground lean Turkey. Even Tofu, but that's another story..

I find chopped salads much more appealing than the usual "pile a bunch of leaves in a bowl" method. Because you get a better mix of all the ingredients in each bite, it's usually less bitter and more flavorful, especially if you toss it in the dressing after chopping. Easier to eat, too.

I also like to buy some kind of tasty topping- dried fruit or candied nuts, or good croutons, added in moderation. I always joke that they're like the prize in the cereal box.

Salads are not a requirement for weight loss. You can get plenty of vegetables without ever eating a salad.

Some great way to eat vegetables are soup, stew, chili, pasta sauces, mushroom gravy (not technically a veg, but still quite nutritious), tacos, nachos, burritos, salsa, omelets, casseroles. Fruits also make great salsa or desserts.

I hate veggies too. I'm more likely to eat them raw than I am cooked. My advice is to try ones you haven't tried and find a few that you like. I mostly eat peas or carrots when I eat cooked veggies. Kinda boring as it's the same way, but the meat is different each time so I don't mind. I've also found it's easy to stick some spinach into a lot of casserole-type dishes where you can't taste them. I've tried the roasted veggie idea, and it didn't work for me. It might for you. One thing I found I will eat is fried cauliflower. Not breaded, just fried for a few minutes until lightly browned. Add salt and it's not half bad. Not the healthiest way to eat them, sure, but as long as you account for the oil, you're still getting the nutrition of the cauliflower. Same with tempura - there are veggies I'll eat as tempura, but not plain. Sure, higher calories, but I'm eating them. Also, I've seen bags of frozen seasoned veggies at the store. HSpoon loves the ranch broccoli, but there's Asian style, southwest style, buffalo style, lots of different things. That might be something to try because it's one bag, pre-seasoned, all you do is microwave it. Quick and easy and lets you try new options without making a large batch from a recipe.

And you don't have to swap out everyone all at once. Making a couple of changes at a time is slow, but if you do that and give yourself time to get used to it, it is easier in the long run. So find one veggie that you like cooked or raw and add that to your diet. Give yourself a couple weeks to adjust to it, then try and find something else.

kshama2001 wrote: »

I eat lots of veggies, but think they are an abomination when canned.

I think most people can agree with that statement! I grew up eating canned because that's all we could afford, but now that I've eaten frozen and fresh, I avoid the canned as much as possible!

what my husband and I have had good success with is picking one veggie at a time and then making it a mission to figure out a way that we like to eat it. We are probably not as picky as you but we started with brussel sprouts and we cooked them every which way until we found a couple of ways that we kind of liked. For instance roasted until there is lots of brown on them.

Then, I serve them BEFORE dinner when we're starving and working on getting the rest of dinner ready. I serve them roasted w/ toothpicks (I don't know why, more fun?) and we will both eat 5-10 brussel sprouts this way. It is truly a miracle.

We like Franks Hot Sauce. I am not above putting a little dish of that out to dip into. Why not?

but if someone steams them or heaven forbid defrosts a pack, I will be heaving. I agree that canned is generally gross.