Pickier than I thought

[Marci0393]

I have never thought of myself as a picky eater but now I am realizing that not liking even a few foods on this plan can be really limiting!

Things I realllly want to like, but don't:

Sweet Potato - not baked, not fries, not in pie. I just don't care for it. My mom makes a chili with SP in it that I like okay, but that's the only way I can stand it so far. This goes for yams also.

Fennel, Anise, Black licorice - Don't like it.

Sausage - I think this is linked partly to the fennel, anise flavor I don't care for because I do like hotdogs, Kielbasa and Polish sausage, but not Italian sausage, breakfast sausage or bratwurst.

Mango - I want so much to like mango. I LOVE fresh fruit, but Mangos are not my thing. I looks so good, I want to like it!

Squash - I don't dislike all squash. I like zucchini and yellow summer squash, and I tried spaghetti squash the other night and it wasn't horrible, but acorn and butternut just taste like sweet potato to me. Too much sweetness for a vegetable. I am also picky about how ripe my fruit is. I don't like it to sweet either. I can't eat a banana with brown on it.

Peppers - I am a chicken about spicy peppers. I like hot mustards, horseradish, wasabi, but not hot peppers. Even if they aren't hot, peppers aren't my favorite. I do like bell peppers in some stuff like my homemade salsa and chili.

Eggplant - Maybe I've never had this prepared well. The times I've had it I thought it was pretty tasteless with an unappealing texture.

Curry - I don't relly dislike curry, but it's not my favorite.

Coconut oil - I don't mind the flavor, but the smell is off putting when you cook with it. I want to use it more in cooking, and I probably could get over it, but my son gets totally grossed out when he smells it and then I have a hard time getting him to eat whatever I cooked in it, even if the flavor is cooked out.

So many of these things seem like staples to many W30'ers (especially the sweet potato and coconut oil). I wish I could learn to love them.

Has anyone else overcome a food aversion? Any suggestions on how to prepare these things so I might like them?

[Emily]

Wow, you have quite the list there!

So... what do you like? I'm wondering if your taste buds have become skewed some way and perhaps sweet potatoes, etc, might be an acquired taste for you.

I do know that the longer I eat this way the more I'm able to taste very subtle flavors that I wasn't able to taste before.

As for mango, I recently found out it is one of the most GMO fruits, so you may be just fine not liking it.

[SpinSpin]

Hm. Rather than looking at what you don't like, what do you like? I am a diabetic so I rarely if ever eat sweet potatoes, and I usually combine winter squash with something savory so it balances the sweet. Fruit--I eat only berries--blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, but only a few, like a sprinkling in a salad. As far as sausage is concerned, why not make your own spice blends and leave the fennel out, and you could make some chicken liver pate' instead--lots of yummy recipes right here!

There is no need for you to even have curries--it is just a variation on a stew so it is not a required dish! I also very rarely make curries as my husband is not a fan, and as far as coconut oil is concerned, you can get refined coconut oil. Spectrum is `one brand. Mangos are also not required and some in paleo/primal don't feel tropical fruits are the best anyway because of the sugar content. Again, hot peppers are just for flavor/variety and not required. if you want to experiment with hotter peppers take the seeds and the veins --the kinda mushy stuff the seeds are attached to--and that will help with the heat. Also, the larger the 'shoulders' of the pepper are, the hotter. You could also grill them and that will make them sweeter and limit the amount of peppers in what ever you are using them in.

with eggplant, try roasting in a bbq until soft and make babaganoosh out of it. http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2009/07/17/eat-your-vegetables-eggplant/ is one such recipe.

[Marci0393]

I like pretty much any kind of grilled meat or fish with roasted vegetables. I don't have fish as much as I would like because my husband doesn't care for it much so I add salmon and tuna to salads at lunch. My other mainstays are eggs, avocado, cucumbers, bananas, apples, pineapple, beets, kale, leeks and cauliflower. I love salt and vinegar anything, so I do balsamic roasted vegetables and vinegrettes on green salad a lot. I make my own salsa and put that on my eggs almost every morning, but I would like to use it in other ways if I could think of some. Mangos are really the only fruit I can think of that I don't like. I Love fruit as long as it's not over ripe. I am eating fruit in moderation while I do my W30. I noticed that fruit early in the day or too often seems to give me cravings for non-compliant foods so I limit it to 1 or 2 servings, with meals and never in the morning.

If you look at the Chowstalker Whole 30 section, about 1/3 of the recipes have sausage, sweet potato, squash, peppers, or curry in them. A lot of the rest call for bacon, which I don't really want to pay $16/lb for. I guess I'll just make creative substitutions!

[Kirsteen]

I don't like fennel or anise either. i make sausage patties by using ground pork and just adding whatever herbs and spices I want but leaving the fennel out. They're still pretty tasty.

[Carlaccini]

Sweet potato is a funny one for me as well. I used to hate sweet potato - because up until recently I had only had it in a version that accented it's sweetness. Coming from a person who actually likes sweet things (cookies, ice cream, and chocolate, anyone?) I just couldn't get my head around to liking the sweet potato. Then in a last stitch effort I saw a recipe for a savoury version. This I like. So it's all about experimenting I suppose.

