Get Fit Slowly

43 responses so far ↓

• 1 Emily // Oct 15, 2008 at 10:41 am

  Do you spend much time learning to cook vegetables properly? Many vegetables taste bland when overcooked, and some–like broccoli or cruciferous vegetables–taste downright bitter and nasty.

  I also suggest trying to roast vegetables. A friend of mine found he liked them a lot better that way. Throw on a pan, drizzle with olive oil, season with spices, then into the oven. Delicious!

• 2 Charles // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:05 am

  Some of your problem with broccoli might be the way it is cooked. When it’s overcooked, it tends to be a little sulfurous. Try it steamed lightly, so it’s slightly undercooked. Then try a little butter on it (butter makes everything taste better, unfortunately for those of us counting fat calories) or with a little salad dressing.

• 3 elisabeth // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:06 am

  Emily talked about cooking things correctly; there’s also something to be said for raw — mix some new vegetables into your salad and under your salad dressing and see if that doesn’t help.
  When I was little the pediatrician told my mother not to make me eat anything I didn’t want. Probably the nicest part of my childhood, but it did mean I entered adulthood with corn and potatos as practically my only vegetables… then I met my husband, who loves vegetables. So, I started small, and with lots of cheese and other distractors — mac and cheese with peas or mac and cheese with broccoli. Peppers in tomato sauce (under cheese!); cabbage rolls under tomato sauce. Chinese food helped — soy sauce and various hot sauces helped many vegetables.
  Well, you get the picture. I still don’t often crave vegetables, but I’m eating a lot more of them, and have even managed to get some of them out from under the sauces and cheese on occasion.

• 4 Adam Steer, Momentum Wellness // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:17 am

  I used to despise brussels sprouts. Now they are a treat. In fact, I look forward to eating pretty much any vegetable that you can think of. But I used to pretty much universally turn my nose up at them. The big switch came with a much more vast change in my overall nutritional strategy. Despite strategically planned exceptions, I include almost no refined sugar or grains in my diet. Since making that change, my palette has significantly altered its appreciation for veggies!

  There are also some tricks to prep veggies for better taste. Some are mentioned above in the form of proper cooking. Experimenting with seasoning is another important aspect. Steaming and then finishing veggies in a pan with some butter and sautéed garlic is a great tasting option. A little stevia added to braised cabbage is delicious. With some mucking around you will surely find tricks and hacks which make your veggies more to your liking.

  Cheers,
  Adam

• 5 shil // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:22 am

  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not liking some foods. I do, however, think that giving them a fair chance - which includes trying them cooked in new and interesting ways - is important, but at the end of the day if you don’t like a particular food, I don’t see the value in forcing yourself to eat it. Partly because there’s really no point in this case - you have other vegetables and fruits that you do like, and you can get a decent variety of flavours and nutrients within those. And partly because forcing yourself to eat things you don’t like is just not realistic; you’re not going to stick with it if you honestly don’t like them.

• 6 Pam // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:23 am

  Definitely the way vegetables are cooked or prepared is key. I’m not much of a veggie person myself. For instance, I’ve never been a big fan of tomatoes, but I learned 2 ways I like them - sliced thin and uncooked on pizza, and cut in half and broiled topped with seasoned bread crumbs and shredded mozzarella.

  My daughter will eat several kinds of vegetables (more than I did as a kid), but only raw or lightly cooked with nothing on them. We eat broccoli a lot, but only lightly steamed (8-10 minutes) with no salt, butter, or sauce. My son, who’s 6, will eat it only if he pretends he’s a dinosaur eating a tree - try it! Green beans are cooked the same way (at least those that make it to the steamer–my daughter munches on them while I’m snipping off the tips). I don’t think I will ever learn to like bell peppers, olives, artichoke or mushrooms though!

• 7 Maria | Never the Same River Twice // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:52 am

  Do you try to eat the vegetables you don’t like by themselves? If so, you might enjoy them better in stir fry, chinese food or soups that blend many flavors.

  To be honest, I don’t like broccoli and I AM a vegetarian. I NEVER eat raw broccoli and usually mix it with something else when I cook it.

