help with eating my veggies!!!

 Alright, well I have always had a hard time eating enough fruit and veggies. I have a couple of fruits that i like, strawberries, blueberries, and banana's sometimes.  There are very few vegetables that I actually "like." I eat salad's but I don't actually enjoy them like other people seem to. 

Ok, so i just started this whole Calorie counting thing and I have seen some good success so far and I am really encouraged. My Dr. just informed me that I need to go on Birth Control for my crazy irregular periods. I have heard that one of the side effects of BC is weight gain so yeah, i am scared.  I start it next week and I thought it might be a good time to try and make the transition to a more "fruit and Veggie" centered diet. I would love to become a vegetarian one day. . . because I have read about all the health benefits. 

Anyway, i was just wondering if you all had any tips for "making" yourself eat fruit and veggies all the time. . .. . I want to do this and enjoy it. HELP! 

Im not a veggie fan nor much of a cook but I make good use of the ones I like best. 

With TV dinners that come with the meat mixed with vegetables in sauce, I often extend them by adding more veg - more food, healthier and not much more calories.

You might consider checking out the Recipe and Vegetarian forums for different ideas on the ones you like best. 

Roasted veggies are very tasty.  If you don't like steamed veggies, try roasting them with a small amount of oil, seasoning, and salt and pepper. 

Do you like tomato?  Tomato is often an easy vegetable to incorporate into your diet.  Onions are also really easy.

And what do your salads consist of?  Every person makes their salads differently.  I can't stand iceburg lettuce, for example.  Try different greens and different veggies in them until you can find something you like.  

Hi! I'm sure that you don't hate all vegetables. That's like saying that you hate sandwiches. There are so many different types and ways to prepare them so that they fit your tastes. My suggestion is to try different preperation methods. For example, I will not eat boiled carrots but I love them raw. Same thing for spinach. Maybe you just haven't tried the right preparation. Raw veggies are definitely the healthiest way to go. So try a variety! I love raw carrots, broccoli, spinach, red and orange bell peppers, cauliflower. If that doesn't work for you, I would go to food.com or epicurious.com and pick a veggie recipe that is rated 5 stars until you find something you love. Make sure it isn't drench in butter though. I know everything tastes better with butter but it probably nulifies the benifit of the vegetable.

Buy a steamer.. or practice steaming stuff in your microwave. It brings out all the best flavor in veggies! Add some lemon sometimes for variety. I like steamed broccoli (favorite by far), asparagus, carrots, squash, zucchini...and more than I can't think of.

One of my 'tips' for consuming more veggies and less calories in general is that always make at least half your dinners fruit and/or vegetables.. and eat THAT portion of it first. You'll be too full to overeat the higher calorie portion of your meal, and the veggies will taste even better because you're eating them while you're still very hungry.

Good luck!

If you like asian flavours I would suggest you stir-fry. I often make huge batches of it with just a bit of chicken or shrimp. Broccoli takes on a great flavour and its often my favorite to eat - even over the shrimp!

Thanks for the replies. i do like Asian flavors. Maybe I will try to incorporate more of those flavors into the veggies nd scale back on meat when i do stir fry, which i love. Steamer's a good  idea too. 

 

I forgot about onions. . . .oh and peppers! I do like those!  Tomoatoes, I'm tryig to learn to like!

Thanks again ya'll!  

Try V-8 vegetable juice (if you like tomato juice) or V-8 Fusion if you like fruity drinks.  These drinks are equivalent to several servings of fruits and vegs.

do you have a hu hot or some other mongolian grill around you? might be a good introduction to eating something with a lot of veggies but a LOT of flavor.

 

I fill my bowl with chicken and lots of veggies plus sauce...no noodles....and YUM!!!  According to CC the sauces are actually not too bad in calories, either...might be a good thing to try, and then if you like it you could try to replicate it at home. 

I always suggest trying to keep an open mind. This is especially true of people who claim they don't like veggies. Most food dislikes come from childhood and have little to do with the actual taste of the food. It's usually a combination of cooking method (over or under cooked), attitude, presentation (both physical presentation and how you were made to feel about the presentation). A lot of children use picky eating to control their parents. They learn how to control their parents at a very young age by refusing to eat certain things.

So try to approach veggies with a clean slate. Try all different kinds of veggies cooked in various ways. You'll find some you love and some you absolutely hate. There'll be quite a few in the "take it or leave it category". These you can incorporate into your diet on a sometimes basis. You don't hate it enough to refuse to eat it, but you also don't love it enough to have it often. These will add variety to your diet, which is a good thing.

When you try something new, try to wipe out any preconceived notions as to why you've never eaten it before. Pay attention to the color, texture, aroma and finally the taste. Try to incorporate the 3 bite rule. Take medium bites, small bites often won't give you a good idea of the taste or texture.

As you take a bite, observe your sensory reactions. Is the color pleasing or appetizing? Is the smell enticing? Does it smell sweet, aromatic, savory, earthy, etc? How does the flavor hit your tongue? Is it subtle at first? Does it come on strong and then mellow out? How does the texture feel in your mouth? Is it chewy, crunchy, soft, gooey?

I have changed my tastes over the years. There are many, many things I eat now that I never liked as a child or young adult. There are only a few things that I didn't like as a child that I still don't like. I believe those are the ones where I just don't like the taste at all. 

try making stir frys or other dishes where you end up mixing veggies with some meat and some sort of sauce. I usually slice up some pork really thin, add curry powder and then stirfry it with garlic and chili flakes. Then I add a little brown sugar and some water to make a thin sauce. Add sliced onions and peppers and some frozen veggie stir fry that has been thawed out. The thin sauce helps coat everything but wont make it really bad for you. Serve over a cup of rice and you have a huge dinner for like 500 calories. It has like 3 servings of vegetables too. Also spaghetti squash. Add veggies to it and you also end up with 3-4 servings in one meal.

I LOVE carrots and broccoli and celery with low fat ranch dressing

marzettis sells this ranch dip thta is like 35 calories per serving. its reaally reallly good