I'm a picky eater
I'm 16 years old and I'm a very picky eater. I tend to like more grain foods such as potato (mashed, baked, french fries), rice, bread, pastas, corn flakes. I try to eat healthy as possible and avoid sugar or carbs. though i want to eat more healthy its when I eat greens my mouth just rejects the taste. 95% of the time I drink water or milk which is an easy habit to keep
I'm wondering if there's a way to integrate a variety of more healthy food into my diet. . Thanks fo reading
What has seemed to help my daughter the most is simple repetition. Each time I serve something, she tries it. There are a number of things that she initially disliked that now she likes, a number of things she still does not like, and a few things she used to like but can't eat anymore.
Sometimes, changing the appearance can help. For example, if you put a full strip of bacon on her plate, she will almost gag just looking at it. But if it is crumbled, she enjoys the taste.
She also seems to do better if she has a different utensil for each food on her plate. It appears that she can smell a lingering odor from the one food and if it mixes with the other food, it grosses her out. Or if the slightest bit of sauce from one food gets on a different food, she can't stand the taste. So different utensils help for that.
Sometimes small alterations change whether or not she can eat something. She hates mashed potatoes. Unless I put a little bit of cream cheese in them when I am mashing them. Then she loves them.
And I have also caught her actually telling herself "some food that looks and smells gross tastes good," almost as if to psyche herself into eating something new.
And we celebrate when she adds a new food to her repertoire. It is a proud accomplishment for her. As I am sure you realize already, food is a very social thing and having a restricted diet makes for things like visiting someone's home or attending a party difficult.
BTW, everything you listed that you like is classified as "carbs," so you may be doing good on avoiding sugar, but you are eating almost exclusively carbs if what you listed is all you eat.
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Do you like any types of salad dressing? Salad dressings can sometimes mask the taste of vegetables -- at least for some people.
Or cheese? Cheese melted on things sometimes makes them taste better, too (again, for some people...it depends on how your brain processes the different tastes).
I also think that some vegetables taste good when they are paired with peanut butter in a 1:1 ratio, but other people seem to think this is gross.
Do you like any types of fruit? Some people eat their veggies by making fruit+juice smoothies with things like carrots and leafy green veggies mixed in.
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pi_woman
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I was a VERY picky eater as a child but I've grown out of it as my tastes changed over the years.
If you can't stand cooked greens, what about raw spinach salad? It's healthier that way and you can camouflage it with whatever toppings you do like, or add cooked chicken for protein. And in the fall or winter it's easy to add a little more vegetables to your diet by making soup.
I absolutely agree with cutting out sugars for your health; there's an article in this month's National Geographic about it:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/ ... cohen-text
I'm for the exception of some details just like you, are you sure its just the taste of fruits and veggies and not the texture? I have only texture issues with some so as an example while I can't eat grapes, strawbarries or oranges for gaging I can enjoy a natural(no extra unhealthy garbage added, 100% juice) juice box, lemonade etc so I do get a decent serving of all food groups. Some people take vitamans to fill gaps in their diet I think aswell, I don't though.
It just is a pain that I always have to say no to eating at others houses or strange resturants in fear of not liking or even being able to eat the meal, social issues aside.
daydreamer84
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Interesting, I love the texture of those things: oranges, grapes and strawberries. They do all have distinctive textures but I find them enjoyable and fun to eat. Recently I've been eating strawberries everyday. I go through food phases. I don't like the texture of lettuce, especially iceberg lettuce and I can't stand the texture of dried fruit (including raisins) or that of peanut butter.
Interesting, I love the texture of those things: oranges, grapes and strawberries. They do all have distinctive textures but I find them enjoyable and fun to eat. Recently I've been eating strawberries everyday. I go through food phases. I don't like the texture of lettuce, especially iceberg lettuce and I can't stand the texture of dried fruit (including raisins) or that of peanut butter.
Bananas are really the only fruit or veggie I can eat and it has to be in a narrow window of ripeness or my gag reflexes step in like they do with every other fruit or veggie. I like corn on the cob however I hear thats technically a starch so it does not count. I also can't drink orange(or any) juice with the pulp or any sediment, as a kid I could sometimes strain it with my teeth if I got stuck with it at a resturant by mistake however my adult teeth came in crooked so that no longer works so I gave up and just drink it at home where I know what kind I am getting, for breakfest at a resturant I just get choclate milk with water as my last resort for any meal and usually my first choice at home.
Small steps. it can take time, especially if you are use to eating heavily flavored foods.
You can also use healthy stuff to make vegatables taste better. Like spices and salsa i think its called. its basically just vegatables.
But one thing i think its important to learn is that healthy food cant compete with all the artificial flavor.. i think many people and the reason many people are obese is this notion that food should just taste this good. Thats what causes eating the wrong thing and over eating.
It doesnt help that many people see eating food and something social event.
For me eating is no more special that going to the bathroom or whatever. just a tast that is needed.
Chicken and vegetables is my dinner most of the time. nice easy simple and healthy.
I cant literally tell how stuff effects my tastes. If i say eat some cake when my mom has birthday, then the day after i make my normal dinner with vegetables, they will actually taste like crap. For some reason, the cake effects my tastebuds.
I think this is the same reason why people who drink lots of soda think normal plain water tastes bad. I love water. tastes amazing and its cheap and healthy.
I'm not typically picky about flavor, but rather texture. I love the taste of pineapple but cannot stand to eat pineapple because the texture is inconsistent. Fruit? great! Jello? Great! fruited jello? vomit. literally. past experiences will also ruin foods i used to enjoy. I used to eat beef stew all the time, but then I came across a bit of something in a can that felt like a waxy clingy phlegm. Cue the vomiting and I can't even think of beef stew without feeling kinda sick now. As for flavor tho it's more a question of whether it has a flavor, raw potatoes i can eat, but unsalted mashed potatoes don't taste at all edible. And it has to be heavily salted. Pouring a tenth of a bottle of hot sauce on it also works but again, salty. And I'm not supposed to eat any noticeable amount of salt according to the heart docs.
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