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: 10,179 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: 8,399 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: 13,575 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 :)
  • MalcolmX1983
    MalcolmX1983 Posts: 214 Member
    Steam the veg.
    Then grill them with some seasoning.
    Don't cook them for too long though.

    It's how I started with my veg.
    Once I got used to them, I stopped using herbs etc.
  • htimpaired
    htimpaired Posts: 1,404 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.

    What about brushing them with a little honey for sweetness? I like tossing my zucchini with Feta cheese and dried blueberries-you get a little sweet and a little salt. I also like the idea above about soups. There are also recipes online where you can diced veggies like zucchini really finely and mix them into your burgers or make meatballs out of them. Or if you like fried food, could you oven "fry" them with panko breading (so it's healthier than actually frying them).
  • mitzhogue
    mitzhogue Posts: 132 Member
    one word. smoothie. one more word. soup. blend fruits and veggies with juice and yogurt for a delicious smoothie. Try one at jamba juice or something first to see if it's something you can handle/like. secondly, cook all your veg down with some tasty chicken stock, puree it with an immersion blender or something and you won't have to worry about textures. both are very nice ways to eat real food. :smiley:
  • DearestWinter
    DearestWinter Posts: 595 Member
    I agree that it sounds like you're a supertaster. And everyone has provided excellent suggestions. Soups are my favorite way to get vegetables in my diet.

    I think it's great that you're still open to veg. I don't think there's anything wrong with puréed or mashed veg. Don't feel obligated to eat them raw if you can't stomach the taste!
  • Naasama
    Naasama Posts: 1 Member
    I have the same problem too, hate almost all veggies & the very few I do like are the ones higher on the sugar/carb scale (I'm pre-diabetic so got to watch sugar & carbs). The very few veggies I do eat I'll dice them very small & put in my food. But yea, it's hard. I also do the V8 V-Fusion light (for less carbs) & one 8oz glass is a serving of fruits & veggies. My favorite is the strawberry banana (I do not taste the veggies), oh, they now have infused water that is 1 serving of veggies. I've meet with the nutritionist several times & they know of my distaste of veggies & they were ok with me having the V8. The worst thing you can tell somebody who hates veggies is "just force yourself to eat it" nope!
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    My first advice would be to find the ones you feel are tolerable and suck it up and eat them. Eat them with potatoes in a stew. You said you like potatoes . Even if its not your favorite meal. Even if you have to make them mushy. I tell my own child all the time " everything won't always taste like candy but you gotta just suck it up and try to find ones that are tolerable"
    Since you like pasta , make a hearty sauce packed with veggies . the tomato sauce will overpower the veggie taste .
    Make a mushy soup and add in adobo and rice. The adobo will hide the taste of veggies.
    What about Cheddar cheese on the broccoli? That's usually a hit !
    What would you tell your children if they said they didn't like any veggies ? What advice would you give them ?
    At some point in our lives we have to decide if we want to stay the same or make the necessary changes to improve ourselves. You don't have to love every veggie, but tolerating some would probably be a good idea at some point.

  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 4,757 Member
    Some veggies you might want to try:
    red bell peppers, they get super sweet. You can even find them at the grocers, already roasted and in glass jars.
    cauliflower, boil it til soft and treat it the same as you would potatoes, add milk, butter etc.
    Sweet potatoes, you can place them in foil, add some butter and honey if you like, roast til soft, about 40 mins.

    I don't think juicing gives you all that you need from a veggie, so I don't do that. I do add kale or spinach to a fruit smoothy if I really need a little extra veg that day.

    Have you ever done eggplant where you slice it up, place in a colander over a bowl, let it drain for half hr. Then roast or pan fry it. The salt pulls out the bitterness. Have a few slices with pasta sauce, no need for the pasta itself.

    The veggie world is big and broad, just keep looking for the sweet ones if bitter turns you off. Try to relax and look at this as a mystery you have to solve, what veggies out there won't zap you with bitterness.

    Lots of people have food hangups, my nephew will not touch a green thing, fruit or veggie. We are all different when it comes to foods.
  • zoopop47
    zoopop47 Posts: 1 Member
    I have a similar problem - - I've come to believe that no one really eats vegetables because they actually taste good. Rather you know that you are supposed to or your mother told you to...

    Green stuff (e.g., brocolli) is palatable with yellow (cheese) stuff or white (butter) stuff, but that, too, is problematic.

    Low sodium V8 juice helps some. Multi vitamins get the basic elements
  • lizzieloo934
    lizzieloo934 Posts: 57 Member
    I grew up in a similar environment. Never made to eat veggies and instead grew up on a lot of crap.

    As an adult, veggies (and all new foods) would make me gag too. The first time I joined weight watchers was the first time I started to challenge myself - veggies were less points after all! So I would make veggies, or eat them raw and would literally eat 1-2 bites. Then I couldn't eat anymore as they were so freakn gross. But I would consistently do this - every day have 1-2 bites 1-2 times a day. After a year they became tolerable. Then another year I was able to enjoy them! Your taste buds can change but it can take a lot of work for some of us to change them!

    Now I enjoy trying to foods and like many veggies :)
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,255 Member
    I don't have any suggestions on eating veggies, but want to suggest that you take a multivitamin (if you aren't already) to make sure you get the vitamins you need until you figure out the best way to incorporate more veggies into your diet.

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