Well, shit. This could be a problem.
What is it? The bland taste, the mushy texture, or something in your head that says ‘I don’t want any part of these things’?
I probably don’t need to tell you that most healthy meals include a solid serving of colourful veggies.
If you want nothing to do with vegetables you’re gonna make your weight loss and health mission much harder than it needs to be.
If this sounds like you, read on, coz at the end of this you’ll be ready to make friends with veggies and take up the vegetable mini mission I’ve got waiting for ya.
What’s So Great About Vegetables Anyway?
“You’re not leaving this table until you’ve eaten all your vegetables!” If a movie ever gets made about my childhood, that’ll probably be the title. I’m guessing you could tell me a few similar stories too, yeah?
So what’s the big deal about vegetables? Why do they make up such a big part of nearly every healthy meal? And why are parents hell-bent on making sure kids eat them every night?
Let’s look at a few good reasons why veggies are the real deal:
- You get a LOT more bang for your buck! Calorie-for-calorie, vegetables will fill you up better than just about anything else you could put on your plate. Take a look at this example of what 200 calories looks like. If you’re on a mission to lose weight, get fit and be healthy, vegetables are gonna be key!
- More than calories. Forget about calories for a minute and look at the good stuff that comes packed in your average vegetable: calcium, fiber, iron, potassium, magnesium vitamins A & C. This is the stuff that keeps our bodies functioning properly!
- They taste great. Well they can taste great. When you get it right, vegetables are all round good shit!
Believe the hype: vegetables deliver on nearly every front.
Doing Bad Things to Good Vegetables
I spent a fair bit of time at my Grandparents’ house when I was a kid. My Grandmother was in a wheelchair, so Grandad did a lot of the cooking… if ya can call it that.
My Grandad had a style all of his own in the kitchen. He had the basics of a healthy meal down pretty well: some protein (meat) and sizeable dose of healthy greens. Nice one, Grandad. Problem was, by the time the veggies hit the plate they weren’t green any more!
3-4 hours boiling on the stove doesn’t do good things to good vegetables. We’d have been much better off drinking the water they were cooked in rather than getting anywhere near the slightly grey mush that arrived on the plate.
Even today, boiled veggies take me to a dark place. But as my Dad would say, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
So mushy, lifeless veggies aren’t your thing? Well, shit – I can hardly blame ya for that!
So What’s the Deal? Why Don’t You Like Vegetables?
I was lucky; my Mum was a great cook and she taught me to cook too. If my only childhood experience of vegetables had been Grandad’s grey mush, or that awful canned asparagus that seems to pop up at good Kiwi BBQ’s throughout the country, there’s a bloody good chance I’d still be a vegetable-hater today.
If you’ve hated veggies since you were a kid, it’s possible you’ve simply been the victim of heinous crimes against vegetables. Whoever thought it was a good idea to cook the shit out of asparagus and then can it for sale should be hauled to the Hague to answer for their crimes.
Canned asparagus was my first encounter with the vegetable and it took 22 years before I tried it again. Turns out properly cooked asparagus with a little pepper and salt is a glorious thing. Who knew?!
Sometimes resolving hatred is as simple as getting to know the thing you hate. So what is it about vegetables that you really don’t like?
They’re Soft, Squishy & Mushy
If we remove canned asparagus from the equation, vegetables should almost never hit your plate mushy. If they are, then you’re overcooking them. Vegetables taste best, and are at their most nutritious (mostly) when they’re lightly cooked. Don’t go Grandad on them. A perfectly cooked vegetable is generally tender but still a little crunchy.
They’re Boring & Have No Taste
Colonel Sanders 11 herbs and spices may be a secret but seasoning in general is not. No, tomato sauce is not a seasoning! If your veggies taste boring and have no flavour then seasoning them is gonna go a long way to changing your perception. Lemon juice, ginger, garlic, pepper, salt, balsamic vinegar, paprika, nutmeg, cumin… the combinations of flavours you can create is almost endless.
