Can you lose weight without eating vegetables? Of course, but can you be healthy, and for how long?
I was reading some of the cancer research not too long ago, and there have been many studies suggesting that fruit and vegetable consumption (quantity and variety) is correlated with the lowest rates of cancer, heart disease and other illnesses, and with better outcomes for those diseases. And more studies that fruits and vegetables are not interchangeable, especially if you don't know what you're missing and how to compensate.
A good basic nutrition class at a community college, or at least a good basic nutrition book will really help. You will learn what nutrients are in different foods, what the results of too few or too many of those nutrients have on the body, and how and if you can compensate for nutritients you aren't getting in your foods.
It's more common for weight loss to be a much bigger concern than malnutrition, and long term health, but your weight loss will mean nothing if you lose your health because of poor nutrition. A lot of the results of poor nutrition take years to develop, and the effects can be difficult to appreciate until it's too late.
I remember a statistic in one of my college texts that the incidence of manutrition is actually higher in overweight people than normal weight people. Some of this may be due to dieting and some to eating an inbalanced diet.
Food preferences can change, or can be worked around. If you have fewer than 10 vegetables that you will eat (especially if they're not each a different color) you may want to consider grinding veggies and adding to smoothies, meatloaf, spaghetti sauce.... The why won't make sense to you, though until you learn more about nutrition, and realize why it's important to get a wide variety of nutrients, and how and where you can get them.
OK, I get the whole veggie thing and I may sound like a 5 year old, but I just really don't like them! I have tried some, a lot actually, and they are just bland and nasty & tasteless to me. And some of them actually smell so bad, that I could never force myself to put it in my mouth. But, I can try. If it's all about nutrients though, can't I get that stuff from vitamins or whatever, instead of forcing myself to eat food I don't enjoy, AT ALL! It's not that I'd prefer to have a big mac or whatever over the veggie, my attitude towards food has completely changed. Things I used to eat all the time & never thought about WHAT I was eating, I would never put in my body now! I am making huge strides in changing my life style, I really want to be skinny! I know, I know, I should want to be healthy, but truth be told, I want to be skinny again! I do tend to get a little defensive, it's nothing personall against anyone. Sometime people just don't want to hear critisism. :-) Thanks for the advice, harsh or not. It is really helping. If it wasn't, I wouldn't keep coming back everyday.
Hey Extasee -
I took Juice Plus gummies for a couple of years when I wasn't eating any vegetables - I actually took the fruit and the veggie ones both. I did the gummies even though they were a little more expensive and I had to take a high dose as an adult (they were meant for kids) because the pills smelled awful and were huge. i think they have a chewable now, like a Tums shape and size. I had a friend who had a SIL who used to sell them, and my dentists office advertises them on the in-room tv system. The dentist and the hygienist both take them and give them to their kids, and they swear by them. I think there is even a powder now that can be blended with smoothies.
Now, as a disclaimer, I don't know if they had any kind of positive impact on me or not because the rest of my diet was so bad that any smidgen of good got killed by the twice daily frappucino or chai tea latte and pastry from Starbucks habit I had. That was when I took kickboxing and yoga four times per week so I could maintain my overweight weight without having to cut down the Starbucks and fast food... The friend whose SIL sold them took them, as did his boyfriend and pretty much all of their family. They love them - last I heard they all still take them. I believe that they were kind of expensive - I got a 'family' discount... I don't take them anymore, haven't in a long time. I've worked hard to get past the gag reflex I used to get from a lot of veggies, so I think going back to a supplement would be a step back for me personally. I've read articles that say that they are a pyramid scheme with minimal nutritional value, I've read others that swear by them. I included a link to their home page and one article on each side of the argument, in case you are interested. Again, not endorsing, just sharing.
I think that if you could get all the nutrition you needed from supplements, we'd all be super skinny, and living off of a handful of pills a day.
Don't get me wrong - I take a multivitamin supplement every day. I don't have anything against supplements, but there are benefits to eating whole foods that you simply cannot get from a pill.
The thing is, there are ways to incorporate veggies into your life where they aren't "bland and tasteless" and to hide the texture. Make smoothies and puree spinach into it. Make carrot cake muffins with lots of shredded carrot and zucchini. Make pumpkin muffins with various veggies shredded or chopped up into them. Make soup and puree carrots or spinach and add it as a base. Make tomato sauce and add shredded carrots and zucchini.
You can "hide" veggies in lots of ways.
If they are bland, then cook them to not be bland. I take acorn and butternut squash, roast them lightly drizzled with olive oil, and coated in paprika.
Roast a 1/2 acorn squash and drizzle it with honey, and sprinkle it with cinnamon and ginger.
Bake a sweet potato, then mash it and mix it with honey and cinnamon.
Cook carrots with brown sugar or honey, and cinnamon to make "copper pennies".
Frozen cooked chopped spinach can be whirled around in the food processor or blender until it's pureed and added to just about *anything* and you'll never know it's there. I know that sounds weird, but it's very true. I put spinach in fruit smoothies all the time and never taste it.
One thing I'd say that was true for me is that your tastebuds change...
I didn't care for veggies very much up until 5 years ago. Sure I'd eat them if they were cheese covered or battered/fried or what not. Now I absolutely love veggies and couldn't imagine life without them!
How it started for me was to eat veggies I liked more than others. This meant grape tomatoes and baby carrots. I expanded upon that and just started eating them because even if they weren't my favorite, I knew they nourished my body. The more I ate, the more I liked them, the more I liked them, the more they became central in my eating plan and I grew to love them.
