This post is my contribution to the Fight Back Friday blog carnival. For more info and posts follow the linky linky!
Angel said one of the coolest things to me over on her blog. I had commented that a picture she had of eggs with nice dark yolks was making me drool. She responded that was good because it meant my “Food recognition software was working properly”.
I thought this was one of the coolest things that I have heard! It also holds so true. My food recognition software has not always been working properly. There was a time where a picture of eggs with dark yolks would have held no interest for me. A picture of a Big Mac though? That would have made me drool. You see I used to be mistaken into thinking that “Food-like products” were actual food.
I am glad that my brain, my senses and my systems recognize real food now and recognizes processed crap for what it is. The “Food-like products” don’t even smell like food to me anymore. I smell the food that co-workers bring in the fast food bags (that probably taste like the bags themselves) and i smell the microwave meals being heated up in the breakrooms. These things make my stomach turn and not in a good way. There was a time though that these smells would have made me HUNGRY!
Right now, a piece of fruit may taste like a piece of fruit to you (unless you are already reprogrammed of course!). To a fully operating sense of taste that fully appreciates flavors though… a piece of fruit may taste more like a little slice of heaven than you can imagine. Everything real food just tastes so much better when you can truly appreciate the deliciou flavors.
Here are some tips on how you can reprogram your Food Recognition Software:
1. Cut the refined sugar out of your diet. Your poor taste buds are being bombarded and desynthesized by all that sugar. This is a great step towards not only increasing insulin sensitivity and losing weight but also towards repairing your taste buds. Foods tend to taste better when you can actually taste them.
2. Cut out the grains. Grains and grain products in and of themselves are extremely bland. The reason most people THINK they love bread is because of the tastes and flavors added to and delivered by the bland bread. Please read my old post here (“Love the flavor hate the grain) for my thoughts on grains as a delivery system.
3. Cut out other processed crap. What does a dough conditioner, sodium bithalitalateizine (yeah I made that up) or yellow 5 really taste like anyways. These cant be adding real flavor to your food and are further serving to desynthesized your tongue to true delicious flavor.
4. Eat real food. By eating real food, you will be training your tongue, your mind and your body to say “Hey… this is good for me and it tastes good… this is REAL food YAY!”. You will also be learning delicious true natural flavors that your body was designed to enjoy, not flavors that were engineered to spike your hormone in ways your brains THINKS its happy.
One of the things I love about the Primal/Paleo/Crossfit blog community is that someone can post a picture of a nice juicy grassfed steak or some dark yolked eggs and almost always there is a comment to the effect of “That makes me hungry” or “I am drooling now”. If only marketeers and companies knew how easy it was to appeal to someones senses with real food as opposed to processed crap.
April 3rd, 2009 - 9:17 am
This is all so true! Thanks for joining in today’s carnival.
Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
April 3rd, 2009 - 9:29 am
That is one awesome line Angel gave you!!
This post is a keeper!
I’m going out to get my lunch now…I’m hungry
Have a great weekend SOG.
I’m SO looking forward to mine.
Marc
April 3rd, 2009 - 10:36 am
Yum…. egg yolks…
How’d the interview go?
LOVE the post!
April 3rd, 2009 - 10:39 am
1, 3, & 4 I have no problem with, but I have a helluva time with grain. I really need to knock out of our dietary rotation, and I know I feel so much better grain-free. Grain really doesn’t provide any substantial nutrients you can’t find elsewhere in better quantities, but, man, I love the stuff. I’ll have to look your direction for a little more inspiration.
April 3rd, 2009 - 12:13 pm
Jenny stole my thunder. Sammiches (Chicago pronunciation) and Pasta and Pizzzaaa. They are the evil trio that I fight a daily battle against. Now if I could reprogram my 8 y/o daughter into believing asperigus/spaghetti squash/beans really taste much better than cookies. She does dig the smoothies I make though.
One battle at a time
excellent post Sir Grok
April 3rd, 2009 - 12:29 pm
Yup. Fake foods that contain weird chemical additives like msg, sodium benzoate, propylene glycol (anti-freeze) and high fructose corn syrup all train your body to make real food bland. They’re all stimulants, worse than caffeine, that make you want to eat more and you can not appreciate real food until you cleanse yourself from them.
I’d love to hear from Mrs. SoG, as a female, on what she eats on a regular basis, exercise, etc.
April 3rd, 2009 - 2:05 pm
[...] redbeerd under Uncategorized No Comments The always interesting Son of Grok posted a bit on reprogramming your “food recognition software” and it reminded me of something that happened just the other [...]
April 3rd, 2009 - 2:12 pm
Yeah, when you eat clean for a longer period and then eat some sugary junk, your taste buds instantly recognize this chemical mess for what it is… As for drooling, I think my reaction on the food posts is self explanatory lol
-yavor
April 3rd, 2009 - 3:14 pm
I’ve had eggs several times this week from the farmers’ market vendor and the yolks were so dark orange and runny that I briefly considered painting my face with them and running around for a bit. Alas,they were too tasty with sausage for me to have any left over to paint with.
