If you are a person with a rampant sweet tooth constantly demanding sugary treats and lots of them on the double, your tastebuds might need to go back to basic training. Sure, it is completely natural to prefer sweet things to bitter. Most people do. But this does not mean that you are forever trapped in a cage of spun sugar, chained to a mountain of rock candy! Just as flabby muscles can be trained to lift weights, maybe light ones at first, but heavy ones eventually, your tastebuds can be trained not just to enjoy different types of tastes, but even to prefer foods that are less sweet.
Step One: ditch those treats that are truly empty calories and devoid of all nutrition. Check the labels. If sugar (or a similar product such as corn syrup) is the first ingredient listed, you can be fairly certain that product is not the healthiest choice. Another way to tell if the food you are eating is unhealthy is to check the color. If it is a neon shade that Mother Nature never could have produced, that is a bad sign. If it is shaped like a teddy bear, worm, or Swedish fish, just put it down and step back.
Once you have eliminated the most serious offenders, try eating some naturally sweet foods. There are many whole foods which taste delicious with absolutely no added sugar. Roasted sweet potatoes are a perfect example. Roast them whole, right in their skins, at about 400 degrees for at least 45 minutes to an hour or until soft when you squeeze them gently. Let them cool slightly before peeling. You can add a tiny sprinkle of sea salt and a little grassfed butter, if you like, but these babies will be fantastic just plain. Roasted baby carrots, baby beets, parsnips, Vidalia onions, butternut squash and new potatoes are all yummy as well. Once you explore these, you might delve into more challenging vegetables like rutabagas, turnips, red peppers, and brussels sprouts. Roasting tends to bring out the natural sweetness, concentrating it, while turning hard, fibrous veggies into melt-in-your-mouth treats! Really!
And what on earth is more delicious than a fresh, ripe piece of fruit? Peach season is just about over, but if you are lucky enough to find a few of the last local peaches, savor each and every bite. And then move on to the fall fruits: apples, pears, red raspberries, and grapes. These are nature's own form of candy. It should be easy to train your taste buds to prefer fresh fruit to processed candy. And the fruit is filled with nutrients and fiber to boot!
If you have to turn to dried fruit, I suggest you make that a temporary stopover on your way to fresh fruit and veggies. Dried fruit is so dense with concentrated (though natural) sugars, that it is treated in a very similar way to pure cane sugar or honey in the body. Meaning that dried fruit will raise your blood sugar almost to the same extent as candy. Read the label on a box of Raisin Bran, for example. You will discover more grams of sugar per serving than Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries!!!
And how about those foods you really HATE? If they include broccoli, cabbage, kale, collard greens, spinach, watercress, swiss chard, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, then you have some very good reasons to train your tastebuds to at least tolerate these veggies. They are the supreme superfoods! These are the leafy greens and the cruciferous veggies that contain some of the highest percentages of nutrition per ounce of the plant world. If you are seriously opposed to tasting any of these, or if you have children who fall into this category, you might want to explore the cookbooks penned by Jessica Seinfeld. She has created at least two volumes devoted to sneaking healthy veggies into everything from lasagne to mashed potatoes to brownies. Since I enjoy all these veggies just plain, I have only perused her books but never tested out her recipes. If you give them a try, report back to me with your opinions, please!
And let's get started on some Basic or Advanced Training for those tastebuds! Get down and give me 10 bites!
Step One: ditch those treats that are truly empty calories and devoid of all nutrition. Check the labels. If sugar (or a similar product such as corn syrup) is the first ingredient listed, you can be fairly certain that product is not the healthiest choice. Another way to tell if the food you are eating is unhealthy is to check the color. If it is a neon shade that Mother Nature never could have produced, that is a bad sign. If it is shaped like a teddy bear, worm, or Swedish fish, just put it down and step back.
Once you have eliminated the most serious offenders, try eating some naturally sweet foods. There are many whole foods which taste delicious with absolutely no added sugar. Roasted sweet potatoes are a perfect example. Roast them whole, right in their skins, at about 400 degrees for at least 45 minutes to an hour or until soft when you squeeze them gently. Let them cool slightly before peeling. You can add a tiny sprinkle of sea salt and a little grassfed butter, if you like, but these babies will be fantastic just plain. Roasted baby carrots, baby beets, parsnips, Vidalia onions, butternut squash and new potatoes are all yummy as well. Once you explore these, you might delve into more challenging vegetables like rutabagas, turnips, red peppers, and brussels sprouts. Roasting tends to bring out the natural sweetness, concentrating it, while turning hard, fibrous veggies into melt-in-your-mouth treats! Really!
And what on earth is more delicious than a fresh, ripe piece of fruit? Peach season is just about over, but if you are lucky enough to find a few of the last local peaches, savor each and every bite. And then move on to the fall fruits: apples, pears, red raspberries, and grapes. These are nature's own form of candy. It should be easy to train your taste buds to prefer fresh fruit to processed candy. And the fruit is filled with nutrients and fiber to boot!
If you have to turn to dried fruit, I suggest you make that a temporary stopover on your way to fresh fruit and veggies. Dried fruit is so dense with concentrated (though natural) sugars, that it is treated in a very similar way to pure cane sugar or honey in the body. Meaning that dried fruit will raise your blood sugar almost to the same extent as candy. Read the label on a box of Raisin Bran, for example. You will discover more grams of sugar per serving than Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries!!!
And how about those foods you really HATE? If they include broccoli, cabbage, kale, collard greens, spinach, watercress, swiss chard, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, then you have some very good reasons to train your tastebuds to at least tolerate these veggies. They are the supreme superfoods! These are the leafy greens and the cruciferous veggies that contain some of the highest percentages of nutrition per ounce of the plant world. If you are seriously opposed to tasting any of these, or if you have children who fall into this category, you might want to explore the cookbooks penned by Jessica Seinfeld. She has created at least two volumes devoted to sneaking healthy veggies into everything from lasagne to mashed potatoes to brownies. Since I enjoy all these veggies just plain, I have only perused her books but never tested out her recipes. If you give them a try, report back to me with your opinions, please!
And let's get started on some Basic or Advanced Training for those tastebuds! Get down and give me 10 bites!
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