Dealing with picky adult eaters

(Steak and iron) #1

I try to help people as best I can online as a resource for people trying to gain control of their food and health but every so often I run into people who are just super picky eaters. People who don’t like literally any vegetables, or in extreme cases have a diet that consists of 2-3 foods and that’s IT (fried chicken, macaroni, and mashed potatoes!) or they hate the taste of real whole foods like steak or chicken or even water.

Part of me says grow the F up and eat your damn vegetables and drink water and quit being a baby, but part of me also suspects that this level of extreme eating is due to a mental health problem that I’m probably not qualified to diagnose or treat. What are your thoughts?

(Tom) #2

My mother has a rather varied diet, but she’s not a fan of many veggies because of an upbringing that didn’t include a wide variety of veggies, and if they did, they were poorly done. Plus my parents live in rural Idaho and aside from corn, potatoes, carrots, and other long lasting (and carby) root veggies, the growing season doesn’t work well for growing a lot of things. Thus, they’re left with what can be had from a tiny local store or an hour+ drive to a larger grocery store.
I have had luck preparing things like roasted turnips and beets and bacon sautéed brussel sprouts, both of which are wayyy tastier than preparation methods from their childhoods, so if I’m dealing with a resistant person, those are my go-to demo dishes to show how oft-reviled veggies can be awesome.

(Steak and iron) #3

My previous response to this stuff was "Really? You don’t like vegetables? Have you tried all of these:

Amaranth Amaranthus cruentus
Arugula Eruca sativa
Beet (greens) Beta vulgaris vulgaris
Bok choy (白菜) Brassica rapa (chinensis)
Borage greens Borago officinalis
Broccoli (leaves / stalks) Brassica oleracea
Brussels sprouts Brassica oleracea (gemmifera)
Cabbage Brassica oleracea (capitata)
Catsear Hypochaeris radicata
Celery Apium graveolens
Celtuce Lactuca sativa (asparagina)
Chaya Cnidoscolus aconitifolius aconitifolius
Chickweed Stellaria
Chicory Cichorium intybus
Chinese mallow Malva verticillata
Chrysanthemum (leaves) Chrysanthemum coronarium
Collard greens Brassica oleracea
Common purslane Portulaca oleracea
Corn salad Valerianella locusta
Cress Lepidium sativum
Dandelion Taraxacum officinale
Dill Anethum graveolens
Endive Cichorium endivia
Fat hen Chenopodium album
Fiddlehead Pteridium aquilinum
Athyrium esculentum
Fluted pumpkin Telfairia occidentalis
Garden rocket Eruca sativa
Golden samphire Inula crithmoides
Good King Henry Chenopodium bonus-henricus
Grape (leaves) Vitis
Greater plantain Plantago major
Kai-lan (芥蘭 Gai lan) Brassica rapa (alboglabra)
Kale Brassica oleracea (acephala)
Komatsuna Brassica rapa (pervidis / komatsuna)
Kuka Adansonia
Lagos bologi Talinum fruticosum
Lamb’s lettuce Valerianella locusta
Lamb’s quarters Chenopodium album
Land cress Barbarea verna
Lettuce Lactuca sativa
Lizard’s tail Houttuynia cordata
Malabar spinach Basella alba
Melokhia Corchorus olitorius
Corchorus capsularis
Miner’s lettuce (Winter purslane) Claytonia perfoliata
Mizuna greens Brassica rapa (nipposinica)
Mustard Sinapis alba
Napa cabbage (召菜 Siu choi) Brassica rapa (pekinensis)
New Zealand Spinach Tetragonia tetragonioides
Orache Atriplex hortensis
Pak choy (白菜 Bok choy) Brassica rapa (chinensis)
Paracress Acmella oleracea
Pea sprouts / leaves Pisum sativum
Poke Phytolacca americana
Radicchio Cichorium intybus
Rapini (broccoli rabe) Brassica rapa rapa
Samphire Crithmum maritimum
Sculpit / Stridolo Silene inflata
Sea beet Beta vulgaris maritima
Sea kale Crambe maritima
Sierra Leone bologi Crassocephalum
Soko Celosia argentea
Sorrel Rumex acetosa
Sour cabbage Brassica oleracea
Spinach Spinacia oleracea
Summer purslane Portulaca oleracea
Swiss chard Beta vulgaris cicla (flavescens)
Tatsoi Brassica rapa (rosularis)
Turnip greens Brassica rapa (rapifera)
Watercress Nasturtium officinale
Water spinach Ipomoea aquatica
Wheatgrass Triticum aestivum
Yarrow Achillea millefolium
Yao choy (油菜 Yu choy) Brassica napus

This however is a smartass move and not terribly helpful.

