WW Food and Point Issues - Advice for getting in your servings of veggies & fruit....

I am a receptionist at our WW community meeting & I had a new member ask for suggestions about getting in her daily servings of vegetables and fruits each day. It seems the only veggies she likes are lettuce & mushrooms. She like potatoes & corn, but then, of course, you have the problem with those having points. She doesn't like V-8/vegetable juices either. I, on the other hand, like most fruits & veggies, so I had a hard time coming up with some ideas for her.

She doesn't like too many fruits, either. She does like fruit juices, but again, I think eating the fruit keeps you feeling more full.

I would like to come up with some alternatives or suggestions to give her when I see her at the meeting next week. Can anyone help me??

Thanks in advance,
Katie

It's an interesting thing I have noticed that people who don't like fruit, sometimes like cooked fruit. Weird, but I've seen it happen. So, maybe she'd like applesauce or baked apples. Maybe she'd like dried fruits like raisins or apricots. Hope this helps a little.

Does she like spaghetti sauce or salsa? Those count. How about pumpkin "hidden" in baked goods (as a fat substitute) or other mixed dish? Smoothies?

Have her try new ways to cook them or eat them raw and have her try new veggies. I made a commitment to myself to try a new veggie or fruit or a new way to have a fruit or veggie every _____ (fill in week, month). I've tried starfruit (didn't like), jicama (liked), spaghetti squash (liked), etc. I was surprised at the veggies I thought I didn't like just because I tried a new way to cook them.

Hi,

I've been on a soup kick lately. And now my nonveggie eating 16 year old is eating vegetables. I wish I'd discovered the soup thing years ago if it gets him to eat veggies. If you use canned stock and frozen vegetables, soup is really simple. There are also a ton of great soup recipes around.

What I do is to puree about half of the vegetables and stock to thicken it a little. It also blends the flavors so the taste of one vegetable doesn't stick out very much.

A low- or 0- point soup is a great way to start a meal because it fills me up. Then I find smaller portions of higher point main dishes more satisfying. Especially if I also add a salad to the appetizer course.

Lin

It is also very easy to stick vegetables into many of the meals you are already cooking. This has the added benefit of bulking up the food so that you feel more full and/or can eat more for your points range. For instance, she might try adding a box of frozen chopped spinach to the cheese mixture in a lasgna, or puree some vegetables in a soup to thicken it, etc. I'm sure there are many more ideas out there.

I like "thickening up" my sandwiches with lots of veggies - cucumber slices, radishes, grated carrots, bell peppers, etc. You can have a suprizingly low point sandwich that's huge. I like to cook a lot and I think many people who don't like vegetables don't seem to cook much - all they've ever had is what I call "mom veggies" - boiled for hours with bacon or fat or canned stuff. I didn't like vegetables much either until I moved out of the house and discovered a great chinese stir-fry cookbook where the vegetables are cooked very little. Maybe it's just her cooking method?

Here's my answer to those who don't cook, or those who do like their veges well done, but don't want to worry about watching so they won't scortch... my specialty. My solution is to put something like green beans in the crock pot and cook them that way. Yes, I use canned I know not the best, but they're simple to do with boillion and opinion flakes with a dash of sweetener, and then you have lots of veges ready for several meals to come. I buy the indistruial size can which just fills a crock pot.
Paige

There's that pumpkin-pudding recipe posted somewhere around here, that uses a can of pumpkin in it. A can has 3.5 servings -- each of which gives 300% of the RDA of vitamin A. Whoa! Pumpkin must be the only food high in vitamin A that I like to eat.

Just a few thoughts......

I recently discovered dried fruits; we've all had raisins all our lives, but how many of us are looking beyond those? Dried cherries are awesome, just for snacking, as are apricots. Dried cranberries, and blueberries are great on cereal. Tell her to give them a try.

And a great hint from my sister-in-law....she puts raw spinach leaves (washed, of course) on her sandwiches. I tried it, and really liked it. A great change from all the various leaf lettuces out there. The bag of spinach goes a long way if you use it for both salads and sandwiches.

~Jen

I would really encourage any member struggling with veggies because he/she "didn't like them" to make a contract, a la Winning Outcomes, to try a new veggie---or retry one eaten before, but prepared differently---each week. I think lots of people THINK they don't like veggies, and have kind of closed their minds to the notion of consuming vegetable matter. But with a little experimentation and creativity, most people find their repertoires expanding quite a lot.

That said, on my short-on-veggie days, nothing beats soup....starting with a tomato base and adding beans, corn, and whatever other veggies are around and appealing can take care of a LOT of veggie servings in one sitting.

