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How does one eat healthy & lose weight if....


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one hates most green foods, fruits and vegetables? I know some people that crave healthy foods. I don't. I never have. If I'm craving something, it's usually chocolate and creamy.

 

Salads do NOTHING for me. And I don't like most vegetables. I'll eat corn on the cob, but seriously, I do not like squash, peppers (red, green or yellow bell peppers AND hot peppers), lettuce, root veggies, and most everything in the produce dept.

 

fruits aren't much better. Berries, to me are sour. Apples are ok, but I really do get tired of them, same as bananas. I don't like citrus, and I can eat a few grapes and peaches, but again, I get tired of them. I do NOT like pineapples and oranges, and kiwi are too slimey.

 

Ideas or suggestions, PLEASE!!!

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Would you be open to drinking your fruits and veggies? As in, juicing them or making a healthy smoothie?

 

Would they be more appealing if you pre-slice/cut up a bunch and have something healthy yet yummy to dip them in? I wouldn't recommend most conventional dressings and dips, but health food stores generally have a good selection of yummy, totally natural dressings and dips that could make veggies more palatable for you.

 

How do you feel about nuts and seeds? Snacking on those is a great way to add healthy fats, vitamins, and protein to your diet. They're high in calories though, so since weight loss is your goal, figure out the portion size you can "afford" and stick to it.

 

I would just start small (pick one change you know you can easily commit to) and go from there.:)

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I've toyed with juicing. We have a juicer that we inherited from MIL. We're both just not sure what to do with it.

 

I want to eat healthy, lose weight and feel good. I have a friend who recently switched to vegan and she looks and feels great. But when she tells me some of the stuff she's eating, I just want to barf. I think I have some serious issues to work through here, don't I?

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You could follow my dh's diet. He eats meat. That is pretty much it. He does not like fruit. He does not like vegetables. He loves breads. He gains tons if he eats them. So, he eats meat. His cholesterol is great. His heart is great. He has no health problems whatsoever. Changing his diet to almost strictly meat allowed him to lose a large amount of weight. He looks and feels better than he ever has. I think it might literally kill him if he had to just eat fruits and vegetables!

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I force myself to eat one thing - just one - every day that is fruit/veggie. I start with a banana and after I choke that down I figure I'm good to go. After a week or so I force myself to eat two healthy things. Once I get up to 4 healthy fruits/veggies each day I am at my max but at least I'm better than where I was. I drink orange juice (which I love) and count that as one serving. If I have an apple I have peanut butter with it (I can't stand apples otherwise). I cut my fruit into bite-size pieces because for some reason I eat it better. If I'm really desperate I have a handful of raisins.

 

Lettuce is, to me, rabbit food. I can't stand the stuff. I did, however, find that I like fresh spinach with cream cheese and avocado of all things! If I can find combinations of fruit/veggies that makes it more palatable then I'm more likely to eat better.

 

Oh, and I reward myself with a piece of chocolate at the end of the day if I've behaved myself diet wise. ;)

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For me, eating salad wasn't something I cared for... until I started getting creative with them. I usually have a tsp of nuts (almonds, walnuts or cashews), a half cup of fruit (usually strawberries or mandarin oranges), a tbsp of cheese (feta, blue cheese or cheddar) and a tbsp of low fat dressing, all on top of 2-3 cups of either the spring or 50/50 mix that is triple washed and in a plastic tub. This is my normal lunch, with a slice of whole wheat bread. It's not what I used to eat but I now like it, after years of not really caring for salad.

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Do you have any good vegetable-oriented cookbooks? One of my favorites is Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but I'm sure others can suggest more. Is there a particular cuisine that you really like? French, Italian, Chinese, Indian, etc? If so, you might get some cookbooks about those cuisines from the library and start working your way through some of the vegetable recipes. The world of vegetables is so vast, and the ways to prepare them infinite -- surely there will be something you like! :)

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Baby steps?

 

I'm not a model of healthy eating or...health, but I can help here. I used to hate all veggies and every fruit that wasn't apples.

 

Years ago I lost 60 pounds and kept it off for several years and by the end of one year I loved salads, thought clementines were an excellent snack, and ate a wider variety of fruits and vegetables.

 

I am not crunchy, so some of my ideas won't work if you are committed to clean eating.

 

I started with carrots and bought baby ones. No peeling or cutting, so there was no excuse not to eat them. I bought Hidden Valley Ranch Light Dip and measured out exactly one serving. I ate carrots and dip for a snack several days a week.

 

I already liked apples, but I taste tested several varieties and found I liked the best(Granny Smith but most people don't care for that one by itself). I ate it plain or if I needed something more filling I added peanut butter.

