Develop A Taste For Health

Now that it’s Fall, and the leaves have turned beautiful colors all around us, I started thinking about all the tasty foods that remind me of this season.

Of course, you can’t set foot inside a store and not see piles and piles of Halloween candy.  But, beyond that, there are the more down home concoctions like pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, chili, turkey and gravy, candied yams, candy corn hot apple cider and donuts.

So, somehow, I found a large container of Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer in my grocery cart.  At first, the taste of it in my coffee was a shock to my system.  For a very long time I had been using one tablespoon of half-n-half as creamer with one pack of Truvia for sweetener.  I had actually grown to enjoy the taste of my morning coffee without all the artificial sweeteners and sugars added to it.

Now, unfortunately, I have “grown to like” the Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer in my coffee.  It almost seems like a drug where every day I want more and more and more of it.  Each day I try to replicate the sickly-sweetness of the first day I had it.  This must come to a screeching halt.

See, here’s the problem… it took me a while to “develop a taste” for coffee without sugared creamers in it.  In fact, it took me a while to develop a taste for coffee in general.  For a long time, I only drank it with skim milk and sugar in it and I liked it.  Then I started using flavored creamers and got addicted to those.

Then, I started measuring out my creamer and got used to less creamer in my coffee.  Finally, I made the switch to just cream and Truvia in measured amounts.  I had grown to like and enjoy this concoction.  I had developed a taste for the healthier version of my morning coffee and actually looked forward to my own special mix.

Now, I am back to square one.

Within a few days of consuming the Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer, my sugar sensitivity has dulled, I crave sweets, and I can’t seem to get enough.

It takes a little while of eating clean and healthy foods before your taste buds adjust to the natural sweetness and delicate flavors of wholesome foods.  Usually, a week or two of eating natural foods will get me back on track and I will start to crave fresh foods again.

It’s important not to awaken the sweet tooth.  Once you’ve been eating clean and healthy for a while, you naturally start to want clean whole foods, and you rarely even have cravings for “junk”.  Unhealthy foods and super sweet man-made flavors fade into the distance for you and you develop a taste for healthy foods.

Excuse my rambling, but I think sometimes, if not properly controlled, a “cheat meal” can re-awaken desires for junk food that you worked so hard to diminish.  Super sweet artificial flavors in sugar-free gum, puddings, candy, etc can dull your sensitivity to the beautiful sweetness of a  fresh strawberry or a succulent blueberry.

Then you’ll be right back at the beginning once again, trying to fight through your craving for a week or two until your body can rid itself of the junk, and start to want the natural goodness of whole foods again.

Is this cycle really worth it?  Does the junk food have some kind of evil power over us?  It just might… there is speculation that some of these additives are addictive.

So, I think the best plan is to wean yourself.  Realize that it will take some time for you to appreciate the more subtle, naturally sweet, and flavorful tastes of wholesome foods again.  However, stick to it, it will happen.  In a week or two from now instead of “visions of sugar plums dancing in your head”, it’ll be sweet, succulent, juicy plums… and you’ll be fully satisfied with that!