Food manufacturers spend huge amounts of money, trying to find the consumer's "bliss point". You know the one?! That point where you take a bite...
And it tastes so good...
And then some more...
And before you know it....Whoops!! You've eaten the whole packet!
Such a product represents huge sales for manufacturers. The trouble is, bliss points are requiring more and more flavours, flavour enhancers and sweeteners, as our taste buds grow accustomed to tastier/saltier/sweeter foods.
Monosodium Glutamate, a flavour enhancer, was introduced into our foods in the 1940's, and it's use has doubled every decade since, as consumers are expecting tastier and tastier products.
A product that is low in salt, flavours and sweeteners seems bland to our tastebuds, after they have grown accustomed to intensely flavoured products.
Our children are growing up with artificially high "bliss points" because they are being exposed to highly sugared and salty foods from a very young age.
The good news is that you can re-set your bliss point. When you revert to more natural foods, your tastebuds soon re-adjust, and then you find yourself with the opposite problem - when you eat highly flavoured foods, they seem overwhelming and far too salty or sweet.
I experienced this recently. I hadn't realised that my tastebuds had adjusted to my new eating habits....until I ate that meat pie!
My husband and I hadn't been back to our home-town for about five years.
For five whole years we had reminisced about the little bakery that made the best meat pies in the whole world!
When we returned for a visit, we had a "To-Do" list a mile long, and right up there near the top, was "Get a meat pie from our favourite bakery".
My husband bought the meat pies. I could barely contain my anticipation!! I took a bite. Then another. I ate the whole pie, but instead of the rich runny gravy that I remembered...all I could taste was a strange metallic taste.
I didn't enjoy it one little bit!
Afterwards I felt ill. (Probably from wondering what I'd just eaten...)
It was then that I realised, my tastebuds had adjusted to eating more natural foods, and the things that I'd once enjoyed were now overwhelming and didn't give half the enjoyment they used to.
Try it, and see for yourself. Really!
You just have to eat some more...
And some more....
Such a product represents huge sales for manufacturers. The trouble is, bliss points are requiring more and more flavours, flavour enhancers and sweeteners, as our taste buds grow accustomed to tastier/saltier/sweeter foods.
Monosodium Glutamate, a flavour enhancer, was introduced into our foods in the 1940's, and it's use has doubled every decade since, as consumers are expecting tastier and tastier products.
A product that is low in salt, flavours and sweeteners seems bland to our tastebuds, after they have grown accustomed to intensely flavoured products.
Our children are growing up with artificially high "bliss points" because they are being exposed to highly sugared and salty foods from a very young age.
The good news is that you can re-set your bliss point. When you revert to more natural foods, your tastebuds soon re-adjust, and then you find yourself with the opposite problem - when you eat highly flavoured foods, they seem overwhelming and far too salty or sweet.
I experienced this recently. I hadn't realised that my tastebuds had adjusted to my new eating habits....until I ate that meat pie!
My husband and I hadn't been back to our home-town for about five years.
For five whole years we had reminisced about the little bakery that made the best meat pies in the whole world!
When we returned for a visit, we had a "To-Do" list a mile long, and right up there near the top, was "Get a meat pie from our favourite bakery".
My husband bought the meat pies. I could barely contain my anticipation!! I took a bite. Then another. I ate the whole pie, but instead of the rich runny gravy that I remembered...all I could taste was a strange metallic taste.
I didn't enjoy it one little bit!
Afterwards I felt ill. (Probably from wondering what I'd just eaten...)
It was then that I realised, my tastebuds had adjusted to eating more natural foods, and the things that I'd once enjoyed were now overwhelming and didn't give half the enjoyment they used to.
Try it, and see for yourself. Really!
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2 comments:
I have cut back on a lot of crap food lately, not everything, but a good portion of it. I noticed one day when we grabbed Red Rooster that it was just so salty that we could barely eat it. I was rather shocked by it, as had still been eaten some salty foods, just homecooked ones. Must have been all the additives that made the saltiness overwhelming.
Probably the flavour enhancers...
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