If the sight of a plate of broccoli makes you gag, this post is for you!
We’ll turn any “Veggie Hater” into a “Vegetable Lover” by showing you how to make a plate full of greens not taste like a wet gym sock (don’t ask “Steve, how do you know what a wet gym sock tastes like?”).
If you’ve been a picky eater your whole life – like I was -, our guide today will help level up your taste buds.
- Why You Should Eat Vegetables (Your Mom Was Right)
- How to Start Eating Vegetables (Finding Your Gateway Veggie)
- How to Buy Vegetables (Discovering New Veggies)
- How to Make Vegetables Taste Good (Hide Them)
- How to Start Liking Vegetables (It’s All in the Preparation)
- What Are the Best-Tasting Vegetables? (the NF Veggie Challenge)
By the end of today, I’m going to have you excited to eat vegetables, and ready to take the NF Veggie Challenge.
If you’re someone who doesn’t eat vegetables because you don’t like them, don’t know how to buy them, or don’t know how to make them, this article is for you. We’re going to change that today.
How?
Because this is what we do!
We help people like you lose weight and get healthy without feeling miserable or bored. After all, “the best diet” is the one you can actually stick with!
So how do you create a food strategy that doesn’t suck? Here’s how we do it.
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Why You Should Eat Vegetables
You’ve probably been told since you were a toddler to “Eat your vegetables! They’re good for you.”
Do you really know WHY they’re good for you? Let me jump into a few reasons why vegetables kick ass.
1) Vegetables are nutrient dense. It should be no surprise that Popeye turned to a vegetable when he needed a powerup. Think of vegetables as one of our body’s most efficient fuel sources: they are packed full of vital macro and micronutrients. Just take a look at our article on how to eat healthy on a budget – it should be no surprise that vegetables are an important part of efficiently eating healthy! Simply put: vegetables are the backbone of any solid diet.
2) They fill you up, without “filling you up.” Ever seen what 200 calories worth of broccoli looks like? It’s the size of a grocery bag compared to 200 calories of a doughnut or other treats. If you are feeling hungry but don’t want to overeat, choose a vegetable. Kind of hard to overeat when you’re eating carrots or celery!
3) Veggies keep your body operating at max efficiency! Vegetables are a great way to keep your…um…indoor plumbing…functioning properly. Adding a vegetable or two to each meal is a great way to keep things working right! Seriously: if you’re someone who doesn’t eat many veggies, you will notice a considerable difference after adding veggies to your diet regularly.
4) They can be delicious! Sure, a point of debate…but as a former veggie hater, I am now firmly on Team Vegetable. A plate full of veggies used to make me want to gag, and now I’m thrilled at the idea of a plate covered in a cornucopia (what a great word, right?) of multicolored plants
“Ok,” you might be thinking, “I know they’re good for me, but I don’t eat them. Help me!” Okay, okay fine.
Here’s how you can get over your vegetable-aversion and get started.
How to Start Eating Vegetables (Finding Your Gateway Veggie)
When I was 22 I proudly proclaimed that I was a “carnivore” and boycotted veggies. Essentially, I ate things like chicken, hamburgers, pizza, pasta, french fries, rice, and not much else.
One day, I decided “I’m an adult, I should probably eat like one.” In my mind, all vegetables were disgusting, but the reality was that I hadn’t really tried many different kinds. Instead I tried a few and just assumed they were all bad.
So, for starters: stop saying you hate all vegetables. Instead: you simply haven’t found a vegetable that you LIKE yet.
I started trying teeny tiny bits of vegetables. If I went out to dinner with friends, I would ask to try some veggies off of their plate. Once I got over the idea, I would order a new vegetable each visit and give it a shot.
I experimented with new vegetables for two reasons:
- Trying any vegetable, even if I only ate a small amount and hated it, would still be considered a victory!
- If I found a vegetable I DID like, I could learn to prepare it the same way and eat more at home.
On top of that, I simply forced myself to go into any new vegetable with an open mind and positive mindset. It’s amazing what positive or negative expectations can do to convince ourselves. So, instead of thinking “this is gross,” say “this is what I eat and it’s good.” Sounds a bit hokey, but it works.
My gateway vegetable: asparagus. I bought some asparagus at the store, put them on a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil, covered them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and stuck them in the oven (at 375 degrees F) for 12 minutes. BAM! Crunchy, delicious, and nutritious. Plus, I felt like a 5 star chef!
For my first year as an omnivore, asparagus was the only vegetable I ate. I didn’t branch out too much beyond this, but at least I had found one that I liked. Once I had gotten over the mental barrier that “all vegetables are gross,” it was time for me to branch out.
YOUR MISSION: Find your gateway vegetable. (We’ll be giving you some great options later in the article.)
Suck it up, take one bite of many different kinds of veggies, and see which ones you actually enjoy.
Before each bite, clear your mind, Neo. Stop going into each veggie encounter expecting to hate it! You never know when things change.
