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Help me eat healthy
BathTubb
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Like the title says I want to eat healthy, but there is a slight problem. Growing up, and now into my adult life, I do not like many fruits and vegetables. The only vegetables I eat are: potatoes, corn, spinach, and brocoli. Fruits are: banananas, oranges, apples, and peaches. So, how do I incorporate new foods into my diet? Also, how do I start/maintain eating healthy?
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Also, how do you feel about avocado? They're a great snack too. I often just eat it whole when I'm craving something.
For vegetables try making a salad and putting in a nice dressing, for example an ginger dressing that's low in calories but very delicious. It'll make you notice all the veggies you don't like a lot less.
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Start making the switch from soda to flavored water or teas. fruit is pretty easy..buy a sack of medallion oranges and have them instead of snacks.
Don’t buy junk food. Don’t eat at restaurants that don’t serve junk food. Problem solved.
It's certainly different as compared to regular potato, but not in a bad way.
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I ask because I can see getting sick of eating cans/bags of frozen peas/corn/mixed/whatever.
You don't have to eat these on their own necessarily, either...you can make meals that incorporate veggies, which makes it easier to get them in your diet (rather than having a side of vegetables, it can be part of the meal...like in a soup, or in fajitas, or in a stir-fry, etc).
So eliminating sweet snacks and if you want to go whole hog eliminating sugar altogether for awhile (which is harder than you might thing given the many and varied names sugar goes by on ingredient labels) will help you change your tastes and after a little while (not that long, a week and you'll notice a difference) you'll start to appreciate the wonderful tates of many veggies.
and don't write off other kinds of fruits
fruits like tomatoes and grapes come in many varieties and some are way better than others
the best thing you can do for starters is to replace junk food snacks with fruit whenever possible
and then work your greens and fibers into your meals.. potatoes and dark greens are especially good
As Jasconius said, try substituting one thing once, and see what you like. Craving a snack cake? Grab an apple instead. Once that becomes a bit of a habit, replace something else....and never be afraid to fall back on a comfort food provided it's in moderation and not your entire diet. Try and "healthy" up your favorite foods as well. As an anecdote, you will pry pizza from my cold dead fingers...so I've learned to order whole wheat crust, and to order from places that use good whole ingredients (like real cheese, locally cured pepperoni and fresh local vegetables). It doesn't make pizza "healthy", but it's sure a hell of a lot better than a Pizza Hut special.
Also, the fruits and vegetables you listed are a good start. Nothing says you MUST eat every vegetable ever. I can't stand avocado or spinach, so I don't force myself to eat them. I just go with a nice dark leafy lettuce instead of spinach.
I think the number one thing that has helped me change my diet over time is not taking things too far. Realizing it was a process, there were just things I was never going to like, and keeping the idea to eat better in the back of my mind, but never to the point of obsession.
e: Another example of the incremental things you can do: About a year ago I started eating a grilled chicken salad for lunch at work, pretty much every day. It gets a bit boring, but I know work is one of the times/places I have easy access to salad ingredients and the time to actually prepare and eat one, so I do.
Even if you have to choke the stuff down, just do it. Once you start adding more balance to your diet, it will become easier.
I would say you're doing it wrong. I eat vegetables regularly, and enjoy them. Because they're made right, and in good dishes. If you're just cooking carrots and sucking them down because they're healthy, I think you're missing the point. You can easily turn those into a good side, and make them not be a chore to devour.
Is there a "right" way to eat fruits and vegetables? Does my eating them have to coincide with enjoyment of them? I would argue my way is working just fine for me.
I don't particularly care for them, like the OP, but I find ways to get them into my diet and try consume as much of them as I can. A lot of the time by not caring how it tastes, but because I know it's good for me.
Yes, I am sure your way works great, but advising others to just "grin and bear it", rather then suggesting they find fruits, vegetables and techniques they enjoy, seems a bit...odd.
