The Student Room Group

can't eat vegetables, they make me sick

But I need to start eating them because I'm becoming overweight. I cannot even put them in my mouth, I gag when I do, and I even hate the smell (like boiling cauliflower...disgusting). But in order to hide the taste of vegetables you have to make them unhealthy, which is pointless. Is there any way of making vegetables taste ok/mask their taste without making them unhealthy?

I can already eat lentil soup, green beans and lettuce/cucumbers, that's about it really though.

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Reply 1
Could it possibly be that rather than the taste, it's the texture? Since all veg tastes different, and when cooked in different ways it's different again.
If you usually boil veg, try steaming it? This might help if you can eat things like carrot raw, since you can steam them just long enough to be hot, but aren't mushed up...since soggy veg makes me gag too xD

A way of masking the taste might be to mix it with mashed potato possibly?

Try new, different veg though, there's loads out there and they all have different tastes, people mark 'veg' as a category, saying they all taste the same, but it's like marking 'meat' as one category, they all have different tastes!
Dude... ya just gotta stick em in ya mouth and chew, chew, chew!

I'd try stuff like sweet potatoes, tomatoes (even if they are fruit), and broccoli coz they're relatively sweet, and as long as they're properly cooked, they don't spend too long in your mouth. But being able to eat veg is a necessity to life!

Hiding flavours - cheese? onions? tomato sauce?
Anything with a stronger flavour...
Just eat those greens you like then. I personally eat loads of potatoes. :sex:
Reply 4
Not eating them could make you sick too.I'm not a huge fan of some vegetables,like brussel sprouts or cauliflower,but I tend to either adopt the 'chew chew,drink swallow' approach or cook them in tastier ways,with sauces in stir fry's,some roast peppers in pasta...there is lots you can do.Your not going to love them all,I certainly don't but I have a larger range that I enjoy than I used to.
Reply 5
You can make them into an acquired taste. Just have small amounts regularly and you will begin to not find them so bad I expect. I don't like sprouts or cauliflower, but I like most others now. You might also try to cook meals that have small diced pieces of vegetable mixed in with your main ingredient like potato or pasta.
Reply 6
There are several ways of cooking veg e.g. steaming, frying, grilling and boiling etc. The different ways of cooking creates different textures and slightly different tastes..so maybe you need to experiment in different ways of cooking the veg and finding the taste you like.

Also masking the taste can be achieved with flavours you enjoy e.g. chili sauce, tomato sauce. Do you like curries? Vegetable curries are pretty tasty. If not you said you like cucumbers and lettuce.. so try to eat a salad with your meal everyday in order to get veg in you. Eat fruits as well!
I hate vegetables too, but I can put up with broccoli and sweetcorn so I eat those. Do you like fruit? I find that tastes much better and it's just as healthy.
Reply 8
I didn't consider the texture. Raw carrot is nasty (to me), I can tolerate sweet potato

I'm not allowed mashed potato, tomato sauce, pasta or cheese on this plan I'm being put on, the conditions: not fried or sauteed, and with minimum oil. Sauces, curries and the like are out of the question, and there are set weights of vegetables I'm meant to eat per meal, and all the allowed vegetables on the list I don't eat.

Ah, well I didn't say I liked lettuce/cucumber, I can just tolerate them in sandwiches since they taste of nothing, they're just a nuisance. I can't eat salads, lettuce isn't very good at all nutrition wise, and other things you put in salads I hate (like tomatoes, I actually threw up when I tried some raw)

aspiringgenius, I can't go by just eating beans, I need to get healthier

rainbow.panda, fruit isn't as healthy, if you look into the studies
Reply 9
Original post by laprenti
But I need to start eating them because I'm becoming overweight. I cannot even put them in my mouth, I gag when I do, and I even hate the smell (like boiling cauliflower...disgusting). But in order to hide the taste of vegetables you have to make them unhealthy, which is pointless. Is there any way of making vegetables taste ok/mask their taste without making them unhealthy?

I can already eat lentil soup, green beans and lettuce/cucumbers, that's about it really though.


Lentils, green beans and some salads will at least stave off scurvy, which believe it or not is a growing problem in the UK as burger culture increasingly takes hold and people think a "square meal" is having having extra fries with the half pound burger.