• 8 Kelly // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:55 am

  I’ve always had a problem with vegetables as well, except for the “starchy” variety (corn, potatoes, peas, etc). I’m also against beans. It makes it very difficult to eat a healthy diet. And while adding cheese or salad dressing helps immensely, doesn’t it defeat the purpose of eating vegetables in the first place? I have an appointment with a nutritionist next week. I’ll let you know what she says!

• 9 AB // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:57 am

  Corn is a grain.

  Tomatoes are a fruit.

  That said, there are ways to hide veggies. My friends get me to eat broccoli by putting cheese on it. Somehow broccoli alone is gross, but put a bit of Parmesan cheese on it, and I’m ok. Or cheddar, though I don’t recommend drowning it for the health reasons.

  I agree with Maria- soups with veggies or things where they are chopped up into very small pieces might be the way to go.

• 10 Cassie // Oct 15, 2008 at 12:02 pm

  I hate vegetables as well… or at least I used to. Now, I just cook a lot of dishes which disguise the vegetables. My best trick is to chop them up as small as possible. I have a chopping machine
  (just around $40 from amazon) which helps with this. Try chopping mushrooms into very small pieces in a homemade stroganoff, or taking teeny pieces of broccoli and mixing them with a cheesy rice (similar to the rice a roni cheddar and broccoli - but homemade), or, by far the best, try pesto.

  You can get all of your green leafy vegetables into pesto. Start with the traditional basil with lots of parmesan cheese and mix in some cream. (Later you can drop the cream as you get used to the taste). Experiment by using spinach or arugula and using lots of different nuts.

  Anyway, chopping them up so they are unrecognizable is the way to go. My next experiment will be butternut squash curry.

• 11 Chelsey @ Brown Eyed Basics // Oct 15, 2008 at 12:03 pm

  It’s funny that you don’t like broccoli. That’s one of the few vegetables I do like.

  I also dislike tomatoes, no matter how hard I try to like them. I don’t really worry about it, because I get nutrients in other ways, and I like to enjoy what I eat (i.e. not have to force it down my throat).

  One thing I’ve learned to like is black beans. I used to hate them and most kinds of beans, but then I started getting them on my burrito at my favorite Mexican restaurant. I still don’t like them plain, but I can definitely handle them when mixed with other things.

• 12 JMO // Oct 15, 2008 at 12:15 pm

  Growing up in HI, I thought I hated vegetables. After moving to the mainland I realized what I actually hated was 1) canned veggies and 2) soggy iceberg lettuce.

  Another vote for trying different prep methods to address specific aversions. I’m not a huge fan of raw broccoli because it has a funny taste and a “squeaky” (don’t ask) texture to me — but I love chopping broccoli into pieces, shaking it up in a ziploc bag with a little olive oil (not a lot, just enough to let the spices stick), chopped garlic, and red pepper flakes, and roasting it in the oven until it’s slightly caramelized. I can seriously eat an entire head of broccoli in one sitting if it’s made this way.

• 13 Ashley // Oct 15, 2008 at 12:48 pm

  I’m still working on eating my vegetables, but I have begun to conquer broccoli with the help of cheese or soy sauce (not at the same time!). I agree with the others who mentioned cooking broccoli lightly, because mushy broccoli is gross. I still can’t eat it raw, even with dressing. Keep experimenting until you find one way you can eat it, and then branch out from there.

• 14 dcpatton // Oct 15, 2008 at 1:09 pm

  Have you considered broccoli sprouts as an alternative?

• 15 Cara // Oct 15, 2008 at 1:27 pm

  I second the roasting recommendation. I love most vegetables, but they are even better roasted.

  Soups, too, are a great way to get a lot of veggies at once. Minestrone in the winter — don’t forget a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and a warm piece of bread for dunking — and gazpacho in the summer.

  Have you tried V-8? The low sodium version is not a bad way to get veggies, in a pinch. If you like bloody marys this should be a hit.

• 16 macdaddy // Oct 15, 2008 at 1:42 pm

  broccoli sprouts are a great idea, as is the v-8. I think they even make a fruit/veggie mix of v-8 now!

