Eating vegetables is such a big deal
By Canellita
@Canellita (12029)
United States
August 22, 2012 11:55am CST
I don't get why eating vegetables is such a big deal. So many adults have the eating habits of children when it comes to vegetables. There is such a wide variety of food available to us to choose from and vegetables are so healthy and delicious. Many of them can be eaten as they are with no additional flavorings and yet people make faces and refuse to eat something because they did not like it as a child.
I used to think I could not eat tomatoes because when I was little I was forced to eat spaghetti with sauce and it gave me a stomach ache. Turns out it was the MEAT in the sauce causing digestive issues. It took me years and years and for someone to make a dish with tomato sauce and no meat for me to realize this.
Now I eat tomatoes often and I actually like them. I realy like the way they enhance the flavor of other foods, especially proteins. BTW, I know tomatoes are really a fruit, just like two other foods I would not touch as a child and love now, eggplants and avocadoes.
I often hear/read about people complaining that their children do not eat vegetables, but these people don't eat them either. What can they expect from their children?
5 people like this
19 responses
@lrdl3535 (149)
• United States
23 Aug 12
I've never had a problem with eating vegetables. Even when I was younger I ate just about everything. I still do but my kids have to be told to eat some things. We make them at least try new things before they can refuse them. I think a lot of the problem with most people is the texture. A lot of vegetables have different textures then people are use to. So texture and even smell has to be overcome to enjoy them.
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
I for one am very weird about food texture, though I also think a lot has to do with how the vegetables are prepared. If they are over seasoned or drowned in butter or some kind of sauce you don't really get to know their flavors and textures.
1 person likes this
@yugasini (12836)
• Anantapur, India
23 Aug 12
hi canellita,
when i am child i have seen very very small tomatoes ,so they are easy to eat and after that i have not seen such small tomatoes in my life,i am eating tomatoes with sugar,without any hesitation,we can eat carrots and cucumber raw and it is easy to eat and they are delicious, and both can be made as salads also,have a nice day.
1 person likes this
@yugasini (12836)
• Anantapur, India
24 Aug 12
hi canellita,
thanks for the response, i does not know about cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes also, now a days im not eating all these things,if available in home i will take if not nothing,i am some what lazy to cut and eat carrot and the cucumber cutting also some work,my wife did not do all these,so i leave them,when ever possible i will take,have a nice day.
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
Hi Yugasini! Do you mean cherry tomatoes? Or maybe grape tomatoes? It is so easy to grow tomatoes you should send away for some seeds and plant your own. Both grape and cherry tomatoes are sweet and work well roasted or sauteed with other foods. I usually have grape tomatoes for my salads unless I make caprese, and then I usually use roma tomatoes.
I love cucumber and I eat a lot of carrots because they are not expensive and they are so sweet when you leave them plain. All this typing about vegetables is making me hungry! Time to go and cook!
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
Hopefully he's not drowning them in butter or cheese sauce, lol! Ready for the new season of Dr. Who? I saw an image on Facebook yesterday that made me think of you. On the left side was a small dalek and on the left a black and white cat. At the top of the image it says "One of these is an evil creature built on world domination." And at the bottom of the image it says "The other is a dalek."
2 people like this
@garson (884)
• United States
24 Sep 12
I agree that eating vegetables should not be such a big issue. I would be curious if this would be such an issue 50 years ago or at the beginning of the 20th century.
Nowadays, we can always somehow blame the idea that many have been living with fast food culture. People can claim that fries are vegetables. With some grease and salt content, it's just not the same as eating fresh.
I don't know whether this is an issue or not. There is a tendency of thinking vegetables as eating salad, which also leads to the idea of preserving nutrients. Somehow, there are many guys that are not into eating salad that they would attribute it as for 'chicks'. I would be curious if many households in US are cooking mixed vegetables like they do in Chinese food. What would kids be thinking? Would they be interested in eating vegetables this way?
