Veggies make me gag

hazzaram
hazzaram Posts: 77 Member
in Food and Nutrition
This is a serious post and I'm legitimately looking for help. Please no negative comments.

My biggest issue with eating better is that the taste of vegetables makes me gag. Seriously. I keep trying to experiment with them but I can't find a way to eat them, so I end up giving up and go back to my fast-food eating habits. I can't stand the crunchy texture of them and along with that, I can't stand the taste. I find vegetables very bitter - even the ones people say are sweet tasting like carrots. The only thing I've found that helps is cooking them until they're soft and mushy and then eating them with something else, like a potato. I can eat almost anything if it's with potato, lol. But doesn't cooking them down like that make them lose nutrition??

It isn't that I haven't tried different kinds, either. You name it, I've tried it. I really do try but can't manage more than 1 or 2 bites without forgoing the rest of my dinner. It's super frustrating. I've been to see a registered dietitian but she didn't understand my problem at all and had no suggestions.

I've tried smoothies, too, but I can't seem to make one that I like. I find green smoothies to be gritty and they require so many expensive ingredients (greek yogurt, special milk, chia seeds etc.) and I am on a very limited budget. The other issue with smoothies is that my roommate works from home (call center position from home) and the sound of the blender interrupts their work.

I know all of this sounds silly but it's really controlling my life. I see all these suggestions for eating better and they all say to fill your plate full of veggies, then eat a very small potion of meat etc. and I'm so envious of people that can do that without feeling sick.

This goes back as far as I can remember. I never liked veggies and my parents never pushed the issue with me. They never made me eat them and I was allowed to eat whatever.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. I feel so lost.
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Replies

  • hazzaram
    hazzaram Posts: 77 Member
    I wanted to add that I'm thinking about trying juicing but I'm afraid to make the investment in an expensive juicer. Can you really mask the taste of the vegetables with fruit? I wonder if I can get my veggie intake for the day in the form of juice.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Eat veg mushy, eat more fruit than veg if you prefer it, take a multi vitamin, job done.

    This. Maybe you're British and just weren't aware? :smiley:

    But mushy peas and mushy carrots are pretty standard, so eat them if you enjoy them.

    I also like roasting vegetables because I think the flavor is fantastic, and I think they end up tasting sweeter (and you can control the level of crunchy depending on how long you cook them). But if you don't like them roasted either, no reason to force yourself to eat them that way.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    edited May 2016
    IMO mushy vegetables are better than none at all, so if you have to start off that way and gradually try other forms of cooking that is still something.

    For the taste, there are a lot of low calorie things you can do to add tons of flavour (and mask the vegetable flavour) if you need to at first. Hot sauces are great, balsamic vinegar, fresh or squeeze-bottle herbs (or even dried), garlic, etc etc. If you roast a couple of heads of garlic in the oven until soft and then add a clove or two to your mushy vegetables all you'll taste is delicious garlic.

    You can also try cooking, then blending up vegetables like carrots and bell peppers (or even greens like spinach) and add them to pasta sauce if you're into that. Tomato sauce is pretty low calorie as long as it doesn't have a ton of oil or sugar added, and it's an easy thing to add extra vegetables to. And if you're really adventurous, you can use that sauce to top zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash, which have a very mild flavour and texture when cooked. (Edited to add: riced cauliflower is another great base for tomato sauces and has a pleasant starchy texture and mild flavour as well.)

    Roasting your vegetables is another popular option because it creates a sweet-tasting caramelization that is very palatable to most people.

    Oh, and I don't recommend juicing as you're then losing all the fibre, which is important to your digestive health and helps you feel full.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    If you can't stand to eat, for instance, a raw purple onion, cook it until it's caramelized and try it that way.
  • its_laura_btw
    its_laura_btw Posts: 48 Member
    I would say just avoid them and go for more fruit.
    But I also dislike vegetables but I find my ways of eating them. Like, I hate broccoli, but if they are stir fried with garlic, broccoli is yummy.
    I also feel you with the gagging problem.
    Peaches make me gag, and smoothies make me gag. It's the texture. If for you you find that the texture is making you gag, you're going to have to eat them to get used to it. It's horrible I know, but it works. I can now drink most smoothies, some I eat with a spoon to help. And can get through a peach with maybe one lil gag!
    When it comes to taste, you're just going to have to play around with things. Boil them until they have no taste and mix them with something else! That's a personal favourite of mine.
    Maybe mix them with something stronger?
    It's hard to say because I don't have a gagging problem taste wise, but I hope that I helped a little bit :)
  • hazzaram
    hazzaram Posts: 77 Member
    I've tried roasted vegetables but I find they taste burnt and bitter that way...