They Always Taste Bitter
This is the reason most kids don’t love their veggies and it’s an evolutionary thing. Waaaay back in the day this gave us humans an advantage. Basically it kept us from eating things that could kill us. That’s a good thing! Bitterness is usually an indication that something isn’t good for us. In general, kids are more sensitive to this and it fades as you get older, but for about 25 percent of the adult population, this hyper sensitivity to bitterness never fades.
If vegetables always taste bitter to you, then you might be a Supertaster: you can taste certain bitter compounds in foods that the rest of us will never taste. On the one hand, that’s kinda cool: it’s like you’ve got a superpower (kind-of a shitty one, but still a superpower).
On the other hand it sucks, coz it’s going to be really hard to mask that bitterness in veggies like: broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, turnips, cabbage and bok choy. These are known as cruciferous vegetables and the moment they enter your mouth, your brain will likely say, “WTF are you doing?! You’re going to poison us. SPIT IT OUT! SPIT IT OUT NOW!!”
Instead, try some non-cruciferous veggies like: tomatoes, spinach, green beans, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots and beetroot.
“Okay, I know they’re good for me, but they still taste boring and kinda mushy and I just don’t like them.”
Stop Convincing Yourself You Don’t Like Vegetables
First of all, stop saying that you hate vegetables. Maybe you just haven’t found the GOOD ONES yet!
To eat well and lose weight without starving yourself, veggies are important. As I keep sayin’: the basic anatomy of a healthy meal is some protein (meat) and a solid serving of colourful veggies. Generally the more colourful they are, the healthier they are.
Find a way in. There’s a lot of different veggies around and most us haven’t even got close to trying them all.
Don’t tell me you’re gonna let some delicate little vegetables derail this mission?! Suck it up, buttercup, and start trying as many different vegetables as you can. Even if it’s just a tiny little bite.
Before you take that bite, tell yourself this might be the one you love. Sounds a bit bullshit, but you’ve probably trained your brain to override your other senses. Yup, there’s a good chance you’ve been telling yourself that you hate vegetables for so long, you hate them before you even taste them!
Do you think Stephen Donald was telling himself, ‘I’m gonna miss this kick, but we always lose the Rugby World Cup final anyway. Meh fuck it, who cares’. No. He lined it up, told himself to follow through and got the job done.
What about Grant Elliott? 2 balls remaining, 5 runs to win, and a shot at New Zealand’s first Cricket World Cup Final. ‘Argh, the Semi Finals were good enough, I’m tired and I don’t really want to play in the final anyway’. Probably not. He told himself he could do it, hit the ball for six and sent the Blackcaps through to the Cricket World Cup final. Let’s not talk about the final though.
They both visualised the ball going exactly where they wanted it to. This is kinda what you’ve been doing every time you say to yourself, “I hate vegetables.” You’re just doing it in reverse, that’s all.
… and start approaching vegetables from a different angle. Tell yourself that this one might be good. My point here is that you’ve gotta find your own way into the wonderful world of deliciously fresh and gloriously nutritious vegetables. Yeah, I’m laying it on pretty thick, but you know what I mean.
It’ll take time to retrain your brain to accept veggies. Maybe a good place to start is to add one tiny new veggie on a plate with something you really love. Ya know? Make a positive association. Love steak? Try it with some grilled asparagus, or some sesame and ginger green beans. Make sure every mouthful has some steak AND a little of your chosen vegetable.
Do Your Homework and Experiment With How You Cook Them
Grilled, roasted, boiled, stir-fried, there’s heaps of different ways to cook a vegetable.
I hate boiled, mushy veggies. I prefer my veggies still a little firm and flavoured with lots of herbs, spices and other stuff. If you’re not a vegetable lover, I’m guessing you haven’t experimented with too many different ways to prepare, season and cook them?
So do your homework and experiment a little. I can’t imagine you’re going like them any less. Hell, maybe you’ll find something that you really like. Healthy Food Guide magazine has an impressive collection of recipes and is a great resource for, SURPRISE, healthy food choices.
