Any advice please- I don't like fruit?

I've tried many times, prepared in many ways, but the long and the short of it is- I don't like fruit. I've bought different kinds of lovely fresh fruit...and it sits in the bowl or fridge until it goes off. Most healthy eating sites recommend fruit as a snack in between meals, and I know the health benefits, but what else can I have as a snack that would give me similar benefits? At the minute I rely on l/f granola bars (which are quite high sugar, but high fibre too?), homemade veg soups, or cassava chips (like little flavoured l/f rice cakes?) Are these okay?

Would veg sticks & a l/f salsa kind dip be a good alternative? Or having a bowl of mixed lightly steamed veg on standby that I could heat up whenever I have a snack attack?

I find it sooo weird when people don't like fruit.  I love it!

I think veges are a great snack to have instead of fruit.  One of my favourites is carrot sticks with hummus.  Your idea of salsa is also a great one.

I would hate to think that you would give up on fruit altogether though.  I would get bored if I stuck to the standard apples/oranges/bananas so I always make sure I have something different on hand.  Lately I've been on a gold pineapple kick!  Things like nectarines and strawberries are delicious too.

Did you eat fruit as a kid?  Do you find it physically repulsive to eat fruit (eg you gag) or are you just not that keen on the taste?   You really should try to persevere!

As someone that doesn't particularly like the combination taste of 'very sweet' and 'acid' I struggle to eat a lot of fruit.  Bananas are OK though.   Vegetables are a good alternative.... and things like tomatoes, peppers or avocados are technically fruits so the distinctions are pretty shaky.  Good veggie snacks might be raw veggie sticks with various dips (hummus is especially nice). Cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, baby sweet-corn and sugar-snap peas are very snackable.  Soup is a great idea.  How about wholegrain crisp-breads with interesting toppings?  Yoghurt's nice witha little honey and a few sliced almonds.

Good luck

I know you have said you tried preparing it in many ways but have you tried it in a smoothie yet?... If the fruit is frozen along with some milk/yogurt and ice, it can be similar to a milkshake. I tend to do that with frozen bananas, mangoes, and strawberries.

Other than that, what about 100% fruit juice, V8/vegetable-tomato juices?

Posts above have good suggestions too.

I've tried it with yoghurts, baked, pureed, stewed, chopped up & marinated (in honey! LOL!) in smoothies, in sauces...still not pushed? It doesn't make me 'gag' as such, but like GI Jane I have a problem with the sweet/acidy taste, and really don't like bananas! LOL! Our local fruit & veg shop has a great selection, and I've tried them all- even 'exotic' ones like passionfruit, ugly fruit  (which really IS yuk, even when you get past the smell!), starfruit, as well as regular apples,oranges, pineapple, kiwi, mangoes, peaches, plums...well, you get the picture!

I like the idea of crispbreads with different toppings? I could really go to town on that! I was just afraid I was missing out on nutrients by leaving fruit out of my diet?

Thanks a lot everyone- I appreciate it!

The main benefits of fruit in the diet are the vitamin content and fibre.  Eat a single kiwi and you've got your RDA of quite a few vitamins, especially C.  But you can get the same vitamins from a nice combination of different veggies and salads - just takes longer.  So if you get plenty of those, plus other foods, I don't think you'll come to any harm.

It's really people that eat neither fruit nor vegetables that are going to struggle with their health.

Original Post by gi-jane:

.... and things like tomatoes, peppers or avocados are technically fruits so the distinctions are pretty shaky....

^this, you're probably already eating fruit. 

Do you like dried fruit?  Maybe a transition would work.  I have a son with autism and extremely picky eating habits who would not eat any fruit, so his transition looked something like this...

100% all fruit strips (like a fruit roll up only no added sugars)

same thing only cut into small squares, about 1cm x 1cm

above mixed with some raisins until he would eat raisins

raisins with cut up dried apricots to raisin size

raisins with cut up prunes and larger dried apricots

raisins with prunes and whole dried apricots

grapes with above

grapes, fresh apricots (cut up), prunes

grapes, apricots, prunes, all berries

above plus canned no sugar added mandarin oranges

Above but fresh mandarin oranges and clementines

Now he will eat just about any soft fruit.  He still has texture issues with apples and he despises bananas, but I am totally happy where he is now with fruit intake, plus he takes a multivitamin.

I realize your issues are not the same as his, but my point is that a gradual transition from more desireable (dried or canned fruit) to less desireable (fresh) might help you adjust and learn to like fruit more.

Aw..you've had your wokr cut out for you with him Ericsmom, I'm glad its worked out for you after all that effort!

Unfortunately it's a taste thing more than a texture thing? I will have canned/tinned on occasion too, but like the fresh fruit, it's always if theres nothing else in to eat? Thanks for your reply!

I like fruit but can't eat it.  I have allergies. 

we are the complete opposite. I cant stand most veggies and they have to be cooked to mush (which probably defeats the purpose of eating them). I find veggies to be too bitter tasting. I love fruit though except honey dew, cantalope, blueberries, pineapples and mangos. Anyway, Veggie sticks are a great alternative for snacks and also yogurt too.