Cook for two or four or whatever, and get resealable containers for leftovers. If I cook stir fry for dinner one night, I generally have lunch for two or three days afterwords. Gets you to eat healthy, and saves lunch money!
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I believe that it is best to learn to like fruits and veggies, though you don't have to like all of them. I know someone who was raised on only foods he thought he might like as a child. If he said "I don't like it" without having tasted it, it was not served to him. As a consequence, 15+ years later his diet consists of largely of processed food. There are a few vegetables he is willing to eat, all with high sugar content. It severely restricts places he can eat at, sharing a diet with a mate or partaking in most of a given potluck. His health can't sustain on this kind of diet.
I wasn't big into vegetables either until I just started eating them regularly in stir fry. I ate the regular celery, carrots, etc but my taste buds grew. I started like asparagus only when I read about how to properly roast it. Then I thought it was delicious. I wasn't keen on bell peppers either - they tasted a bit bitter to me. Yet recently I tremendously enjoyed eating a whole one raw. Part of that I think may be getting older, but also expanding my taste buds. Green pepper doesn't taste the least bit bitter to me now, but I also enjoy very dark chocolate which is of course bitter.
Not everything unhealthy is bad for you - IF you use it as an excuse to make the good stuff go down easier. For example, I know someone else who puts some iceberg lettuce (which has the nutritional value of cardboard) in a salad because they like iceberg. Then they add the healthy lettuces, other greens and a can of tuna. It doesn't matter how healthy something is if you won't eat it.
You might consider classing "things you don't like" into more than one category. Maybe you don't like celery, but maybe it's just the strings that give you the most problem. So destring it before you eat and learn to like the taste. OTOH, you may have a really intense dislike of asparagus. So, don't worry about learning to like it for now. Start with the easier foods to acclimate to. They may help lead you to others and maybe one day you'll be open to asparagus. If you end up liking 90% of vegetables and still won't get near asparagus, the world won't break. In fact, if you get to 90%, you're doing awesome. If you force yourself to eat asparagus right away, you are more likely to reinforce your distaste of vegetables, guaranteeing failure.
Even more so I find that planning out your meals and spreading out the preparation helps a ton. Like I try to plan out what meal I will have every night of the week when I go to the grocery store to buy stuff. And often times there are things I will need to do in the morning or the night before (like start defrosting meat, or set up a marinade). If I know what I am going to make, and I've already got stuff started I am much more likely to finish then if I roll home in the evening with no idea what I even have in my fridge at the moment.
e: I also go to the grocery store quite often. I'm a walker/public transitter, so it makes logistical sense for me to make small short trips where I pick up what I need for a couple of days.
If you just look up "stir fry recipe" on Google you will easily find hundreds (you can also say "chicken stir fry" or "broccoli stir fry" or something if you're looking for a particular kind). Stir-fry is actually pretty easy, and can be switched up depending on what vegetables you want to use. The only thing you really need to be concerned about is the individual cooking times of each vegetable (in other words, don't throw two things into the wok/pan at the same time if one of them takes a lot longer to cook). Broccoli and baby corn are already two things you like, and are very tasty in stir-fries!
This is how I make myself eat healthily (it helps that it's been hot out). You can put in anything you want, my current fave is
3-4 ice cubes
5-6 frozen strawberries (you can get a pound at Whole Foods for less than $2)
1 frozen banana (just keep regular bananas around until they get brown spots, then peel and wrap individually in plastic wrap, stash in the freezer. Break into chunks)
1 big blob of fat free yogurt (or one of those fruit on the bottom yogurt cups)
1 small handful of baby spinach
splash of milk and OJ (how much depends on how thick you like it, and your blender)
protein powder (if you're into that)
Other tasty things to put in include pineapple chunks, pretty much any frozen fruit you can think of, sherbert, oatmeal.
Try baking your veggies, a little olive oil, salt and pepper go a long way. I've got a recipe for baked broccoli that's gotten rave reviews from everyone I ever made it for.
