Struggling to find pleasure in healthy foods? Keep trying. Sampling foods repeatedly, even if we don’t initially dig the flavor, is worth the payoff of acquiring a taste for them.
A more organic, less deliberate process sees us latching onto grub a different way. Merry vibes mold our food choices. Positive sensations shape our general preferences. Most of the time, this begins in our childhood. From the European Food Information Council:
The preference for energy- and fat-rich dishes is also shaped by the social context. Children often like foods they have eaten in pleasant situations and reject dishes linked to something negative. This is further enhanced by the selection of foods for specific occasions. Tasty foods (high energy density, high fat and sugar content; e.g., desserts) are commonly served on pleasant occasions such as celebrations or when guests are visiting. In contrast, foods considered less tasty, e.g. vegetables, are often consumed under pressure: “Eat your veggies or you won’t get any dessert.” This results in doubly negative coupling and at the same time increases the popularity of energy-dense, tasty dishes and the aversion against less savory foods.
Speaking of dessert, I came back from a workout today to find my son, Dane, crushing a giant bag of chocolate chip cookies for lunch. He must have had some positive sensations as a toddler. Wait, I remember when his mom took him for ice cream when he was two years old. It’s all her fault. Come to think of it, she bought the cookies too. I’m off the hook.
His desire for cookies may be associated with familiarity. The trick is to make him more familiar with healthy foods, like coffee (kidding, relax).
Coffee is a drink that is only liked upon repeated consumption. Often, one approaches the bitter taste very carefully with the help of milk and sugar. Repeated exposure is usually required to actually enjoy coffee, and the development of such a taste preference has been coined “mere exposure effect”. This means that only foods or drinks are liked which one consumes on a regular basis and which therefore have become an acquired taste. It is assumed that there is a direct link between taste experiences and preferences. A biological safety principle builds the basis for this effect: through careful tasting and waiting for any negative consequences (intolerance), our ancestors have gathered taste experiences. However, our own food behaviour is rarely mere intake, but rather coupled with emotions, social aspects and digestive processes that may influence the mere exposure effect.10 One biological principle opposing the mere exposure effect is the fear of new foods, termed neophobia.
I never feared tomatoes as a child, but I hated them. They were frequently placed in front of me; I continually turned them away. As an adult, I began to pick at them. Slowly but surely, I acquired a taste. Now, I eat them like you eat apples (or cookies, if you’re my 12 year old). I pull fresh, sweet representations from my garden daily. I simply need to duplicate the process with my rugrats. From US News:
We know that one of the most powerful influences on children’s acceptance is simply exposure. Give children repeated opportunities to experience foods.
If that were really true, those cookies Dane was eating would have been kale. I kid, I know the good stuff is working with my young men, too. My older son put arugula on his plate with no prompting tonight. Boo ya.
To trying new things,
Kap
Randy says
Great topic Kap, and it hits home. I read three-quarters of this thinking how I should apply this principle with my boys, who are 3 and 1, and then you mentioned tomatoes which I studiously avoid myself. And it made me realize how many foods that I deny myself because they might taste icky. Time to ditch the 3-year-old mindset myself before I try to change the mind of the actual 3-year-old.
Gabe Kapler says
Let me know how it goes with your boys, Randy.
Dina says
As a not-so-former picky eater, most of my ‘ew yuck’ foods are texture related. For me it is all about starting slow with acceptable forms of food, then branching out. I started eating tomatoes in bruschetta, but only if they were chopped into little quarter inch pieces. Gradually those pieces got bigger, or I would try them in a different application. So bruschetta became pico de gallo, became a tomato slice on a burger, became a tomato and cucumber salad, and so on.
Right now, I’m working on eggs. I already liked custard and flan and things like that, so I started with souffles (not very much like an egg), then moved on to quiche, and now I’m up to frittatas. I still won’t eat just eggs by themselves, like fried or scrambled, although frittatas are pretty close. This amazes my mother, who was convinced that I would never, ever, eat anything that you could tell had once been an egg.
I had to make the decision to eat new foods myself though, it just can’t be forced on someone no matter how young or old. I didn’t eat a raw tomato until I was about 23, and at 34 I am still trying to eat eggs. Personally, because I was never forced to eat anything as a kid, I think it helps now that I don’t have negative associations with any foods. I always had the choice of what to put in my body, and now I’m deciding to put these things in.
Gabe Kapler says
Crazy strong take, Dina. Thank you.
kbeyazdancer says
I found that when I was forced to try anything, I didn’t like it. Just simply out of principle. It was usually later that I would discover if my dislike was due to texture, color (I wasn’t a fan of anything green as a child), or the after taste (my aversion to beets). Somewhere along the way, I looked at my father as my example of things to eat. Knowing this, he would try things that he wouldn’t necessarily like and I would watch him and think “I’ll give it a shot” and that worked for many things.