However, your dietary needs are severely impaired and long-term you are building up all kinds of potential for serious illnesses to develop. A good diet is the classic "five a day" formula, eating a variety of green, red and salad vegetables and fruit every day.

Do you have a feel for why you have this problem? Did your parents not give you veg much as a child, or were they very bad cooks? Something else?
Reply 10
Original post by laprenti


rainbow.panda, fruit isn't as healthy, if you look into the studies


There are no valid studies that show fruit to be unhealthy, don't be absurd.
Reply 11
I absolutely hate green vegetables except broccoli. I can and do love eating other vegetables like sweetcorn, cauliflower, carrots. But yeah I understand what you mean when you say you feel sick and gag while trying to eat vegetables because I feel that way some times. Is there a study that suggest eating vegetables make you lose weight?
Reply 12
food is fuel, not pleasure.
Reply 13
Original post by Fires
There are no valid studies that show fruit to be unhealthy, don't be absurd.


please tell me what is 'healthy' about fruit
Reply 14
Original post by Fires
Lentils, green beans and some salads will at least stave off scurvy, which believe it or not is a growing problem in the UK as burger culture increasingly takes hold and people think a "square meal" is having having extra fries with the half pound burger.

However, your dietary needs are severely impaired and long-term you are building up all kinds of potential for serious illnesses to develop. A good diet is the classic "five a day" formula, eating a variety of green, red and salad vegetables and fruit every day.

Do you have a feel for why you have this problem? Did your parents not give you veg much as a child, or were they very bad cooks? Something else?



I'm not sure why I have this problem, I asked my mum and she said she tried very hard to get me to eat vegetables when I was little, then she gave up

I didn't say fruit was unhealthy, I said it wasn't AS healthy. There are a few studies on the impact of fructose on the body, sugar in general's not good, especially when trying to lose weight, etc etc http://uk.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_400/447_fruit-fat.html
What about raw veg?
I like raw cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, broccoli. You may find it less sickly than cooked ones...more like salad...


I dunno, I love veg!
Reply 16
Original post by Fires
There are no valid studies that show fruit to be unhealthy, don't be absurd.


I don't have a clue about the nutritional credentials of fruit versus vegetables.

However you are twisting the other poster's words, there is a stark difference between being not as healthy and being unhealthy.
Reply 17
Original post by sconter
please tell me what is 'healthy' about fruit


as far as i know the only 'bad' thing about fruit is that it contains sugar, so if you eat too much it drives your blood sugar up. ive heard loads of type 2 diabetics say that to control their weight and blood glucose theyd have a fruit salad for breakfast and then another one for dessert - trying to be healthy but its actually pretty bad for them.

aside from that....i have no idea
Reply 18
Original post by laprenti
I'm not sure why I have this problem, I asked my mum and she said she tried very hard to get me to eat vegetables when I was little, then she gave up

I didn't say fruit was unhealthy, I said it wasn't AS healthy. There are a few studies on the impact of fructose on the body, sugar in general's not good, especially when trying to lose weight, etc etc http://uk.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_400/447_fruit-fat.html


Fructose in the concentrations found in regular fruit is absolutely fine unless you eat tons of the stuff at a sitting. Fructose as a manufactured artificial sugar substitute in everything from milk shakes and fizzy drinks to burgers and mayo - not fine. But then, that's not fruit, is it.

It sounds like you had some reaction as an infant to something you ate and became abnormally wary. This is something serious that you need to work on. One possibility is some kind of therapy, there are people who do that type of thing. Another is that you teach yourself to recover from it. Try very tiny portions of extremely tasty veg in preparations that you enjoy, for example, cut up and cooked with something you like. Eat a small portion whilst doing an activity you like. Repeat often until you can eat the tiny amount without difficulty. Then work up from there.
Reply 19
Original post by POWCATTY
as far as i know the only 'bad' thing about fruit is that it contains sugar, so if you eat too much it drives your blood sugar up. ive heard loads of type 2 diabetics say that to control their weight and blood glucose theyd have a fruit salad for breakfast and then another one for dessert - trying to be healthy but its actually pretty bad for them.

aside from that....i have no idea


all fruit is is sugar in regards to nutrition
thats not to say it is unhealthy. but to call it healthy is wrong. when people label things as healthy and unhealthy its stupid. there are no 'healthy' foods, as there are no complete foods. there are unhealthy things tho.
(edited 12 years ago)