Losing my love of veg

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Jenny65

Jenny65

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I used to love veg, all veg now I am finding it hard to eat any veg at all, the thought of adding lots of veg to my meal is making me feel nauseous but I know it was the key to losing weight and getting into remission. Does anyone have any tips or recipes for making them taste better, I add sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower to most meals but gag eating them when I previously loved them.
 
Jenny65 said:
I used to love veg, all veg now I am finding it hard to eat any veg at all, the thought of adding lots of veg to my meal is making me feel nauseous but I know it was the key to losing weight and getting into remission. Does anyone have any tips or recipes for making them taste better, I add sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower to most meals but gag eating them when I previously loved them.
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Whilst veg are a great filler, they aren’t absolutely essential. If you’re really not loving them, then just swerve for a while.

it strikes you’d likely need to up your proteins and fats a bit to compensate, but from memory, you are an or close to a healthy weight?
 
Thank you for replying, I feel as though I have had so many veg its almost too much to face with each meal, I will do what you say and up my fats and proteins until I can tolerate them again. My BMI is very good now, it was 35 and is now 22 and in healthy range, but I am aware its eating so much veg that got me there. I rarely feel hungry at all anymore and looking at the veg to prepare for my meals makes me feel sick
 
Jenny65 said:
Thank you for replying, I feel as though I have had so many veg its almost too much to face with each meal, I will do what you say and up my fats and proteins until I can tolerate them again. My BMI is very good now, it was 35 and is now 22 and in healthy range, but I am aware its eating so much veg that got me there. I rarely feel hungry at all anymore and looking at the veg to prepare for my meals makes me feel sick
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I'm not necessarily suggesting no veg forever and ever. I know I would miss them, but why force down something that is making you feel off.

See how you go with just an extra slice of meat, or whatever, as you're not replacing much in terms of calories. If you are eating dairy and decent meat, you're highly unlikely to become vitamin deficient over the shorter term.
 
What I do is look in reduced to clear sections of supermarket for more expensive veg like aubergine and asparagus. Other less traditional veg such as avocado is also both tasty and filling. Exotic veg like breadfruit and yam can also provide excitement to a tired palate, however these latter two are very high carb so small quantities are the order of the day.

Generally boiled first, breadfruit is great for making chips, but can also be baked/barbecued/fried. They used to grow them in the fruit/sugar plantations for the workers, so you can find abandoned breadfruit trees all over the Caribbean. They are very tall trees, but with the aid of a rope and a couple of prussic-hiches they can be easily harvested and go great with lobster:D

If your palate is truly exhausted, you could always try Durian, but be warned, not only are you likely to have at least one of your neighbours complaining to the council about the unsanitary smell, but it is also extremely high in carbohydrates. On the other-hand, once you have tried it, if you don't have the correct genes to appreciate it's subtle aromas you will probably eat your sprouts with gusto :rofl:
 
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Sorry to hear you have tired yourself of veg. Maybe have a change of direction with it as @IrvineHimself suggests. So a small portion of something more exotic rather than more humble veg that you have grown sick of. Or perhaps some ready prepared stir fry veg. or pickled veg like beetroot or gherkins where a small portion gives you a big hit of flavour. I have also been doing a lot more roasted veg recently like parsnips and butternut squash and carrots and swede and been really enjoying those.
If you are going to knock the amount of veg you eat on the head then it would be a good idea to use a fibre supplement if you don't already. This should also help with your cholesterol levels. I find a combination of chia seeds and psyllium husk works really well with improving my bowel health and I am convinced it has been instrumental in reducing cholesterol because my levels have dropped despite increasing my saturated fat intake significantly with cream and cheese and animal fats.
 
I eat a primarily veggie diet but I would find it difficult if I ate the same veg every day. When I was a kid, I would dread spring when we had boiled new potatoes with every meal for a month. Mixing it up is definitely the way for me.
And not just the type of veg but also how you cook them. Griddled broccoli gives it a lovely charred flavour. Roasting cauliflower makes it sweet and nutty. I am not a fan of sprouts but maybe stir frying them changes the texture.
And add some spice - chilli or nutmeg or cinnamon. Or some fresh herbs like basil or coriander or mint. Actually, I live a fresh herb salad or green salsa

If you want to continue eating veg, my advice is to mix it up
 
Jenny65 said:
I used to love veg, all veg now I am finding it hard to eat any veg at all, the thought of adding lots of veg to my meal is making me feel nauseous but I know it was the key to losing weight and getting into remission. Does anyone have any tips or recipes for making them taste better, I add sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower to most meals but gag eating them when I previously loved them.
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Try some different veg for a while. How about kale or red cabbage? Also, change the way you cook them - that can make a huge difference, eg sprouts can be fried. Some of the Roasting Tin book recipes also contain loads of veg but it doesn’t feel like it because they taste different baked and are often ‘hidden’ by the other ingredients. You could also try adding veg to sauces rather than having it as a side.
 
