Can the taste buds of a picky eater be reconditioned to like healthy foods? Incorporate fruits, vegetables and fish into your diet.

Is it possible to “retrain” your taste buds? Are you a picky eater who eats very few fruits, vegetables or fish?

You’re right to be aware of the importance of expanding your palate.

Nutrition research has shown that there is a link between eating a wide variety of foods and a nutritious diet. The healthier you eat, the more you reduce your risk of major diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and osteoporosis.

But if you rarely eat enough of the foods that are good for you.

Keep in mind that taste is acquired, and you can “retrain” your taste buds to like new foods. Sometimes, you can learn to like a particular food if you educate yourself it is.

This is a sort of psychological taste training. Or, you may need to experiment with different preparation. You might like a veggie raw, but not cooked, or vice versa. Sometimes you might just have to sneak a healthy food into something you like. Here are some ways to eat more fruits, veggies and fish:

How to eat more fruit

Fruit-flavoured drinks, roll-ups and heavily processed “fruit” bars don’t count when trying to meet your fruit quota. You’ll need to find a way to eat the real thing-fresh, frozen or dried-and there are many ways to do so.

Make smoothies

You can buy fresh and frozen fruit and put them in a blender with some ice to create a frozen concoction that’s more healthier-but just as tasty-as ice cream. Bananas add a thicker, creamier consistency, while adding milk or soy yogurt can create a thinner one.

You can add a splash of fruit juice to sweeten if necessary. A blended smoothie is better than juice from a juicer; with the blender you chop and consume most of the fruit, whereas with a juicer you lose precious fiber.

Use fruit as a topping

If you eat cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt, include some chopped fruit.

Mix fruit with dips and spreads.

Peanut butter goes well with many fruits including apples and bananas.

Make a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich, or dip apple slices in the stuff.

Make fruit cubes

You can blend up fruit and freeze it, and eat it like a frozen treat.

How to eat more vegetables

Some people do seem to have an inborn aversion to certain bitter tastes in some vegetables. Other people do not like the consistency of different vegetables. Since there are so many veggies to choose from, it’s okay if you don’t like them all. But you do need to find some that you enjoy. You can hide them within a larger meal-such as veggies in a soup, pasta dish, or casserole.

Cook veggies until they’re tender

Many people have heard that steaming veggies is the best way to cook them, as more nutrients are retained. This may be true in some cases. But many people don’t like under-cooked vegetables, so they won’t eat them this way. If you avert veggies that are on the raw side, then forget about preserving nutrients. (If you’re not eating them, you’re not getting any!) Better to slightly overcook the veggies so that you like the way they taste and feel.

Use spreads, dips and sauces liberally

Veggies have barely any calories, so if you add cheese, olive oil, pesto or dips to improve how they taste, the nutritional boost you get by eating the veggies is worth the calories from the topping.So do what it takes to make them taste good for you (but avoid drowning your veggies in butter or other fat-laden dressings).

Commit to adding a veggie to everything you eat

Every time you make a sandwich, cook pasta, or open a can of soup, throw in a vegetable. Sneaking in veggies throughout the day can help you meet your quota.

How to eat more fish

Some fish like salmon is high in omega-3 fatty acids, the so-called “good” fats. But many people can’t handle the fishy taste or smell. Again, it’s worth experimenting with different recipes and toppings to see if you can make it more palatable.

Try buying the freshest fish you can find. If you still find you can’t tolerate it, then get your omega-3s by eating more soybeans and walnuts or walnut oil.

Usually dieticians advise to all wishing to grow thin refusing from sweet, as sugar becomes the reason of weight gain. Artificial sweeteners are used in such situations.

Artificial sweeteners do not promote growing thin, and even on the contrary - can become the reason of overweight.

So, research with participation of men and women having overweight was conducted.

Half from them kept to a diet and instead of sugar, used its substitutes. Others completely excluded all kinds of sweet from a diet.

In 12 weeks it appeared that those who did not use sweeteners, managed to lose more weight than the rest.

The matter is that an organism of those who use artificial sweeteners, tries to take calories from food as much as possible, and metabolism is thus slowed down. In aggregate both these factors affect figure negatively.