BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Tips for Eating More Veggies

It's sort of sad that commercials make fun of kids not wanting to eat their vegetables. Vegetables can be tasty! Why would kids wolf down other things but not love broccoli and cheese - or maybe asparagus in a nice sauce? Those things can be *very* tasty. How about cauliflower tried up with Indian spices?

The key is to try a wide variety of vegetables, in a wide variety of cooking styles. Yes, some veggies taste *awful* when prepared poorly. Don't blame the veggie for that! And don't decide you hate that veggie. Keep trying other dishes, other recipes.

For example, boiling can suck the life out of any food. Try steaming instead, you get much better flavors, and far more nutrition. Try to avoid the microwave, microwaves destroy the antioxidants in vegetables. Try frozen pre-made dishes that come pre spiced for you. These tend to be very tasty and can give you ideas on what to try on your own, once you understand which combinations work well for you.

When you go out to nicer restaurants, get a vegetable dish. Don't just go for the potato, order one of the sides dishes they offer. You can get some real fantastic ideas from doing this. Ask your friends for their favorite vegetable dish.

I used to *hate* spinach, and now I really like it in certain dishes. It was all about trying things out until I found combinations that I loved.

That was me Lisa by the way, just forgot which account I was logged in with

I totally agree about kids and veggies. I used to have a home daycare and part of the food guidelines for lunch was a fruit and veggie as part of the meal.

All the kids liked veggies when they were offered. Some had favorites, which I tried to give them as much as possible.

If the kids don't like the veggies they are served, the ideas you suggested for spicing up the dishes is great! That goes for adults too. I love to cook and use lots of herbs and spices. Herbs add antioxidents too.

You can also make pasta dishes and grate veggies into the sauce, like carrots, for instance. The kids don't even notice the veggies in the red sauce.

That's great, that you were giving veggies to the kids as a normal thing. They are so tasty. It makes me wonder what kids are eating if they are NOT eating veggies? Just meat? That doesn't seem healthy!! Piles of white bread?

Tanks Lisa as I LOVE veggies now. I use to want the potatoe with all the fixings, but now when I eat how I go for the steamed veggies and they are absolutely delicious. What I truly enjoy is how great I feel after eating. I remember getting 'stuffed' on the potatoe with the fixings and after dinner just feeling so uncomfortable and full.

As home I put alot of different veggies in my steamer with a taste of stir fry sauce and they are delicious!!!! Sandy

Steamers are *so* great - they keep the fresh, delicious flavors and keep all the healthy antioxidants too. I definitely recommend owning and using one frequently!

Part of the fun of veggies is that there are just so many of them. Every week or two it's fun to see what else your supermarket has, and give it a try.

One of the keys is finding a high quality supermarket. Some supermarkets have a very poor selection, while others are amazing. It's worth it doing a little bit of driving to get to that store with the great veggie area.

I love steamed broccoli and asparagus.

And if you still can't get them to eat their veggies, puree them in the blender or food processor and mix them in with other favorite dishes or soups--they'll never know the veggies are there.

I used to puree all sorts of veggies and put them into spaghetti sause when my kids were little. they didn't know they were eating them and the sause tasted fine.

Pureeing is a good idea as a stop gap, but one of the keys really is to teach kids to *like* veggies, naturally, so that they will keep eating them as they grow into adulthood. Kids really will learn to like pretty much anything you keep serving them - it's a natural thing the tongue does. It's how the body stays alive So if you keep serving foods to a kid, and make it normal, they will learn to like and eat it. I just posted an article about this at the lowcarb.bellaonline.com main site.