Just curious; for people who don't like fruit or veggies, as a child were you not fed these things or you just NEVER liked them

some kids i know were raised with almost all carbs due to complete laziness on the part of their mother (kraft dinner & weiners most days) or just toast with peanut butter. Basically if it came out of a brightly coloured BOX or BAG and did not contain anything FRESH that's what they ate. Also they were persistently fed fast-food from mcdonalds, or moreso "tim hortons"  Now it's extremely hard to get them to eat those things, they say they "hate vegetables" (well, except french fries, of course) and they "don't like fruit".  They are still eating a mostly carb/fats diet and are definitely starting down the road to obesity. Their mother had an eating disorder which influenced her "fear of cooking".  Great start to life.... *sad

some other kids i know were raised on steamed veggies, grilled meats and cut up fruits and veggies and for the most part they now find packaged foods odd.  They want the sauce rinsed off spaghetti-o's and don't particularly like 'fake meats' or 'fake cheese' anymore. (they are now 7). They don't care for sweets as much as the other kids.

Question: if you don't like fruit/veggies do you think your childhood meals affected your inability to enjoy these things?

I was raised with a mother who did sort-of the half-and-half fresh to packaged foods but my mother was a "50's mom" who ALWAYS had 3 square meals prepared for us. I used to not like certain things but now that i'm older I like nearly all foods on all spectrums.  Except for fast-food, i am not that tolerant of it - ethically and uh, bowelally (u know what i mean!?)

-N 

Original Post by nmw_nmw:

Question: if you don't like fruit/veggies do you think your childhood meals affected your inability to enjoy these things?

My mom was certainly not a lazy mom when it came to meal prep. She cooked dinner every night (except for Friday, which was Pizza Hut night and a few nights after that when my brother and I were teens and just ate frozen chicken nuggest and crap). However, she was certainly not experimental in the kitchen... Very "meat-n-potatoes" cooking so our fruit/veg choices were very basic: apples, banana, oranges, fresh wild berries/carrots, potatoes, peas, onion and the odd bell pepper. Mom tried to feed us broccoli or cabbage but we rebelled, I guess.

Back then, I would sometimes eat an apple or carrot but carbs were *everything* to me back then. Bread, potatoes, fries, pizza, chips, Doritos, cereal... That's all I ate.

Nowadays, I can't imagine eating a "meal" of chicken nuggets and fries.. where's the colour?! It's only been the past few years where I've been eating a several vegetables at every lunch & dinner and most of them, I had to discover myself. I don't blame mom for that though... she just wasn't aware of kale when I was growing up in the 80's!

To address the original topic: I don't know how someone can't enjoy fruit! Especially in season, juicy, fruit... peaches, berries, plums, cherries... oh man.

Geez I wish i were a little more like you - I LOVE fruit and have to be careful with portions! I could eat half my daily calories in fruit alone.

I'd imagine that you can get most nutrients you need from veggies, as long as they are lots of different colours (from what I understand, different colours of fruit/veggies have differnet vitamins and nutrients). Take a vitamin C supplement, and you are good to go, and don't have to worry about fruit sugar calories!

Or, have you considered juicing? Personally I would hate to drink all the calories, but it would be a great way to get the nutrients..you'd just have to get the fibre elsewhere.

Don't feel guilty about not liking fruit, just as long as you get enough antioxidants from all the veggies out there! I myself don't eat fruit (too sugary for me) and live on veggies for my vitamins/minerals/etc (along with supplements) and I feel just fine!

I would recommend you stick with veggies in their raw or steamed state (nothing processed) for snacks, you can eat as much as you want without guilt!

irishmum: do you like sugar/candy?

just wondering.... like some other people here i find not liking fruit very hard to wrap my head around.... true there are some fruits which are kinda gross texture-wise... like mango is stringy and gets stuck in your teeth (but i love it) and some people don't like banana (but i love it more than anything) and some fruits are just kind icky (star fruit? papaya? lychee?) and some are really tart (grapefruit) (yum)  and some have seeds that are annoying (seedy grapes) (yum-worth every bite).... so maybe i can kinda see but the innocent APPLE? or WATERMELON? (or any type of melon for that matter) or blueberries? GAAH not liking watermelon, well that's totally gettin' me LOL!!! i just can't get my head around it!!! to me that's like saying "i dont like the smell of air" or "i don't like the taste of water" or "i dont like sleeping, it's too boring"

LOL :P i am one of those people who can def. blow my calories / GI for the day with fruit.... it takes a lot of effort for me not to binge out on bananas.... apples.... strawberry JAM..... blueberries.... gosh, you name it i love it. 

LOL! I've certainly divided the camp here haven't I!! My mum was a regular meat & 2 veg mum (though being Irish- one of the veg was ALWAYS potatoes!) and we certainly got quite a good range of veg growing up- though the variety available in Ireland in the 70's wouldn't have been great, it was always on the plate?

In my teens I ate oranges til they came out my proverbial! I don't mind apples, but again, I'm just not fussed on them? Again- the kinds of fruit available in my youth in Ireland was basic. But in later years I've experimented with almost every kind of fruit in a bid to find one I would 'crave'?

I'm not really a candy-lover, I find chocolate hard to resist, but keep it out of the house if possible? But I'd take savoury over sweet any day of the week?

I guess I'll just do a big veg shop, make a tub of l/f salsa, keep a supply of steamed veg sticks on hand and hope for the best?

Thanks again everyone!