Losing weight has been a very difficult task for me. I know I need to exercise and so I do, but when it comes to food I am almost at a loss. I really don't eat any vegetables except corn (which is the worst one for nutritional value). I am quite a picky eater. If anyone has any ideas of what to do in this instance please let me know.

Thanks!

I'm not a picky eater myself but I am guilty of never eating enough veggies. The best way I've found is to work them in without it being a focus. Chicken with a little bit of pasta with some marinara is a great way to better your nutrition. Ragu has a serving of vegetables in every half cup of sauce.

If you like Chinese food, do like I do and buy a bag of stir fry vegetables. I eat a cup or two a day with some steamed rice along with chicken or fish. Not only is it healthy, it tastes great.

Just think of the dishes you love to eat, and figure out how to integrate a serving or two of vegetables into your recipes.

Is it okay if I say that it isn't okay to view veggies as something you don't like because you are "picky"? Being picky is an excuse that gets us to the place where we need to lose a lot of weight. Generally people who don't eat veggies and are picky eaters are overweight. In order to really change your life you are going to have to try your hardest to overcome your preferences.

I guess this is me initiating "tough love," because this is important. I am going to direct my response to myself, though I am pretty sure it qualifies for answering for you as well.

What I like to eat got me to the place I am at. Meat, cheese, potato, bread, and all the other things that seem to fit my pallette are what made me fat. I thought that I hated veggies and fruits. The only things I liked were broccoli and corn (which qualifies as a starch not a veggie). I happen to have a loving wife who told me how my habbits would soon kill me. She was right. My famaly's genetic history with heart problems fed down to me. I am young but I am experiencing heart issues already.

I tend to disagree with the "integration" approach to veggies, because then you might decide the same thing I did: My favorite dishes were good the way I used to eat them, not the new way with veggies. I am actually in the middle of a detox where I am eating mostly only fruit and veggies (with the exception of a bowl of oatmeal in the morning). I am being forced to eat things I never liked before. I have discovered I really like squash, and mushrooms taste pretty good (even though they ARE fungus).

Try eating at a vegetarian resteraunt. Don't expect their burger to taste like a hamburger, treat it like a completely seperate type of meal that has its own qualities and tastes. What I have discovered is that I have more engergy and I feel more refreshed after a meal. I used to have a "fat crash" where I didn't want to move after I ate. I was completely exhausted. But now, it doesn't happen. I am energized after a meal because it is "lighter," so to speak.

I think that either way you approach it - radically like I have, or simply like Jon M suggested - you need to change your view on food.

Food is fuel.

Good luck. I KNOW it is hard to change a picky diet. Let me know if there is anything I can do or suggest that might change your perspective on food. And once you decide what route to go, let me know and I can try to help you with recipies and some encouragement.

I'm with Aaron. Food is fuel and veggies deliver a lot of important stuff.

Although it's your choice to not eat any vegetables you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences, i.e. that it will probably be more difficult to reach and maintain a healthy weight.

My sister and I were just like you.
I've managed to change but my sister hasn't.

What was it that made me change and not my sister? Pain.

I got to the point were eating was enjoyable in the moment but incridibly painful afterward. So I had to change.
Eating healthy was painful at first but after a healthy meal I felt great. To this day eating healthy sometimes sucks but the joy afterward is worth it.

I would suggest to go hard or go home. Eat healthy right of the bat. Force yourself. If you start off by integrating veggies in to your meals they'll always taste like crap compared to other stuff.

Other success stories, let's be helpful and give you opinion.

Good luck.

You should try watching 'You Are What You Eat', the British version. That show proves, beyond ANY doubt, that 'pickiness' is just in your brain. The more veggies you eat, the more you'll like them. Being picky _is_ just an excuse. It's a hard truth, it sucks; but there it is.

Aaron++

My wife and I went totally vegetarian for a few months a while back and it was great. We challenged ourselves to avoid all meat and besides not being a huge chore, we actually found ourselves being more creative in our cooking. I have a weakness for italian food. But when you can't eat beef, you have to figure out how to make lasagne without it.

I didn't like veggies, either. Or so I thought...

Try thinking "outside the box" with your vegetables. Steam cauliflower 'til it's falling-apart tender, then take the soggy head and blot and squish it as dry as you can with paper towels, and old, clean dishtowel, or whatever. Then put the lump in a food processor, add some N/F sour cream or yogurt, some butter (a little dab'll do ya), salt and pepper, pulverize it all together, put it in a pan and bake it at 400 degrees (F.)for... I dunno- 20 or 30 min and then take it out and sprinkle with parmesan- good stuff! Takes like twice-baked potatoes!

Or take a raw cauliflower head and grate it with a coarse grater and throw in a pan with a tsp. of olive oil for just a few seconds- makes rice!

Or peel a zucchini and then use the vegetable peeler to make fettucine-like strips out of the "meat" of it, quickly parboil and toss onto your plate with a hearty serving of marinara sauce and meatballs- veggie pasta!

Or take the zucchini and peel it, cut into "planks", layer with lasagna fixin's, bake... well you get the idea now, right?

Worked for me!

I became a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but I really didn't like that many vegetables, and I still don't. My solution is to disguise veggies, or eat them when I am not paying attention. I am a zombie in the morning; so I have a big serving of veggies for breakfast when I am too sleepy to mind. I leave raw carrots on my desk, so when I mindlessly nibble while I work, it's carrots instead of M&Ms. I like Amy's frozen dinners, especially the Indian/Thai ones -- lots of flavor, so when I add a ton more veggies to them, I won't notice. I make a salad (yuck) then dump a fruit-flavored non-fat yogurt on it for dressing (yum!). You can add grated zucchini, spinach, or grated carrots to oatmeal without wrecking the comfort food feel of the oatmeal. You can drown veggies in marinara sauce. The key for me is thinking outside the box.