I don't eat vegetables or fruits

Hey Everyone,

Dieting for me is a real nightmare. I do not eat vegetables or fruits. Well, I do like potatoes, corn, bananas and beans if those even count.

All the recipes call for veggies and I gag at the thought. I've tried for years to down veggies/fruits, but the crunch in the lettuce makes my head spin, the smell of cucumber literally makes me gag and I fear tomatoes (unless its ketchup). I blame it on my folks that never forced me to eat my veggies. They tried, but I was grossed out by veggies and fruits even as a kid and they gave up the battle because I would bring up whatever they forced down right at the dinner table.  =(     

All the trauma aside, when I try to lose a few pounds (I'm on a mission to lose 15 right now) I feel as if I have nothing to eat...  Anyone else out there have this problem?  Any alternatives or healthy recipes that I can apply?  I'm not opposed to cooking with vegetables to flavor the dishes, I just can't eat them (when A recipe calls for veggies I cut 'em up huge so I can pick 'em out).

I second the V8! I have been drinking the V8 Fusion.. and its great! one veggie serving and 1 Friut serving in one cup!

I also have people bombing on me for drinking V8, they say its "Too high in sodium." But isnt one serving 33%? Its lots if you consume lots of salt I guess...

Oh well~ GO VEGGIES~~!!
:o)

I hated vegetables as a kid.  But now I sit and eat raw carrots with hummus and couldn't be happier.  I'll tell you what changed the tides for me.  I used to be *terrified* of Chinese food in college because of the vegetables.  I just was not interested!  But after I graduated I ended up in a job in which we'd work late and sometimes order Chinese food.  I grew to really like it in a big way--largely because of the vegetables!  But I have learned over the years since then that I like my vegetables on the crisp side, so now I only like Chinese food in which they don't overcook the vegetables (or use too much oil).  So what you could try is to get Chinese food and try different dishes.  The sauce, meat, vegetables, and rice should have that right "feng shui" so that you want to eat the whole thing.  I would suggest that you start out by not being overly health-conscious--let them cook it they way they normally do (and allow yourself to have the fried rice).  Also try different restaurants.  If that works, then over time you might end up like me in that you want your vegetables crisp and little oil (and brown rice instead of fried or white).  Plus, I am now happy to have all vegetable dishes with brown rice. 

I could also suggest you trying making vegetable soup, using different combinations of vegetables. 

Vegetables are awesome!  You just need to view them in a different way by seeing how colorful and interesting they truly are. 

Black Boned Angel wrote: That does sound terribly difficult. I hope you take vitamins.

No, I don't take vitamins. Shoudl I be? Maybe one of those all inclusive brands? (A - Zinc).

That aside.... THANKS for all the tips and suggestions. I thnk I'm gonna start with the steamed veggies ordeal. But you're not getting me to try lettuce. LOL  no way.  Does steaming take out the "good" in the veggies?

for a low calorie meal or snack i love to get some tinned carrots or frozen vegetables and just cook them and chuck cajun powder on the top = yum.

or I get a tin of tomatoes, and mix them with kidney beans and a small bit of flour to make a nice thick soup chili type thing, just beans in a tomato sauce spiced with cajun or chili, perhaps the chili may rev your metabolism!

Well, do what I used to do to sneak them by my kids... Take an equal amount of sweet and white potato and mash them together or dice them and roast in the oven (drizzled lightly with olive oil). Once they're roasted you won't be able to tell them apart.

Shred them so you can't see them. I used to hide grated carrots and zucchini in spaghetti sauce, meatloaf. Cooked grated carrots taste different than raw or cooked chunks. Experiment.

Find a good recipe for low/non fat buttermilk dressing (Eating Well had one) and dip away. Fresh herbs are your friend. Try roasting fresh veggies such as carrots, asparagus, cauliflower, or green beans - the natural sugars caramelize.

Tell yourself you can feel them making you healthy - every morning I feel my blueberries radiating antioxidants throughout my system. They do taste good too though.

i was going to say the same thing as 2bmeagain. hide em!

I completely adore vegetables (and fruit to a point where I've actually limited myself to three servings of fruit a day and ten servings of vegetables a day - tops) and even when I was overweight I enjoyed vegetables.

I always had more trouble with red meat.  I hated red meat.  I hated the texture and refused to eat it as a child.  But I loved shrimp, lobster, crab, salmon, escargot and skinless, white chicken as long as there was absolutely no fat.

I was also raised on whole-wheat bread and skim milk and refused to eat anything with cream.  I didn't even care for chocolate and, much to my dismay, chips and cheesies were never kept in my house and only eaten at birthday parties.

Yeah, I don't know how I got overweight, either.  My metabolism is just that slow.  I'm always hungry...  But at least taste was never comprimised.

My favourite vegetable is cabbage and spinach but when I was a kid I like cauliflower with cheese (though now I no longer eat it with cheese and am able to enjoy it on its own).  I guess you've already tried cabbage rolls and spinach in your lasanga? (I refused to eat lasanga as a child unless it was made with cottage cheese and spinach so I wouldn't be able to taste the beef).