Many people think in order to eat a “Paleo Diet” you’ll need to eat dozens of veggies everyday, but almost everyone starts just like I did – with only one or two gateway vegetables and slowly branches out from there. Our free download on the Paleo Diet helps show you that it isn’t nearly as complicated as some people can make it out to be.
- Discover if Paleo is for you
- The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly
- Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started
How to BUY Vegetables. How to Discover New Vegetables.
First and foremost, buying vegetables can be daunting!
- How can I tell if a vegetable is fresh or not?
- How long can I leave the vegetable in my fridge before it goes bad?
- Which ones do I get?
For starters, here are just some of the vegetables that are Nerd Fitness approved. The next time you go to a supermarket, your mission is to pick ONE of these 24 vegetables and bring it home with you.
- bok choy
- broccoli
- collard greens
- kale
- romaine lettuce
- spinach
- artichokes
- asparagus
- beets
- brussels sprouts
- cabbage
- cauliflower
- celery
- cucumbers
- eggplant
- green peppers
- mushrooms
- okra
- onions
- zucchini
- acorn squash
- butternut squash
- carrots
- red peppers
Notice: we’re not counting tubers (potatoes and sweet potatoes) or legumes (beans) on this list – technically they’re veggies, but for the purposes of this article we’re aiming for low calorie, nutrient dense options to start.
Use this wonderful guide on how to select fresh and tasty veggies at the grocery store.
Once you’ve bought your veggies, use StillTasty.com, to figure out how long you can leave them in my fridge.
If you really want to make it easy, buy a bag of “Steam Fresh” vegetables – most of these only require you throwing the bag into the microwave, opening it, and putting it on your plate.
As a last resort, check out canned vegetables! They might not be as fresh as regular veggies, and there might be preservatives added to keep them from going bad, but I’d prefer you eating canned vegetables to no vegetables at all!
How to Make Vegetables Taste Good (Hide Them)
Once I got my “gateway vegetable,” I stopped telling myself that I hated vegetables, and became more likely to try other vegetables.
However, I still didn’t love the taste of many veggies, which presented a problem.
The solution? “Mask” the taste and texture by hiding the vegetables in other foods until I became accustomed to the taste.
I started adding vegetables to everything in ways that didn’t make me taste veggies:
1) Add frozen spinach or kale to your smoothies. I make a post-workout smoothie with fruit and protein and realized that other than giving my drink a greenish tint, the taste was unchanged. Cheap too: a bag of frozen spinach is like 2 bucks at most grocery stores.I continued adding more and more spinach each time until it changed the taste too much. That’s one daily serving of a super veggie without even trying!
2) Add veggies to your omelets! I’m not a breakfast person (Intermittent Fasting ftw!), but if you’re making omelets, try adding different vegetables to your omelets each time and see which ones don’t change the taste. Plus, who says you can only eat omelets for breakfast? They make a great dinner meal too.
3) Eat a small bite of a veggie with something you actually like. When I started cooking chicken stir fry, I made sure that every bite of delicious grilled chicken was paired with part of a vegetable.
Here are some ideas to try to squeeze in some extra veggies with every mouthful of food:
- a single broccoli crown and chicken.
- a chunk of grilled onions and chicken.
- rice, a wedge of zucchini, and steak.
- a slice of asparagus, and salmon.
- a wedge of sweet potato and peppers.
- steak, onions, and pineapple
Take something you enjoy eating, and add some vegetable on the same fork-load.
4) Wrap it in bacon. Seriously. Bacon makes everything better. What’s that? You don’t like asparagus? Wrap it in bacon (see #5)! Or do this!
5) Try making carrot fries. These things taste like sweet potato fries, but they’re made of carrots. Cut some carrots into fry shapes, toss them in olive oil, put them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast them in the oven at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Ta da!
6) Try zucchini “noodles” – (here’s how to make zoodles)
7) Hide some veggies in a casserole (like paleo shepherd’s pie) – when they’re mixed in with other stuff you like, it makes them easier to eat. If you aren’t a fan of big hunks of veggies in your bites of food, chop them up really small before cooking. This way they’re less noticeable!
8) Add greens like spinach, chard, or kale to your paleo spaghetti sauce.
9) Add kale to guacamole.
10) Hide vegetables IN your burgers (here’s a turkey burger with spinach in it).
All of the above examples accomplish the same goal: getting more vegetables into your system. This makes your stomach happy, your mother happy, and Popeye happy.
How to Start Liking Vegetables (It’s All in the Preparation)
“Okay Steve, just give me some options!”
I hear ya: When I first considered eating veggies, I just wanted ONE simple recipe I could follow along, cook, and actually enjoy.
I realized that vegetables can taste completely different depending on how they’re prepared. Once I was able to learn one way to prepare a vegetable that I actually enjoyed, the kitchen was no longer a scary place!