Having sauces with your veg can also help. I have my microwaved broccoli with sour cream and chive dip..... you can do that with sprouts too or chilli sauce and salami. As has been suggested, a cheese sauce bake. Ratatouille with balsamic and port and lots of olive oil. I can eat that till it comes out of my ears and not get sick. A veg curry like cauliflower and chickpea and butternut squash with paneer or halloumi. There are lots of ways to make meals with veggies more interesting rather than them being boring side servings with meat or fish. I just found I needed to be a bit more experimental both in what I bought and how I cooked things.
 
I cook most veg in white wine and olive oil or add spices and yoghurt based sauces…

Yogurt, ginger, garlic, spices mixed up with cauliflower and broccoli and tomato makes a great bake.
 
Leadinglights said:
You could try salads with a whole range of veg which you traditionally would cook but when eaten raw they can have a new dimension, red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, mangetout, celery, grated beetroot, spinach.
Also check this thread which goes back years for some ideas for new ways of cooking veg. https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/forums/recipes.21/
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And some different salad recipes here, not just the usual lettuce, tomato and cucumber:

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/salad-recipes.93167/

.
 
I love cauliflower and white cabbage anyway, but curried - OH YES ! Cauli 'flower' ie the white bit, is also great raw in salads. Delia's recipe for red cabbage. Make half a ton in the hugest saucepan you have to make it worthwhile doing all those layers and alternating all the spices etc and then freeze most of it in serving sizes cos it microwaves easily. Bloomin lovely.
 
WOW! Thank you all so much for your replies and suggestions, I am going to give some a try. It is such a change for me to not want veg, I always loved vegetables, I know one way I would eat them but not sure on the carb content, if I covered them in mint sauce I would definitely eat them. Today I am going to have a cheese omelette with grilled tomatoes. The veg I used to love was sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans, courgettes, but the ones I can cope with now are, tomatoes, peppers, onions, peas, carrots, beetroot. So it looks like its green veg I have gone off, I will give myself a few days off and stick to the other veg and then try some of your recipes, I particularly like the idea of a cheese sauce and added bacon! 🙂
 
My BG seems to be behaving itself when I have a small portion of carby veg too which is good as that was my concern (also constipation but that is also OK at the moment) I think after 8 months of eating all this green veg I have become bored with it. I had an amazing side salad recently at the beefeater (replacement for the chips) I have no idea of the dressing they used but it was my favourite part of the meal! I think it may have had some sugar in it as it tasted sort of vinegary but sweet.
 
Just thinking back to before I was diagnosed, I used to feel unwell thinking about eating certain foods, oddly enough it was high carb food like Pizza or jacket potatoes, I would only manage one slice of pizza and feel bloated, or feel really full after eating a small amount of potato. I couldn't stomach chips and only had a small portion of pasta. I used to love eating ice lollies, yoghurts and lots of orange juice, I wonder if that was because I was diabetic or what led to it. If my body was warning me off carbs that would make sense, but not sure why it allowed me to crave sweet lollies and fruit juice (and lemonade) Its possibly because it would quench my thirst. I wonder if my body is telling me I wonder if my body is reacting to sprouts because its full of vitamin K and I have had too much. Be good if youre body could tell you that (mind you it doesn't tell me not to have a glass of prosecco!)
 
Jenny65 said:
WOW! Thank you all so much for your replies and suggestions, I am going to give some a try. It is such a change for me to not want veg, I always loved vegetables, I know one way I would eat them but not sure on the carb content, if I covered them in mint sauce I would definitely eat them. Today I am going to have a cheese omelette with grilled tomatoes. The veg I used to love was sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans, courgettes, but the ones I can cope with now are, tomatoes, peppers, onions, peas, carrots, beetroot. So it looks like its green veg I have gone off, I will give myself a few days off and stick to the other veg and then try some of your recipes, I particularly like the idea of a cheese sauce and added bacon! 🙂
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Just saw this morning on Saturday Kitchen Best Bites the chef Ben Tish roasting vegetables (carrots, beetroot and?) on top of a bed of sea salt - which apparently produced a different flavour to otherwise well known and tried and trusted veg. Didn't make them more salty, seemingly, just preserved flavours with a different twist. Worth a try?
 
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