Oh, and steaming your vegetables is actually one of the most nutritious ways to eat your vegetables (besides eating them raw).

Have you tried daucing them in your favourite spices or shredding them in home-made whole-wheat bread?  You can get a serving of vegetables in a slice of bread if you do it right!  And even my boyfriend would eat it (as much as he hated whole-wheat bread).

There's a guy who hated vegetables.  I still can't eat cucumber around him.  And he picks the lettus out of his hamburgar (which works for me because I add it to my salad)

Try chopping the vegetables finely before cooking.  My mother puts all the vegetables into a glass baking dish, pours some olive oil over them, covers with foil and bakes for 30-60 minutes.  This gives them a sweeter taste and they are soft. 

Fruits: try some of the more exotic fruits like kiwi and starfruit or some of the organic stuff.  Personally, I eat oatmeal every morning with some yogurt and fruit (all mixed together) or oatmeal and cottage cheese.

For vegies, you might also try cutting them small and making a stew out of them with meat, potatoes, tofu, beans whatever is your fancy.

Thanks so much again guys!!!  I do my groceries on Thursday, so I'm gonna try a couple of these suggestions. Maybe I'll have good news and say I've fallen in love with carrots and cauliflower by next weekend. ^_^

Oh and once you start to eat vegies, remember not to eat too much. I had about 7 large stalks of celery and my tummie really hurt after. Lets just say I was a bit... OVER regular...

Quick update!!   I tried broccoli, cauliflower (sp?) and carrots. I baked them with a little butter spray and some of the suggested "Nature's Season" and I was able to down a couple of florets and about 4 carrots. I will continue giving that an effort since it tasted ok (not like YUM GREAT, but edible). I'm trying asparagus / green beans next.

have smoothies, they're sweet and yummy - and put in a carrot, you don't taste it at all..

I just want to comment about people's revulsion to iceberg lettuce:

This vegetable is rather high in arsenic, especially when grown by conventional (non-organic) methods.  People who are especially sensitive to arsenic toxicity are going to have a natural aversion to eating it.

I don't recommend that anyone, even people who like the taste, eat iceberg lettuce at all.

Veggies are all about how you prepare them... its like flour, you can do sooo much to flour with different cooking types (and ingredients added).

Veggies can be made into a fine smooth soup (blender), or crisp and pan fried...baked...grilled...

Onions can be made sweet and soft... garlics flavor can be softened or enhanced...

Saying you dont like veggies is just saying you havent learnt how to prepare them yet (and if you keep telling yourself you dont like them, it will keep you from playing with them and finding things you like).

Even things like lettuce, simple salads can be horrible if you dont know how to prepare it (drying, cleaning, selecting, cutting...). The differences between just a simple salad are huge depending on who made it (and gets even bigger depending what you put on it to compliment the flavors).

Cooking is just too big to say you dont like veggies, its impossible...

I'll second that, venix! 

Iceberg lettuce is just about the most worthless "vegetable" there is.  If you're going to have lettuce, whether in a salad, sandwich, wrap, or whatever... make it something with some COLOR!  Color means vitamins! **not that cauliflower is empty of them, being white and all**

I find it intensely frustrating that my BF eats one wimpy little leaf of iceberg lettuce on a burger and tells me, "Yeah, see, I get my vegetables.  I LIKE vegetables" and then throws me a slice of tomato, since they put two on his burger.  UGH!  He's so unhealthy, he'd rather just layer with Doritos... and would if I bought them, EVER IN MY LIFE (haven't yet, don't really ever plan on it!)

Seriously, people.  It doesn't matter if you don't like veggies & fruit, they are necessary to be healthy.  ESSENTIALS.  BASICS OF LIFE.  What else can you possibly be eating?  Rice, yogurt, turkey, eggs, milk, bread.... How does that even work?  Eh, whatever.

try some yellow squash fry it in a pan it gets real soft and all you need to flavor it is a tough of pepper really and it goes great with steak at the summer bbqs!

You mention you like ketchup -- what about tomato-based spaghetti sauce?  If you do like that, shred or mince tiny amounts of vegetables, nuke them, and drop them in.  You may never get to the point where you like chunks of veggies (I know I haven't!) but maybe you'll be able to tolerate tiny bits.

For fruits, if you see your friend eating some melon or peaches or whatever, ask to have a piece.  If you don't like it, spit it out discreetly and gulp down a beverage.

Another thought -- homemade soup stocks.  You let all the nutrients simmer out of the vegetables (and meat bones) and then you get to pull them out and throw them away!  Most of the nutrients seep into the water, which you use for soup or gravies.

hmmmm--- I like the blender-make-into-soup idea. Anyone have any recipes?  (forget cucumbers, do not even bother to suggest anything with pickle / cucumbers   *yuuuck*)

And as far as tomato sauces, I love them. I just have to pick out the big chunks of tomato. What veggies woudl u recommend I drop into the sauce? I can shred some in it I suppose... as long as the flavor doesn't overwhelm the taste