With some help from our NF Rebel Chef, Noel, here are some easy and delicious options for getting started with your first vegetable:
1) Steamed broccoli: I’m not a fan of raw broccoli, but steamed broccoli? Sign me up! Steamfresh veggies come in a package that you can throw in the microwave for five minutes, add seasoning, and that’s it. Add butter or any seasoning, and eat it with a protein for a balanced meal!
If you’ve bought fresh broccoli and you want to steam it yourself, you can do it in the microwave or on the stove.
To steam broccoli on the stove:
- Plop about a 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of a pot
- Separating the broccoli florets from the stem
- Plop them in the water and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes
Don’t want to use the stove? You can also steam broccoli yourself in the microwave:
- Plop those florets (the “tree” minus the “trunk”) in a microwave safe bowl with a few tablespoons of water
- Cover with a microwave safe lid or dish
- Cook for 3-4 minutes. If the broccoli isn’t soft and warm, put it back in for a minute or two
2) Roasted veggies (bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, etc.): Roasted veggies can taste very different from steamed and raw veggies (they get crispier and a little sweeter because they caramelize in the oven). Take your pick of vegetable: bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, etc.
Here’s how you make roasted veggies:
- Cut them up literally however you want
- Drizzle/toss them toss in olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper
- Put them on a foil lined pan in the oven at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 20-30 minutes
- Don’t overthink this: You can use more olive oil or use less. You can use more salt or use less. Just cut them up, drizzle, and plop them in!
3) Asparagus: Asparagus was (and still is) my go-to veggie. It’s what started it all. Simply chop off the ends of your asparagus and coat it in olive oil. Feel free to add salt, paprika, or whatever seasoning you enjoy. Plop in the oven at 375 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 10-15 minutes, and enjoy!
4) Sautéed zucchini and squash. Zucchini and squash both taste great with just a little oil and salt, and are super easy to prepare.
You can choose to slice them up into slivers, or use a potato peeler to create noodle-like slices.
Throw the slices into a pan with some oil on medium high heat for about five minutes until they become soft and lighter in color.
All of these options can be paired with basically any protein for a delicious and healthy meal (or eaten as a healthy, stand-alone snack!).
Looking for some more advanced veggie options? Here are 5 recipes:
- Grill up some stuffed jalapeños or sweet peppers – try ’em stuffed with pulled pork and wrapped in bacon!
- Don’t forget about paleo spaghetti!
- Hate kale? Try making kale chips!
- Don’t like Brussels sprouts? Have you tried sautéing them in bacon fat?
- Don’t like cauliflower? Have you tried mashed cauliflower, or grilled cauliflower, or raw cauliflower?
And if you’re wanting even more options, we’ve got you covered. Download the NF Guide to Paleo (it’s free) by entering your email below.
- Discover if Paleo is for you
- The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly
- Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started
What are the Best Tasting Vegetables? (The NF Veggie Challenge)
“Steve! What are the best-tasting vegetables!?”
Great question. You’re not gonna love my answer, but it’s the truth:
You’re a unique snowflake, and so are your tastebuds. They will evolve and change as you evolve and change. So the best advice I can give you is to try lots of veggies, prepared lots of different ways.
Microwaved Brussels sprouts might be soggy and unappetizing, but take the same veggie, cooked in bacon fat and roasted in the oven? MMMMMM!
So try multiple veggies, in multiple ways, as part of multiple meals. Keep trying until you find a variation you like!
Are you up for the Nerd Fitness Veggie Challenge?
For the next five weeks, we want you to try a new vegetable each week:
- The next time you’re in a store, buy a new vegetable and learn to prepare it.
- Can you find a way to add vegetables discreetly to your favorite meals (mix in with your smoothies, add to your omelets, etc.).
- Can you find a new vegetable that you actually like?
I’m in. Are you?
Leave a comment and let us know!
A final note: the point of eating more vegetables is to fill your plate with low-calorie but nutrient dense food. When consistently done it’ll help you live healthier and lose weight. A simple idea, yet so important it’s one of the cornerstones of the entire Nerd Fitness Philosophy.
If you’re still overwhelmed at the thought of eating veggies, or you’ve always struggled to stick to a diet for any meaningful amount of time, you are NOT alone.
It’s why we’ve created two key services that help people lose weight, get stronger, and live better:
- Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program: Get personalized nutrition advice that won’t scare you and handcrafted workouts from a coach that gets to know you better than you know yourself. We’ve heard from our coaching clients that “this program is the first time I’ve ever been 100% honest with another human being about my struggles with food.” Click on the image below to schedule a call:
- The Nerd Fitness Academy: If you’re on a tighter budget or more of a “do-it-yourself” person, our online Academy is a self-paced course with workout plans, a 10-level nutritional system, boss battles, and a supportive online community!
We’d love to hear from you:
If you hate vegetables, what are you taking away from today’s post?
What other questions do you have about preparing vegetables?
What’s keeping you from starting to eat vegetables, and how can we help?
-Steve
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