If it's all about nutrients though, can't I get that stuff from vitamins or whatever, instead of forcing myself to eat food I don't enjoy, AT ALL!
In a word, phytonutrients. Veggies & fruits have 'em, vitamins don't. Sometimes some may be added, but certainly only a small fraction of the ones we know about. And they find new ones all the time. Things like lycopene, quercertin, lutein, zeaxanthinm, limonene, lignans, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc ...
There are SOOO many types of veggies out there that I'm SURE you can find some that "fit" you. Also, some things are just an acquired taste. Am I saying that you should eat a ton of food you don't like just because they are vegetables? No. I don't like brussel sprouts or asparagus, so I don't eat em'. BUT when I walk through the grocery store, I can't imagine skipping over the whole produce section. There are just SO MANY different kinds!
There are so many ways to "Mask" some veggies in your food. I make ziti and put an oven baked zucchini and yellow squash in it. It makes the serving bigger, too, and just gives it a little texture.
Also... try doing creative stuff with your veggies. Like... make Butternut squash fries. I PROMISE YOU! If you like french fries, you will LOVE these. Just take a butternut squash, cut it in half, peel off the outside, scoop out the seeds, slice em like fries, and stick em in the oven. They taste just like french fries, but you are getting a more nutritious vegetable in you. Or, just bake some potato fries. Potatoes can be a healthy veggie, too.
Also, if you just make a delicious salad at home once a week, maybe the taste will grow on you.
Again, I don't think you should FORCE yourself to eat foods you absolutely abhor all of the time. But I really feel that if you don't make an attempt to learn to like a wide range of foods, you ARE sabotaging yourself. You can eat so much more veggies for the same amount of calories as a piece of bread. They'll make you feel more full and feel better.
I eat salad everyday, but my salad consists of lettuce, sometimes cheese and something on top, like chicken or steak tips. :-) YUMMY! I love salad, I'm going to the store this week and i'm going to attempt to buy 2 veggies & try to eat them. I figure everytime I go, if I try 2more veggie, maybe I'll like some.... I dont' know. I'll tell you a veggie I do like.... this.... ha! kills me everytime!
I'm going to the store this week and i'm going to attempt to buy 2 veggies & try to eat them.
I think that's an awesome idea. Maybe you could post what you buy and we can offer you suggestions for recipes? I love to cook and I have a *ton* of veggie recipes that I'd be happy to share.
Think of places you've been forced to eat veggies. Though I didn't used to like many veggies, I've always liked minestrone soup, among others that have veggies. Are there other dishes you've been served by other folks with veggies in them that you liked?
Extasee, I'll give you credit. You have come here with one set of opinions, listened to lots of hard core advice and stuck around and thought about it. I think a lot of people would have bailed when they didn't like what was said. I'm impressed!
Five years ago, my theory was, if you can't nuke it, why bother? This was before I had gained the weight, so it wasn't healthy, but it wasn't a huge issue. Than I stopped smoking, gained oodles of weight and became a vegetarian without knowing how to cook a darn thing. It has been a long, tough road learning how to be healthy and I'm still a lousy cook, but I have gotten better.
If you can hit a farmer's market (it's awfully late in the season) the veggies are soooo much better than anything else out there. The first time I grew my own vegetables I was floored by the intense and yummy taste. I still struggle with finding veggies I like and fast, easy ways to cook them. I'm single, hate left-overs and have a limited amount of time in my day, so I guess I'm picky in my own way.
Some of my favs are asparagus and/or summer squash on my foreman with a bit of lemon. Eggplant, but it has to be the graffitti eggplant, I can't stand the regular, sprayed with olive oil and salted than popped in the toaster oven for 20 minutes or so. Grean beans are treated the same way and are heavenly and uber low in calories. My all time favorite are sweet pototoes, baked with just a bit of brown sugar and butter. Those are reserved for my heavy work-out days. I didn't know it, but sweet potatoes are uber healthy for you! Lately I've been steaming my spinach to go with my veggie dumplings, but I drown it all in a ton of soy sauce.
As for learning what is healthy. I've learned a lot just reading these boards. I also got 'Eat this, not that' and learned tons. I thought I had a decent handle on things, but that book was an eye opener and such an easy read. I went out to eat yesterday and today both and thanks, in part to that book, I was able to stay within calories for both lunches. I never would have thought that was possible a month ago. I still have a lot to learn, but I've already come a long way and I think you will also.
Keep up the good work of being honest and than listening to what everyone has to say even when you don't like it. That takes true courage, in my opinion. And photochick, also in my opinion, I think it takes courage to be so honest with your advice, even at the risk of upsetting people. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us, I know I learn a lot reading your posts.
Extasee - I dunno what kind of lettuce you are talking about...but if it's iceberg, try branching out to a darker leaf lettuce? I really like mixed greens, but they might be kinda hardcore. All kinds of funky stuff mixed in. Maybe a romaine lettuce? It has so much more in the way of vitamins than iceberg.
I was talking about iceberg, right now, its all I eat. But you'll be happy to know I tried a tomatoe and a cucumber that were on my salad at lunch and I'm happy to report..... I HATED THEM BOTH! :-) The tomato tasted nothing like ketchup or tomatoe sauce and cucumber tasted raunchy! But hey, I tried it! I didn't die, so i guess I'll keep attempting to eat those god awful things you guys keep telling me eat. I have to admit though, I was cursing everyone of you veggie fans when I was eating themm too!!! :-) And cdiem, thanks for all the kind words.. It really made me smile and nice things like that are the reason I keep coming back to this site!
ha! kills me everytime!
That's hilarious....but yer tryin. We can't ask for more than that.