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
25 Sep 12
Some households in the U.S. are preparing healthy meals with a variety of vegetables, but many Americans eat a lot of fried food and it's a commonly held belief that every meal has to have meat. People who have healthy lifestyles consume less protein and more vegetables, grains, and fruit.
Children who start eating healthy young enjoy doing so, and some schools have gardens so the kids learn about nutrition and growing their own food.
@NailTech (6874)
• United States
22 Aug 12
I know what you mean. The only vegetable I hated when my mom made it was eggplant, she always used to make it the same way and fry it and it tasted gross to me. Now I can eat it with no other problem. There are so many different ways to eat things now that I've grown up and actually tried new recipes for myself. I had to eat the same oods the same ways as a kid and I didn't even know there were other ways til I got older and even had home economics classes in school. I'm glad you have discovered it was the meat in the sauce and not the tomatoes, so many times people judge wrongly with anything. I like avocadoes now as well but we never had them growing up. My parents ate veggies, mom not so much all the time and alot of the time my brother takes after her.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
22 Aug 12
hi just thinking as a kid on the farm back in Southe Dakota I loved veggies as they were always fresh from the garden like peas and new potatoes, sliced ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumber lettuce radish and
other veggie salads, you cannot know unless you have raised your
own veggies how much better and more delicioous home grown veggies
taste.in the fall we had yams and sweet potatoes and hubbard squash and patty pans and zucchinis
too. I just did not learn to dislike any of them.
too. I just did not learn to dislike any of them.@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
When I was a kid I would not eat eggplant because it was called eggplant, lol! It just didn't sound right. One of my aunts had some growing in the back yard and the as far as I was concerned egg and plant just didn't go together. Now that I think of it though, no one in my immediate family ever cooked it.
One of the things I eat now that we didn't have growing up is kale. No one even talked about it, lol. I didn't know it then, but the only time I ever saw it (the curly kind) was when it was used as a garnish at salad bars.
I eat a lot of garlic and onion now, but not when I was younger, lol. Same goes for mushrooms. I have always LOVED potatoes, though I only recently started to eat sweet potatoes. I just had patty pans for the first time last year. I got them at the farmer's market and I had to look online to find out what to do with them!
So many veggies, so little time...
1 person likes this
@Amandaputri1133 (140)
• Indonesia
23 Aug 12
actually, children is easy to be influenced, especially by their parents.
when parents eat food, say it is good and express happiness on their face while eating the food, children tend to be affected and try the food. the more parents say the food is delicious, the more children will eat the food. the same case with vegetables :)
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
2 Oct 12
That may work for a while, but once children are introduced to other things like sugar, all they want is the less healthy items quite often. It's good when parents set a healthy example though!
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
2 Feb 13
Personally this is the truth. If you want and expect your children to eat Vegetables and to enjoy them, then this needs to be something that they are seeing you do. Too many times I hear older kids and even adults say they were never made to eat any vegetables, so why start now. Actually since they have never tried most of these, do they even know what they taste like to see what they are missing? (The only thing I really hate now is broccoli (cooked or uncooked), and canned spinach. Love it raw.)
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
13 Feb 13
I love broccoli :-) Actually, I can't think of any vegetables I strongly dislike, unless you count bell pepper. No, I take that back, I don't collard or mustard greens. Could be I haven't had any prepared in a way that was appetizing, but I don't like them.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
23 Aug 12
I love vegetables and I tried everything to make my son eat then as a child and he just wouldn't. It is not factual to say that parents did not eat vegetables, it is just that the child's palate is different from outs they have far more taste buds that an adult has and so the flavors they taste are stronger, or tangier that adults taste.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
I never said any thing about parents and facts. I said people who have complained to ME about their kids eating habits don't eat healthy themselves.
I know plenty of children who absolutely love vegetables. They have great palates because they haven't yet been ruined by things like smoking.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
22 Aug 12
When I was little we were always taught to try the vegetables, and then if we didn't like them we could offer them to someone else, but never throw them out. There were times I didn't like tomatoes, but always times I did. It doesn't really bother me to eat vegetables, though I don't eat them very often.
