Shifting your Cravings: A Reformed Vegetable Cynic and Supertaster
My Mother used to call me a lousy dietitian. That was a little harsh considering I was a very healthy eater but she was somewhat correct in that vegetables were not on my “favorites list.”
I faithfully ate my salad every night with healthy types of dark lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, avocado, and protein but rarely ate much else unless I at a restaurant or friend’s house. Eventually I realized I needed to start eating a variety of vegetables if I wanted to maintain my health and avoid cancer, heart, and other diseases.
After marrying Jeffrey he introduced me to the “no thank you” serving concept. He faithfully made various types of vegetables and I ate small amounts of them till I actually started to like and even crave them. How did this happen?
Research shows that some individuals are known as “super tasters.” Â Super tasters like myself do not normally like vegetables since they taste bitter to them.
Supertasters need to be gradually introduced to bitter types of foods over time to acclimate their tastes to vegetables and other strong tasting foods like coffee, spicy flavors, etc.
So how does the “no thank you” serving work?
You eat small amounts (even 1-2 bites) of a food you don’t care for at least 15-20 times. Eventually you can start to love it and crave them. Try this with vegetables you don’t care for and add spices, balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, or a little extra fat like organic butter or coconut oil for flavoring.
What about other foods? If you only eat fruited yogurt, try buying plain and adding frozen raspberries with a little of their juice, vanilla flavoring or some of our Healthy Nut Mix to add sweetness.
Transitioning and shifting your tastes and cravings takes time. As a population we are used to sweet so shifting towards less sweet and other healthy foods is a process and takes patience.
I can vouch this works since I now love vegetables and eat them daily….and I actually miss and crave vegetables if they are not in my daily diet!
