You won’t lose weight if you don’t like the food you have to eat

A resourceful child in my daughter’s fifth grade class wrote an essay on a break-through weight loss surgery.

She hypothesized that if a surgeon could flip taste buds upside down it would be easy to lose weight.The theory was patients who had the procedure would no longer like the taste of food that makes them fat.

Surgically flipped tastebuds to change the way food tastes for easy weight loss!

Surgically flipped tastebuds to change the way food tastes for easy weight loss!

She went on to write that the food that makes you lose weight – like broccoli – would taste good, and food that makes you fat – like ice cream – would taste bad.

After the surgery patients would want to eat lots of broccoli and little or no ice cream. That’s the answer to easy weight loss!

Mmmmm! Broccoli, my favorite treat!

Mmmmm! Broccoli, my favorite treat!

She got one thing right. Eating unpalatable food is not the way to lose weight.

Her flipping taste buds, from the perspective of changing how food tastes, was a sound idea. That logic however, is something that many people who are trying very hard to lose weight don’t understand. Food that doesn’t taste good to you isn’t the answer to successful weight management. It flies in the face of nature.

We’re put on Earth to eat food that tastes good and that’s the problem for some of us. There is more good-tasting food on Earth now than anytime in its history. It’s a problem made worse by how easily accessible good-tasting food is almost everywhere.

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Plentiful, tasty food within arms reach every hour of every day. It doesn’t even require any exertion to get it. No wonder so many people struggle with their weight!

Despite the problem being all this good food surrounding us and making us fat, eschewing the food that tastes good to us won’t help us manage our weight.

It might work for a little while, but humans being animals with a strong drive for pleasure (yummy food!) and an equally strong drive to avoid pain (eating yucky food when you know there’s yummy food you could be eating instead!) find it impossible to eat this way for very long.

It sounds like I’m building a case for failing at weight loss. I’m not, but I am encouraging people who think that enjoying food makes them fat to change their limiting belief. If that’s your belief, think about this. How much easier would it be to lose weight if you believed you deserved, and it was possible, to eat good-tasting food while losing weight?

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I’m not suggesting you eat what doesn’t taste good and pretend that it does. I’m saying “take a whole new approach to eating.”

Here are 5 steps to making weight loss easier by eating what you love!

  1. Explore ways to reduce calories in favorite foods without sacrificing flavor.
  2. Eat more of the fruits and vegetables you already know you enjoy. If it’s potatoes and bananas, don’t worry. They won’t make you fat!
  3. Try new fruits and vegetables to find more good-tasting produce
  4. Don’t force yourself to eat what you don’t like because “it’s good for you.” No one food is so good for you it can make a difference to your health just by eating it. You can get the same nutrients and health benefits from more than one food. Fish is good for your heart but if you don’t like fish, how about walnuts? They’re good for your heart too because they, like fish, contain omega-3 fats.
  5. Eat your favorite foods just the way you like them without changing the recipe. Reduce the frequency and limit serving size.

Eat only good food! Now there is a plan for weight loss success that doesn’t require taste bud flipping surgery!

 

 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.