Picky eater tips?

7rainbow
7rainbow Posts: 161 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Everyone makes eating healthy seem easy, but I find it hard when there aren't many healthy foods I like. I will eat almost any kind of sweet, but I am currently just rotating between like, 4 different lunches because that's all I like to eat that isn't hot dogs and nachos.
Things I don't like:
-Vegtables (I can handle lettuce and some basics like corn though, but don't enjoy them much)
-Anything from the ocean
-Nuts (unless they are in sweets)
-Any kind of sauce, condiment, or dressing (I'm okay with sauces for noodles though)
-Eggs, honey, peanut butter
-Most processed lunch meats
I'm not really sure what to do for lunch cause I like quick stuff. Any ideas are appreciated!

Replies

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Well, all I can say is that tastes do change. If you think back you probably are eating things now that you didn't 10 years ago. So, I'd suggest branching out slowly. If you want to eat differently, you have to taste different things. Some will catch your interest. Once that happens, expand a bit on that food--cooked different ways, or with a different spice. Many people that don't like vegetables have never eaten them cooked properly.

    There are threads on here with pictures of food posted. You might find some ideas there. There is the "Produce" thread and "What do your meals look like, show me pictures" thread. Now there are people that are almost at chef level that post, but also lots of people that just like to cook. There's something for everyone, and it would give you a chance to see what everyone else is eating.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    What kind of ingredients are there in hotdogs and nachos? Why not try to use those and combine them differently for a start? A sausage with guacamole and black beans might be odd, but I'm sure there are other things possible.
  • Luke_rabbit
    Luke_rabbit Posts: 1,031 Member
    One comment:

    Lots of people eat the same foods for breakfast and lunch.

    One question:

    What did you eat before for lunch?
  • 7rainbow
    7rainbow Posts: 161 Member
    bold_rabbit wrote: »
    One comment:

    Lots of people eat the same foods for breakfast and lunch.

    One question:

    What did you eat before for lunch?

    I eat the same breakfast everyday (have my whole life), so that is the one meal I'm generally okay with. I have plain cheerios in skim milk, sometimes if I have woken up earlier that day I'll have a snack like a graham pecan muffin.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,142 Member
    I second the branching out comment, there are lots of veggies I didn't previously enjoy or tolerated in meals but didn't particularly like, but I like to cook and sometimes experimenting with different methods of cooking can give different textures/tastes - take the poor Brussel sprout for example, my mother used to boil the *kitten* out of those things and they were just a horrible bitter tasting mess. However, since I started cooking for myself I've tried and enjoyed them pan fried with butter & pancetta, roasted on their own or with chestnuts, shredded into coleslaw and blitzed into a soup with onions, celery, potato and blue cheese).

    I never liked pickled beetroot and only recently could tolerate shop bought cooked beetroot in hummus if it had plenty of garlic and seasoning. Then I got some fresh as part of a veggie box I get delivered and I made a chocolate cake with it - absolutely delicious and roasted some for a pie.

    Maybe try with some of the stuff that you can tolerate, like the lettuce and corn and maybe make a salad or a pasta dish.

  • jcraig10
    jcraig10 Posts: 477 Member
    I don’t like most veggies either. I’ve found a couple I like by playing with how they’re cooked. For example- green beans cooked on the stove top I find disgusting. However, roasted to as light crunch I think they are good.

    Quick and easy lunch:
    Tortilla pizza
    Chicken quesadilla

    Do you like chicken? I’m not a fan of lunch meat either. For sandwiches, I’ll cook chicken in the crockpot and then shred it for sandwiches for the week. Or use a rotisserie chicken instead.

    Another easy thing to do for lunch is to simply overcook for dinner, so that you have leftovers. I automatically box up leftovers before I eat my meal to avoid overeating.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited January 2021
    Do keep experimenting. But I think a lot of us just had our tastes change due to familiarity and, to a degree... not desperation but sort of preservation. By *taste preference* I'd eat 2 hot dogs with chili (and mayo) and chips for lunch. ...Then be starved later in the day because, lol, that's like 1100 calories and what the HECK am I eating the rest of the day for my remaining 400-600 calories? Nothing. That's what. I'm going to go over or be starved.

    The solution is to eat one hot dog (with mustard instead of mayo and keep the chili but less of it) and we're at 350 which is reasonable but that's not enough VOLUME. So, add some sliced bell pepper, cucumber, carrots (in the air fryer without oil and then salted and they're okay 'fries') or something and you're coming in under 500. Get hungry enough and you will discover you can in fact eat some stuff that's not your favorite/you don't *love* so you aren't miserable.

    And then your taste buds adapt. So the things you hated are okay, the things you were meh about are good, and the things that were good - for me sugary things - will blow your taste buds out - or your stomach -- I really, really can't do dairy anymore, LOL.

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