• 17 MS // Oct 15, 2008 at 2:00 pm

  I used to hate Broccoli too, but eventually worked to the point where I’ll eat it cooked if offered, maybe even choose it once in a blue moon. There wasn’t a plan or turning point, just enough times where I was still hungry and broccoli was all that was left on my plate.

  I still have to force myself to eat any but the smallest pieces of celery, though. Something about the texture just leaves me cold.

• 18 Mike // Oct 15, 2008 at 2:04 pm

  I used to hate natto (fermented soybeans). When I first started working for a Japanese company, they took me out to dinner for my welcome party, and one of the menu items was “natto steak” where the natto was grilled together with a steak. I knew I liked steak, but not sure how natto would be with it. I had to be gracious, so I closed my eyes and ate both, and the natto had absorbed the flavor of the steak, so it wasn’t bad.

  Since then, little by little, I started eating natto because it is supposed to be good for me, and now I don’t know why I didn’t like it to begin with.

  For broccoli, I think what you can do is to try mixing a small amount with other foods you like (such as in a stir fry), and gradually increase the amount of broccoli over time. After my thing with the natto, I have been doing this, and have started to enjoy brussel sprouts, mushrooms, mustard greens, and a few other veggies that I didn’t like before.

• 19 Pam II :) // Oct 15, 2008 at 3:11 pm

  MS - celery is not a vegetable; it is a stick of old water with threads in it and no redeeming nutritional value! There is no point in even trying to like it. And adding celery to soup, potato salad, tuna, etc. is about the fastest way to ruin a good meal!

• 20 bethh // Oct 15, 2008 at 3:12 pm

  I’ve got the fix for you: bacon!
  Seriously: steam some broccoli florets, let them cool, put them in a bowl with some bacon bits, some dried cranberries, and some Goddess dressing (Trader Joe’s has a version). It is SO GOOD. Arguably not the best version of broccoli for your arteries, but a start.

• 21 Kaila // Oct 15, 2008 at 3:37 pm

  I used to be in the same boat as you, and I AM a vegetarian.

  Basically, I found that the aversion is mostly psychological. If I THINK about individual vegetables rather than the dish, I won’t want to eat it. But if I think about the dish, “minestrone”, “lasagna”, etc and rather than, “tomato”, “spinach”, etc, I’m more likely to like the dish.

  Once I started cooking more for myself, I started to incorporate just one new vegetable into a dish I already liked, like putting spinach in lasgana or pureed broccoli into my potato soup, and pretty soon I started craving those vegetables.

  A lot of vegetables I will only eat a certain way. I do not like steamed broccoli. I do not like raw onions or mushrooms, but I’ll eat all three in tofu stir fry.

  And there are still some vegetables that I will not eat, like green beans and bell peppers, but I’m more willing to try new vegetables.

• 22 Greg // Oct 15, 2008 at 6:01 pm

  We slip our kids broccoli in stir-fry, covered in melted cheddar cheese, or with butter. I agree that the most important thing about broccoli is to be sure its not overcooked. BTW — not much smells worse than aged, overcooked broccoli.

• 23 Patrick // Oct 15, 2008 at 6:36 pm

  I used to hate broccoli but decided I wanted to get to like it. I did like it raw but never cooked. I started eating the rice, broccoli, cheese frozen entrees and I liked it. I started roasting broccoli with other vegetables I didn’t like (and some I did) with some oil and a pack of garlic herb onion soup. Yummy. Now I like eggplant, squash, and many other vegetables. I love parsnips in a root-plants-only beef stew.

• 24 Andrew // Oct 15, 2008 at 10:16 pm

  I love putting burnt (browned) butter with parsley and garlic on my veggies (with salt and pepper to taste). Takes a basic pile of veggies and turns it into a delight.

  I guess the best thing though is to just start eating them, whether you like them or not. My parents always told me I’d like them someday.. turns out they were right (c:

• 25 monica // Oct 15, 2008 at 10:26 pm

  I have a vague memory of having once hated raw tomatoes. Now I can’t get enough of them. Same with apples. It just took time AND quality. I wonder if my previous aversion had something to do with squishy tomatoes and floury apples. I started liking tomatoes when I discovered that I didn’t mind them marinated with balsamic and oil or sliced in a sandwich with avocado, both with a generous helping of salt and pepper. After eating them that way for a while I grew to like them more and more. Now tomatoes are a staple of my diet.

