Kitty617: You might consider starting with Dr Michael Mosley’s ‘Clever Guts Diet’: noting that his team “don’t recommend removing too many foods at one time” (p.190) and to “reintroduce foods one at a time with a gap of at least three days between each one” (p.193). Taking baby steps gives your palate/ taste buds time to acclimatise not just your digestive system!
I used to be a very picky eater, as were my sibling and my mother when younger, and some of my clients back when I worked in lifestyle healthcare. Part of the solution is to keep trying a few bites given new food, try it in different formats and in different combinations. By ‘format’ I mean raw or cooked, whole or blended, sliced or grated, in a sauce or with a tasty condiment or gravy, piping hot or refrigerated, and so on.
Identifying what you do not like about a given food item, and how you might or might not be able to change that is key. Is it the texture (too chewy, too slimy), the flavour/ taste (too sweet, too bitter, too sour), the visible appearance (too large a serving, the colour, the texture), the smell?
Using myself as an example, I can now eat some fish (esp. lightly smoked or flaky in texture), all sorts of fruit and veg if in a liquid or sauce (soup, smoothie, curry, any dairy). Loathe most cooked root vegetables and most cooked squash family vegetables (combo. of soft texture + cloying sweetness) but like many of them in raw grated/ raw ribbons in salads (combo. of crispy/ crunchy + fresh sweetness).
I shudder at the idea of biting into a whole apple but enjoy a Granny Smith if thinly sliced or chopped! Never choose a pork chop or chicken breast (dry and chewy to me) but love Parma ham and slow-cooked chicken thighs.
For you …. Fruits is a really broad group, each with a higher or lower amount of whichever compound that irritates *your* gut (type of sugar, type of fibre). Many of us eat overly large servings of fruit without realising: here in the UK 80g (half an apple or half a banana) is the recommended, but less than that is still healthy and may sit better with your gut initially.
Similarly ‘salads’ is a broad group of food combinations: leafy or leaf-free, semi sweet or sour or salty, crunchy or soft, dry or dressed, completely raw or part cooked, grated or chunky textured.
Only a few fruits or vegetables must be cooked before eating, including regular potatoes, rhubarb, beans. An alternative to cooking to soften a fruit or vegetable is freezing and thawing. Buying fruits and vegetables already frozen, or prepping and freezing your own in bulk can save loads of time, reduce waste and save loads of money. You can also portion – as small as you wish – and freeze meat in a marinade, fish or seafood, cooked wholegrains, cooked beans or lentils.
Removing ‘old’ foods or introducing ‘new’ foods slowly one by one (as Dr Mosley advocates in Clever Guts) allows much more time for prepping and stocking up. This change to a slimmer and healthier you is *forever*, so taking a few months to slowly reorganise your kitchen, and to slowly acclimatise your digestive system and taste buds is completely fine.
HTH!
