“I don’t like healthy food! It’s Yucky!”
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that … well, I’d be pretty rich! And it’s getting worse, not
better. Why?
To understand this – and learn how to have a friendlier relationship with your tastebuds –
there is a vicious circle to be aware of.
A lot of the food we eat nowadays contains large amounts of highly processed ingredients and
high amounts of sugar and salt. So there are literally fewer flavours in our food. They lean hard
toward sweet and salty.
Our tastebuds are designed to recognize four flavour categories: sweet, salt, sour, and bitter.
If all they get are sweet and salt, they end up with less to do. Just like muscles, they stop
working well if we don’t use them. Tastebuds get clogged up with disuse, and can even shrivel
up and sort of … die! (Keep reading, there IS hope for them.)
The result? The only flavours you can easily taste are sweet and salty. Other flavours just taste
yucky, bad, weird, or seem to have no flavour at all. In order to have “tasty” food, we reach for
salty chips, sweet cookies, candy, and ready-to-eat meals.
Less bang for your buck.
Sugar, salt, and highly processed ingredients are much cheaper to put into foods than real
ingredients. Plus they last forever. This makes fresh vegetables and fruits seem pretty
expensive by contrast.
Another thing to notice is that a lot of ready-to-eat and highly processed foods also require a
lot less chewing. Especially compared to things like apples, raw vegetables, whole nuts and so
on. A key piece of the puzzle.
So what does that add up to?
First, the more sweet and salt you eat, and the more highly processed ingredients in general,
the more you crave. Part of that is because your tastebuds can’t deal with anything else. And
part of it because those ingredients don’t really satisfy your body.
You see, your body is screaming for food filled with vitamins and minerals. BUT your body
can’t tell you it needs some spinach, wild rice, fresh blueberries, and salmon. So you are
driven to eat something, even if you are not feeling hungry. And because of the tastebud
shortage, even if you ate the more nutritious things, they would taste TERRIBLE.
Secondly, when you don’t really chew your food, your digestive system doesn’t get the memo
to do all the amazing stuff it is engineered to do. Instead your gut gets caught by surprise and
doesn’t really digest what you put in it. You can end up with anything from acid reflux to
stomach cramps, constipation to diarrhea. Bigger problems like diabetes, food allergies, and
IBS can pop up. You might have focus, mood, weight, and sleep problems. If you are
neurodiverse, this can really make things tougher. Your belly is your brain!
Okay. But everything that is good for me tastes yucky, and I can’t digest it anyway.
What’s a tastebud to do?
Exercise your mouth.
Yup, use it or lose it. You literally take it one bite at a time. Think of it like training at the gym,
but in the kitchen and at the table. Start light and work your way up.
I always recommend adding before subtracting.
Try this: Add some colours of the rainbow to your plate at every meal. (No, not jellybeans!)
Your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to eat just one bite of each thing. One bite
of each colour of the rainbow, every day. Try to eat what looks like you just picked it, dug it up,
or caught it.
Savour that one bite – eat slowly, really chew it well, swallow it a bit at a time. Run your tongue
around your mouth after swallowing to get the last bits of flavour! I know … weird. But it
works. At first it might not taste like much. Or even awful. Remember you are raising those
taste buds from the dead. It might take some time! Be committed and faithful. You are gonna
need this body for your whole life, so give it the best you’ve got.
When tastebuds come back to life … food becomes fascinating.
As you start to be able to taste more things, and actually like some of them, try eating more
than one bite each. Find some recipes with several colours. Or different foods of one colour.
Experiment. Actually make something from scratch! Try an apple for a snack. Really chew it.
Try different varieties and see if you can tell the difference.
Soon you will find that you don’t really need – or even want – 6 helpings of pasta with
processed powder. And one day, you will eat some highly processed ready-to-eat thing and …
it will taste super salty and too sweet and BORING.
Welcome to the Tastebud Olympic Podium!
For more info, help, and support for transforming your food and your health give us a shout for
a free 30 minute consultation and tell us what you want to transform! [click here]
