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I HATE Veggies!!!

#1

adaem , 06-03-2006 12:59 AM

I need help from anyone willing to take me on. I am a tough case!

Here's my problem. I want desperately to eat good. Eat salads and fruit and veggies. But I hate them. What I want is a juicy burger (I have tried turkey and veggie and they just are gross) french fries and a big piece of chocolate cake. I know I don't have that far to go and I sometimes think I should just be happy were I am at. But I'm not. I don't feel attractive to my husband (even though he always says I am) and I just want to fit into my pre-baby clothes. I have tried buying fresh fruit and veggies with the intention of eating them and I just find something else that is better, but not better for me. I have NO willpower!!

Does anyone else have this problem and if so what do you do about it?

Any help would be great!!

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#2

ValRock , 06-03-2006 01:22 AM

I used to hate them too... seasoning is my friend! I LOVE a big plate of steamed veggies now with some mrs. dash :P. I guess it just depends on what's more important! I read somewhere that "nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels!!!" Keep trying new things until you find something you DO like! Good luck! Fruits and veggies are essential!

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#3

Jtjoray , 06-03-2006 01:53 AM

I'm the same way. What I do to try and get all my veggies in is sandwhichs with tons of veggies on them.....or turkey burgers with lots of veggies. I know you said you didnt like turkey burgers..but the ones I buy are Jenny O and they are pre seasoned. I cant tell the difference from those and beef. Try those ones. You just have to keep trying new things untill you find something that you like or can learn to like. I understand though. Good luck!

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#4

Robsia , 06-03-2006 04:58 AM

Oh - I hate veggies also!! I buy multi-vitamins so I'm not losing out on the goodness and just eat other stuff. Meat, fresh meat, not fried burgers, is good because it's high in protein and low in carbs and fat, so long as you buy lean.

I do like fruit though which helps.

But I stay away from anything fried - I haven't had fries for ages. I like pasta, which is fine so long as you don't go overboard with it, like a good serving is about 2 oz dry weight, which is 200 cals. Rice (boiled, not fried) is also good, with a similar amt of cals per oz.

So a typical day for me would be:

1 pint semi-skimmed milk measured out for breakfast and coffee throughout the day

Breakfast - cereal with sweetener, NOT sugar, and milk from allowance.
Coffee w/o sugar

Lunch - soup or sandwiches
Coffee w/out sugar

Dinner - chicken in mushroom sauce and pasta
Coffee w/o sugar

Snacks in evening - one or two of:
Piece of fruit, low fat yoghurt, low fat chocolate mousse, <100cal bag of potato snacks
Coffee w/o sugar

And that makes about 1300 cals.

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#5

wish4fit , 06-03-2006 07:06 AM

Wow, that is a tough one...One of my best friends has had a weight problem for about 10 years, ever since giving birth to her son. She HATES vegetables - I mean really. She doesn't even like a tomato slice on her cheeseburger!! She did well with the Atkins diet because she loves meat and cheese and eggs. I don't know that I'd recommend it though, as when it came down to it she couldn't maintain a lifestyle of bacon omlettes drizzled in hollandaise sauce and steak burgers without the bun. It's so tough! I have such sympathy!!!

My friend is currently in the process of taking baby steps. She'll eat things like broccoli and feta quiche instead of the bacon and cheddar one, or pasta primavera instead of fettucine alfredo. She says she can't just dive into the world of veggies, it's all about baby steps for her. Slowly she seems to be coming around. She had a salmon salad for lunch the other day - SHOCKER!! It was smothered in bleu cheese dressing, but she was trying. I'd say take small steps and slowly see if you can't start inching your way into the world of veggies. I wasn't a huge vegetable eater for many years and now I can't get enough. You really can feel a difference when you eat healthy and get proper nutrients. It feels so goooood! You can do it! Just start small but aim for big

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#6

Optical Goddess , 06-03-2006 09:16 AM

Hello,

I feel your pain. I am one of the aforementioned people who can't eat a tomatoe slice on my cheeseburger. To me, it ruins the whole thing. I can eat fruits more than I will vegetables ( I always felt that "veggies" sounded like a nick-name for a friend. I'm not friendly with vegetables yet). I can eat steamed vegetables or vegetables in soups and stews. I like corn ( even though it's very starchy), cauliflower and broccoli-- ONLY cooked. Green beans, potatoes ( are they a vegetable?), and many types of other beans.

