Retraining Taste Buds

You know those cravings.  You try to push them out of your head, but they won’t go away.  Magazines advise us to wait 20 minutes and maybe they will go away.  Twenty minutes of useless distraction and the vending machine still beckons your name.  There are also those ridiculous replacement lists, as if celery sticks could take the place of a potato chip craving, just because they’re both crunchy.

Cravings are powerful, specific and real. They can’t be ignored or pacified, but a few years ago, I discovered that they can be changed.  So often, we scarf down food without recognizing what it actually tastes like. You crave it, but do you actually want it?  Do you actually enjoy eating it? Sating a craving usually brings an immediate sense of relief, followed by a sense guilt or dread.  We know the craving will be back and there is a sense that we are powerless over it.

The key is not to ignore cravings, but rather to focus intently on them.  Very few of us take the time to observe the flavor of what we’re eating.  That is a shame because we are depriving ourselves of taste experience and at the same time we are allowing artificial cravings to push us into bad food choices.

Flavor Test

We begin with an exercise in flavor.  For this you will need a single potato chip, a piece of regular milk chocolate and a raisin.

1. Pick up the potato chip and hold it up to your eyes.  Observe it’s appearance the way you would a glass of wine.  Take note (in your head) . Repeat with the chocolate piece, followed by the raisin.

2. Pick up the potato chip again, but this time smell it.  Again take note and repeat with the chocolate and raisin.

3. Pick up the potato chip again and lick it.  Again take note and repeat with the chocolate and raisin.

4. Place the potato chip on your tongue and let it just rest there for ten full seconds without biting down.  Take note.  Then chew it slowly, observing the flavor.  Repeat with the chocolate, and finally the raisin.

The point of this exercise is to slow yourself down, so that you truly appreciate what is happening flavorwise in your mouth.  You will find that the potato chip is pretty soggy and flavorless once the salt has been licked off.  The chocolate tastes the same whether it sits on your tongue or is actually eaten.  The raisin is where your taste buds perk up.  When you finally bite down, flavor explodes in your mouth.  That’s what food should do: burst with flavor and make your mouth come alive.

Eliminating Cravings

The next step is applying the same focus on flavor to a food craving from which you want to be free.  Tackle only one craving at a time.  You won’t get instant results, but you can permanently retrain your tastebuds.

The process is simple.  Use the same analysis and intensive flavor focus on a craving.  Be sure to isolate the flavor you are working against.  By this I mean, if you are trying to get rid of a fried food craving, separate the fried portion of the food from the rest, such as the fried chicken skin from the chicken meat.  The meat has juices which provide quite a bit of flavor.  The fried skin has an entirely different flavor, pretty much burnt flour and oil. If you still love the taste, remove the salt.  A lot of fried food tastes good because it’s salted.  Letting go of a food you love takes time, so don’t rush it.  Simply isolate the flavor every time you eat it and really focus on what you are tasting.  Don’t gobble it down quickly or make an exception regarding isolation or you’ll reinforce the craving.

The other step in the process is to pair your craving with a delicious healthy food.  The key word here is delicious; think fruit or something else you love.  Focus just as intently on the healthy food’s flavor as you do on the craved food.  You are bound to find it more satisfying.  An ordinary milk chocolate bar tastes a bit like plastic, but a ripe peach explodes with juicy sweetness.  Colas have a strong chemical aftertaste, but a pineapple sprtizer is quite refreshing.

Give yourself time to release your cravings.  It usually takes about two months.  Remember you’re going for a genuine change, not a quick fix.  Our bodies are designed to crave food that will keep us healthy.  Socialization, addictive food additives and inattention while eating have lead us to stray from our natural instincts.  The process I described simply gives your body the time and attention it needs to get back on track.  Trust the process and trust in your ability to control your cravings.  In a few months you’ll have the great feeling of looking at a Hershey bar, remembering how it really tastes and happily saying, “No thanks. I don’t want it.”

Good luck!