I tend to think eating clean is the best way to go, both for weight loss and health. However, I kind of hate clean food. I can't stand chicken breast, brown rice or steamed broccoli. I detest green salads of any kind. I can sort of handle chili made with ground turkey breast, bison burgers, egg whites and whole wheat couscous.

In truth, my favorite foods are comfort foods that are high in calories and NOT clean, like traditional spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, mashed potatoes, swedish meatballs, etc.

Yeah, I could make "cleaner" versions of the things I like. But they just don't taste the same.

So does eating clean ever get easier? Do the taste buds adjust? Will I ever actually *want* to eat a chicken breast? lol

Why chicken breast? Eat the dark meat, it won't kill you, and it's not really significantly higher in calories. This whole chicken breast thing is like a sort of psychological torture us uber dieters seem to inflict on ourselves. It's probably akin to flagellating our taste buds for our past dietary indiscretions :P

Get some whole wheat pasta, make a thick, meaty turkey ragu...find some recipes online, a lot of the time you wont be able to taste a difference.

Idk if it will ever get any easier for you if you 'hate' the foods. Your taste buds may change. I find that eating traditional foods now make me feel bad. Bloated and SO full...so now I enjoy eating clean because I feel better. But then again I pretty much like all foods, so I never had a problem with the taste of foods. I just had to get used to not having the starches and sugar.

They do adjust. You just have to stick with it. Although, I've always used turkey in my spaghetti and meatballs. We aren't a big red-meat house... Also, make turkey-swedish meatballs, or homemade mashed potatoes, so you can control what goes into them. We all make this journey as hard or as easy as it has to be!

*Or even better, just make it with extra lean ground beef. You can eat everything you love, the point is simply that it should be in smaller quantities. A good way to get used to eating less is to consume your meals more slowly...and for ten minutes after you eat try and FEEL the fullness. If you give yourself a chance to rest after eating a moderate sized meal, you'll come to see that the compulsion to eat MORE is mostly habit, and comes from and emotional desire to be full instead of a physical one.

It got easier for me...I couldn't stand chicken breasts for a long time, but I just kept cooking it different ways until I found something that stuck with me. I used to eat broccoli a lot, but now I'm kind of sick of it and I have moved onto brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes. But don't force yourself to eat something if you know you don't like it!! That's no fun!!

You have to experiment with different "clean" foods. Personally, I'm not a big bread fan-- I eat almost no bread except for whole wheat wraps, which I don't even like that much. I can digest oatmeal, bulgur, quinoa much more easily than wheat... I try to eat more of those grains but mostly I just focus on eating lean protein & veggies. I also don't really care for fruits, but will eat tons of veggies as long as they're prepared to my liking. I'm big on protein/lean meat/dairy. I love cheese and can't live without it. I will never give it up. I feel my best, am at my healthiest & lose weight the most efficiently when I eat a high protein diet. Everyone is different though. Other people might very well feel sick, have health problems and not lose weight on a high protein diet. Eating "clean" is not about eating specific foods, it's about having a healthier, more moderate approach to eating all kinds of food in general, in my opinion.

I think your taste buds will adapt to the new foods to. Mine have, and I'm able to make things differently to be healthier and still enjoy them you just have to make them a few times till you get it right. I also am a huge icecream fanatic, and when im eating clean I never crave sweets, at all... it creeps me out lol

Good luck

I guess I could just eat dark meat chicken. I'd probably be more likely to eat chicken if I stuck with just dark meat.

Maybe I'll try experimenting with some different grains. Too bad I hate to cook. lol

To be honest with you I can't eat clean...I love to eat...my only answer for that is smaller portions of the things you love and save treats for what they are treats. And as the others said, your habits change and you WANT to eat better. Enjoy finding your own way .

I had to try a LOT of different whole wheat/whole grain pastas before I found one I liked. I still make homemade spaghetti sauce, but I make it a lot "cleaner" than I used to: Less olive oil, more vegetables of all kinds (onions, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, mushrooms to add bulk and flavor), lean ground beef, cooked and rinsed before added to sauce. And I eat less of the whole she-bang. I still love it and enjoy it as much as what I used to eat -- with a lot less indigestion, too!

I have a fantastic whole wheat pizza dough recipe which, frankly, with toppings, I think few people would even notice the difference from a white flour recipe. Now when I make a personal pizza, I use half the dough I used to use for my old version, roll it very thin, limit the cheese and meat, pile on the vegetables and enjoy every bite.

I enjoy an occasional grilled hamburger on a nasty regular white bun, but I skip the cheese and pile on the vegetables. And no fries with that, thanks. Beans instead, please!