Like me, you may have trouble w/ salads. I can eat them before/with a meal but not alone. I do not like enough vegetables to be able to make a salad that I will feel full from. This took me a long time to deal with, but I am accepting that you don't have to eat salads to eat healthy. I agree with trying new things, but I do not advocate forcing yourself to eat something you can't deal with. No one can expect you to adopt a healthy eating way of life if you feel you must eat something you loathe...

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#7

Robsia , 06-03-2006 09:54 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by wish4fit
Wow, that is a tough one...One of my best friends has had a weight problem for about 10 years, ever since giving birth to her son. She HATES vegetables - I mean really. She doesn't even like a tomato slice on her cheeseburger!!
LOL - I laughed at that - sorry. Perhaps the eating of the cheeseburger contributes more to her weight problem than the lack of tomato on it.

But I expect she didn't eat burgers whilst trying to lose weight.

It is possible to lose weight while not eating veggies - I've done it.

Potatoes are actually not classed as a vegetable for purposes of food groups, thet are classed as a carbohydrate. Cereals such as corn and rice are also carbohydrates, rather than vegetables.

I do like mushrooms, which are really low-cal and also pickled onions. I actually like fried onions too but I can't have those!! I can just about stomach lettuce if it has salad cream on it.

You can do it - you just need to find stuff you like. What about vegetable derivatives, like tomato soup? I hate tomatoes but love tomato soup!

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#8

Jman1 , 06-03-2006 03:18 PM

If I have junk in the house, I will of course eat that instead of the healthy stuff. Therefore, I don't keep junk in the house. (Easy for me to say, since I live alone.)

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#9

jillybean720 , 06-03-2006 06:22 PM

Robsia/adaem--You can definitely lose weight eating cheeseburgers and fries and stuff--you just have to make healthy substitutions. Someone earlier mention Jennie-O turkey burgers--I eat them, too. They are fabulous, in my opinion, and taste just about as close to the real thing as possible. I cook them on my George Foreman grill (so all the fat drains off it) or just in a pan on the stove, in which case I drain the fat out of the pan about halfway through cooking and then blot the burgers on a paper towel when finished cooking.

Then, I eat the burger with reduced-fat cheese (I don't care for fat-free cheeses) on a light wheat bun (only 80 calories in the bun). For condiments, I use whatever I want, but I don't drown the burger--use just enough to get some flavor. I also like lettuce and red onion on my burger (I'm another one of those people who can't STAND tomato!).

If you want fries with your burger, cut up some potatoes and bake your own fries. Fries don't actually have to be fried in order to taste good

I hate veggies. I like the starches, of course (corn and potatoes), but other than that, count me out. I can handle some broccoli if it's cooked to practically mush (at which point, I'm sure most of the vitamins have been cooked right out of it). I'll be 24 next month. The way I see it, I've survived 24 years without EVER eating enough veggies (nope, not even when I was little), and it hasn't killed me yet. In fact, I've always had excellent stats on all blood tests--never had high cholesterol, never low iron, and never any other deficiencies.

My point is, you don't have to eat veggies to lose weight or even to be healthy. I spent plenty of time stressing about vegetables. I went out and bought one of almost every veggie I could find because people kept telling me it was all in my head, that I need to try cooking them differently, that I needed to try seasonings and whatnot. Nope. I just don't like em--not baked, not steamed, not broiled, not sauteed, not microwaved, not raw, not fresh, not canned, not frozen, not with spices, not with olive oil--I just can't do it.

