DAY 180 - Why do we like and dislike certain foods?

 

Why do we like and dislike certain foods?

I  have recently been on a ridiculous diet for a few months regarding my thyroid’s hyper activity . I say ridiculous, because I could not eat any of the food I liked. It was very hard for me, but I did it. While I was on this diet I missed my usual foods  - like burgers, steak or the occasional take-aways and even corn.  What I missed most was coffee – it was not part of my diet. The food I could eat was not bad or anything – it was just very plain and not what I was used to.

I resumed eating normal again and noticed something very anti-climactic. I used to really like drinking coke, but had to stop drinking it since sugar and carbonated drinks were not part of the diet. So I had my first coke in a long time and I expected it to be very good, but it was not. It was too sweet and tasted like brown sugar water. I do not drink coke anymore. When I had my first burger the same thing happened. It was not as I imagined it to be – it was not bad or anything – simply a burger. My diet was excluding any processed foods as well as gluten, milk and many others so I ate whole foods. You have no idea how many items in the shops have gluten in them.

I am now at a stage where I no longer want any take-aways or coke which I really liked before going onto the diet. Coke had lost its magic for me – it no longer has a hold on me lol. No, it is more that going without sugar my body got used to/liked minimal sugar and coke is like a sugar overload.  Now I can feel that my body does not like so much sugar. My tastebuds activate with joy and pleasure with sugar – but the body says NO. The best was drinking coffee again - still do and its still good.

When I was a kid I did not like broccoli – it seems it is a kid thing not to like broccoli/veggies. It was obviously good for the body, but tasted horrible. If I look back now I would say sugar is to blame for this. I ate sweets and had kids cereal – kids cereal like “coco-pops” say “it is good for you” with all that added vitamins, but a bowl is like 30% sugar and I always added more sugar to the mix to make it taste real good. The sugar does more harm that the vitamins do good. So broccoli does not taste nearly as good as a bowl of sugar and thus I did not like broccoli. I do however eat it now.

Did you have a similar experience where sugar determined what you like and disliked? Would be interesting to go back and see exactly why you do not like a particular food – like broccoli.