Why You Hate Veggies

April 8, 2024

Even children hate eating their veggies and greens, so it’s no wonder that even as adults we still hate eating right. There are all sorts of complicated, scientific reasons—but the heart of it is that our bodies are designed for a caveman era, when food was scarce, and we live in a world of plenty.

Your Body Is Too Efficient

At Diced Kitchen - Healthy Without the Hassle, we’ve researched that calorie dense foods such as meats weren’t as common as they are today, so our bodies had to make do with whatever greens we could forage. Veggies and greens, therefore, were a tolerated necessity until the hunters returned with with their haul.

You couldn’t toss the leftovers in the fridge and to microwave tomorrow, so it went that when the hunters were especially productive, a massive feast followed. In these feasts, the cavemen who willingly went vegetarian anyway had a tough time surviving the leaner times.

That Can Work Against You

Feast when the getting is good, forage when you can—this genetic playbook is still baked into our genes. Unfortunately for us, anyone with a few bucks can go to any fast-food joint and enjoy a private feast for every meal, all year long, without leaner times to expend that fat.

Eating right is artificially forcing yourself to eat leaner, even when your mind is fully aware that a feast is just around the corner. This goes against every human instinct you have, but that’s why it’s so effective at managing your weight.

But You Can Make It Work For You

You can do something your ancestors only dreamed of: create your own “feast” and “famine” cycles. It doesn’t even need to be complicated. You can start with something small like deciding what veggies and greens you can grudgingly tolerate, and then plan your steaks and pizzas for special occasions like graduations, birthdays, or anniversaries.

When you repeat this behavior over months, your mind will get used to this pattern. That way, when the party is over, you find yourself craving the veggies and greens you once grudgingly tolerated, and it will make your celebrations much more fulfilling.