Broccoli
Olive Oil 2-3 TBS (enough to toss the broccoli florets and get a thin coat for the S&P to stick a little)
Salt
Pepper
Minced Garlic
Lemon Juice
Pine Nuts
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and set the oven rack to the top shelf.
Toss the Broccoli with 1/2 Tsp Salt and 1/2 Tsp Pepper and the minced Garlic (adjust S&P and Garlic to taste).
Put some tinfoil over a baking sheet to keep things from sticking and spread the Broccoli over the sheet so it's spread evenly.
Place Broccoli in oven on top rack and bake for about 8 minutes.
Toast pine nuts in a pan on the stove until golden, remove and set aside.
Remove broccoli, and spread pine nuts over it, sprinkle some parmesan cheese (not the powdered stuff) over it and sprinkle some lemon juice on.
Place Broccoli back in the oven for 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted.
Serve and enjoy.
Brussel sprouts prepared with olive oil, S&P in the oven for about 10 minutes is amazing as well. Just about everything is.
As for fruits, just start incorporating more into your diet. I've started eating a ton of blueberries lately and used to hate them, now I'd fight a hobo over a flat of them.
I usually buy a flat, rinse them in a collander, dry them very well, and spread evenly on a large baking sheet with parchment paper under them and freeze them overnight then bag them when they're in season. Otherwise frozen blueberries work too.
I'll microwave a cup of blueberries until thawed and toss em in a bowl of cereal with low fat milk.
I'll microwave a couple of blueberries to thaw, toast one flax/healthy waffle (Kashi makes some good ones), spread 1 TBS of Almond butter on the waffle and sprinkle on the blueberries, fold and eat with 1 cup of milk for breakfast or a snake (about 400 cals total).
I'll defrost blueberries or fresh strawberries/apples/pears/mandarin oranges and throw em in a salad with some sweeter vinaigrette dressing and some nuts and a little Blue or Gorgonzola cheese.
Spinach is great, I'll get a bag of baby spinach, throw 2 or 3 handfuls in a bowl, heat up a Lean Cuisine and pour it over the spinach. Bam, instant and delicious dinner that actually fills you up. If not, I'll have an apple to finish the job.
Either way man, there are tons and tons of options. Find a veggie you like an Google recipes for it. You might have to tweak the recipe if it's ok but you should be able to find plenty of options out there.
Also, if you don't hate or never tried Middle Eastern food, there's a TON of veggie related options out there. I highly recommend checking out some of the recipes (fava beans, eggplant, chickpeas, sesame, garlic, etc etc etc). This site is a good starting point: http://www.dedemed.com/
I will say, even shitty Mediterranean cooking compared to some fine quality Polish cooking is like an eating orgasm.
-- hanging out with friends and roommates who eat and cook healthier and watching them and trying a little of their food
-- the book "how to cook everything" is great for holding your hand and showing you different cooking techniques assuming you know nothing and that you don't have a lot of fancy ingredients or kitchen equipment. Every recipe has a ton of variations to adjust to your own likes and dislikes, which helps encourage you to experiment and try new things based on what you already know you like.
-- learning how to make food different than what you grew up with. My parents were into low-fat everything when I was growing up, and I hated most vegetables because they were boiled or steamed and mushy. Now my default for any veggie is roast in oven with olive oil and kosher salt, which is a compromise but still way healthier than the junk foods I would eat otherwise.
If you want to eat healthy, you're going to have to take a dive and eat some stuff you may not find as appealing. Put some veggies on your plate every night and eat them. Give it at least a few weeks before you decide you absolute do not like whatever it is.
For example, I had to make a conscious effort to enjoy tomatoes. I used to really dislike them, but now I don't. I'm not always in the mood for them but I like them a lot more than I used to.
Some whole grains, little mustard, lean turkey/tuna makes 'em bearable.
Same - i used to hate everything about the taste of green tea. Now I'm a fan (though I still need a bit of sugar). It was a bit of a slog getting to that point, but even without the health benefits it's nice to have the option of another hot or cold beverage I don't have to feel guilty about.