I did try some raw veggies with a light dip once. Problem was, in order to choke it down, I would take about 2 Tablespoons of dip per one small broccoli floret. Kinda defeats the purpose, don't ya think?

I do find fruits easier to handle. Come summertime, I like to make a fruit salad. I don't like the usual canteloupe and honeydew--yuck. I use watermelon, pineapple (I buy frozen chunks, as fresh pineapple is a pain the rear to cut up), strawberries, kiwi, sometimes peaches and plums. But hey, if you don't care for fruits either, don't torture yourself over it. Eat what you like, but choose healthier alternatives. I eat pizza all the time, but I buy Boboli whole-wheat pre-made crusts and top with tomato sauce and reduced-fat cheeses. I make big club sandwiches with light whole-wheat bread (or sometimes light rye if I want more flavor), lettuce, lean deli turkey and ham, cheese, sometimes a slice of bacon (I can't handle turkey bacon--it cooks weird--but I found a lower-fat bacon that only has 25 calories a slice), and then I use fat-free thousand island dressing instead of mayonnaise. It's a very filling sandwich and only comes to just under 200 caloires.

If you find your fruits and veggies going bad before you eat them, try buying frozen. Just check the label to be sure there's no sauce in there (some frozen veggies include butter or cheese sauces). I've found I can "hide" frozen chopped spinach in quite a few foods, like noodle dishes and pasta sauces especially. I've also found it easier to eat frozen chopped broccoli because the pieces are so much smaller--mix it up with some chicken and a light marinade, and you can barely tell it's there. Now that's my kind of vegetable

I bet if you gave a list of things you ate regularly, we could find lots of ways to just make those dishes healthier. Don't stress over fruits and veggies. My salads are never anything more than lettuce and maybe a little cucumber (has to be small pieces--don't like much of it), and that's it for the veggies in my salads, so I don't bother anymore (unless I'm out, and a salad comes with my meal). Sorry for the novel here, but you CAN still be healthy and lose weight, I promise

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#10

jillybean720 , 06-03-2006 06:32 PM

OH, and like Jman said, get the junk out of your house. If you shouldn't be eating it, then what makes it okay for your family to eat junk food? Just because they may not need to lose weight doesn't mean they shouldn't eat healthfully. My boyfriend doesn't really need to lose weight, but I still make healthy dinners for us every night, and I don't keep ANY junk in the house. The closest thing to junk I have is SunChips, which are whole-grain and lower in fat and calories than regular potato chips--he likes those when he packs a lunch for work. Other than that, there's absolutely no candy, no sweets of any kind, no giant bagels or muffins, no ice cream...nothin. If it's there, I will eat it, so I eliminate the temptation. Instead, I have cans of fruit (packed in juice or water, no syrup), fresh fruit, low-fat string cheese, turkey pepperoni, rice crackers and hummus, fat-free hotdogs, whole-wheat pitas (which I'm actually not going to buy again, as I noticed they have high-fructose corn syrup in them), canned black beans (rinse before use to get rid of the excess sodium--excellent for a side dish or in fajita/burrito types of wraps), whole-wheat tortillas, whole-wheat pasta (which I only use for side dishes now, as I know I will eat too much if I make pasta as a main course)...just some ideas

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#11

Siena1383 , 06-03-2006 10:43 PM

I agree with Jillybean that you can make some changes and still have your burger and fries. Make your own burgers. They don't have to be turkey burgers; they can be beef. Try the 90+% lean chopped beef -- chopped sirloin is pricy but worth it for the taste. You can grill rather than fry it. Or if you're like me and hate grilled things, you can always bake the burger.

Can you eat it without a bun while you're dieting? If not, at least choose a normal-sized bun and not a big bulkie roll.

As Jillybean said, you can bake your fries instead of frying them. Spray a little cooking oil on them -- you'll get some taste without all the calories.

