What do you do if someone HATES vegetables?!
GreenLifeGirl
Posts: 381 Member
Our family friends have a daughter in her senior year in high school who needs to lose about 80 pounds (and is insulin resistant). They have asked me to put together a healthy food and exercise plan and she really want to make it work. She is already active and is up for anything in exercise.
However, she hates almost all vegetables - there are extremely few on her "approved" list and she is pretty close minded about what she likes to eat. She is not a junk food eater, rarely eats fast food and even limits her sweets, but is more into meat and potatoes/pasta (high starch).
I've always LOVED veggies and am very adventurous with trying foods, so it is hard for me to even fathom how I need to approach this with her. Part of me is tempted just to tell her to buck it up and decide how serious she is about being healthy and make a choice to branch out...and start gradually working in more veggies. Or should I just work with what she likes (which is high in starchy carbs) and only focus on overal calorie intake and exercise?
What do you guys think?
However, she hates almost all vegetables - there are extremely few on her "approved" list and she is pretty close minded about what she likes to eat. She is not a junk food eater, rarely eats fast food and even limits her sweets, but is more into meat and potatoes/pasta (high starch).
I've always LOVED veggies and am very adventurous with trying foods, so it is hard for me to even fathom how I need to approach this with her. Part of me is tempted just to tell her to buck it up and decide how serious she is about being healthy and make a choice to branch out...and start gradually working in more veggies. Or should I just work with what she likes (which is high in starchy carbs) and only focus on overal calorie intake and exercise?
What do you guys think?
0
Replies
-
this reminds me of Jessica Seinfelds book Deceptively Delicious... maybe you could look into that
0 -
i would ry introducing vegetables into her diet, but do it in ways that are familier, like bulk up pasta with zuchini or put califlower in her potatos...ease her into it0
-
V8Vfusion is really good. has veggies masked by fruit taste yum
0 -
this reminds me of Jessica Seinfelds book Deceptively Delicious... maybe you could look into that
I agree, great book! I love it, it shows you ways to include foods people hate without them knowing.0 -
is it just cooked vegetables or what about raw? cuz I HATE cooked veggies but love them raw? what about raw veggie dipped in low fat ranch or something? ...0
-
I hate veggies so I understand where she's coming from. Work with the few you gave her because telling her to suck it up won't work. With that much weight to lose her overall calories are important and nutrients are slightly less important.
Edit: Deceptively delicious might work but trying to sneak them in might piss her off.0 -
V8Vfusion is really good. has veggies masked by fruit taste yum
way to high in sugar/carbs for someone who is insulin resistant0 -
I don't think you can make anyone eat what they don't like, they would never stick with it. That given, she could have smaller portions of the things she likes, but then she will feel hungry, and that makes it harder to stick with too.
I have a formula of having a fruit and protein for breakfast, a vegetable and a protein for lunch, fruit and a protein for snack, and a dinner of a protein, vegetable and whole grain carb. So make a list of all the things that she will eat in these categories and you can come up with some good meals.0 -
My husband was like this!!! He needed to lose weight and asked me to start cooking healthy so the first things to go were the corn, the rice, and the mashed potatoes. I started serving him brussel sprouts, baked sweet potatoes, squashes, and red potatoes. Oh my Lord, you would have thought I was poisoning him!!! I told him to suck it up and start eating his veggies!!!
I'm mean like that and generally go for the tough love approach when it comes to weight loss.
He's now lost 50 lbs and still dropping!0 -
Our family friends have a daughter in her senior year in high school who needs to lose about 80 pounds (and is insulin resistant). They have asked me to put together a healthy food and exercise plan and she really want to make it work. She is already active and is up for anything in exercise.
However, she hates almost all vegetables - there are extremely few on her "approved" list and she is pretty close minded about what she likes to eat. She is not a junk food eater, rarely eats fast food and even limits her sweets, but is more into meat and potatoes/pasta (high starch).
