Published on 12, July, 2020
Discussions around diet come up quite often on NAS and I would like to share my experience in the hope that there will be some great suggestions.
To set the scene, I am a 53 year old high later life diagnosed, functioning male who really struggles with eating the vast majority of veg and salads.I have always been considered to be a fussy eater and this was especially difficult when growing up as my parents made me eat all manner of foods that I really struggled with, even to the point of being physically sick. This also had a considerable negative affect on my emotional state, Even in my 20's when my wife and I went to my parent for Christmas dinner I was made to eat at least one Brussel sprout , something that I was traumatised about and even still gets joked about at Christmas time. Obviously my younger years were a long time ago, if the were to happen i9n this day and age, you could potentially argument a point of child /disability abuse/ Of course, I was know to being autistic back then.
Anyway, I am trying to improve my diet to supplement my commitment to working out at the gym.But when it comes to Veg & Salad, i only eat the following - either because of texture issue, taste, or appearance - most often a combination of 2 or 3.
WHAT I DO / CAN EATPotatoes (in all forms - mashed, chipped, baked (no so keen)Carrots (must be well boiled to removed the crunch and the majority of the taste)Tomatoes (small amounts on a pizza /other dishes)Pepper (se tomatoes)Little bit of lettuce in a burger
Fruits I don't seem to have a problem with generallyBananasApplesStrawberries, blackberries (most berries)Pears I hate the textureOrange (ok when I have cold)
The challenge with fruit is that I don eat it every day.
Do other members have similar struggles?Any suggestions - maybe some smoothie recipes? Although, simply knowing that there are ingredients in a smoothie could be enough for me to not be able to drink it.
GPK26 said:Any suggestions
Get yourself a nutritionist who understands your food issues and work a healthy, balanced diet that you can tolerate.
For the fruit side I used to get a load of apples, pears, berries, mangoes and whatever was cheap at the market, chop it into smallish bits and boil it up with a bit of water until it made a lumpy, fruit pure.
I would sweeten this to taste and freeze it in batches to save having to do this too often.
When one batch is defrosted then it works great when added to a Greek style yogurt - all the nutrition with the protein and fats from the yogurt but thick - kind of like ice cream if you squint and tilt your head to one side...
Bananas are great in smoothies or one way I like is chopped into pieces, frozen and added to ice cream - then it is crunchy rather than mushy.
Maybe you could have more veg roasted - pumpkin is great when cut into chip sized pieces, season with salt, pepper and paprica then roasted to a texture you like (longer for crispier). Make it thinner if you like crisp of thick if you like chunky pieces.
If you like stews then this is a good way to incorporate all sorts of veg you don't like too much (well other than salads I guess) - chop into smallish bits and they blend into a sauce and go well with chips or mash potatoes.