I won't worry about your food dislikes too much. There are ways around them. I for one do not like avocadoes! In fact I downright outright hate them. However I will use avocadoes in things like salad dressings where their creaminess enhances other flavours but that is pretty much the only way I have found to include them in my diet. I tried hard to like them. I really, really did. But I also know that the whole 30 is more about enjoying your food as well. So instead of avocadoes I eat olives. Another good fat.

I on average like curries and flavour depth in my food. But I don't like all curries. Every curry is different. I have a tendency of liking Thai curries whereas my boyfriend likes indian curries (which aren't bad but not my favourite). Taste is very personal.

Unlike you I love fennel seed. But I have discovered that I dislike sage. A lot of home made breakfast sausage recipes contain sage. I have been dissapointed a few times but the last time I made them I left out the sage. They tasted better.

So play around and enjoy it!

[caitlin]

i am also a fennel/anise/licorice hater. One of my favorite days was when I asked the owner of the neighborhood Italian salumeria if the Hot Italian Sausage had fennel in it. He proudly stated that it didn't, and that he hated fennel too. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship/grocery stop.

[Michaela Elmore Cogswell]

I cut our sweet potatoes into 1/2 dice and toss them in salt, pepper, cumin and paprika. It might be you would eventually like something like this, but for now, since you haven't liked them, you don't have to eat them.

Have you tried other root vegetables like rutabaga, turnip, parsnip? Or Yucca, jicima. These are much less sweet than sweet potatoes but would still give you a starchier veggie. How do you feel about carrots? Are they too sweet for you?

None of the foods you don't like are deal breakers. None of them are required. Are you having trouble finding things you do like or recipes that don't include these?

We get ground pork at whole foods and I add the Italian spice mix from Well Fed to it. You could do the same and leave out the fennel seed or spice it with the spices you like. I make little patties and fry them up most mornings to go with our eggs.

[TracyP]

Not all sweet potatoes are the same. I find garnet sweet potatoes to be the sweetest and creamiest and for me, I love that. There is a white sweet potato that is firmer and less sweet. Really good and maybe more to your liking. However, don't eat something you don't like just because other people are... Seriously, there are TONS of awesome veggies.

Yucca and Taro are both starchy and not sweet. I like them both a lot. Traditionally yucca is served in a mojo sauce (garlic, lime yumminess) I love the flavor of Taro but I have only eaten it as a chip.

Jicama is awesome and is a nice crunchy treat with lime, chilie powder and dip into guacamole.

Butternut squash is often prepared to enhance the sweetness and uses dessert-like flavors like cinnamon. I find that if you go savory with it that sweet potato sameness goes away. One of my favorite things to do is roast it with olive oil salt and pepper and at the same time roast a head of garlic. Then scoop out the cooked squash and purée it with chicken stock and the roasted garlic. Then add seasonings that you like! I like sage, red pepper, tarragon, oregano or thyme... But choose flavors that work for you. I serve as a soup with toasted pumpkin seeds and diced shrimp or crab meat and a drizzle of olive oil. You can do that with almost any squash you have tried... It might shift your thinking on them.

Curry: just do other sorts of stews. Carribean stews or comfort stews like Irish or even Mediterranean stews. Maybe you don't like the spice blends...ESP with your aversion to anise flavors. Lemongrass is a big part of Thai curries and it can be kinda in the anise flavor family. Also if you don't love coconut that could be another reason you don't like curry. But all that said... Try yellow curry, it is mild and creamy, not to sweet and not spicy at all. You might enjoy it.

Mango: skip it. Although Latinos eat it green with salt pepper and vinegar. Sooooo yummy, so if you want to give that a try one day you might like it.

[Michaela Elmore Cogswell]

the sweet potato that is white inside and dark red on the outside is the Japanese sweet potato. You are right, Tracy, it's less sweet than the others, but is still somewhat sweet. I read somewhere that it is the most nutrient dense of all the sweet potatoes, so I like to throw it into our rotation.

[TracyP]

the sweet potato that is white inside and dark red on the outside is the Japanese sweet potato. You are right, Tracy, it's less sweet than the others, but is still somewhat sweet. I read somewhere that it is the most nutrient dense of all the sweet potatoes, so I like to throw it into our rotation.

Wow, I've never seen that one. The one I have eaten is white on the inside and light brown on the outside. I had it the first time in Uganda. I did not realize it was a sweet potato. That was a surprise! They call them potatoes... And our white potato " English potato" I've seen the African one at whole foods. It's more like a regular white potato in texture too so that might be a plus for some.

[Michaela Elmore Cogswell]

I'll try to remember to look around next time I'm in Houston to see my mom and see if they are carrying them at Whole Foods or Fiesta.

[Marci0393]

I'll keep my eyes peeled for the Japanese sweet potatoes and other alternatives. Beets and carrots are my go to starchy veggies. I really do like pretty much everything I didn't list. My biggest issue is finding recipes, so I think my best bet is to start trying substitutions. I have become friendlier with bell pepper.