I've always LOVED veggies and am very adventurous with trying foods, so it is hard for me to even fathom how I need to approach this with her. Part of me is tempted just to tell her to buck it up and decide how serious she is about being healthy and make a choice to branch out...and start gradually working in more veggies. Or should I just work with what she likes (which is high in starchy carbs) and only focus on overal calorie intake and exercise?
What do you guys think?
I feel for her because I HATE, HATE, HATE veggies.. it's embarrassing.I wish I did. I just force myself to eat the ones that don't make me want to vom (a lot of them do) and I try and hide the flavors in food.0 -
I as a child liked corn, potatoes, onions, and every now and then lettuce, so I understand her not like vegetables....I liked fruit a lot more. I learned to eat other vegetables when it came chopped smaller in Chinese with sauce on them they tasted better, but GNC carries a suppliment for those who don't eat a lot of veggies...its called Megagreens its easier to take in pill over powder....They also have Megafruits... You can find online if there is not a store near you. But its definately better to try to get her to eat the real thing, try different ones raw, steamed in a light suace....if she likes hot I use szechwzan sauce to give them a better taste! Good Luck.0
-
Hmmm. For starters, move to whole wheat on pastas/starches? A lot of times when people hate veggies, they still love tomato sauce, so in those pastas-- maybe focus on less pasta, more sauce, and bulk up sauce with more veggies? I was also going to suggest raw veggies-- a lot of people won't touch cooked carrots, but love raw ones for a snack. Another strange one is that my kids clammor for frozen peas-- they'll eat way less cooked peas, but the three of them chow down if I let them eat peas frozen. So maybe just look at some vegetables in a different light?
Best of luck to her! (& you!)0 -
There are so many ways to add veggies to the diet without having to eat them straight out. I add spinach to my chocolate protein shakes - can't even taste it. Mushrooms, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke - there are lots of things that you can add to dishes that don't seem so vegetabley.
As a side-note, if she is insulin resistant, I would severely restrict anything that is high carb/starchy. White breads, mashed potatoes etc. should be OUT. Make sure the carbs she does eat are high in fiber and have some protein and fat with them to help temper the insulin response.0 -
I usually tell them to grow up and suck it up, or I show them how veggies can be tastey and healthy.0
-
I bet she hasn't even tried most of the vegetables that are on her list. Maybe she might like the different types of squash. This is the time of the year for butternut squash and pumpkin. Plus they are really great for you.
It is sad she doesn't want to try vegetables. There are so many that are tasty. My belief is that if you mentally tell yourself you hate something, you will hate it and not even give it a chance. Maybe you can try to hide the vegetables for her.0 -
OOH! These are great ideas, please keep them coming...I am actually bullet pointing these tips into a Word doc as we speak...very helpful!0
-
Is she at least open to trying new things? My husband thought he hated veggies too but he just hated the way his mother prepared them. (Out of a can, with a crapload of butter, salt and pepper dumped in. Gross!) Once he had fresh veggies prepared in different ways, he added some new likes to his list.0
-
I think you should give up.
Okay, not really.
Someone mentioned the cookbook Deceptively Delicious-- Look into it! My sister has it because she has a very picky 6 year old who refuses to eat anything vegetable-wise.