You DO need the veggies and fresh fruit. I underatand that an apple won't substitute for chocolate cake, but could you try to have some kind of veg or fruit at each meal? How about some cole slaw or carrot slaw with the burger? How about adding tomatoes, peppers and onions to your scrambled eggs? Make pizza at home (using regular bread instead of pizza dough, part-skim mozzarella and tomato sauce with Italian seasoning) and add a few veggies to the top. The thing is, veggies really help stop the appetite cravings.

Re the chocolate cake, portion control is needed here. How about buying the Weight Watchers chocolate cakes in the frozen foods section? Or make a carrot cake instead to get some carrots into you. Get a low-fat cookbook from the library to try out some recipes.

If you really don't have much weight to lose, you might consider doing a fitness workout instead of dieting. Of course, if you're overeating and not just fat from the pregnancy, a workout alone won't take the weight off.

Keep us posted as to what you decide and how you make out.

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#12

Robsia , 06-04-2006 04:01 AM

See, for me, chopping up a steak to make it into a burger is odd. Why not just have the steak?

Ah well - I guess I'll never understand the love affair some poeple have with burgers. If I never ate a burger again I wouldn't miss it.

And, as for cole slaw - hate it!!

My sister tries to get me to eat veggies and she just doesn't get that I don't like them. But she hates milk - next time she tries to get me to eat veggies I'll say OK, but only if she drinks a nice big glass full of milk!! Maybe then she'll get it. I'm fine - I have my daily multi-vitamin.

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#13

jillybean720 , 06-04-2006 08:05 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Siena1383
The thing is, veggies really help stop the appetite cravings.
This might be ture only for a few individuals (haha, probably those who actually like veggies ). The thing is, when I force myself to choke down veggies, I just want a big soda or some ice cream of something afterwards to get rid of the icky taste Or, I tell myself, "hey, I did so well eating those veggies even though I don't like them..I deserve a treat!" Pretty much counter productive I find that things like diet soda, flavored waters, and protein-packed snacks help to curb my cravings quite well.

People tell me veggies are an "acquired taste." I cannot tell you how much I hate this argument. People have told me the same thing about beer (which I do NOT like). The thing is, if I don't like it to begin with, why would I continually force myself to have it just to develop a taste? SO not worth it, IMO.

Robsia--I guess just having has fast food burgers for so much of my life, I would feel deprived if I couldn't have burgers anymore. I am not much for red meat, so I would never have steak or sirloin burgers, but I definitely like the turkey burgers Although, if I needed to eat a steak for some reason, I would proabably make it into a burger because I don't really care for any meat by itself, so for me, burgers help "mask" the taste of the meat (because of the cheese, condiments, bun, etc.), forcing me to still get my protein without having only beans everyday

Oh, and I don't care for coleslaw much, either. There are a few restaurants that make it okay, but then, of course, it's nowhere NEAR being "light" or low-fat. Whenever I make it at home (and I have tried numerous times with different recipes), I end up throwing it all away because, well, YUCK!

In any case, back to the matter at hand--I take a good multivitamin (I say "good" because some out there still lack a lot of nutrients, so even for these, you have to read the labels!) and make sure I get nutrition wherever I can (for example, my light whole-wheat bread has Omega-3 fats in it--not typical of bread). I have been able to lose over 40 pounds without forcing myself to eat veggies, and I have never had a problem with any blood tests (which I have almost annually since I keep switching doctors ). Weight aside, I am a healthy individual and don't eat veggies other than lettuce and a few slices of red onion here and there. And so, I think you'll survive

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#14

adaem , 06-04-2006 12:07 PM

Thanks everyone for your help! I think the biggest thing is protion control and I need to find some willpower.

I will let you all know how it is going. (so far this weekend not so good!)

I do like the saying, "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". I need to put that on my fridge!

Thanks again everyone!

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