Help Learning to Like Veggies

Diet and Nutrition
21

[quote]Chef Lisa Marie wrote:

You really should look at this in maybe small steps. Obviously you are trying to shed some weight and improve your ranges for your health. So, why don’t you start with eliminating starchy carbs except after your workouts. Eliminate sugars and any drinks with calories. That maybe a good first step for you and you will probably see some good results with just that.
Then next step would be to try and set up a good eating schedule where you are eating every 3 hours or so with some protein in each meal. Maybe add some fresh fruits to your first 3 meals and some good fats like olive oil, avocado, walnuts, or flax oil to your last 3 meals.
[/quote]
Historically I was a pop drinker (Coke - at one time over 12 cans a day during high school and university). Anyhow I have eliminated such drinks and basically have water, PWO drinks and protien shakes as all I drink. Maybe 1-2 glasses of some juice a week when I don’t feel like water or my son wants me to share his juice.

I log my meals and I am currently eating 5 times a day about 3 hours apart. I get protien atleast 4 of the 5 with about 200g protien per day. I am reworking my diet schedule etc from Tamp Terry’s comments found in the topic http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1509230&pageNo=0#1515790

I eat 3-6 servings of fruit each day but I know my fat servings need some work but I usually have walnuts at least once a day and fish oil but my use of oils (olive and flaxseed) need work.

Eliminating starchy carbs is the next ‘problem’ for me to work on but I have found that to do so and still get calories I need to start looking at other sources of food and that got me here to the veggies problem. I know it the next step of cleaning things up.

This is also something I have not started but plan to start. I have never been much of a bean eater as it wasn’t something in my families diet or my wifes.

Thanks, Jeff

22

Hey Jeff,
I have gotten advice from and worked with Tampa-Terry for over a year now and we help each other. She sets up the plan and then I come and help with recipes if needed, to help people adhere to their plans. So, now I see that you are following all the things she suggests for you, that’s a great place to start. She sure knows her stuff and has helped hundreds if not more get results with her sound recomendations.

Remember, baby steps and make small goals and you will reach them eventually. You’re doing great so far! Keep reading and looking for things you may want to try.

I will also post a Hummus Recipe for you on the Recipes With Photos thread in the Figure Competitors Forum. That may help you with your portion of beans. It makes a great dip for the veggies you don’t like (sorry, had to add that little bit of humor in)…Actually hummus is very good as a spread or dip or even just eaten by the spoonfull.

You’ll get there! Have patience! You are changing your life and it won’t happen over night.

May I suggest you start with some colored peppers, red, yellow, orange. They have a good amount of carbs to replace the starchy carbs you are going to try to get rid of. They also have a nice sweet flavor that I think you may like. I just cook them quickly and add them to my morning omelets or put on top of some grilled chicken or fish.

Also, do you like Salsa? That’s considered a vegetable in loose terms and it goes great with eggs.

23

I like veggies can’t say I always eat them the in the healthiest manner but it has to be better than not eating them at all.

The other thing is don’t underestimate fruits(if you can stand them), you will still get alot of the vitamins and polyph-whatevers, and e-somethings if you create enough variety. Coffee, tea, chocolate, and honey all have their place in providing natural healthy nutrients.

When going from meat and potatoes to salads can be tough, half of it is mental.

Personally I would try cooked collard greens, kale, turnips, and mustards first, before jumping to all raw greens. Saute a turkey neck bone, or hamhock then cook the greens in the water used to wash them.(add seasonings to taste). The fats you get from that are pretty negligable compared to eating meat anyway.

When making smoothies, it sounds like you still have to learn what vegatables have strong tastes and which ones don’t. Nobody on here is going to be able to tell you a recipe for sure that will work for YOU. Make a ton of smoothies change them everyday, adjusts what you put in them. Alot of times people just want a recipe, then force themselves to eat it every day for a month until they can’t take it anymore.

Goodluck, there is a huge variety of food out there don’t make yourself sick of one so you don’t try others. If you don’t like salad, eat something you can put down. Your tastebuds will change over time.

24

Hello,

I figured I better give an update…

Chef Lisa Marie: I tried some of the veggies from your grilled veggie salad and so far not a hit. Grilled eggplant and zucchini didn’t go well. The eggplant I can deal with in small amounts but boy that is a strange texture!! Zucchini is just a no go grilled.

 I did find that there is a salad mix that I can deal with.  Seems the weed clippings type (looks like dandelion leaves and stuff)is easier to deal with than true lettus (head, romaine, leaf etc).  Not sure why but atleast its bearable and I can get a bowl of green stuff that way with dinner.  Need to find a dressing I like with it but my wife has lots of those recipes.

 My wife likes Baby Bok Choy steamed with some spices so I tried that and it's OK.  Better than eggplant and zucchini thats for sure! :)

 I still have kale, asparagus and peppers waiting to be tried but work and home has been busy so I have had minimal extra time to try things.  When you have kids and limited time to get dinner ready introducing new foods is difficult (when you are't even sure of how to prepare it) so I have been experimenting in the evenings after they are a sleep. 