I think a lot of the kids today not eating vegetables IS because their parents don't, or don't enforce the "atleast try it" thing.
I know with my niece and nephew if I have a vegetable they don't really like, I'm like "here dip it in this" sure it's not the healthiest BUT they are still eating their veggies, and it's not really all that bad..
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
Well I guess it all depends on what it is you are dipping them in. Kids eat whatever they can get their hands on until they are introduced to sugar and junk foods and then suddenly they forget how they have been eating something since they were born and liking it.
@lumenmom (1986)
• United States
22 Aug 12
I have always had vegetables that I like but I will say my taste has evolved a lot over the years and I eat things now that I hated when iw as younger. I still force myself to eat (or at least taste) certain vegetables that still turn me off. My latest was avocado two days ago. It was made as guacamole and was actaully very good. I have a young daughter who turns her nose up at most veggies so I try to be an example to her by eating more and telling the good things they do for our bodies. She now enjoys watching my liferegenerator videos where Dan M. promotes raw eating but it does it in a non judgemental and entertaining way. That too has also got me eating more veggies, both raw and cooked.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
I LOVE avocadoes! I could eat avocado every day! I had a medical reason recently to cut back on seafood and I still don't really eat it even monthly so I basically get vegetable sushi and avocado rolls with sesame seeds are divine! I wish I could have my own avocado tree!
1 person likes this
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
23 Aug 12
Eating habits are funny. Everyone says yuck to spinach. I don't like spinach cooked, but I absolutely love it raw. Also more nutritional raw. One of my favorites when I was pregnant was broccoli. Now my daughter likes broccoli. It has to be raw for her to eat it. Which is how I ate it. I see a pattern here. I personally think she likes it because she plays with it as trees. The only vegetable I have gotten my son to eat is celery. I bought all the stock shares he eats so much of it. This is such a true observation. I see an article in there for you.
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
25 Aug 12
Celery supply is going down. Guess I should sell my shares. I guess I could get some kind of government funding for investing in farming and not seeing a payout. LOL
So if I need popeye I just call you? I may have to try that sometime especially with my son. LOL
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
26 Sep 12
Does the current generation watch Popeye? I'll bet you can find something with a character he likes who eats vegetables.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
You are hilarious, as usual! I think I read somewhere that first foods could be ones you had while pregnant since they are familiar with the taste already. I personally love spinach. My parents used my affinity for Popeye to get me to eat spinach as a child, lol, and I've been hooked on it since. I like it raw in salads, but I also eat it sauteed.
I would check the commodities market for celery, lol, but with the drought things are tough! I'll have to give some thought to article possibilities :-)
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Jan 13
Honestly, I've never had any kind of issue at all with my children eating vegetables throughout their lives (they are now 10 and 6 years old). I think that the reason that I don't have a problem getting them to eat vegetables is because of the fact that both my husband and myself are vegetable eaters.
My nieces have parents that really don't eat vegetables and I have observed that the direct result of that is that my nieces don't really eat vegetables either. It is quite sad if you ask me.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
2 Jan 13
That is sad; healthy habits start at home. If parents don't set the example the way you have, they can't expect their kids to make good choices throughout life.
@roshigo58 (4859)
• Pune, India
23 Aug 12
Hi,
We all know that we should eat vegetables for our good health. In the childhood I also didn't like to eat all vegetables. But now I eat all vegetables. And my son doesn't like all vegetables. But we expect my son to eat all vegetables. But he is staying away from us due to his job. But when he comes to visit us we tell him to eat all vegetables.
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
I have always eaten vegetables, but I was very picky as a child so I only ate a few that I liked. Now I eat more kinds than I can easily count. It feels good to eat vegetables and fruit, unlike some other other foods.
