Can I 'train' myself to like foods that I don't?

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Charlene_4723
Charlene_4723 Posts: 22 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys, joined mfp a few years back to lose some baby weight but wasn't part of the community and was VERY uneducated on nutrition etc. I'm now back and highly motivated to change my lifestyle and had a very enlightening past 2 weeks reading the forums.
Im slowly starting learn the ins and outs of losing weight but having a big problem choosing the right foods.
My biggest us probably that i hate vegetables. And I hate that I hate them. I have for as long as I remember and when speaking to my parents, they say I've never wanted them. I wonder if I was a fussy eater as a young child and my parents never bothered trying to help change it.
My lack of liking a broad range of food makes it so difficult to keep within my calorie intake everyday.
I have looked through hundreds of recipes on here and other healthy meals websites and the majority of them I don't fancy and it drives me crazy.
Many healthier meals are tomato based which just doesn't appeal to me at all.
So to refer to my post, is there a way I can learn to like these foods? I've tried to 'jazz up' some veg like cooking carrots in butter and chopping them up small into meals but I still find myself trying to pick them out.
I'd love to be able to just pick up carrot sticks as a snack or have a portion of asparagus with a meal but when I try, I just take one bite and push it away. It doesn't seem right to force myself to eat them, but should I do it ad maybe i will eventually take a liking to them?

Any advice would be massively appreciated before I fall back into my old ways and end up giving up!
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Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited January 2017
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    I have no clue...I eat piles of vegetables daily and I love them...I can't imagine not liking them. I prefer mine roasted or sauteed. I like some more than others and mostly eat those...like I don't like any peppers other than red...and it has to be roasted and peeled, I won't eat it raw.
  • Stella3838
    Stella3838 Posts: 439 Member
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    Over the years there have been lots of foods I started out not liking, but now love. Brussels sprouts, bleu cheese, olives, salmon, tomatoes.... I just kept trying to eat them. Sometimes prepared differently. I hate steamed Brussels sprouts, but LOVE them roasted in the oven tossed in olive oil with cracked salt and pepper. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, asparagus are all great this way. The only way to try to like them is to try to eat them I'm afraid. You might not end up liking everything, but maybe you'll find a few new things. There are so many ways to prepare food, maybe something will eventually appeal to you. I also couldn't imagine veggies not in my life. I hope you can get on good terms with them! Good luck!
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,949 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Cover them in sauces and curries maybe? As in think stews and soups, spaghetti sauces (not necessarily tomato based) with veggies in them. Maybe try buying the really weird veggies you see in the store. Try the veggies you've never tried. You might like some of the Asian veggies for example. Try eating them based on a recipe you find online instead of by themselves. You could also try cooking them and blending them into the sauce so that the sauce is smooth and you can't pick them out. Do you like tacos/burritos with salsa and guacamole? Just some ideas. Hahahah or eating in the dark lol (that one might be a bit crazy haha)

    What about onions? Chopped and mixed with ground beef, for example? Or meatloaf/meatballs with chopped mushrooms mixed into the meat?

    I had issues with veggies a month or two ago. Thought they were really bitter so it helped to eat them cooked vs raw but even then I was finding I needed them in a sauce or soup or I just didn't want them. For me it went away since it was just a pregnancy food aversion.

    Also I did teach myself to like some veggies a little more, simply by eating them more often. But I don't think I disliked them as much as you do. And it probably took a year or two.
  • Master_Butcher
    Master_Butcher Posts: 50 Member
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    Yes. Btw, habitual consumption of vegetables isn't mandatory for vitality. I mean it doesn't hurt but it's no magic pill like it's marketed as. That being said don't sleep on them just yet. You can chop them up and add them to a stir fry so they eventually take on the taste of the main dish.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Based on my personal experience, I say yes you can. Like you, I used to HATE vegetables. I would only eat corn, peas, edamame, and the occasional salad. When ordering food at a restaurant or from take out, I always avoided vegetables. If the dish I ordered came with veg, I ate around them or picked them out.

    Several years ago, I received a high speed blender for Christmas. It was around that time that the recommendation of eating "5 cups" of fruit and veg came out, so I started making green smoothies as a way of increasing my vegetable intake. I started out making them with more fruit than veg because the fruit masked the bitterness of the leafy greens I was using.

    After about 3-4 weeks of drinking green smoothies regularly, I suddenly found myself CRAVING vegetables. I was looking up vegetable recipes online and ordering vegetable dishes at restaurants, sometimes without any meat. I now look forward to eating kale, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, beets, etc etc etc.

