6 Hacks That Make Vegetables More Delicious

If you haven’t let a vegetable slip past your lips since elementary school, now might be time to give things another try.

“Your taste buds are more sensitive to bitter flavors when you’re a kid,” says Georgie Fear, R.D., author of Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss.

Which means that even though broccoli might have tasted like lawn clippings when you were 10, your adult self might actually like it.

French people aren’t born loving escargot, and Japanese people aren’t born loving sushi.

Instead, they come to like snails or raw fish because the foods are a part of their regular environment, suggests findings published in the journal Appetite.

Rather than buying more boxed mac and cheese and chicken fingers, get into the habit of stocking your kitchen with whole wheat pasta and organic chicken breasts.

As you get used to having the clean stuff around, you could find yourself wanting it more often.

If the thought of eating plain raw carrots grosses you out, don’t do it.

Start by pairing them with something outrageously delicious, like ranch dressing, says Fear.

After a while, you might decide to start dunking them in something a little more nutrient-rich, like hummus.

And if that’s where you decide to stay? No problem. If you still don’t like plain raw carrots, you don’t have to eat them.

Take advantage of the fact that humans are hard-wired to crave sugar.

Instead of trying to choke down raw or steamed vegetables, try roasting them to bring out their natural sweetness and make them more palatable.

You might not think a brussels sprout could ever truly taste like candy—but when it gets caramelized and crispy, it really does.

Research published in the Journal of Sensory Studies found that people who paid $8 for a buffet lunch reported being more satisfied with their meal compared to those who only paid $4, even though both groups ate the same stuff.

Why? We tend to think that cheaper food is going to be lower quality.

When possible, spend the extra couple bucks on organic tomatos from the farmers’ market instead of that limp bunch at the corner store.

Because of this tendency it might be worth tricking yourself into thinking the pricey stuff tastes pretty good.

Before you bother sitting down to that salad, check in with your appetite.

“One of the [things] I do with every single client is to make sure they aren’t eating if they aren’t hungry,” Fear says.

Why? Because when your stomach’s really rumbling, you’ll be way more willing to eat whatever’s in front of you—even if it’s a big bowl of vegetables.

Source: Men’s Health