So now I try to be the example to my nieces and nephews when they visit me and see my spread of veggies and take off in the opposite direction. I tell them if they try something that normally wouldn’t eat, I will try something for them. In an odd twist, I tried this method with my nephew and he ran under the table. Then he saw me feed some to my Iguana and he tried some the next day.
-Kelebek
Gabe Kapler says
Nice work, Kelebek. Appreciate it.
Ed H says
Let’s face it, we don’t like food we “know” we don’t like. We must break the perception that we don’t like something to get past it. I never liked tomatoes. I just didn’t, but I allowed them in when it was too inconvenient to remove them. While visiting Greece I had a salad presented to me with tomatoes and feta…BOOM. The pairing, to me, brought out something I never recognized before and ever since have loved tomatoes…
I had a similar experience with bleu cheese, but that I totally stayed away from. One day I ordered a Buffalo chicken sandwich, without the bleu cheese (of course). It came with a wonderful sauce, just wonderful. BOOM. The kitchen didn’t get the memo and I’ve loved bleu cheese since.
Don’t underestimate the value of the proper food pairings or stealth food introductions.
Gabe Kapler says
Feta and tomatoes….nothing more.
billstraehl says
“You’ll learn to like it”….heard that a lot growing up. Had a huge aversion to tomatoes or even the sauce growing up. I always attributed it to close encounters with tomato worms! Didn’t like the texture too, and to this day don’t care for fresh tomatoes. Spaghetti sauce and pizza….yeah, I learned to like those! Much better with my greens, peppers, broccoli and such now. Mixing stuff together helps a bunch, and when all else fails, some cheese on top makes it go down easy.
Gabe Kapler says
Mix, blend, puree, whatever it takes.
Paul says
I hated tomato/spaghetti sauce as a child. The aftertaste, acid,etc. I always wondered why my
grandmother would put sugar on pasta. It wasn’t until after my mother passed away that my father
admitted that my mother’s sauce was VERY bitter. (She would take all day to make it & cook the
pasta.)
Now I always carry antacids along with my meds! Pizza is always popular in bars/clubs,and I
take one beforehand when I know I’m going to be eating pizza or any Italian food.
One un/related question though about “liking” healthy foods: With all your preaching about
kale, I’ve tried it as another healthy alternative/vegetable to eat regularly. I like it. But reading
about its benefits, iron is mentioned as a big one. Most sources say kale is healthy for the liver.
But what about the iron & the liver? Doesn’t sound right.
Paul says
One other Q about kale- I’ve often read about “negative calorie” foods like celery that
supposedly burn more calories to digest than are in them. Other green veggies like
cabbage are mentioned. But I couldn’t find kale in any list. Is it one also?
Gabe Kapler says
Standby, Paul. I’ll try to address these in a future post. Thanks very much for coming by.
Ed H says
I caught this article says zero calorie foods are a myth. http://www.everydayhealth.com/weight/zero-calorie-food-myths.aspx
Paul says
Yes, I saw a similar one that argues that WATER is the only non-calorie or
negative calorie we ingest.
Michelle says
Everything after “merry vibes” is a blur
Gabe Kapler says
Yeah, for me, too.
Kyle G. says
Very logical reasoning/ data behind this. Having taken intro to psych last year it just makes sense. As always, good post Kap.
Gabe Kapler says
Dig, Kyle. Thanks.
Jason Cote says
I’m easing my way into tomatoes also. For some reason, people are surprised I don’t like tomatoes because of my fondness for ketchup, or is it catsup :). There’s a huge difference, as we know, and ketchup has a ton of sugar added. Same in tomatoe sauce.
Gabe Kapler says
Take it slow, brother. You’ll get there when you get there.
Paul says
I always got the same question/reaction from a sister-in-law of mine. She couldn’t
understand why I liked ketchup,but not tomato sauce. But I already “explained” my
story about sauce! 😉
Matt (@Matt1J) says
I’m a picky eater so take what I say w/ a grain of salt. I know it’s all psychological. Why? Because I’ve gone backpacking. You will be AMAZED at what you will willingly eat when you have been backpacking for 2-3 weeks without real food. Not only that, but stuff you normally wouldn’t eat because you find it disgusting or gross tastes fantastic when you haven’t had real food. And this is coming from a guy that eats basically burgers and dogs.
Gabe Kapler says
Ha. Good call, Matt. Starvation as the impetus for change.
darby wright says
To eliminate junk food is a hard task from kids.I try to take baby steps. Two of my kids no longer drink pop so I guess its a win.
Gabe Kapler says
A big W.