  As for apples, it was the English apples that won me over a few years ago. In America, the only Apples I really tried were Red and Golden Delicious. Here in England, there is such a wonderful variety of apples and I’m fortunate to have a farmer’s market that stocks them. I’ve never had apples as good as this before. Each variety has an individual flavor. My favorite is Egremont Russet.

• 26 Andrew R // Oct 16, 2008 at 12:49 am

  Here’s a great little tip for broccoli… try eating it with guacamole! Every one who I’ve told this to tells me how much they love broccoli now. I have the tip coming in an upcoming post.. Give it a try

• 27 Kristi // Oct 16, 2008 at 7:40 am

  I love vegetables, but understand where you are coming from. When I was a kid we didn’t eat much of a variety of vegetables so I never really ate things like beets or cabbage and I didn’t know how to cook them well.

  I’ve recently started a blog about cooking from our local farmers market in Austin and I’ve had to learn to get pretty creative about some vegetable preparations. Check out http://www.austinfarmtotable.com and see if you can’t find something appealing.

  For my blog I’ve also done a lot of research and I stumbled upon Jamie Oliver’s show called Jamie at Home. He cooks things from his garden and has some pretty great recipes. In particular, here is a way you could eat broccoli and cauliflower without really knowing it - Baked Cauliflower and Broccoli Canneloni - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/incredible-baked-cauliflower-and-broccoli-cannelloni-recipe/index.html.

  Enjoy!

• 28 Zack // Oct 16, 2008 at 7:57 am

  After finding new ways to cook them, there’s always the method for getting little kids to eat veggies (or slightly older kids to drink coffee): Just do it. Pretty often. If it’s all you cook, you’ll eat it. I think after a while your body gets a feel for how healthy some veggies are and tells your brain “Shut up and like it!”

• 29 Amy Jo // Oct 16, 2008 at 9:32 am

  You’ve been telling yourself (and others) that you don’t like vegetables for a long time now. Maybe it is time to create a new narrative. Tell yourself that you do like vegetables (just not all vegetables). Eat the veggies you like and quit giving yourself grief about ones you don’t like. That said, do be open to trying new vegetables when presented to you and try roasting, as many folks have already suggested. Check out some vegetarian cookbooks from the library to find new and interesting dishes to prepare with the veggies you do like, and swap out meat every now and then with whole grains–barley, faro, etc. Make legumes for yourself and leave Kris to her own devices.

• 30 Jamie // Oct 16, 2008 at 10:31 am

  My mom’s favorite trick with my little brother was Naked Juice’s Green Machine smoothie! It’s green, has TONS of great veggie stuff in it, and yet tastes like an awesome fruit smoothie He used to beg for it; little did he know it had tons of the green stuff he hated during dinner

• 31 Another Leanne // Oct 16, 2008 at 11:35 am

  I used to absolutely despise acorn squash. The texture was nasty, the flavor was gross, and getting it out of the baked shell was a messy pain.

  I’m still not wild about acorn squash but I discovered two things that have made a bit of a difference.

  One, as many have suggested, method of cooking makes a huge difference. Apparently my mother always added water (a lot!) the the pan when she roasted these, which meant the squash got all watery flavored and mushy. Not necessary! There’s plenty of “juice” in a squash so a bare skim of oil to keep the cut sides from sticking to the pan is *fine*!

  [And as an aside: despite not being wild about cruciferous veg, you might want to try roasting cauliflower. Toss it with a little olive oil, some chunks of garlic, a bit of salt and maybe rosemary--and if you want to vary things a bit, chunks of potato are also good--then roast at 425, stirring periodically, for 30-45 minutes until the edges are browning and it smells delicious. This really cuts the bitter/sulfur taste and brings out the sweetness of the cauliflower. Roasted veg--think chunks of potato, sweet potato and/or winter squash, onion, garlic--is also a really yummy way to get your veg on, and you can even throw in chunks of apple near the end of the roasting, so you're surrounding something you may think you won't like (winter squash) with lots of things you know you'll like (potatoes, garlic, apples).]