    I do try and hide veggies in other things! I'm great at hiding veggies in pasta sauce (usually zucchini and spinach) but I can't eat pasta every day (unfortunately!). I usually don't make my own sauce though. I buy a healthy-ish one and add the veggies to it.

    Hm. Maybe I'll give roasted veggies another try. Same with smoothies. I have some strawberries kicking around in the freezer that I can use.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    hazzaram wrote: »
    I've tried roasted vegetables but I find they taste burnt and bitter that way...

    I do try and hide veggies in other things! I'm great at hiding veggies in pasta sauce (usually zucchini and spinach) but I can't eat pasta every day (unfortunately!). I usually don't make my own sauce though. I buy a healthy-ish one and add the veggies to it.

    Hm. Maybe I'll give roasted veggies another try. Same with smoothies. I have some strawberries kicking around in the freezer that I can use.

    To add a range of nutrients, I'll throw a can of pureed pumpkin in with my pasta sauce; can't taste it at all.
  • teetertatertango
    teetertatertango Posts: 229 Member
    +1 for roasting. Turns some vegetables into darn near candy. :)
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,400 Member
    Since you like potatos, here's an idea for you--I frequently make a creamy soup. Clean a big potato cut in fourths, some celery stalks, a little onion, a handful of parsely--boil all this in a tall pan with 2 1/2 cups of water. When your water is boiling, turn down to simmer and cover. Simmer 15 to 20 min (as you said, don't cook away all the nutrients), at this point pure' the mixture. I use a hand held mixer because it's fast and easy to clean. After pure'ing I add some milk, broth flakes, pepper, etc. You can add whatever you like, a little olive oil, paprika.... Pour in a bowl and top with parmesean cheese. Change it up as you like. Good luck, there's a solution for every problem. Just keep trying.
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    hazzaram wrote: »
    I've tried roasted vegetables but I find they taste burnt and bitter that way...

    I do try and hide veggies in other things! I'm great at hiding veggies in pasta sauce (usually zucchini and spinach) but I can't eat pasta every day (unfortunately!). I usually don't make my own sauce though. I buy a healthy-ish one and add the veggies to it.

    Hm. Maybe I'll give roasted veggies another try. Same with smoothies. I have some strawberries kicking around in the freezer that I can use.

    So you like tomato sauce? That is a vegetable!

    Do you like soup, then? Pureed soups can be nourishing, and it's fine to put potatoes in to cut the flavor of the other things.

    Also I wanted to suggest therapy - it sounds like you have a mental thing going on, the aversion to textures and flavors. Being a supertaster isn't in your mind, that's a difference in taste buds. You will probably always taste more of the bitterness and experience flavors more intensely than others, but how you react to that, and how you feel about it, is to some extent within your control to modify.

    What flavors do you enjoy? Can you enjoy beer, or anything like that will some bitterness?

    What about fruits? Watermelon? That has a lot of texture, does it gag you?
  • JessaWannaEatEverything
    JessaWannaEatEverything Posts: 106 Member
    What if you tried tricking yourself? There are all kinds of books about tricking your kids into eating veggies...

    https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=Cx5oiZcd_t8C&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&gl=US&gclid=COjx7rGk5MwCFVNofgodOSEPSg&gclsrc=ds
  • Jme03
    Jme03 Posts: 140 Member
    I really appreciate the helpful tones in this thread. I have the same problem with veggies, to the point where I pick all the tiny onions and green things out of my soup and pasta sauce. Most of my life, I've gotten lots of eye rolls & flack about "being picky."
    I've still managed to lose about 45lbs. I eat a lot of fruit as snacks or side items & supplement my diet with a multivitamin.
    I wish I had a broader palate, for social reasons just as much as health reasons.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    There is nothing wrong with cooking your vegetables. Salads are time consuming to make and eat IMO and there are only a few vegetables I like raw enough to just snack on. Most of the vegetables I eat are cooked and I've never had a vitamin deficiency.

    Sauces, soups, stews and chili are great ways to add vegetables because the flavors of all the ingredients get mixed together. Try stewing pork loin or beef roast with sweet potatoes and carrots. The orange vegetables give the meat a bit of sweetness and become very mushy and mild tasting when cooked with the meat. If the texture of vegetables in soups, chili or stews are a problem you can use an immersion blender to turn them into a creamy sauce once they are cooked (remove the meat, blend, then add the meat back).