1 person likes this
@vidhyaprakash_2 (7116)
• India
25 Aug 12
Hi friend, we all know vegetable is good for our health, but some persons are not interested in eating them, if we are not interested in taking them directly, we can add them with our favorite dish, for example, if we are interested with pizza, we can add different vegetables with it and take it in our food, vegetable soups and salads are also good, some persons are interested in soups and they can take veg soups, don;t hesitate to take veggies which is good for your health
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
25 Aug 12
You are right, adding them to a dish is a good way to have vegetables in the diet, but it is a good idea to try and eat several servings as they not only provide vitamins and trace minerals, but essential fiber as well.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
22 Aug 12
canellita to me eating vegetables is a big deal as its one of the foods that seldom causes high blood sugar.So some of our parents did not do veggies the way we liked but as adults we can damned well fix them the way we like them. I try to eat a variety of different colors of veggies which is hard as I am in a retirement center so cannot cook my own food.One great thing they do do here is make
soup from scratch,veggie soups, tomato soup , mushroom its not canned stuff but the head cook makes his own and its one of the
more delicious things they can cook here. the vitamins and minerals we get from veggies are best way to get these elements we need bu t
as a matter of course I also take one multivitamin tablet every
day to fill in the gap they might have here in Gold crest.I take
the ones made for aged people to fill in for what maybe missing in
my diet here.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
I guess that means that carrots and beets are out :-( It's too bad you don't have a little more freedom in preparing your own foods. Do you at least have a refrigerator in your room/apt. so you can keep some fresh things on hand?
@cagampan1991 (364)
• Philippines
23 Aug 12
Vegetables are of course the healthiest food. Parents should educate their child how important vegetables are to boost immunity on sickness that are now common compared to before. As time goes on, there are may more illnesses that are discovered and the only way to prevent this is by having a healthy lifestyle and this includes eating vegetables. Vegetables has many good effects on our body. So people should start eating more vegetables than other unhealthy foods around. Making it a habit will surely be beneficial for everyone's self.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
If children are fed fresh foods as babies instead of commercial foods parents can control what flavors their children are exposed to early on. If they start out eating healthy they will continue to do so as they get older.
@Iriene88 (5343)
• Malaysia
23 Aug 12
My husband and I love fruits and vegetables. I started to feed
my baby with apple, bananas, potatoes, carrots etc. However, to
my surprise that when he knew that all these belongs to the
category called fruits and vegetables, it was really hard to make
him eat them 
Even my brother-in-law offered him RM10 if he willing to eat/try
the watermelon. He just said No...he do not like them. Nevertheless,
I managed to make him have a slice of carrot, a cup of fruit juices
like water melon juic, apple juice by telling him the benefits to
his health now and long run
Even my brother-in-law offered him RM10 if he willing to eat/try
the watermelon. He just said No...he do not like them. Nevertheless,
I managed to make him have a slice of carrot, a cup of fruit juices
like water melon juic, apple juice by telling him the benefits to
his health now and long run@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 12
This is the problem that all parents face. Once children know about unhealthy foods they want to have them instead of fruits and vegetables. My niece tried to say one day that she didn't eat carrots. Her brother turned to her and said "since when?" Kids sometimes forget that they are not the ones in charge, lol!
@abitosunshine (765)
• United States
24 Aug 12
I love vegetables! And as far as I know I have always loved them, even as a child. Same with fruit. I like variety, though, so I do not like to eat the same thing all the time. Thankfully, there are plenty of vegetables and fruits to keep me happy. The only ones I do not like are onions and brussel sprouts and okra.
When my son was a wee thing I pretty much taught him to love his vegetables and fruits too, feeding him as little junk food as possible.
By the way, I do love meat and dairy too! But I eat am trying to eat less of these as I get older.
In fact, I have just today ordered the book, Eat to Live, in hopes of helping with eating healthier and losing a bit of weight, too.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
24 Aug 12
I don't like okra either. I tried cooking it once for my grandfather. It takes forever to get the sliminess out and then he wanted it cooked well beyond the time it could possibly still have any nutritional value. That was the one and only time.
@dehnnmark711 (54)
• Philippines
23 Aug 12
Definitely right.Parents should be a living example to their children. They cannot force their children unless the parents should eating vegetables.