  Two: quality of vegetables matters a LOT. I know buying organic isn’t always feasible and/or the most affordable option. On the other hand, organic veg tend to have more flavor than non-organic. That said, with the rise in factory-farmed organics, your best bet may be to search out some of the veg from a farm/farmer’s market. The quality is usually a lot higher, and the flavor is a lot fuller. You’ve probably noticed that from your own gardening, but even so, I’ve noticed that the carrots I pull from my garden never have quite the same level of deliciousness that the carrots that come from my CSA–maybe because “the professionals” do a lot more soil amending than I do. Plus the nutrient-level in organics tends to be a lot higher, so you’re probably doing your body better by eating a little bit of these than trying to force down a lot of conventional veg that don’t have much flavor.

• 32 Libby // Oct 16, 2008 at 12:10 pm

  If you really can’t stomach vegetables, you could always try hiding them in other foods that you like. http://www.thesneakychef.com/ has lots of suggestions for ways to sneak veg into food.

  I am sure it will sound silly, but when you try new vegetables, do you try them with an open mind, or with a preconceived notion that you are just plain not going to like them? If you eat a bit of broccoli already cringing from the expected taste, then you’re never going to be able to overcome that. As with most things - its more mental than anything else!

  And if you just plain don’t like certain things, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just keep trying others, and you’ll find something you like. A lot of foods have a taste that you may just genetically not be able to enjoy. I have that problem with Cilantro. I know it must taste great, but to me it just tastes like an acrid tang. So, I just don’t eat it.

  And finally, when in doubt, smother it with cheese

• 33 Aimee // Oct 16, 2008 at 2:47 pm

  The trick is to learn how to cook veggies properly. If you like asparagus and carrots, you will probably like properly steamed broccoli. I find steaming tedious, so I use the microwave with frozen veggies. Simply pour a serving of the frozen veggies in a bowl and microwave for two minutes on high. Perfect steamed broccoli every time and it works for brussell sprouts and green beans too. My favorite winter trick is to chop up a couple bell peppers (yellow, orange), an onion, some mushrooms, some carrots, mushrooms if I have them, and a couple cloves of garlic. Toss this all together, drizzle with olive oil, and roast in a 350 degree oven for an hour or so. This makes a great one-dish meal when mixed with pasta or added to quinoa (add chicken to either to boost the protein)

  Try lots of different types of veggies and preparations. I found that I love broccoli stems, but I hate the florets. Button mushrooms are yummy when fried or roasted but Shitake just taste odd to me. Love brussel sprouts, hate califlower. Love french cut green beans, can’t stand the whole bean thing.

• 34 Dave // Oct 17, 2008 at 4:25 pm

  I haven’t read all the comments, JD, so this may be a repeat, but you can hide *anything* in a smoothie.

• 35 Eliza // Oct 17, 2008 at 7:55 pm

  I’m a 99.9% of everything omnivore, but there are a few things I couldn’t stand until recently. One of them was grapefruit. Blech. However, I recently picked up some “grapefruit juice” (actually a grape/grapefruit/lemon juice blend) at the store on a whim, and I quickly noticed that whenever I drank it I got an energy boost.

  I have a chronic pain/fatigue condition and caffeine makes it worse, so even if I don’t understand how or why this works, anything that keeps me perky is worth its weight in gold. It’s still not my favorite flavor, but it’s growing on me VERY quickly.

  I don’t know what you can do about broccoli - it may be that you’ve created an aversion to it and keep reinforcing it every time you reluctantly try some. When I was a kid I ate about a pound of baby carrots in one sitting and made myself sick, and for fifteen years I avoided carrots like the plague because the taste made me physically ill. But recently I realized the aversion had faded with time, and I was able to return to snacking on them and putting them in everything. Maybe you should just stop trying with broccoli for a while, then approach it again in six months with as open a mind as possible.

• 36 Kirsten // Oct 18, 2008 at 7:57 pm

  Here’s what we do with broccoli: stirfry or saute some garlic and ginger, add chicken and stir until cooked; add the broccoli and cook just until it turns a brighter green (not until it’s soft!); add some soy sauce and teriyaki sauce, and some chicken stock and cornstarch if you want a sauce; add some peanuts and serve over rice.