    Our tastes often change over time but for me, those green smoothies (which I now make with more veg than fruit) essentially "forced me" to like veg. Your mileage may vary, of course.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    You know what.. I grew up with my mother making all of our vegetables completely saturated in butter, and sometimes even sweetened with sugar/honey/etc. I loved them for obvious reasons. If I go to a cafeteria or someone's house and eat a meal and eat the vegetables that are simply steamed/salted I hate them. They taste bland and just plain yuk. I've had to re-learn the flavors of a lot of vegetables, and what helped me was using lighter butters, and natural ways of sweetening things like carrots with honey or even Agave. But for the most part, I now eat baked potatoes a lot with salt + pepper on them, plus light ranch dressing so that I can flavor them and not add a lot of calories. As far as carrots, try the mini carrots, coat them lightly in extra virgin olive oil, salt+pepper, and bake them until they are just slightly brown at the edges. They sweeten up on their own and are delicious that way. As far as peas, green beans, etc. I still hate them unless I can flavor them with something.. anything.. bacon.. butter.. ham.. little onions, etc. It's all in the preparation. I think my favorite thing now is baked cauliflower florets and/or the mini carrots. Lightly coat them in EVOO, salt+pepper and bake at 325 until they are done to your liking. I even like the cauliflower to get a bit crispy. I'll then dip them in light ranch dressing.

    So yea, you can, to an extent re-learn to like them different ways, but plain.. steamed.. maybe not. Who knows.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    Google tips for getting kids to eat vegetables and try some of the suggestions on yourself.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
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    I like vegetables roasted or stir fried - just plain steamed veg doesn't appeal to me. I know the oil adds extra calories but you only need a small amount. Or could you eat them in soup? But really,you don't have to eat anything you really don't like !
  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,074 Member
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    I would agree with the two previous posts. The fact that you do not like any vegetables means to me that you have convince yourself that you are not going to eat them. Fortunately for me my mom made me and my sister eat vegetable every day. Some I hated. Some I liked. It has taken me until the age of 46 to try brussel sprouts as an adult. I was traumatized by beets and I still will not eat them.
    There are so many different types of veggies and so many different ways to prepare them. If you really want to incorporate them, then I would say start with something you might want to try and go from there. You can make carrot fries, kale chips, roasted veggies with olive oil are delicious.
    I would say worst case scenario you could always blend them in with other foods or in a smoothie. Green giant makes a cauliflower rice that is pretty good if you doctor it up. Either way, good luck to you.
  • getupforchange
    getupforchange Posts: 86 Member
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    I've never really struggled with vegetables in general but I hated coffee when I first tried it but trained myself to like that (kept drinking it and eventually I found myself loving it) so I guess you can just get used to things if you have them enough and then grow to like them.

    Also I found that when I started to cut a lot of sugar out of my diet my taste changed a bit. Like olives. I never used to like them and then I all of a sudden did when I changed my diet. Same with avocado actually.

    I say keep at it, and learn to like at least some of them because veggies are really good for you and they fill you up while being low cal.
  • applemiki
    applemiki Posts: 13 Member
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    To be honest I don't know why anyone would want to "train" themselves to eat a food they don't like. This is what turns people off from a healthy life style. :(

    I would replace vegs with a healthier food that you love. Like fruits, adding fruits to dishes is good.
  • handeye
    handeye Posts: 52 Member
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    I definitely think you should keep trying different vegetables all the time and try to cook them different ways. I think you can definitely change your taste in food by playing around with how you eat vegetables in many different ways until it "clicks". You will begin to see how they can add so much flavor and variety to your meals and once that clicks for you you will start to feel like something is missing when you don't have them throughout the day.

    I know you are on a calorie count, but an easy way to start mixing in vegetables is by adding them to things you already like. Try adding more veggies to your pizza, or sandwiches, things you can't really "eat around" the veggies, etc. I think cooked veggies are an easier way to step into eating veggies rather than going straight for raw ones. Play around with different oils, sauces, and cooking methods. Roasting veggies in the oven with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper gives them a nice carmelization and are really so, so delicious and easy to do.

    You can also try different Asian fare, like Thai food or Vietnamese food. Veggies are a huge part of many of those dishes and are done in a way that they are fully part of one complete dish, not just meat on the side and veggies on the side. When veggies are part of a complete dish like that you can see how everything works together.

    Of course you won't like every veggie, but you should keep trying them in different ways until you find something that works for you!