TrailGrrl, who loves a good egg yolk
April 3rd, 2009 - 3:20 pm
Another way to reprogram your food recognition software is IF. I don’t do it very often, but when I do, it amazes me how keen my senses of smell and taste are. And then when I dig in to a nice pork chop or steak … it’s the best ever! And afterward there is a deep feeling of satisfaction. You don’t get that from eating empty processed carbs, no matter how hungry you are.
The mind is an important part of the reprogramming. I used to be scared of fat and meat, even though I ate both (but I thought I was eating bad food when I did). It’s such a relief now to eat real food and know that I am doing my body good. *Believing* that you are doing the right thing is so important. I think that eating primal or low-carb would have fewer benefits if people genuinely thought it was bad (but did it anyway).
I’m glad you found the “software” concept useful. I’m full of clever stuff like that, actually … I just usually toss it off in a non-electronic forum.
April 3rd, 2009 - 4:26 pm
After reading this post, I know without a doubt that I have finally made the connection. Today, being Friday, is “treat day” at my place of work. One of the lunchroom tables is overflowing with chocolate fudge bars, butter tarts and nanaimo bars. I’m usually tempted by these items, but today, I saw them so clearly for what they are. Pure junk. Toxic. Poison. I don’t want any of it. My leftover “mashed” cauliflower with garlic, spices and evoo was wonderfully satisfying.
April 3rd, 2009 - 8:06 pm
Foodrenegade,
Thank you. Hopefully a worthy contribution to the carnival.
Marc,
Thanks bud… enjoy your weekend too.
BEE,
Could have gone better, could have gone worse. Thanks for asking.
Jenny,
Gorilla cake, caveman cookies and BNB’s are all pretty good for helping ween yourself off of bread and grain.
Smoke,
Pizz I get.. but I am perfectly happy with my primal pizza so that is not a problem. Pasta is more about thsauce… do you really ever eat just plain noodles? And as for sammiches I like the flavor better when you just make them on lettuce. Srew bread lol.
Shannon,
The WoSoG eats exactly what i eat in smaller portions. SHe eats an extra peice of fruit every day too. As for exercise, she is SO lazy (I still love you honey). I am lucky if I can get her to work out once a week. Climbing helps when I can get her to go. I will still ask her if she wants to put something together for you all though lol.
Yavor,
Amen brutha!
Trailgrrl,
Creepy… but creepy in a a very primal and not as creepy as it probably should be way! lol sounds like awesome eggs.
Angel,
I am a huge fan of IF and attribute much of my success and happiness to it. THanks again for the cleverness
Stacy,
At first I had a hard time getting over the idea of giving up “free food”. Now it is no problem at all. Everyone around me in the office pigs out on crap all day long and it doesn’t even phase me.
April 4th, 2009 - 1:57 am
Ah yes, the grainy, processed shit of our Western diets. Last night at dinner I was served some poppadoms – I LOVE these things or so I thought. The last time I ate them was before the Paleo way of life, but when I crunched down on the thing and chewed, they tasted of and had the texture of sand.
NO! I thought. I must like them! I remember liking them! I LOVE poppadoms! *crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch* Man, I’d love a steak and salad about now *crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch* I need water to get this sand down… *HACK!*
I was SO convinced I still liked those things I ate sand. My food recognition software has been upgraded. Sandy poppadoms just won’t do anymore…
April 4th, 2009 - 4:41 am
I have now adjusted to the eyebrow-raises I receive every time I gush about how tasty cabbage is, or when I toss out the bread from sandwiches at work functions.
In my local shopping strip, there is a deluxe confectionery store which I used to frequent. But lately, I find myself more interested in the window of the store next-door: a Bio-Dynamic & Organic Butcher! Products from there cost an absolute mint, but there’s nothing like it…
April 4th, 2009 - 4:57 am
Natalie — Aren’t poppadoms Eastern?
I love Indian food once I strip out the grains and legumes.
SoG — So true. I look at the sweet processed junk I used to eat and there’s just the briefest flash of desire, followed by a snicker and thoughts of real food. Like I tell everyone else, when I can eat all these yummy desserts like yours, there’s just no incentive to ‘cheat’!
Also, I semi-succeeded in making mayo with my food processor! Still need to measure better and be more careful; it’s a bit stiff in the fridge, and ’separates’ a little when I put it on something warm (or even if it just warms up at room temperature). And the tabata sprints yesterday totally turned my legs to noodles, so today is just 5-10 minutes of stretching and very light bodyweight…I never want to skip a day entirely, but I definitely know when to take it easy to recover
April 4th, 2009 - 7:46 am
Natalie,
I often wonder how many foods is still think I “loved” that I wouldnt even like anymore.
DoG.
Nice name! Organic butcher? very nice!
DJ,
Interesting on the mayo… maybe start with adding oil at a slower rate initially? Tabatas are always so much fun aren’t they?
