What I learned during this very interesting 6 month experiment, was that one's sweetness threshold can be altered and "taste" itself can actully be re-learned.
As would be expected, I eventually lost my cravings for sugar. That was to be expected. What was not expected, was that food that never tasted sweet before, began to taste sweet. I thought I was imagining it at first, until I ate a piece of lettuce one day, and it tasted sweet. I thought I was losing my mind. A friend of mine mentioned to me (one who grew up eating very healthy) that she used to sneak lettuce off of the drainboard when her mother was cutting it up, to eat it because she liked how SWEET it tasted!
This realization made me think of a story my husband related to me about one of his former employees. She had raised four children who had never tasted refined sugar, only fruit, as far as sweet tasting foods went. As adults, not only would they pick fruit over a piece of cake when given the choice, but they also DID NOT LIKE the taste of sugar. They actually had an AVERSION to the taste.
I used to be a lettuce-off-the-drainboard-stealer. I still love that stuff! But it was iceberg, so I'm not sure how healthy that was. I also stole lasagna noodles. Plain.
ReplyDeleteI think the best thing lettuce stealing did for me was made me appreciate the moisture we can find in natural ingredients rather than slapping on loads of dressing (which I still don't like at all). I like to throw fruit in my greens for more complex flavors and juicy tastiness! My friends always think I'm being super healthy, but I'm not trying. I just like it that way :)