Eat your veggies . . .

Not surprisingly, onions have a lot of natural sugars, so they carmelize and taste rather good. Sweet.

The veggies I try to get in my diet are low in sugars and either higher with water or higher with fiber. An example of " high water" veggies are cucumbers, pickles, zucchini, yellow squash, etc. An example of higher fiber are cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, green beans, asparagus, etc.

High starches veggies like winter squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans - I try to limit when I was losing weight, and have them sparingly. I added them in maintenance or when I needed extra carbs because of my activities (i.e outdoor winter sports)

Onions - as good as they taste carmelized, I tried to limit qty. Not only the sugars are higher, but for me personally - the gas after was not worth the extra taste.

I use carrots for different reasons - well cooked carrots have a lot of easily absorbable starches, but raw carrots add some sweetness and crunch when I wanted that.

I often make an easy to cook and then digest stew using meat of any type, mix with different veggies, and either cooked in a pressure cooker or a Crock-pot. To make it look thicker - I use either winter squash or other strachy veggies. To lose weight - my stews are full of low starch veggies, like cellery, zucchini, leak, yellow squash, green beans etc. With a very few strachy veggies added. The ratio may change when I need more calories, and more starches.

Grilled veggies - I chop and toss bunch of different veggies, (make it very colorfull) toss it with marinade and grill or broil. Store and grab a serving with a meal. Sometimes I use the grilled veggies to make a Saturday or Sunday omelette.

Stews with a lot of vegetables sound good especially since it is so cold here.

It's funny, when I was first thinking about eating vegetables again, I had a one-track mind...thinking of just a single vegetable sitting on my plate next to a piece of dense protein. Maybe a little less boring. But, all of you have come up with such wonderful sounding combinations that I think I'm going to be having some fun in the kitchen and enjoying my healthier meals!

Hi LL,

If you are having trouble getting the dense proteins down maybe they are too dry. Try cooking them in an IP (instant pot) or slow cooker. Pulled pork is a good one for me, I love eggs and keep deviled eggs in the fridge for a great snack. Turkey and chicken breast....they can be dry so try cooking them in stews, soups and with cheese. Veggies, are the bomb and my favorite is roasted and I love steaming cauliflower mashed potatoes.

Check out the daily food thread and you can get some great ideas from there as to what to eat and how to cook it.

We are here to help

You can roast almost any veggie & then drizzle balsamic glaze on them to make them taste AMAZING! Sprinkle goat cheese crumbles on as well to really add to it + bonus, that adds protein as well. Carrots are my favorite but get "organic" carrots because they are 10x better tasting.

Check out Pinterest for recipes like that too, there's zillions of great ideas.