- Roast them with a little coconut oil, salt pepper and garlic. Veggies get sweeter and caramelise when they’re roasted. Some good vegetables to roast are: kumara, yams, pumpkin, parsnips, capsicum, carrots etc.
- Pan fried, with a little garlic, lemon juice and sesame seeds. Trust me this is easy:
1. Add a little oil to a pan and heat to a medium to high heat.
2. Throw in some beans and/or broccoli and cover the pan with a lid and let sit for a minute undisturbed.
3. After about 60 seconds remove the lid and squeeze some lemon juice over the veggies and add some finely chopped garlic.
4. Cover the pan again, shake the veggies around and then let sit on the heat for another 60 seconds.
5. Remove the pan from the heat, stir some sesame seeds through the veggies and serve immediately. - Grilled with balsamic vinegar and black pepper. Try this with asparagus: toss in a little balsamic vinegar, season with pepper and grill under a high heat for 3-4 minutes.
You get the idea. Be brave. Be bold. Experiment!
Hide The Little Suckers In Other Things
Maybe you want the goodness that comes with veggies but you really don’t want to taste them?
Then it’s time to get a little sneaky! Try these ideas for hiding veggies inside other foods. You won’t even know what’s happening.
- Burger patties. Who doesn’t like burgers right? Make your own and sneak some grated carrot & zucchini into the mix. You’d never know it’s there!
- Shepherds pie. Some as above, sneak some grated carrot and zucchini in with the meat. Another good tip is to switch the mashed potato topping out for mashed kumara.
- Omelets. Spinach and omelets are a perfect match.
- Soup. Roasted pumpkin, nutmeg, pepper, salt, grated cheese and some coconut & almond milk blended together. Win!
- Veggie fritters are amazeballs. Grated kumara, carrot, zucchini and onion. Mixed with spices, a little feta and bound together with egg. Shallow fry in coconut oil. Mmmm.
Pretty much any mince, or slow cooked meat dish is perfect for hiding veggies. Chances are you won’t even notice they’re in there. Trust me, your stomach will thank you for it. Hey, maybe your Mum will too.
A Mini Mission For Ya:
Over the next few weeks I want you to try something new. Yes I’m talkin’ about a vegetable here! Can you do any, or ALL of the following?
- Next time you’re at the supermarket buy a new vegetable and learn some different ways to cook it. Have a look at www.healthyfood.co.nz. They have some great recipe ideas.
- Can you find a way to hide some veggies in some of your regular meals? Trust me, you won’t even know they’re there!
- Can you find a new vegetable that you actually like? This is the ULTIMATE goal! Get this done and there will be no stopping you!
Go on, you know you want to. If you succeed in this mini mission it’s gonna do great things for your overall weight loss and health mission!
-Shane
Don’t forget to tell me how it goes in the comments below.
Hi Shane,
I am at the beginning of my journey. I too weigh 127kg.ave lost 35kg twice before, however I’ve regained because I’ve done crazy fad diets of only 500 calories, which makes it near impossible to keep off once resuming normal eating. I’ve also done little to no exercise. This time its a sensible aeting plan with exercise. Your website has helped me a lot as you’ve said things I can relate to, like easing into it and not expecting perfection all at once, but to remian consistent and try, try, try. I’ll keep you informed of my progress.
Hi Sharon, glad to have you along for the ride. Awesome that you’re finding the website helpful, I appreciate the feedback. I’m pleased to hear you’ve ditched the fad diets too, not only are they really hard to maintain, I think they also place a lot of unnecessary pressure on us. Thanks for taking the time to comment, I look forward to hearing from you again!
Hi Shane
Congrats on your weight loss but even bigger keeping it off. I don’t weigh 127 kg.. YET but if my current lifestyle continues I soon will. Unlike yourself I am a dietitian have all the information but all the excuses, my mum is a fab cook as is my husband and myself. Oh and guess what I love food, why do you think I studies it. Love that you keep it simple, we eat food not nutrient, thankfully nature has put these together human just complicate it and muck it all up. Thanks for the inspiration,