    Some nutrients are destroyed with heat, but others are more easily absorbed when the vegetable is cooked. Most root vegetables are more nutritious cooked than raw.
  • miakristmann
    miakristmann Posts: 27 Member
    Green smoothies dont have to have yogurt and all that. Just get yout veggies and some water.. I'd say its a lot easier than eating. Just gulp it down... Or invest in a juicer.
  • miakristmann
    miakristmann Posts: 27 Member
    Also side note, depending on your goal eating fruit will increase your sugar intake by a lot. I wouldn't really substitue vegetables with fruit unless you dont mind the excess sugar. I would highly recommend a juicer the texture is just liquid and easier to drink.
  • suzyjane1972
    suzyjane1972 Posts: 612 Member
    edited May 2016
    Super taster here.....cannot and will not eat dark greens, ginger, dill and cilantro and a few more i won't bore you with ..so I don't I eat what I like. Try pureed carrots in pasta sauce, blended veg in soups try different veg cooked different ways and find what you like.
  • hazzaram
    hazzaram Posts: 77 Member
    First of all, I want to thank everyone for being so kind and helpful!! I was honestly expecting some horribly mean responses but I've gotten nothing but help from you guys. I am so thankful and I am going to try harder. I appreciate this very much <3
    robininfl wrote: »
    hazzaram wrote: »
    I've tried roasted vegetables but I find they taste burnt and bitter that way...

    I do try and hide veggies in other things! I'm great at hiding veggies in pasta sauce (usually zucchini and spinach) but I can't eat pasta every day (unfortunately!). I usually don't make my own sauce though. I buy a healthy-ish one and add the veggies to it.

    Hm. Maybe I'll give roasted veggies another try. Same with smoothies. I have some strawberries kicking around in the freezer that I can use.

    So you like tomato sauce? That is a vegetable!

    Do you like soup, then? Pureed soups can be nourishing, and it's fine to put potatoes in to cut the flavor of the other things.

    Also I wanted to suggest therapy - it sounds like you have a mental thing going on, the aversion to textures and flavors. Being a supertaster isn't in your mind, that's a difference in taste buds. You will probably always taste more of the bitterness and experience flavors more intensely than others, but how you react to that, and how you feel about it, is to some extent within your control to modify.

    What flavors do you enjoy? Can you enjoy beer, or anything like that will some bitterness?

    What about fruits? Watermelon? That has a lot of texture, does it gag you?

    I would love to try therapy but I can’t afford it unfortunately and have no benefits. I’m not even sure a therapist could help with that. Would it have to be some sort of specialized therapist? I’m just afraid of someone looking at me like I have two heads when I bring up my food issues. The dietitian I saw thought I was crazy, lol.
    I’ve always wondered if I’m a supertaster. I know there are tests but I’ve never tried them.
    No, I don’t like beer. I can’t really think of anything bitter that I enjoy. I think it’s honestly anything strongly flavoured that gets me. I don’t like bitter, sour, spicy etc.
    I really appreciate the helpful tones in this thread. I have the same problem with veggies, to the point where I pick all the tiny onions and green things out of my soup and pasta sauce. Most of my life, I've gotten lots of eye rolls & flack about "being picky."
    I've still managed to lose about 45lbs. I eat a lot of fruit as snacks or side items & supplement my diet with a multivitamin.
    I wish I had a broader palate, for social reasons just as much as health reasons.

    Congratulations!! That's awesome! I 100% know how you feel, though. Feel free to friend me if you want? I definitely understand your struggles :)
    There is nothing wrong with cooking your vegetables. Salads are time consuming to make and eat IMO and there are only a few vegetables I like raw enough to just snack on. Most of the vegetables I eat are cooked and I've never had a vitamin deficiency.

    Sauces, soups, stews and chili are great ways to add vegetables because the flavors of all the ingredients get mixed together. Try stewing pork loin or beef roast with sweet potatoes and carrots. The orange vegetables give the meat a bit of sweetness and become very mushy and mild tasting when cooked with the meat. If the texture of vegetables in soups, chili or stews are a problem you can use an immersion blender to turn them into a creamy sauce once they are cooked (remove the meat, blend, then add the meat back).

    Some nutrients are destroyed with heat, but others are more easily absorbed when the vegetable is cooked. Most root vegetables are more nutritious cooked than raw.

    Thank you very much for your suggestions! I'm going to try those things :)

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