You either love em, or you hate em. There’s not a huge middle ground when it comes to vegetables. I’ve heard this question a lot: “I want to eat healthier, but I don’t like vegetables. How do I eat healthy without eating vegetables?” The tough thing for veggie haters is that they are so important to short and long term health and wellness. They provide us with the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants we need to fight off sickness and protect against infections, have healthy organs, help us reduce our stress levels and blood pressure, give us energy, help us concentrate, quickly heal wounds and cuts, treat insomnia…I could keep going, but you get the point 🙂
Good news is, veggie haters don’t have to be veggie haters forever. Whether you don’t like the taste of them, don’t know which ones to buy, or don’t know how to prepare them, there are lots of things you can do to work on moving from tolerating them to even loving them! I used to hate all kinds of vegetables. Even potatoes, even French fries! What kid hates French fries right?
Now years later, not only do I love fries, but I love all kinds of veggies. It didn’t happen until my early 20s, but it opened up a whole new world to me for meals and snacks. When I changed my eating habits, I noticed a ton of health benefits along with it. You are what you eat, remember? I had a lot more energy, my brain fog was gone, my digestive issues cleared up (even the afternoon-bloating I had battled for years), my skin got clearer, and more. All just by adding vegetables to my diet…and cutting down on the processed and artificial “food” I used to eat in its place.
But those are things you probably already knew.
Let’s move on to how to upgrade your relationship with vegetables.
1) GATEWAY VEGETABLE
My love for veggies didn’t happen all at once. It started out with only eating a couple different types, like carrots and bell peppers. I only liked them raw, so at night when I was watching TV, I’d cut myself up some of these veggies and munch on them while I zoned out to my favorite shows. It was a start! Find a vegetable or two that you don’t hate, and start eating it more often.
2) EXPERIMENT IN THE KITCHEN
There are many different ways to prepare vegetables (raw, boil, sauté, pan sear, roast) and many different things to flavor vegetables with (garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon juice, dressing, sauces, etc.). Try to mix and match to find preparations and flavorings that you enjoy! There are so many possibilities to choose from you’re bound to find some you do like. A safe bet is generally a stir fry, with a few types of vegetables (like snap peas, shredded cabbage, thinly sliced onion and bell peppers, or mushrooms) with a sauce or some seasonings and a protein.
3) SAMPLE WITH FRIENDS
A good way to try out a variety of vegetables is to start with very small portions. When you’re out to lunch or dinner with family or friends, ask them to try a bite of whatever vegetable came with their meal. That way you’re not buying a large amount yourself and possibly wasting it if you don’t like it, and if you do like it, you can re-create it at home.
4) TWEAK YOUR FAVORITE RECIPES
Sneaking vegetables you ‘kind of like’ or that have a more mild taste into your favorite dishes is a great way to get those important nutrients. Just chop them up really small and add them into the food. Some ways to do this are to add zucchini or baby spinach to lasagna, throw in some mushrooms or tomatoes into your scrambled eggs, sneak cooked carrots and onions into pasta sauce, add onions and peppers to pizza, or make a chili, soup, or shepherd’s pie and put lots of veggies in there (chopped small). Skewers are a great way to get delicious caramelized veggies plus meat proteins (things like onions, tomatoes, peppers are great). Make a smoothie for breakfast and add some baby spinach, or a couple stalks of celery, or a half of a cucumber and you won’t even know it’s in there! Or try vegetable noodles instead of pasta.
5) DIVE INTO DELICIOUS DIPS
Making or buying tasty dips can really mask the flavor of lots of vegetables used for dipping. Great raw vegetables to use to dip are carrots, bell peppers, celery, cucumber, and jicama. Just cut them into strips and you’re good to go. For dips, choose healthier options like hummus – like this creamy zucchini hummus – or guacamole (which is actually made of avocado – bonus points!).
6) BUY GOOD QUALITY VEGETABLES
Buying vegetables can be overwhelming. There’s a TON to choose from, and when you find a kind you want to buy, how do you know if it’s fresh? There’s a great post on The Kitchn’s blog that explains what to look for in ALL types of veggies to get the freshest and most tasty ones. If you don’t think you can use up veggies before they’d go bad, buy frozen. Always buy organic if you can, but if you can’t buy all produce organic, at least get the organic version of these ones.
Here are some intro to veggie recipes I think you’ll like:
Roasted Root Vegetables
4 carrots, peeled, chopped
2 medium turnips, peeled, chopped
1 large rutabaga, peeled, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled, chopped
1 large onion, peeled, chopped
Grapeseed oil
Sea salt, pepper, dried rosemary, dried thyme
*if you don’t know what these veggies look like, just ask a grocer working in the produce department!
Add all veggies to a baking dish, drizzle with grapeseed oil and seasonings. Toss to combine and coat. Bake at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes, until tender and golden brown.
Grilled Asparagus
1 bunch asparagus, ends snapped off
Grapeseed oil
Sea salt, pepper, garlic powder
In a large bowl, add asparagus and drizzle some grapeseed oil. Add some sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and stir around to coat the asparagus. Add to the grill directly, a grill pan, or a piece of aluminum foil on the grill (or bake in the oven at 375 for 10-15 minutes).
Kale Chips
1 bunch kale, washed, stems removed, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
Drizzle kale with oil and sprinkle the salt evenly on top. Spread the kale out on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until the edges are slightly brown.
Mashed Cauliflower
1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 ½ cups vegetable or chicken broth (might need a little more/less)
2 tablespoons grass-fed butter or ghee
Seasonings (dried thyme, sage, onion powder, rosemary, etc.)
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
In a medium sized saucepan, add cauliflower florets, and pour in the broth until it barely covers the cauliflower. Add the garlic, cover the pot, and turn the heat to medium-high. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium, and simmer 10 minutes, then uncover and raise heat to medium-high, and simmer 10 more minutes, until nearly all of the liquid boiled off
Add butter, pepper, salt, seasonings and mash up with a potato masher.
ARE YOU UP FOR IT?
For the next 6 weeks, I challenge you to try a new vegetable each week. There are TONS to choose from (ideas below), and if you’re unsure what you might like, there are grocery store workers in every produce department or even farmers at the market that would LOVE to help you out!
- Each week when you’re at the grocery store or farmer’s market, buy a new vegetable and learn to prepare it. I used to go on YouTube and search “how to prepare a ___” and got some great tips!
- Experiment with incorporating vegetables discreetly to your favorite meals (mix in with your smoothies, sneak in pasta sauce, etc.).
- Report back! Comment on this post to let me know what you find out!
- Ideas for new vegetables to try: kale, rutabaga, turnip, spaghetti squash, white yam (aka white sweet potato), swiss chard, bok choy, jicama, leek, green cabbage, acorn squash, baby bella mushrooms, parsnip, fennel