(Dustin Cade) #4

We only want to eat what we like or what we think is healthy, cutting any corners on this to eat what we want… i think most of us go through this even with keto, going after the recipes that replace what we think we are missing, though over time we do this less and less…

#5

This type of eating certain foods over and over is common in autism, but remember that autism occurs across a wide spectrum and some people that officially qualify for the autistic diagnosis, are considered “high-functioning” autistics and might only seem “quirky” to neuro-typicals, aka “nipicals”.

(Ashley Haddock) #6

I’m a very picky eater and pre-keto ate no veggies other than potatoes. I don’t eat seafood, I am picky about when and how I eat my eggs (I eat them more now but pre-keto it was rare), I have a very limited “meat” source. I do eat some veggies now, but am not adventurous, and it took me a long time after being keto to try them. For me it’s more texture issues than taste. But I am perfectly happy living on pork, beef, chicken, cheese, cream, butter and coconut oil. :wink:

#7

My husband is one of those people who doesn’t like any vegetables. He’ll do tomato sauce, green beans (but only if i roast them till they’re burned), carrots (not keto), mushrooms (not even a vegetable), garlic and onion (if sauteed until it falls apart, or as garlic/onion powder) and absolutely nothing else. In his case it seems to be an oversensitivity to bitterness and texture issues and he really does wish that he could eat vegetables since it would make his life easier.

He can’t eat salads, and if he orders something with a side he gets the vegetable and gives it to me. He’s thoroughly embraced the zero-carb idea that he doesn’t truly need vegetables to be healthy. He’s doing keto with meat, cheese, HWC and nuts and has been successful.

(Dustin Cade) #8

the reason why lots of kids and some adults do not like the taste of broccoli is a chemical defense of the plant to keep from being eaten… though some do not notice this… i find if you roast it with butter and fats it gets rid of that bitterness i used to detest in broccoli…

#9

Same with brussel sprouts. I have a friend who thought she hated them her entire life until I made them for her roasted in olive oil. Now she likes them, but only that one way.

(Dustin Cade) #10

broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower are all come from the same plant, just cultivated differently by various cultures across the world…

(Steak and iron) #11

You see I figured that for most people their perceived dislike of vegetables was because their parents were horrible cooks who boiled/steamed vegetables until they were mush and didn’t put any fats on them. And that’s ok, but some people have this bizarre pathological fear of vegetables and it’s really hard to overcome.

(Dustin Cade) #12

most kids do not like it because it was steamed but not cooked enough to eliminate the taste of the chemical defense of these veggies… so there is more than just pure defiance at play…

(Cathy Schroder) #13

I was a shocking eater when I emigrated from England to Australia. I didn’t eat vegetables or pasta or rice. I stopped eating fish when I arrived because it tasted so different (to be fair I was five months pregnant so I had supersonic tastebuds). And yes my mother was an appalling cook.

Since then I pretty well eat most things although I still loathe anchovies. I have reverted to no longer eating pasta or rice though!

(Steak and iron) #14

This is actually something I think is pretty common with English people, and I think it’s a combination of being raised by people (or raised by people who were rasied by people) who were in world war 2 and food was scarce. Things that expired quickly like green vegetables were not as common as they would be in, say, california. Also since they’re mostly imported to the UK now I imagine they are considerably more expensive than they would be other places.

I wonder if this is why people from the UK look so much older for their age?

(Cathy Schroder) #15

I’m not sure I would agree with this in my case. Both my grandmothers were amazing cooks - they learned to cook on the smell of an oily rag during the war and could make anything taste amazing. My mum was only a baby in the war but was never interested in cooking.

(Larry Lustig) #16

I was all set to correct you and say that they were all bred from a common ancestor but fortunately I googled it first and you’re quite right – it’s a single species!

(Dustin Cade) #17

yeah when i learned this i was shocked, coolest nerdy stuff ever!

(Tom) #18

This is one of my new favorite quotes.

#19

I have learned to provide some advice at the beginning when advice is solicited, and if the response bounces back with “I don’t eat X because I’m a picky eater”, I just turn my back and walk away. I cannot take on the responsibility of someone’s problem with not eating certain foods. That responsibility belongs to them. Don’t like broccoli, liver, avocados, fish…? Not my problem. It’s like “I don’t like red cars…I want to drive down a street that does not have red cars”. Well, that’s fine with me that you don’t like red cars…and if you can find streets to drive down without red cars, excellent…good for you. I will not waste any time in my life eliminating the sight of red cars on roads. I’ve got bigger issues to contend with in my life.

(Jennifer) #20

Yep - in my house you have to at least eat a couple bites of whatever you don’t like. Not much gets past over. Both my boys are good eaters and they tolerate me adding weeds (greens from my organic yard, lol) to dinner. Damn weeds grow better than the stuff I plant. I sure as hell am going to eat them if they are edible… lol