Guide to finding pleasure in healthy but unappealing food
Illustrative photo (freepik.com)
If you regularly refuse beneficial foods that you don't like, you may harm your body. There are ways to learn to enjoy such foods, writes Medical Xpress.
What needs to be done
Scientists have analyzed a series of scientific studies and formulated seven ways to learn to derive pleasure from disliked food. According to experts, taste receptors can be trained just like muscles in a gym.
According to experts, coffee and beer are examples of bitter foods that people get used to as they grow older. This is influenced by:
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Social context in which they are consumed. For example, in many countries, they may be associated with the transition to adulthood.
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Physiological effects of compounds they contain - caffeine in coffee and alcohol in beer. Many people consider these effects desirable.
How to learn to love food
Scientists have named several strategies that can help learn to derive pleasure from disliked food.
Keep eating
Start by eating small portions initially to gradually develop an affinity for a particular taste. It may take 10-15 or more tries before you can say that you like the food.
Mask the bitterness
Eat food you don't like with other products or ingredients that contain salt or sugar. You can combine bitter arugula with a sweet salad dressing.
Change associations
If you were "overfed" with cabbage in childhood, it might evoke disgust in adulthood.
Our attitude towards food is often built on childhood memories. However, we can form adult food associations. Cook cabbage not according to your mother's recipe. Or order it in a restaurant where the approach to its preparation may pleasantly surprise you.
Think positively
The brain is a powerful tool that can help you change your eating habits.
Positive thinking is one of the main factors in forming pleasant sensations during meals.
Eat when hungry
In a hungry state, you are more willing to perceive a taste that you may not appreciate on a full stomach.
It's important to start this from an early age if possible. Children find it easier to learn to love new food because their tastes are less established.
Therefore, the more foods you love, the easier it will be for you to learn to love those that you currently don't fancy.