  A coworker is a sorta vegetarian (opposite of me, eats mostly veggies with some meat) and has given me some recipes on how he uses zucchini and other veggies.

BTW to the person who posted it: I know corn and potatoes aren’t veggies. Just a habit of what others (my mom included) called them. :slight_smile:

Airtruth: Don’t like coffee and have never had the coffee habit. Chocolate isn’t something I overly enjoy, even the good stuff my wife uses for her home made truffles. As for making lots of smoothies to find out what works, I have done that and I have come to the conclusion that I will stick to fruit based protein shakes as it’s hard to go wrong with them flavour-wise. Once you start adding veggies to shakes it’s hard to go right with them flavour-wise :slight_smile:

Anyhow, I have got some helpful hints and directions from this thread. Thanks! I will continue to try things and update with progress as I go. Still a ways to go before I get to what Berardi would like which is veggies with every meal but working on it (about 50% of meals now)

Thanks, Jeff

25

No, no, no… The trick with veggies is while eating them you have to think about the awesome physique they will bring to you… Wearing a muscle shirt and staring in a mirror, while surrounded by beautiful women, is the ideal atmosphere for consumption. Feel free to scream “BEEFCAKE!” at your reflection. Works for me.

P.S: Olive oil works, too.

26

I have yet to discover a vegetable that I do not like!

27

How is it that I’m the first one to say this?

MAN UP! If you aren’t willing to force down some veggies, then what hope do you have of making all the other necessary changes?

I’m not trying to be an asshole, I’m just pointing out that you need to treat each bite of veggies as a test of your resolve. If you put the fork down and say “I can’t do it” then what kind of precedent is that going to set?

I really hope you succeed, but finding the easiest way to eat your veggies is not a good start! In fact you should purposefully sit down in front of a plate full of grilled zucchini and refuse to get up until they are all gone.

28

[quote]swordthrower wrote:
How is it that I’m the first one to say this?

MAN UP! If you aren’t willing to force down some veggies, then what hope do you have of making all the other necessary changes?

I’m not trying to be an asshole, I’m just pointing out that you need to treat each bite of veggies as a test of your resolve. If you put the fork down and say “I can’t do it” then what kind of precedent is that going to set?

I really hope you succeed, but finding the easiest way to eat your veggies is not a good start! In fact you should purposefully sit down in front of a plate full of grilled zucchini and refuse to get up until they are all gone.[/quote]

I used this method with the one vegetable that i didnt like (when i was younger) : Tomatoes. I just kept eating them until i started like it haha.

29

[quote]swordthrower wrote:
How is it that I’m the first one to say this?

MAN UP! If you aren’t willing to force down some veggies, then what hope do you have of making all the other necessary changes?

I’m not trying to be an asshole, I’m just pointing out that you need to treat each bite of veggies as a test of your resolve. If you put the fork down and say “I can’t do it” then what kind of precedent is that going to set?

I really hope you succeed, but finding the easiest way to eat your veggies is not a good start! In fact you should purposefully sit down in front of a plate full of grilled zucchini and refuse to get up until they are all gone.[/quote]

Hello,

I was waiting (kinda expecting) an answer like this eventually. I thought I could do that, I figured hell I have will power just do it. It’s hard to continue when you spew back into your bowl of veggies! (sorry for the details)

You are obviously a better man than I if you have control over yourself that well. The one which comes to mind wasn’t even flavour problems, I swallowed then back it came. If I had no resolve I wouldn’t try the same veggie 3 different ways, I wouldn’t try a new veggie whenever possible, I wouldn’t look at the weight already on the bar and think, hell I can press that(within reason)!

I have read quite a few nutrition and diet books (knowledge is power and all that) and Dr. Oz has a good point (in my eyes). You aren’t going to follow a diet that you have to use will power alone to follow. If I have to ‘MAN UP’ for every meal then in times of stress (tired, sick, hard day) it will be that much more difficult to continue to eat correctly.

As for making the other changes, I have. Pop, not needed. Natural whole foods, done 90% time (WIP). Get up at 5:00am and hit gym for 6:00 daily, done. Eat on a schedule, done. (I know there are more…).

Sorry I have a different view on making lifestyle changes. The world ‘life’ is in there and you can’t force everything in life or you just end up more stressed than you need to be.

If my answer sounds weak to you then so be it. I have my goals and I am working towards them and seeing progress. This is just another hurdle I need to jump along the way.

Thanks, Jeff

30

[quote]swordthrower wrote:
How is it that I’m the first one to say this?

MAN UP! If you aren’t willing to force down some veggies, then what hope do you have of making all the other necessary changes?

I’m not trying to be an asshole, I’m just pointing out that you need to treat each bite of veggies as a test of your resolve. If you put the fork down and say “I can’t do it” then what kind of precedent is that going to set?

