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

Thank you for a great website & message board. I have been reading all of the replys. I am desperate need to learn how to like & eat more veggies. I am diabetic and I need more variety and non-starchy veggies in my life. There are a few (very few) that I like any way you fix them. But the others the only way I like them is if I get them at a Chinese resturant. I can't seem to duplicate that flavor at home. I am not very good at cooking (but I am learning.)

The microwaveable steam bags are good. They have help add veggies to my meals the easy way. But I would really like a good low fat, low sodium, low sugar sauce that I could use with them.

I am definitely making great progress with my carrots! I find if I slice it into little pieces that I start to learn to like the flavor gradually.

A sauce has to have something in it. The only four food types are alcohol, carbs, fats and proteins. So if the sauce isn't just water, it has to have *one* of those other things in it Unless you want little plastic beads So if you want a sauce, you have to decide what has good nutrition in it to be "worth" the calories you're eating with it. My personal choice is cheese. Yes, it has fat. But it has calcium too.

Lisa, good for you, with your carrots! I have found that I enjoy carrots if I can them with green beans, corn, tomato or sweet potato, in the same bite. I like to have an assortment of veggies at dinner, but I don't get to do that everyday unless all my family is here or we go out to eat. It's fun to see how many colors of veggies I can on my plate along with a piece of meat, then count my daily servings. I am very fortunate that my kids like vegetables (some raw with dip, too) and have taught their kids to eat them as snacks.

Trish

The best way to eat more veggies is to have them around a lot more, cut up and ready to snack on, so it becomes just as fast to grab a handful of broccoli as it is a handful of chocolate. lol.

Something I've been doing lately is to bake my veggies. You can cut up any and all veggies, toss them lightly or spray with olive oil, add some herbs and bake. It's a great way to use up odds and ends of veggies. Frozen ones work ok this way too. Something about baking brings out the good flavors and they can be cooked along with the meat dish or whatever else you might be baking.

That's a great point. Don't just try veggies one way. Try them in a large variety of ways. It might be that you hate carrots one way - but that you really enjoy them in other ways. The more recipes you try, the more chance you'll find some new favorite techniques ...

I've always loved veggies. Even as a kid. I was always the only kid who actually liked brussel sprouts! lol... even now most people I know hate them, but I like them. I like asparagus (if cooked right), Spinach, mushrooms (uncooked) carrotts are my favourite, brocolli, cauliflower, cucumber (also a favourite) and others too. There are some things like peppers and onions that I like the taste of but I don't like the texture, so if it's chopped real fine and put in something then I don't mind it. And most of the time when I eat veggies I eat them raw and no dip because I like their natural flavour, or of course steamed with dinner, and again I don't really add anything for flavour when I cook them. But unfortunately, I've become lazy with cooking and I dont eat enough fruit or veggies as I should eat - and it's so true that you feel sooooo much better in every way the more veggies and fruit you eat. If you substitute the potatoes for some veggies it makes a huge difference. I really gotta start eating better

I think you're very right there - people have stopped spending time on cooking, and veggies tend to take longer to cook than say a microwave pizza. My dad only wants to eat food that he can prepare in 2 minutes Eating them raw is a great solution - and gets you more fiber, too!

Its just so much easier and convenient to buy premade food, or orfder take out. But unfortunately its not good for you - it may taste good but so do fruits and veggies

How much easier can healthy eating get these days? Step into the supermarket, pick up a pack of pre-peeled, bite-sized organic carrots, add a container of organic hummous and you've got the perfect instant snack! Same goes for a lot of salads these days, pre-washed and ready to munch.

Cheers,
Megan