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.

Today, lets fight back against Conventional Wisdom with a little bit of humor.

“You know conventional wisdom has a hold of you when”:

… You drive 1 mile to the gym so you can run 5 miles on the treadmill.

… Your supplement drawer has more white powder than Lindsay Lohan’s purse.

… The reason your hoodia tea is not working is because you are not drinking enough or you did not spend enough money on the “good stuff”.

… Your idea of a healthy beverage is at Kiva Juice.

… You can’t leave the house without 5 tupperwares and 6 plastic baggies and a timer so you can “eat” without your body “consuming muscle”.

… Your pantry does not have one item that does not say “Fat Free” on it.

… Your food tastes like cardboard.

… You are always hungry.

… You have spent more money on acai berry supplements than your kids education.

… You can lat-pull 250 pounds but can’t do a pull up to save your life.

… You can bench 400#s but are out of breath climbing some stairs.

… Are on statins because of your bad cholesterol even though you “eat only fat free foods and don’t eat any cholesterol”.

… You force feed your children “healthy” whole wheat pasta the night before the big race or game.

… You know the name and purpose of every silly isolation machine in the gym.

… Your doctor bill is more than your grocery bill.

… Your dumbells come in colors like pink and purple.

… You don’t lift heavy because you only want to “tone”, not “bulk”.

… You only eat “lean” protien source like chicken… and you remove the skin.

… You feed the best parts of your meal to your dog… like the skin.

Add yours to the comments!

One of the great joys that I have found in going primal is all of the opportunities to “Do It Yourself” (DIY). There is a certain satisfaction and sense of pride that you can gain from taking on a project and completing it yourself that I feel is just lost on most people these days.

Enjoying the fruits of your own labor can be infinitely more enjoyable than enjoying the fruits of others in my book. There is truly a rewarding feeling when you eat a meal that YOU prepared or complete a project that YOU worked hard on.

In a world where we tend to be headed towards less DIY…frozen meals, processed pre-packaged meals, all inclusive products, consultants, contractors etc. There are less and less things to be able to work on and take pride in yourself. When is the last time you did something that you could really enjoy for yourself and take pride in? Maybe it was this today or when you cooked dinner last night… maybe it has been a month…. a year?

This weekend, my challenge to you is to fight back against the Wall-E corporate control of your life and take on one DIY project. You can cook a new meal, do a project that you have been putting off around the house, build a home gym… anything that floats your boat.

Here are some ideas:
1. Make an SoG Recipe.
2. Beef Jerky!
3. Make your own Mayonnaise.
4. Build a slosh tube or sand bag for exercising at home.
5. Do any of the cool projects from instructables.com or another Do It Yourself project site.

Take pride in your work… enjoy something that YOU put some work into.

For more info on Fight Back Friday articles from other blogs go to Foodrenegade.com – Fight Back Fridays.