I really hope you succeed, but finding the easiest way to eat your veggies is not a good start! In fact you should purposefully sit down in front of a plate full of grilled zucchini and refuse to get up until they are all gone.[/quote]

I agree. At some point, you gotta do what you don’t like in order to have success.

Get a bunch of brocolli (or whatever vegetable you want to eat) and get something to wash it down. I use water, but you might want to try something like strong unsweetened tea that might mask the taste a little more. Just put the brocolli in your mouth and “chase” it.

Drink as much as you need to get it down. Just keep chewing and drinking and swallowing until you get all the food down. I think you’d be surprised at how many vegetables you can get down in 5 minutes if you just attack them and try to get them down like medicine, which they are!

I also think you’ll find that over time (a few months) your tastes will shift. I used to hate any sort of cooked vegetable, but now I’m finding them a lot tastier and now I’ll eat cooked as well as raw veggies.

31

[quote]J_D_W wrote:
You aren’t going to follow a diet that you have to use will power alone to follow. If I have to ‘MAN UP’ for every meal then in times of stress (tired, sick, hard day) it will be that much more difficult to continue to eat correctly.

[/quote]

That is true, but I would say that a corollary to that rule is that a diet or training regimen that requires hardly any willpower will not produce the results you are looking for. Every time you “man up”, you get one step closer to making the changes you are desiring.

With that said, don’t think I am criticizing you. I admire the courage to make a change, especially being a little older and having to deal with the pressures of adult life. I know it is much easier when you start healthy habits at a young age.

It seems like you are doing a good job already and I hope you can use T-Nation as a source of motivation and constructive criticism and that you keep working hard and achieve your goals!

32

[quote]J_D_W wrote:
Hello,

I was waiting (kinda expecting) an answer like this eventually. I thought I could do that, I figured hell I have will power just do it. It’s hard to continue when you spew back into your bowl of veggies! (sorry for the details)

You are obviously a better man than I if you have control over yourself that well. The one which comes to mind wasn’t even flavour problems, I swallowed then back it came. If I had no resolve I wouldn’t try the same veggie 3 different ways, I wouldn’t try a new veggie whenever possible, I wouldn’t look at the weight already on the bar and think, hell I can press that(within reason)!

I have read quite a few nutrition and diet books (knowledge is power and all that) and Dr. Oz has a good point (in my eyes). You aren’t going to follow a diet that you have to use will power alone to follow. If I have to ‘MAN UP’ for every meal then in times of stress (tired, sick, hard day) it will be that much more difficult to continue to eat correctly.

As for making the other changes, I have. Pop, not needed. Natural whole foods, done 90% time (WIP). Get up at 5:00am and hit gym for 6:00 daily, done. Eat on a schedule, done. (I know there are more…).

Sorry I have a different view on making lifestyle changes. The world ‘life’ is in there and you can’t force everything in life or you just end up more stressed than you need to be.

If my answer sounds weak to you then so be it. I have my goals and I am working towards them and seeing progress. This is just another hurdle I need to jump along the way.

Thanks, Jeff

[/quote]

Like I said, I’m not trying to be an asshole, and I really hope you do succeed. It looks like you are on the right track, and I’m sure you’ll be eating your veggies in no time…

If you need some more inspiration, here is a link to the Dave Tate Project article by Berardi.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=971737

Good luck!

33

[quote]swordthrower wrote:
Like I said, I’m not trying to be an asshole, and I really hope you do succeed. It looks like you are on the right track, and I’m sure you’ll be eating your veggies in no time…

If you need some more inspiration, here is a link to the Dave Tate Project article by Berardi.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=971737

Good luck![/quote]

Hey,

I didn’t take it as you being an asshole :slight_smile:
As I said, I kinda expected one of these posts. As I said I thought the same way, just force yourself to eat the stuff.

You see my initial reaction to how I felt was that my arteries are clogged and I am heading for a heart attack. When I started (pre T-Nation) reading nutritional books about how to reverse this all I found was vegetarian diets. I tried to force those damn things down my throat for 2 weeks. Let me tell you there were some ‘interesting’ dinners with me dry heaving away across from my wife :slight_smile:

When I first started on this journey I had heavy chest, heart speeding up and slowing down, felt just like shit most of the time. I had a BP of 156/100 according to the machine at the gym! 2+ months later according to my calculations and measurements my BP is 124/75 (still don’t trust the gym machine though), lost 16lb of fat and gained 5-6lb of LBM.

If I could have forced the veggies down I may have never found T-Nation :slight_smile: And I definitely wouldn’t be whining about ‘please someone help me eat veggies!’ :slight_smile:

Gotta go ‘Man Up’ and try some peppers grilled with my chicken on the BBQ now …

TTYL, Jeff

34

There are some veggies I love (broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc…) and some I don’t like (spinach, kale, asparagus, zucchini), however, recently I realized that by frying up the latter group in oil/butter with garlic and a bit of salt makes them awesome.

I think this trick can be applied to nearly any vegetables to great effect :slight_smile: