HELP! Any suggestions for a picky eater ?

When I say picky, I mean PICKY !!!  I dont eat any fruits ; carrots and corn are about the only vegetables that I can stand.  Trust me .... I've tried new things, and I've tried some things over and over.  I would give anything to be able to eat a salad.  I've been trying to lose weight for a couple of weeks now and was doing well going from 143 to 136 until this morning.  I'm back up to 140     : (   My recommended caloric intake is only 1200/day and with the food choices I've been eating it's been very hard to stick to that without starving myslef.  Do I just need to exercise a ton or what ?  Are there any other picky eaters out there ??? 

Fruits and veggies are essential for a healthy lifestyle. Unless you have severe food allergies, I would find a way to sneak them into your meals.  It sounds like you've got some sort of mental block with these very key food groups.  I HATE most dairy (I'm serious), but I suck it up and eat yogurt and have milk in my cereal bc I know those things are good for me.  My advice (hope it doesn't sound harsh): suck it up and eat 'em until you don't mind eating them...and if that never happens, suck it up and eat 'em anyways.

What the heck do you eat now? I couldn't imagine not having veggies and fruits and stil being healthy. That worries me.

Well, I admit, I don't eat many fruits and vegetables.  I have allergies, which make eating them a problem if they are raw, and I just get sick of the ones that I can eat canned/cooked and enjoy.

I do eat leafy greens like lettuce and spinach raw, but probably not as much as I should. 

Still, it's not that hard to lose weight anyway.  I just eat small portions of the things I enjoy and I exercise. 

I'm not sure what your stats are but you might check and make sure 1200 is enough calories for you.  Try the phord calculator at http://www.phord.com/cc to be sure. 

I little harsh today, I grew up eating everything and was told, do not ask just eat it. 30 years later looking back I can appreciate eating frog, rabbit, deer and most of my veggies, still having said that I refuse to eat cauliflower or broccoli. In the world we live in we have millions of different kinds of foods. Go to a Street Market that sales fruit and veggies and try all. You do not need to suck it up just be open minded.

My opinion, good luck.

Do you like spaghetti sauce? I've found that lots of veggies I never liked before (squash, eggplant, artichokes) all taste really good with tomato sauce on them.

From a girl that loves carrots and corn: I totally agree with "sneaking them in"  Squash with spaghetti sauce is great.  Another trick I use is, I make cauliflour, then mash it up like mashed potatoes, add a some olive oil salt pepper, and youve practically got mashed potatoes (kind of).  Also, you can add an egg to the mixture and make "pancakes" out of it and fry them with a little olive oil, much tastier but you also might find the calories better used elsewhere.

Cauliflour pancakes (Sorry but I hate Cauliflour)

leahreyne, Do you cook or a family member? The sauce is a good idea only if you do not cook the sauce yourself. ( mind thing)

I actually do not do much cooking.  I've been doing the smaller portion thing already.  I don't know why I am so picky.  The texture of fruits and vegetables bothers me more so than the taste.  I usually end up vomiting from gagging if I eat something I don't like...so I don't think just "sucking it up" is going to work for me, but I'm willing to give it a shot.  I have already tried eating salad a million times cause I heard that if you eat it enough you will like it, but it just tastes terrible to me and I can barely get down a whole piece of lettuce.  Well looks like I will just have to find things I like that are low calorie, continue to cut back portions and increase my activity for now.  Thanks for the input :)

I'm mostly the same way, though i can make myself eat a few more types of vegetables.  I choke down a salad 4-5 times a week to substitute for another meal that would inevitably be much higher in calories.  I abhor fruit and refuse to make myself miserable eating any of it.  People who claim eating unpleasant foods will eventually make them palatable are simply delusional - unless you're very young, the food preferences are going to be permanently ingrained.  At best, you may become inured to the unpleasantness of eating some of the healthier foods (like shaolin monks who become accustomed to pain by repeatedly wacking themselves with blunt objects).  I think many people confuse this behaviour with "eating the food long enough to like it".

Large amounts of exercise help me a bit.  Its difficult to burn all that much with exercise, so i end up running about 40 miles a week or so at a fast pace to give myself a bit more leeway on eating.  The health benefits of exercising reach a point of diminished returns eventually, but calorie burn will always continue increasing as you increase the amount of exercise.  However, to get anything substantial out of it requires going well beyond the normal cardio regime most people would consider a strong workout.

My sister is the same way. Nothing with a sauce or bread on it, no "gushy" textures or any sort of meat dish unless she sees it being prepared/or prepares it herself. ( She has had some HORRID experiences with food. Found a piece of a beak in her breaded chicken sandwich from BK once. A BEAK!!)

Have you tried jucies? I know it isn't exactly the same as fresh fruit and veggies, but there are juices out there with both of them in there, and a cup or two equals a full serving. Have a cup o juice with a piece of toast or serving of oatmeal, and you got breakfast! I would try different types of food from around the world, though. You might find something you LOVE!! I am a big experimentor with food. I like to try new textures and recipies to find something tastey! 

Don't give up, try the market and keep open minded?  Like I said there are many foods in the world you never know what you may like, I like Kiwi and it is a fruit with fur.

Original Post by leahreyne:

The texture of fruits and vegetables bothers me more so than the taste. 

 Texture is a lot easier to change than taste.  Mash them up, put them in a blender, etc.