April 4th, 2009 - 8:28 am
HA! I love it!
Okay, but here is what happens when your food recognition software changes…..I find myself unable to relate to other people. Of course this is ultimately okay, but I am no longer a good “judge” of taste since giving up sugar. My palate has COMPLETELY changed and the slightest sweetener (drop of honey) makes something exquisitely sweet whereas the rest of the crew is waiting to pile on sugar……
And, to the cabbage lover…oh my gosh, I LOVE cabbage. My favorite way to eat it is: I chop up green cabbage and put it in a stir fry pan that’s heated at medium. I add a little water and about one fourth cup raw coconut oil. If I have turnips laying around I’ll chop those and throw them in. Anyway, I let them boil/simmer in that small amount of water/oil for only about 10-15 minutes. Then I chow. It’s so coco-nutty and oily and delicious.
April 4th, 2009 - 9:36 am
I definetly agree there. Before going primal, bell peppers never tasted that sweet to me, but now I think that especially red bell peppers are sweet as hell. And all those different sweets just taste like sugar to me and nothing else (That’s probably becasue it’s exactly what most sweets are: (almost) pure sugar!)
April 4th, 2009 - 11:35 am
SoG. No doubt about the re-calibration of the taste buds. My wife and I are always amazed about the subtle flavors we now recognize in fruits, nuts, and vegetables. So many of these are coated with sugar and salt and marketed to the ignorant masses (I was one of them) that the true flavor of these foods is lost.
Even restaurants are bad. When we don’t feel like cooking, many times it is a disappointment to have a meal and my mouth is assaulted with salt or the meal is prepared poorly. I’m thinking, “I could have done a better job preparing this!” And that’s pretty bad since I’m not a chef by any means.
I’m also amazed at the few times I have a little cheat (like a bite of a cake at a birthday party) how overwhelming the sweetness is. It is like pure sugar. It’s like candy! A few things still tempt me, but it is not worth it. Gives me a headache and just is not as appealing as it was pre-paleo.
April 5th, 2009 - 10:08 pm
When SOG and WOSOG went primal, we were the recipients of their pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. YUM! Today we just came home from visiting Sister of SOG (SOSOG?) and Bro-in-law of SOG (BILOSOG?) lol who decided to follow SOG down the path to healthy eating.
AND we came home with acres of good, yummy, crap laden food for SOG’s two younger bros who saw it as XMAS 2!
Thanks all!
April 6th, 2009 - 8:26 am
My year without,
Too true… too true. When it comes to eating, I just don’t bother trying to relate to people any more. I just shake my head and force a smile.
Madmuhhh,
Completely agree. Bell peppers and other veggies taste so much different (and better) than I ever remember them tasting.
Andy,
And when you eat out, you pay more for less flavor! I agree… very dissapointing.
MoSoG,
You didnt even get half of it! You should of seen how much crap we gave the wifes family. I bet you got a haul from my sis. Have fun ruining my little brothers for life. You already know T’s favorite fruit is skittles. grrrrrrrrrrrr
April 6th, 2009 - 9:11 am
So accurate – I’ve commented on the same thing to others.
As someone who developed a taste for wine in the last few years I always though the process was pretty similar. Where at first I just tasted wine (and it was a so-so experience) now I taste a whole array of flavors I never knew were there before.
Fruit and vegetables are the same way before, the last year or two I feel like I’ve been rediscovering food – flavors that my taste buds were too dulled to appreciate before are everywhere.
April 7th, 2009 - 7:56 am
Chris,
I too have developed a tast for wine. i am developing a taste for reds now too which I did not like before.
April 7th, 2009 - 1:55 pm
[...] my goal isn’t so much weight loss, but eating real food. I want to reprogram my mind and attitude toward food, if you will. Slowly but surely I see this happening: when I see a fastfood ad, I [...]
April 9th, 2009 - 2:45 pm
[...] Simple, Good, and Tasty (Now We’re Urban Farmers!)18. Shannon (simple stir-fried cabbage)19. SoG (Reprogram Your Food Recognition Software)20. Mindful Eats (first one – vitamins and supplements)21. The Clever Mom: (Ontario Seasonal Foods [...]
August 3rd, 2009 - 7:24 am
One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve gone no grain is that my blood pressure has actually gone down by 10 points. Even my mother and a friend of hers who went low carb noticed the same thing.
My allergist said I was “carb intolerant” Basically…I don’t have enough enzymes to digest any of the grains at all in the stomach and they get digested by bacteria in the intestines. If you look up carb intolerance on the internet you’ll find that’s very hard on the system too and can cause elevated blood pressure as well as other issues. I feel so much better off grains.
If I want something sweet and solid, well I merely grind up some almond flour. It makes a great cake. Or if I need a tortilla like creation I’ll use soy flour. Both my body seems to tolerate 100% better and I don’t puff up like a Macy’s thanksgiving day balloon in the process.