Grill them on the GF (I have the GE Contact version $69.99 at Walmart which lets you put the plates in the dishwasher) with some balsamic vinegar then put them in a ww pita or wrap! These are great! I love zuchinni, portabello, onion, carrots, brocolli, and bell pepper! They're adicting, so get the least calorie wraps you can... you'll want two!
Paige

I also like spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce. My buddy makes it with alfredo sauce, I might have to try that using a WW recipe.

My "favorite food" is Delmonte Zucchini & Tomatoes, UPC 240016320. Found it at the little market near my WW meeting. 1 point for the whole can.

I throw it in with mac & cheese, spaghetti sauce, canned soups, anything.

There are also the great 0 point veg soup variations here on the board. We've started keeping it in the fridge and adding leftovers (which add points and variety) like rice, baked chicken, black beans.

Along the lines of what Parsp was saying, roasted vegetables in the oven are wonderful. As part of a meal, she could add a cubed potato to mushroom wedges and a few other types of cubed veggies. Toss with a smidge of olive oil, some salt, some pepper, and maybe some garlic and herbs. Roast on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. The roasting process makes vegetables wonderfully sweet and really enhances their flavor. My favorites for roasting (in addition to potatoes and mushrooms) are red/yellow/orange bell peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, and carrots. She could try adding one veggie at a time to her basic potatoes and mushrooms to find a mix she likes.

Ditto the spaghetti squash....With your own homemade sauce...it can be virtually pointless.....and Delicious...believe me...don't knock it till you try it!!

Janet

I'm not a great veggie eater. but this taste pretty good. A friend from weight watchers told me this one. One ca n of College Inn chicken broth with lemon.One can string beans and one can of asparagus,blend in blender then heat. I sprinkle lemonpepper seasoning on top of it. I think it's very good, and also quite filling. I like to have crackers and cheese with it for lunch.I like the LaughingCow (light) spreadable cheese wedges,one point per wedge. I like that the wedges are individualy wrapped. So, this is about as gourmet as I get. I love my cheese. Anybody got any good cheeses low in points?

Every week I roast a bunch of peppers (red,green,yellow), onions and mushrooms to use during the week for pizza, pasta,wraps, etc. I have also added zucchini and summer squash. Great way to get veggies in.

...And if she really, really, really doesn't like other veggies, try covering them up! I often can't get myself too excited about zero-point veggies, largely because I'm too busy/lazy/disinterested to make a great variety for myself. So, when I pack my microwavable lunch (say a chicken breast and some roast potatoes), I add a cup of frozen green beans or broccoli or spinach, and then I add 1/2 cup of fat-free gravy. This keeps my taste buds interested enough to keep eating even when I'm bored.

I love to cook, and I can make all kinds of neat veggie dishes, but on a day-to-day basis I often neglect myself. But I do so much better (both with WW and my health in general) when I get my five daily servings in that I have committed to doing everything I can. I don't love V-8 juice, but it doesn't take long to drink, so there's a serving. Apples get boring, but there's another serving, and my jaw gets a workout, too. I also count spaghetti sauce (1/2 cup of sauce has to include at least 1 cup's worth of raw tomato). Veggies not only fill you up, but they give you nutrients you can't otherwise get. I hope this helps!

I didn't realize spaghetti sauce was one. I am in the same boat as your client. Coleslaw in a sandwich is good. I didn't realize the spaghetti sauce counted. Thanks.

Would you leave in the broth from both the string beans and asparagus? And I'm guessing that you used cans that are approxmately the same size? It sounds interesting.

Thanks,

Hi, I drain the water from the can of stringbeans and also the asparagas. Why not give it a try. Let me know if you like it. Besides that,it's ""free""

When I make the soup with a can of aspaeragas and stringbeans,I drain all the water out of the vegetables ,and add the chicken broth to blend in blender. Enjoy, it;s a FREEBIE with no points.

Baking with applesauce instead of butter and oil is lowfat and sneaks in fruits.
Fruit sorbets and popsicles are excellent, just make sure that fruit and water are the two top ingredients before egg whites and sugar.
Grate carrots, zucchini, potatoes into meatloaf and add extra tomatoes.
Mash bananas thoroughly with peanut butter, this works very well with kids who think they don't like fruit. They'll never notice.
Veggie burgers (not to be confused with meatless burgers made from soy products) have at least a serving of veggies in them, depending on the brand.
Spreadable fruit instead of sugary jams.
I like berries on my oatmeal and cook with veggie broth and tomato sauce instead of oil.
Hope your member finds something to her liking, there are lots of great suggestion here.

Thanks Patmoody2 - I'll try it.

I always seem to get enough veggies, but fruits I have more of a problem with (since they do have points). BUT one thing I love is frozen bananas....I swear they have the same consistency as slightly hard banana ice-cream! and super tasty :) I too usually get most of my veggies in from soup, but I have commited to try a new veggie every week (gonna start with some eggplant this weekend).

Carrie