Want one of my best quick tips that’ll help you change your approach to food? It’s one I’ve taught my family that you can use to teach yours. Simply put, you don’t have to like the way a food tastes to love what it does for your body.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I don’t use this as an excuse for prepping bland, tasteless meals.
I’m passionate about making healthy foods taste fabulous, but face it. There are probably a few foods out there that don’t thrill you even when they’re prepared well. And to be honest, when I first started changing my approach to food, I disliked most of the healthy ones. Salmon, mushrooms, brussels sprouts, peppers, onions, tofu grossed me out.
But then, I had that “a-ha” moment and realized that a lot of taste is mental.
For the longest time, my oldest son didn’t like bananas; he complained about “the strings.” So, I started telling him a story about how bananas are like fighter jets. That they’re fueled with special chemical weapons called prebiotics that help the good bacteria in his gut fight off the bad guys. He gets it, and he can’t get enough of this story. He doesn’t have to like the way a banana tastes or feels in his mouth to love what it’s doing for him. By flipping the script, he now loves bananas and asks for them all the time. Even better, he wants them sprinkled with cinnamon for an added energy boost. Here’s what this proves:
The story we tell ourselves about a particular food impacts how we perceive its taste and texture.
Want to actually like the foods that are good for you? Tell yourself a story about how salmon’s got protectins that’ll boost your mood or how shiitakes are loaded up with cancer kicking polysaccharides. And the story gets even better because the more you eat healthy foods, the more you’ll crave them. Your palate will change over time. Eat healthier, feel healthier, crave healthier. Get that positive feedback loop working for you! Bottom line, love what it does for your body, and you’ll actually start loving the taste.