  That’s the only way I really like it.

• 37 KF // Oct 18, 2008 at 11:49 pm

  I wonder if you’re using not liking vegetables as a crutch for your unhealthy heating habits, including the reliance on Hostess products, processed crap, etc. You like enough vegetables to be able to eat vegetables every day and to have a healthy diet. You even like some veggies - spinach, lettuce, and asparagus - that are among the best of the veggies in terms of health properties. Even given that you don’t like every vegetable, there’s no reason that fruits and the vegetables you do like, combined with whole grains, couldn’t constitute the majority of your daily diet. So, focus on cutting out the endless junk food and high fat food rather than forcing yourself to eat veggies you hate.

• 38 Sunday Roundup: Diet Cults and Fatty Chinese | Health, Fitness, Exercise, and Weight Loss (68 pounds in 20 weeks) // Oct 19, 2008 at 6:17 am

  [...] Get Fit Slowly is Picking on Vegetables. [...]

• 39 Leah // Oct 20, 2008 at 12:21 pm

  when I have a food I don’t like, I try to ease myself into it. I try a little bit on a regular basis. If I still don’t like the food each time I try it, I don’t beat myself up; we won’t all like everything. Then, I just resolve to retry the food again after some time has passed. Sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised to find out that I now like this new food item. Recent happy surprises: greek olives, curry, and blue cheese.

• 40 Kristin // Oct 21, 2008 at 2:45 pm

  My kids love steamed broccoli with Good Seasons Italian dressing.

• 41 Turning Over a New Leaf // Oct 21, 2008 at 8:11 pm

  [...] new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Last week I wrote about my problems with vegetables. Via comments and e-mail, readers shared several tips for coming to terms with the foods I dislike. [...]

• 42 Scott // Oct 22, 2008 at 6:46 pm

  I will confess, I did not read the comments.

  First: Did you like Beer when you first tasted it? (Or substitute some other item you probably didn’t like at first, but now you do.)

  When, I think of trying a new food, I think to myself, it took a while for me to acquire the taste of beer, wine, etc. It will take me a while to like vegetables, but now I do.

  Second: Most people don’t like vegetables because the vegetables are over-cooked. Broccoli for example. Go get fresh Broccoli, put it in a steamer pot, for only a couple of minutes. Enough to make it hot, yet still crunchy. If you cook it too long, it gets soft mushy and tastes terrible. If you cook it too short, it just taste too rough. Error on the side of too short, because too rough is better than mushy and terrible.

  So, Go Drink some Beer, oops, I meant eat some broccoli.

• 43 TripleE // Oct 23, 2008 at 11:16 am

  Two words:

  Ethnic food.

  There’s a ton of veggies I thought I didn’t like that, sure enough, when cooked up with Indian, Middle Eastern, East Asian, etc. spices were a totally different animal, errr, veggie. Hell, sometimes Italian cooking does the trick.

  Eggplant? Couldn’t stand it, until I’d had baba ganoush. I went back and tried eggplant parmesan again, prepared properly, and it was delicious.

  Okra? Gross, except in gumbo, where I don’t notice it. Fried okra on an Indian buffet? Not healthy, but delicious. Okra in curry? Healthy and delicious.

  Squash? Still foul. . . except summer squashes, especially in stir fry. That led to liking zucchini in even more mundane stuff, like breakfast egg dishes.

  Ok, it comes down to one word: complexity. Or maybe preparation.

  The typical American “square meal” of a hunk of meat, a carb of some sort, and a boiled veggie, all either eaten separately, or covered in gravy and/or cheese, isn’t the only option. The more veggies mixed into a complicated dish, the better it tends to be.

  Salads with GOOD (read, not iceburg) lettuce, and a crapload of toppings can be good also. For that matter, soups, now that winter is coming, are a VERY good way to mix up the veggies without even realizing you’re eating them.

  As a note, adding Indian spices don’t do anything for whole cauliflower. Aloo gobi is gross, especially once I eat the delicious potatoes.

  ~EEE~

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