You can puree pretty much any veggies-- spinach is a popular one-- and add it to dishes like lasagna, spaghetti, even sweets like brownies.0 -
I think her parents should be consulting her doctor and a dietician.0
-
Will she do smoothies?? I add veggies into my smoothies all the time, and you can't taste them. My brother will drink them and thinks they are awesome and he is anti-veggie (I haven't told him whats in it lol)
I have a slight insulan resistant issue (at least thats what the Dr is trying to determin) so I have been doing lower carb to see if it works, I just use Almond milk (less carbs) some frozen berries or ice and then spinach, lettuce, kale, carrots, cucumbers... pretty much anything you can think of has gone into my smoothie.0 -
I'm not gonna be much help. I hate veggies too. I eat approximately 0 servings a week. *shrug* Doesn't appear to have hindered my weight loss any!0
-
I think it really depends what she wants. You can't really force somebody to change if they aren't ready to. If she is ready to change, then I think a bit of tough love doesn't hurt. To say that you will not even try something new because you have not liked it in the past is kind of toddler-like behaviour. Try to find some veg, any veg that she likes and start off with that. The veg does matter but it isn't necessarily the highest priority. Work on portion sizes - sometimes I tell my patients to have 1/4 plate protein, 1/4 plate starchy carbs and at least 1 vegetable to at least try. Of course, if they want to fill themselves up I'd advise filling the rest of the plate with veg
0 -
V8Vfusion is really good. has veggies masked by fruit taste yum
also has a ton of sugar....not the best choice.....juice in general is bad, even if its pure juice no sugar added, its the equivalent of drinking a coke........0 -
Honestly, it is probably time to tell her to put on her big girl veggie pants and chow down! Haha, no but really I know it is hard to get into eating veggies if you're not used to it. In my case I hated bland vegetables, but hummus, balsamic vinegar, and roasting have been saviors. You could just focus on the foods she likes, but it's boring. Being a food explorer is way more fun! Maybe ease her into eating more new things by mixing other stuff in. Garlic mashed potatoes and turnips and cooked spinach, roasted carrots and parsnips, sandwiches with cucumber, spinach, and avocado thrown in, heirloom tomato salad, spicy roasted cauliflower!
Talk to her when she tries something new.
What doesn't she like about it? Is it the texture? Cook it differently.
Is it the flavor? Add spices or what have you.
Learning to eat vegetables is a dialogue, there are as many ways to cook them as there are other foods.
Flavor is power!0 -
this reminds me of Jessica Seinfelds book Deceptively Delicious... maybe you could look into that
This was my advice. That book has the best cauliflower mac and cheese ever!0 -
Check out some of these:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14396797/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/hate-veggies-ways-sneak-them-meals/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/tips-for-kid-friendly-vegetable-dishes/index.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/tips-for-kid-friendly-vegetable-dishes/index.html
Maybe try making it fun?
Try a new vegetable a week-- Make a fun dish that maybe she can help you with so she'll feel proud & be more likely to indulge curiousity. No matter the age, if it's fun, you're more likely to participate. Especially if there are ones she says she doesn't like-- I didn't like half the foods I do now when I was 10, but I started getting adventurous when I was her age and found that my taste buds have changed.0 -
Do you have a food processor? I hide veggies in my kid's food when they get really picky about what is for dinner.
For instance:
If I am going to make something like beef or even chicken tacos, I will puree some tomatoes, spinach, or peppers into the meat. It actually makes the mix taste wonderful.
You can do that with almost anything. If a meal has some sort of sauce, then add extra veggies- or even make up a sauce of your own that goes along with her diet. The sky is the limit here.0 -
our pallets are trainable.......that is you can train yourself to like things, you just have to constantly try it over and over again.
think of trying to go from a double double coffee (2 cream 2 sugar) down to black coffee. it would taste gross at first, but if you persist it gets less and less gross then its not bad then it good then all of a sudden you wonder why you put cream in your coffee.
same with vegitables, its all about exposure and re-exposure......you can train yourself to like them you just need the constant re-exposure0 -
I thought of the Jamie Eason Live Fit trainer and she has a list of acceptable foods and serving sizes, if you want to help her make a list of the things she likes:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-trainer-approved-foods-list.html0 -
Google 'How to sneak veggies into your kids meals'. There will be a ton of ideas on how to add veggies into almost anything. Also, try smoothies, you can had spinach, carrots, cucumber, red peppers & I'm sure a host of other veggies in with some fruit, low fat milk & flax seed & have a great snack or meal substitute. I find smoothies are great in the morning because I'm not a big breakfast eater. Btw, my 14 month old loves these smoothies. And yes I also think you need to tell her to suck it up & try more things. If she is trying to lose weight & eating the same things over & over she will soon be burnt out & may start eating unhealthy again. Good luck. 0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 427 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions