Diet And Pleasure: Unsuspected Allies

Frequently, food considered “healthy” is also perceived as less tasty than highly appreciated food but “dangerous” for weight and health. Taste is a predominant determinant of food choices; preferring highly palatable foods (pleasant foods such as ice cream, chips, pizza, fatty dressings, mayonnaise, fried desserts, sugary drinks, alcoholic beverages, etc.) can hinder the adoption of healthy food choices and good weight control. 

It is a common belief that dieting is equivalent to the total renunciation of taste and Pleasure at the table. But that’s not the case. A diet can be healthy, with few calories, have a typically Mediterranean taste, and be good and tasty. Here you can download for free a personalized diet for the control of your weight and very good.

Taste: An Ally Not To Be Underestimated For Our Lifestyle

Man is biologically programmed to perceive and like sweet tastes and to reject bitter tastes associated with toxicity and danger. Some prefer the sweet taste, others the savory one; this depends greatly on our experience with food in the first years of life. The sense of taste informs us about the composition of foods and their flavor; it performs a fundamental function in the process of nutrition because the identification of flavors also represents a useful psychological basis for being able to experience the Pleasure associated with the act of eating.

Taste brings Pleasure, but also interesting protective mechanisms, such as a feeling of disgust or nausea if we eat too much of a certain food. To maintain a healthy lifestyle over time, Pleasure must become the best ally against that sense of dissatisfaction, renunciation, and sacrifice often associated with the concept of diet and which triggers a nervous appetite.

Taste Produces Convictions

From a psychological point of view, taste can be generated and conditioned by many factors, numerous studies have shown that there is a favorable association between eating pleasure and dietary and health results, a diet that satisfies the taste is associated with:

1. A greater pleasure in eating and a healthy and balanced diet, an increase in the subjective quality of life, and a decrease in depressive symptoms both in the short and long term.

Eating With Pleasure connects to:

1. Sensory and social experiences include eating and preparing meals with others and respecting and sharing culture and traditions.
2. Understanding and judging the different characteristics of food: healthy, unhealthy, and fresh.
3. Preparation organization: ingredients, shopping, cooking.
4. Novelty: discovery and knowledge of new foods, flavors, recipes, and preparation.
5. Places and memories: eating in restaurants, eating on the go, eating at home.

It is therefore important that the experience of a meal takes into account, in detail, all the aspects listed above because, as interesting research on the perception of taste has shown: even the best quality food, tasted in an unsuitable context (confused, noisy, stressed in space and time, with unwelcome company, etc.), it can be unpleasant and indigestible.

How To Add Sapidity And Flavor To Food

It is important to limit table salt, but by reducing it strongly, we also take away the flavor of the dishes. Some tricks can help us give flavor without adding salt:

1. Using lemon juice on raw vegetables, white meat, or fish allows us to avoid adding salt.
2. All vinegar: apple, wine, or balsamic are excellent flavor enhancers and do not contain salt.
3. Finely chopped fresh or dried herbs and spices such as rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, parsley, and bay leaves can be used as a salt substitute.
4. Pepper, chili, mixed Creole, sparingly but useful for a more decisive taste.
5. Grated cheese such as Grana Padano DOP flavors pasta, vegetable purees, and soups instead of salt, which is one gram provides 0.4 grams of sodium and no nutrients. In comparison, one gram of Grana Padano DOP provides 0.006 grams of sodium in addition to proteins, calcium, and vitamins such as A and B12.

How To Add Sweetness To Food

To avoid consuming simple sugars and satisfy the need for a sweet taste, we should consume 2-3 portions of fruit a day: in fruit salads, juices, or added to yogurt, thus avoiding using sugar and its four calories per gram. To satisfy the sweet taste, two plants come to our aid:

Vanilla

This aroma is particularly perceived by the taste buds and stimulated by the sugars and therefore helps us to increase the perception of sugar without adding sugar.

Stevia

It is a plant with leaves rich in vegetable stevioside, molecules that stimulate the sweet taste in the mouth. It does not contain sugars or calories, and the leaves of the seedlings found in nurseries or the extract can be used to naturalize hot or cold drinks, desserts, and biscuits.

Even The Eye Wants Its Part

Pleasure also comes from a well-laid table, and a nice plate of vegetables of various colors. Pleasure is cultivated by paying attention to food, eating slowly, savoring the flavor of each bite thoroughly, and eating consciously (mindful eating), giving value to mealtime. To achieve the Pleasure of food, you must not get distracted: eat while watching TV, use your smartphone, or stand up while doing other things.

No To Extreme Diets

A food plan that never includes an extra or a cheat or a freer meal is not sustainable in the long run. Better to occasionally indulge in a particularly loved food to defuse the dangerous mechanism induced by excessive restriction, which is always the basis of a food compulsion. Also, remember to prefer quality over quantity; better little but good for wine too.

Read Also: Lose Weight: Top 20 Lowest Calorie Foods!