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??
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