You know, as a speech pathologist I'd heard of kids that are extra sensitive to food textures (orally defensive, I beleive the term was)- you might be one of those.  Some of these kids were so bad that they wouldn't eat anything and had to be tube fed.  For those kids we were taught (I never actually did this in my school setting) to teach them to accept new textures a little at a time.  They started out with baby toys or special sponges, etc, that they would have to allow the practicioner to place in their mouths for a few seconds at a time.

Don't start out trying to eat a big salad with a ton of new vegetables.  Pick something that has the consistency of what you already eat, and mix in just a little bit, so that you are still eating mostly what you like.  Each time, just a little bit more.  For example, if you like corn, maybe a few canned green beans or peas.  I don't know if the carrots you eat are the cooked kind or the raw kind, but you get the concept.  Lettuce is probably a big step for you, so I would hold off on that. 

Personally, there are a lot of vegetables I never liked and still don't, but there are some I've developed a taste for, and just about everything can be "made over," like others have been saying.  I find mixing "yucky" vegetables into some good mashed potatoes to be helpful.  I don't like green peas, or lima beans, or even cooked carrots - never have and probably never will, but no, I don't have the gag reflex when I eat them.

What you really need to do is ask yourself - Why?  Why do I like carrots and corn, but no other fruits and vegetables?  Can I stand them because they are sweet?  Because I'm just used to eating them?  Because the texture doesn't bother me?  Because I don't want to like "healthy"stuff because that gives me an excuse?  All of the above?  Once you figure that out, then you can ask for advice on how to fix things so that they are acceptable.

Original Post by karozel:

Still, it's not that hard to lose weight anyway.  I just eat small portions of the things I enjoy and I exercise. 

Eat less and exercise ... geeze, I never thought of that! <rolls eyes> If it wasn't that hard the diet industry wouldn't be a billion dollar industry.

You might try the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (yep, Jerry Seinfeld's wife).  It's written for grownups who want to sneak more veggies into the foods that their picky-eater kids will actually eat, so the recipes may work for you as well!

I LOVE fruits and veggies, and thusfore this post rather irritates me.

either you are not very creative or crafty in the kitchen, or you were brought up on a very heathly way of eating with lots of processed/packaged junk... or both.

I have come up with tons of ways to eat vegetables and fruits, even so that they barely resemble or taste like what they once were.. for example:

-rice made entirely of of cauliflower

-noodles made out of zucchini

-egg plant and zucchini 'chips'

-zucchini 'fries'

-zucchini pancakes

-zucchini pie-crust

(yes I like zucchini right now!)

-pumpkin pancakes

-pumpkin pudding

-mashed "potatos" made entirely out of cauliflower

-rhubarb crisp (without added sugar or fat)

the list goes on..

and all of these above recipes have little to no added ingredients, and are all very healthy and delicous AND LOW CALORIE

browse recipes, look up cooking tips, be crafty... I'm sure you don't hate everything. You need to get over this stubborn mental block of yours. The more you tell yourself something the more you start to believe it. Begin with a positive attitude, change your way of thinking, tell yourself that you DO like vegetables, and make it happen

I'm pretty picky too. Certain textures bother me (tomato, onion) but I've found that if they are cooked they are easier to eat. You could also make soup and add a couple of cups of finely chopped greens (kale, spinach, etc) and cabbage to it. Neither will add a bunch of flavor but cabbage is a good filler and greans are great for you. If they are chopped small enough, the texture probably won't bother you.

OK,

Carmen is a little crude but the concept is all there. Only you can go out and find the food that you do like, do not give-up and try different things.( rice made entirely of cauliflower??)

Hey. I can sympathize with you. I do not like fruit either. I'm sure it's mostly in my head, but I cannot eat it. I like juices, but they're mostly sugar. I guess I liked it as a kid but I dont now and I know that people tell you to just "try it" well the times I have, I still didn't like it. There's no rhyme or reason here people, some people just don't like it!

I'm picky about my veggies too. So the ones I like, I eat a lot of. I love spinach, so I make all my salads out of spinach. I love broccoli and cauliflower so I cook a lot of those. And beans are good too. I would focus on what you like and make meals around that. You can make a vegetable soup, I know for me, that makes most vegetables softer, and therefore less weird texture. If I get the nerve up, I might make myself a fruit smoothie someday to see if I can find a flavor I like. But I absoulutely despise bananas. I think they are the grossest thing ever.

It's nice to know someone else is out there who is picky like me. I also happen to work with a girl who is the same, so you're not alone!

look, you're not going to like everything.. but you are bound to like something.

I personally can't eat tomatoes raw BUT I can eat them cooked, stewed or canned

I can't eat onions cooked or raw, but I add them to everything for their flavor

and I won't touch zucchini raw, but I found come up with many ways to eat it cooked, steamed, baked, fried, etc...

we all have preferences.. you just need to figure yours out

fruits and vegetables are SO GOOD for you and vital for your health (tons of vitamins, minerals, and fiber) so don't start with this "i'll just eat less of the stuff im eating now" because you'll just end up with defiencies in important nutrients which can lead to health problems AND you'll probably feel deprived having to eat teeny tiny portions. You might lose some weight, but you still won't be as healthy as you could be

btw,

cauliflower rice is basically grated caulflower into little bits (resembling rice or coucous) and then steamed in the microwave with a little salt, bay leaves.. or your choice of seasoning

sometimes I sautee on the skillet after microwaving with a bit of chicken soup base, soy sauce, and peices of diced chicken and other vegetables... voila chicken fried rice, low calorie, low carb, super delicious