Hate vegetables

One way to get started if you're trying to lose weight, is take a multi vitamin and simply focus on calories to get the hang of weight loss. Then, as the weight starts to come off, you can experiment with recipes to include veggies. "Healthy eating" alone will not result in weight loss, only a calorie deficit will. Most of us here on MFP achieve that by weighing our food portions on a digital food scale and staying within the calorie allotment MFP gave us for our weight loss goals.

Some of my favorite ways to eat vegetables without noticing is to put spinach into a smoothie with strawberries and bananas and yogurt. It tastes very fruity. Another way I do it (and this is gross, but effective), is chug a super cold low-sodium V8. It's low calorie and gets the veggies in.

Theoretically, you could lose all the weight you need to lose without touching a single vegetable. Might be quite the experiment.

I feel your pain. I hate most green vegetables, too. I like corn, potatoes, peas and edamame - the vegetables that people decry as starches.

For a long time trying to eat vegetables would actually trigger a gag reflex for me. I started trying them without actually swallowing them. Took a bite, chewed it, tasted it, spit it into a napkin. Obviously I only did this in private. I still don't like most of them, but I can eat most of them in public now without a physical reaction (except onions) which has massively reduced my stress level when eating socially. I can also tolerate many vegetables mixed with other foods now (by themselves I still this they taste terrible).

I still don't eat anywhere close to my daily recommendations, but I bought Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook on how to hide them in food for kids and when I have time for the prep I'll make some of those recipes.

Sorry I don't have a quick fix for you.

Had another thought - Zucchini makes a pretty decent pasta substitute. I sliced 3 zucchini into long strips and used it in place of lasagna noodles. Zucchini flavor is pretty mild and the other flavors in lasagna are strong so that was a winner for me.

How about raw and crunchy and dipped in stuff? Baby carrots with peanut butter is a favorite of mine, or fat free ranch dressing. Cucumbers? Tomatoes? Do you eat pasta with tomato sauce? Try adding zucchini or broccoli chopped small and cooked in the sauce. I used to hate cabbage and Brussels sprouts, but I like them roasted or sautéed. Asparagus, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, any of the cabbage-family really, are strong veggies. Raw tends to be more palatable than cooked. Salads? Cole slaw?

When my son was little, I made a LOT of carrot cake and zucchini bread - double the veggies - and he loved that, though he wouldn't touch the vegetables plain. Or vegetable fritters, like zucchini/apple. Then again, to this day - he's 22 and thin as can be - he doesn't care for anything but junk food. I'm pretty sure he doesn't eat veggies still.

First of all, you don't have to eat things you don't like. Try a few different vegetables and ways to prepare them, but if they're just awful to you no matter what, then find something you do like.

I firmly believe that all vegetables should be roasted if possible, especially if you don't think you like them. Of course, this doesn't apply to vegetables that are clearly too delicate to handle high temperatures, but you can roast most things and it changes the flavor dramatically. Cruciferous vegetables--broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts--are especially great candidates for roasting. It takes away much of the bitterness that some people taste with these vegetables. Yes, roasting does require a fair amount of oil, but if that fits into your macros, then go for it. I usually just add salt and pepper, but you can add other seasonings as well.

Soup is also a wonderful option. Throw some peas, carrots, etc. in a soup and let it simmer. They'll take on the flavors of the rest of the soup. The vegetables don't have to be the focus of the soup.

Sauces and dressings are your friend. You don't have to eat your veggies plain. Put a sauce you like on 'em.

Some vegetables work in sweet dishes as well as savory. Sweet potatoes are the obvious choice here, but you can also make maple brown sugar carrots. Many salads include fruit and/or a sweet dressing; spinach is a popular choice with strawberries or oranges, but I also make a kale salad with apples, dried berries, and candied walnuts. I even came across a recipe for corn ice cream, though I haven't tried that yet.

Then there are veggies that just don't get as much love as I think they should. Eggplant, for example. You can roast it, grill it, bread it, put it in a stir fry, make baba ghannouj out of it.

Finally, one option that doesn't get mentioned as often: pickling. It's not just for cucumbers, and you don't have to spend all day with a bunch of glass jars. You can make quick pickles in your refrigerator with very simple ingredients. Pickles can be made out of just about any vegetable and can be sweet or savory. Basically, you cut up the veggies you want to pickle, mix up a brine, pour brine over veggies, and leave it in the fridge for a day or two.

mallycat1013 wrote: »

Cooked or raw it's still not good. Ive prepared them diffrent ways and still cant handle it. I'm trying to keep my calories down and heat healthy but there's not very many meals that can do that. I'm getting sick of eating the same things all the time. Like if I eat chicken breast for dinner with rice. That just doesnt seem healthy or filling enough.

There's no way you've tried all vegetables and all possible preparations of them. I understand it may *feel* like you have, but I bet you haven't.

Chicken breast and rice isn't enough to keep you healthy, your instincts are right. Vegetables are eaten just about everywhere on earth because they contain things that we basically need to stay healthy.

risotto with sauted vegetables is a favorite of mine - right now the one has carrots/celery/onion and corn; as well as cheese

mallycat1013 wrote: »

Cooked or raw it's still not good. Ive prepared them diffrent ways and still cant handle it. I'm trying to keep my calories down and heat healthy but there's not very many meals that can do that. I'm getting sick of eating the same things all the time. Like if I eat chicken breast for dinner with rice. That just doesnt seem healthy or filling enough.

The more specific you can be, the more helpful recommendations you are going to get. For example, I and several other people have asked you about tomato sauce--if you are eating it, that is a fabulous place to start. If you specifically rule it out, we can quit recommending it. Even providing a scale of less disgusting to more disgusting will get you better-tailored advice.

Also, if you don't like veg, why wouldn't you be eating a big pile of fruit with your chicken and rice? Fruit, although somewhat higher calorie, is going to have the same kinds of micronutrients and fiber that makes veggies so important in your diet. If you are eating a large amount and wide variety of fruit (and whole grains or beans), then you are still getting a very decent, healthful diet.