 

I like take out Chinese food and the flavors, so I found stir fries or recipes for lower fat, lower cal copy cat versions and made extra sauce. Then I added broccoli or snap peas to them.

 

I found ways to sneak spinach into food, like pizza sauce. I used frozen spinach, but I think the fresh stuff has a less spinach-y taste.

 

I'd make pesto and put that on a whole wheat pita with grilled chicken, jarred(not marinated) artichoke hearts, and a blend of cheeses with feta. Artichoke hearts are a veggie...

 

Do you like salsa? You can make your own with tomatoes(...or canned tomatoes), onion, garlic, lime juice, jalapeno, and, if you care for it, cilantro. Lots of veggies there. Instead of serving it with chips(or OK, limit the chips) use it to dip a bean quesadilla or as a topping on a taco.

 

You can make a pizza or pasta sauce and try to hide other veggies in there. I think a book like the Sneaky Chef or Deceptively Delicious might help you find ways to get creative and hide the taste if you really can't stand them.

 

I have a food that I love like no other and I would make myself eat a serving of salad before eating a reasonable portion of the beloved food. I found pre made, store bought dressings that I liked enough and made a basic lettuce, shredded carrot, and sunflower seed salad. With the right dressing I like salad now.

 

Do you like mushrooms? They can be chopped and hidden in casseroles, mixed in with a salad, put in pasta, a pizza topping, or you can use a portobello mushroom cap to hold a pizza sauce and add cheese and make a pizza out of it.

 

Of course there are smoothies. A banana, some yogurt, and some frozen fruit make a nice think one. I add a little sugar to mine, beccause I find most berries sour too. I actually measure and make room in my daily points or calorie budget for a little sugar on my fruit sometimes. Eventually I found the taste sweet, it depends on when and where I buy them though.

 

Grapes are good one. They keep in the fridge for awhile. I like to pick them off the stems and wash them right away. I keep them in a bowl in the fridge and there's a good lazy snack.

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Just a thought: berries (and maybe some other fruits?) may taste sour to you because you're used to sugar. If you eliminate sugar from your diet, you will start to notice the sweetness in other things. You just need to train your taste buds.

 

I like the idea of being creative with salads...I love a salad of fresh spinach, walnuts, feta cheese, a few dried cranberries or dried cherries, diced red onion, and whatever other veggies you want. Top with a healthier dressing.

 

I think you need to re-think and re-learn different eating patterns. Things will taste odd, or even bad, to you at first but eventually you will probably grow to like some of them. I hope you find some ideas here that work for you.

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Well, I do like many fruits and veggies, and still I was not eating many. We recently received a juicer as a gift and both Dh and I are having fun creating juices and have lost weight 5-6 lbs the first week. We are not fasting with juice, though I may do so in the future, but we have cut way back on eating junk.

 

I also like the idea of getting creative with salads. I find when I start to make some interesting salads even my Dc get interested and wan to make up salads of their own.

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You know how they say to keep giving it to your baby because their taste buds change.. do you think it could happen to you??

 

Could it be the kind you buy & not what you buy? Sometimes berries ARE sour, not because they should be but because they just weren't a super good batch.

 

What about lettuce don't you like? Do you know how many KINDS of lettuce there are? I'm kinda picky about kind, & my mil.. boy howdy that women will do anything to avoid iceberg. :lol:

 

Did you know the bumps on the bottom of a pepper indicate how sweet it will be & when it's best to be used? You can make it even sweeter by peeling it, which is easier done after roasting.

 

If you like creamy things, have you tried smoothies for fruit consumption? A few frozen berries, a bit of juice, some cream or milk, a splash of sweetener.. You might be surprised how like ice cream you can make them taste based on what's in them.

 

Let me explain "dieting" rule #1, "Man can not live on salad alone." Don't even bother to try. Seriously. If you want to have salad, go for it, but for goodness sake put something in it like chunks of chicken, slices of steak, or flakes of fish.

 

Veggies have totally different tastes & textures based on kind you buys, how you cook them, & what you put them with. For instance, peppers taste totally different raw in a salad as they do sliced & mixed with fajita spice. Which is nothing compared to how they taste roasted & on your pizza.

 

My son hates cauliflower. I mean HATES it. But if I take a raw head & whiz it in the food processor until it's small & crumbly looking like rice & then make a hot pot with it, especially a mexican hotpot, he thinks it's the bees knees. Some foods will pick up the taste of what they are fixed with, cauliflower is one. It's going to have a STRONGER smell if you boil it vs roasting or sauteing.