    Source: I used to be really picky and never ate veggies!
  • coboblack
    coboblack Posts: 64 Member
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    Charlene_4723 wrote: »
    Hey guys, joined mfp a few years back to lose some baby weight but wasn't part of the community and was VERY uneducated on nutrition etc. I'm now back and highly motivated to change my lifestyle and had a very enlightening past 2 weeks reading the forums.
    Im slowly starting learn the ins and outs of losing weight but having a big problem choosing the right foods.
    My biggest us probably that i hate vegetables. And I hate that I hate them. I have for as long as I remember and when speaking to my parents, they say I've never wanted them. I wonder if I was a fussy eater as a young child and my parents never bothered trying to help change it.
    My lack of liking a broad range of food makes it so difficult to keep within my calorie intake everyday.
    I have looked through hundreds of recipes on here and other healthy meals websites and the majority of them I don't fancy and it drives me crazy.
    Many healthier meals are tomato based which just doesn't appeal to me at all.
    So to refer to my post, is there a way I can learn to like these foods? I've tried to 'jazz up' some veg like cooking carrots in butter and chopping them up small into meals but I still find myself trying to pick them out.
    I'd love to be able to just pick up carrot sticks as a snack or have a portion of asparagus with a meal but when I try, I just take one bite and push it away. It doesn't seem right to force myself to eat them, but should I do it ad maybe i will eventually take a liking to them?

    Any advice would be massively appreciated before I fall back into my old ways and end up giving up!

    I didn't like many vegetables all that much either but now I love them. I always enjoyed corn, peas and greenbeans but I think the way I began to like others was by eating them with other food I liked. For example, I used to hate broccoli but I would eat it in broccoli and cheese casserole. I would get used to the taste while eating it in the same bite as chicken and rice or something where I could taste the brocolli but it was covered by better tasting food in the same bite.

    I remember this one day, I was super starving and broccoli was all they had on the table and I put some butter and soy sauce on it and ate it while I was starving and it tasted delicious. Ever since then, I like it as much as I like any other food. So, I didn't plan on it or "train" myself...but to answer you question, you can learn to like new foods if you eat it often, spice it the way you like and to eat it while really hungry.
  • chocolate_owl
    chocolate_owl Posts: 1,695 Member
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    Do you like potatoes? Vegetables like turnips and kohlrabi can be used in just about every way you'd use a potato. They're lower calorie and have a different micronutrient profile.

    My boss is anti green things, but he'll eat spinach if it's wilted and tossed in a flavorful oil.

    There are so many different kinds of lettuces and leafy greens out there. If you don't like iceberg because it's bland, try romaine, butter, or little gem lettuce, which are sweeter and more flavorful. A salad dressing you like helps too. If you don't like regular green kale, try Russian red, it's less tough. Tip: blanching in salted water goes a long way with kale and chard.

    Try cooking Asian dishes, there's a lot less tomato and a lot more strong-flavored sauces. Hoisin sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, chili paste... All will mask veggie flavors.
  • SierraFatToSkinny
    SierraFatToSkinny Posts: 463 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Leafy greens will get you high doses of nutrients without a lot of bulk.

    For example, today I pan cooked a pork chop and on the sides of the pan I cooked some green beans and garlic with collard greens, carrot top greens, and mustard greens in a pork drippings.

    Once the pork was done I moved that to a hot plate to sit and placed the greens on top.

    Then, in the pan with the leftover drippings, I made a sauce from a pad of butter, a couple tablespoons of heavy cream, some milk to make it go further, about a tablespoon of mustard, a teaspoon of chili sauce, and some salt and pepper.

    I soft whisked it together and added little less than a tablespoon of Wondra (super fine flour than loses the flour taste quickly.)

    Mixed it for a minute and then added the greens back in.

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    If you're not into green beans, then stick to the leafy greens. Those went down very nicely with the sauce. You can also add in some rice with the leaves and sauce.

    Note... this isn't the lowest calorie dish in the world. I'm not afraid of fat.

    Edit: I took screenshots of the meal in MFP, then also isolated the meal and screenshot the nutrition.

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  • amandaeve
    amandaeve Posts: 723 Member
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    No need to force yourself to like things. However, I suggest being open to experimentation. My bf is a very picky eater. I love all foods so I make a serving for him and just make it my lunch the next day if he doesn't like it. He hates all potatoes. However, we discovered the other day that he loves steamed spiralized sweet potatotes. Never could have guessed that, since he hated stir fried spiralized sweet potatoes. It helped to just be open to experimentation.
  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
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    I didn't take the time to read all the posts, but the green smoothie is an excellent idea. Start with your favorite fruit and then add leafy greens or cucumber or zucchini. Banana helps. Or maybe some sugar free protein powder.

    Also, you could try just a very small portion of the same veggie 20 times within a month or so. Your taste buds will adapt, and you may start to like it. Experts tell parents that some children have to try a vegetable 20 times before they accept it. You're not a child, but hey, it might work!

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