If I eat chicken breast, it has to be IN something. I don't really enjoy them on their own. So I poach them in broth with herbs and/or seasonings, dice them up and add them to salads. Or I put them in wraps with lots of veggies, or add them to other recipes. If I'm going to eat something just as a protein, I'll choose something besides a chicken breast most of the time. Pork loin or a lean cut of beef is better in my mind. No more than 5 ounces, though.

I still have mashed potatoes, but I make them with 1% milk and just a dab of butter. They're pretty close to the ones I used to love. Small portion, though, and not very often.

I've pretty much given up bread except for one sourdough English muffin at breakfast. And honestly, I don't miss it much. I bake my own, so it's really good -- but honestly, my friends miss it more than I do! Now I just make it for special occasions, and I limit my intake to one slice. Sure enjoy that once slice, though.

And yes, it does get easier... once your taste buds and body have acclimated to these changes, you may even come to prefer them -- as I have. I sure don't miss that indigestion!!

Hope these suggestions are of help!

I think your tastebuds will adjust with time. I love to eat clean, but I also love how the junk tastes. I love how much better I feel when I eat clean. I hate how I feel when I eat the junk. I had to grow up and eat to feed how I wanted to feel, energized and healthy, instead of feeding how crappy I was already feeling.

Junk food is designed to create a seratonin effect so that you want it more. It's all the fat and the carbs. So somebody turned us into junk food junkies, just like those people who pass out free crack and marijuana to young kids to get them hooked. And that just pisses me off!!!!!!!

When I smell KFC, or other stuff like that, I want it so badly! But having been off it for so long, when I do have a taste, it really tastes bad to me. I mean really bad. Coke tastes bitter. I feel the fat coating the sides of my tongue when I eat just a few fries. I get seriously sluggish when I eat any sort of processed carbs and I can't get a thing done.

When I stick to my Paleolithic diet of veggies, fruits, lean proteins, nuts and seeds, I really feel my best. I do love to cook, but I keep the clean food preparation simple. Grilled proteins, or braised in a pot with lots of onions and garlic and a little low sodium stock. I eat a wide variety of veggies and I prepare them a lot of different ways, but I like grilled veggies the most. Roasted eggplant pureed with lots of garlic, chopped parsley, red onion, lemon juice and a little olive oil, such a great dip! That chopped parsley and red onion with the lemon juice and olive oil is a lovely salsa for fish or chicken.

I could go on and on and on!!! But I guess I'm wierd, because I love eating clean.

Taste buds heal/change.

I've experience this several times over the years in my fluctuating eating. No more dramatic than on starbucks coffee (yum vs blargh! TOO sweet!) and soda (yum vs blargh! Battery acid!).

It matters on other foods too, but to less dramatic scale. Broccoli -- soo fresh and sweet. Onion so clean and tangy. Potato that doesn't need butter or anything at all.

Give yourself the time to heal the tastebuds. Hang in there!

A.

Keep your mashed potatoes. Buy red or yellow potatoes and bake them in the microwave (preserves more of the nutrients than boiling) and use low fat cream cheese and a splash of low or non fat milk instead of butter when you mash them up. More protein, less fat by far, and better flavor.

Keep your spagetti with meat sauce. Make the sauce yourself OR drag a low fat, no HFC commercial variety through the garden. By that I mean toss diced peppers, chopped onions, chopped spinach or kale or another hearty greeen, mushrooms, and shredded carrots into the sauce, simmer and then use an immersion blender to puree it up. Brown very lean ground beef in a smidgen of olive oil with fresh garlic and mix with the sauce and then serve it over Barilla Plus pasta. My husband, who wouldn't touch whole wheat if I put it on my boobies, likes the Barilla plus

Swedish meatballs I can't help you with, although thinking about it... could you use low fat sour cream to make the cream sauce?

I think your biggest obstacle is that you don't like to cook. Have you thought about taking a class? You might find that with the proper skills your feelings about home cooking change.

And yes, eventually your palate will change and you will appreciate the taste of fresh, wholesome foods. When you find yourself on a quest for the perfect peach or the best whole wheat artisan bread you will know you have arrived

I hated it at first but now I LOVE brown rice & whole wheat pasta, pancakes & bread. The regular stuff seems flavorless & mushy to me now. It took months of forcing myself to eat the brown stuff, then I stopped minding, then after a while I had the regular stuff & was totally like YUCK.

My favorite comfort food now steamed veggies on brown rice with lots of CHEESE. Jarlsburg lite grated to cover everything,mix it all up & a splash of lite soy sauce.

I HATE white meat chicken for anything but chicken salad, I buy leg quarters, dry them, rub with sage oilve oil & garlic salt, put on a rack in a broiler pan, cook at 325 kinda slow so most of the fat drains off. The skin gets super crispy & is totally worth the calories.