Getting Enough Veggies at Breakfast

[Carly H]

Hi everybody, 

I am on day 15 of my first Whole30, and everything is going really well for the most part. I feel good, my clothes are fitting better, and I'm not feeling super deprived or craving anything too badly. Yay!

However, I'm starting to struggling with my first meal of the day, particularly with getting enough vegetables. I can eat eggs every day no problem, as I was basically doing this every day prior to starting Whole30. But vegetables in the morning gross me out. I love veggies for lunch and dinner, so I thought maybe it was just a matter of getting used to eating them in the morning, but halfway through this thing and I still can't do it. I can stomach sweet potatoes for the most part, and I suppose there are worse things than having sweet potatoes every day for breakfast, but I'd love to know if anyone else has ideas about how to add some variety in the morning.

I've tried making an egg bake with veggies in it, tried sauteeing greens with lemon and salt (nearly made me puke, had to throw it out), have done roasted vegetables...it all just makes me queasy first thing in the morning. 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[ladyshanny]

I could not eat cooked greens in the morning if you stood there with a hundred dollar bill waiting for me. Just....no. It's all a matter of finding what you can handle. Much of the breakfast aversion that we see is a hormonal balance issue combined with a habit issue. Some questions:

Do you eat within an hour of waking?
Are you relying heavily on fruit/nuts?
Are you snacking between meals and if so, on what?
Are you drinking coffee before your meal?

It's good to see you're trying different ways, that's good! That's the way through, honestly. Try cold leftover cooked veggies, steamed veggies both hot or cold, raw veggies etc. The fact you're queasy but sort of mostly OK w/ sweet potato leads me to believe you're still on the road to hormonal balance. 

[Carly H]

Glad to know I'm not the only one with an aversion to cooked greens! Although for me, I hate them all day and don't really like them raw either.

1. I usually eat within an hour of waking, yes. Sometimes more like an hour and a half.

2. During my first week, I was eating more fruit, but have limited that to 1 or 2 servings a day, at most. Nuts, probably about one portion per day. 

3. Not really snacking between meals, no.

4. I usually have my coffee with my breakfast, but sometimes I have it before. I guess I never considered this to be an issue, because I'm definitely hungry for breakfast and ready to eat regardless of when I have my coffee- just not in the mood for vegetables.

 

[slc_melissa]

How about a warm blended soup?  Like: http://meljoulwan.com/2012/11/05/silky-gingered-zucchini-soup/

 

[ladyshanny]

OK, so that all sounds pretty good. Couple things you can try. First, don't try to eat things at breakfast (queasy-time) that you hate at all other times too. That'll never work. Haha

Second, move  coffee to after you've eaten an entire template meal including the veggies. Coffee is an appetite suppressant and if you are struggling at all with eating your meal, leave it off until after, whether you feel hunger or not. 

Third, make sure your fruits are eaten with meals and not alone. Also until you get your veggie issues sorted, maybe don't have fruits in the morning. The nuts are unlikely to be causing this veggie issue but do know that they are recommended to be limited....so think a closed handful every other day.

And do try and get that meal in within the hour. That, although it seems picky, is how you'll balance your hormones which is how you'll conquer a queasy-morning feeling.

Report back in a bit and let me know if any of that helped. Could also just be a matter of time. (also if you haven't made homemade mayo yet, give that a try and then dip your morning veggies in it. Life changing!)

[Carly H]

9 minutes ago, slc_melissa said:

How about a warm blended soup?  Like: http://meljoulwan.com/2012/11/05/silky-gingered-zucchini-soup/

 

That actually sounds feasible! I will try something like that, thanks for the suggestion. I also like that I could make this in advance and just warm it up.

[Carly H]

9 minutes ago, ladyshanny said:

OK, so that all sounds pretty good. Couple things you can try. First, don't try to eat things at breakfast (queasy-time) that you hate at all other times too. That'll never work. Haha

Second, move  coffee to after you've eaten an entire template meal including the veggies. Coffee is an appetite suppressant and if you are struggling at all with eating your meal, leave it off until after, whether you feel hunger or not. 

Third, make sure your fruits are eaten with meals and not alone. Also until you get your veggie issues sorted, maybe don't have fruits in the morning. The nuts are unlikely to be causing this veggie issue but do know that they are recommended to be limited....so think a closed handful every other day.

And do try and get that meal in within the hour. That, although it seems picky, is how you'll balance your hormones which is how you'll conquer a queasy-morning feeling.

Report back in a bit and let me know if any of that helped. Could also just be a matter of time. (also if you haven't made homemade mayo yet, give that a try and then dip your morning veggies in it. Life changing!)

I will try all of that, thanks for the help! (it is kinda silly I tried to eat cooked greens, but I saw someone do it on Instagram and it LOOKED good...but no, no, no.)

[ShannonM816]

18 minutes ago, Carly H said:

I will try all of that, thanks for the help! (it is kinda silly I tried to eat cooked greens, but I saw someone do it on Instagram and it LOOKED good...but no, no, no.)

The only way I can do cooked greens in the morning is to put a handful or two of spinach in the blender with my eggs and blend them, then just cook them like scrambled eggs. Turns the eggs green, but it changes the texture so I don't feel like I'm eating slimy cooked greens, which is what bothers me so much, especially first thing in the morning.