 

Another idea might be to start putting them in your diet with creamy sauces. What about a cheese sauce on your broccoli or cauliflower. Sure, it's not PERFECT for weight loss, but you can pick your battles. Do you want to gain healthier choices or lose weight? You can first build the healthy habit & then work towards weight loss.

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Cin, I'm sort of in the same boat. I don't like most fruits and only a short list of veggies. (I do like salad, though...in limited quantities!)

 

I'm trying to limit carbs and up fruits. I bought a Vitamix and make fruit smoothies with things I wouldn't normally eat (mostly because of texture rather than flavor). I've found that a spoon of raw honey in with the fruit gives me the sweetness that I'm craving. I also throw in protein powder and greek yougurt, a bit of spinach and a carrot or two. Small steps!

 

Otherwise, I'm eating meat and cheese, some salads, carrots and other "OK" veggies. My weight loss has been slow, but I have lost 25 lbs...including 1 on my 5-day vacation to Chicago. (I've NEVER lost weight on vacation!)

 

I've been working at it, on my terms, since March. I know I'm not cut out to do anything drastic. I've made small changes and it's working for me, slowly but surely.

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You slowly work at changing your tastes.

 

I used to hate melons, all melons, but now I like cantelope, especially a kind called hami gold, and eat it fairly often. I just kept eating a little bit, sometimes only a bite, often. It took years for melon.

 

I used to hate bell peppers, too, but now I like them cooked with onions. In fact, one of my new favorite lunches is a wrap filled with romaine lettuce, sauteed peppers (all colors) and onions, and guacamole.

 

Which leads me to guacamole. I still don't like most guacamole, but I love it when I make it. Can't get enough of my own guacamole.

 

I still don't like spinach cooked or raw, but I can put some in food. I like it in eggs and added to certain sauces.

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Fad diets did the trick for me! 3 day diet...mostly tuna, broccoli and cauliflower...after doing that for 3 days those blueberries tasted like heaven! So, I will do the diet when I see my old cravings slipping back and then it is easier...I am down 65 pounds this year...and still going down! I really do not crave cheetos and brownies like I used to and almost never have sugar!

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:bigear: I'm still trying to figure it out. Not only do I not like the taste of most fruits and vegetables, I can't deal with the texture either. I also can't handle nuts, juices, smoothies, many sauces, most ethnic cuisine....

 

Despite this, I've still managed to lose weight. :D 30 pounds since April. I keep a lot of the stuff I do eat on hand. :lol:

 

For the health side, I try and eat as much of the fruits and vegetables that I do like. (I also take a multivitamin and a couple other vitamins to make up for the serious holes in my diet...) I also try and eat low sugar, drink lots of water, and buy organic meats when I can.

 

For the weight loss part I'm eating small meals. I've been eating off a small plate to limit serving size and not getting seconds. There's not a lot of variety in my diet, but... so be it.

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Guest catherinewinglet

I agree with Laura's answers. You should refer that diet as all the food items which are essential to lose weight you don't like so its better you change your eating pattern may be it helps you out.

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I'm happy as a clam on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet -- lots of protein (meat, beans, cheese). I'm allowed a lot of vegetables and I do eat them, but I've found that the proteins are what I enjoy eating the most.

 

Can't remember if you said you like tomatoes or not. Salsa is a delicious way to eat vegetables -- both the ones *in* the salsa and the ones that you can dip in it.

 

One of my favorite salads is romaine lettuce, fresh tomatoes, kidney or black beans, grilled chicken, grated or cubed cheese, and salsa. Sometimes I'll add black olives. I throw it all in a bowl and toss. I'm not really a salad person, but this is delicious.

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Guest RaymieSkilt

Each day physical exercise is actually proven to decrease intellectual weakness and depressive disorders signs and symptoms. Because exercising improves the amount of new, lose weight fast diet, oxygen rich blood all through the body system, you'll find that you are likely to heal a lot more swiftly from any sort of trauma. All-in-all, physical exercise can be so valuable that you will truly need to add it for your diet regime.

 

Proceed rising your current weekly exercising. You may have started with 1 day of taking walks. and perhaps you actually moved for 25 minutes or so. Right now you'll be able to get a subsequent day of exercising. You may move from running around the neighboorhood to taking walks in the shopping mall.

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SPAM!!

 

Thanks for all the ideas and recipes for salads. I am not at all creative when it comes to salads, and mine tend to be very boring. I'm anxious to try some of these!

 

We are also looking into juicing. We have a juicer that we inherited, and we just started watching fat, sick and nearly dead, on Netflix. I don't think we're going to do the juice fast, but at least drink 2 or 3 glasses a day, just to get some nutrients into our bodies and hopefully, get some health & energy back into our lives!

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