Tasty Foods & Willpower

Tasty Foods & Willpower

Think back to your childhood and imagine the things you craved or devoured. Here’s a reminder of some of the hyper-palatable foods that exist in the amazing United States: Cheez-Its, Doritos, Oreos, Starburst, Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips, and powdered iced tea galore. Over the past decade, I’ve learned one thing about having super tasty foods at home or shopping while hungry — if you’re new to this or still building your habits, you’re likely to give in to buying or eating them.

Technological advancements haven’t skipped over food. In fact, there are food scientists — some who used to work for cigarette companies — specifically tasked with making food as tasty as possible to trigger a response from you. We've evolved to respond to fatty tastes (hyper-caloric), salty tastes (electrolytes and hyper-palatability), and sweetness (hyper-caloric, carb-heavy). In the wild, the fattiness of meat, the salt in food, and the sweetness of ripe fruit signaled solid energy sources. Today, hyper-processed snacks are designed to exploit those instincts, making it hard to stick to a single serving.

You're up against modern science if you’re trying to resist a giant bag of Doritos at home every day. While you can eventually develop an indomitable willpower, in the beginning, sprinkling in trigger foods can set you up for failure. There are many schools of thought on this, but if a food repeatedly triggers certain behaviors and it's heavily processed, it might be time to pause its presence in your life.

When starting a fat loss phase or aiming to create a change, it’s in your best interest to take a break from hyper-processed foods and re-sensitize your palate to the taste of well-cooked meat, ripe fruit (in moderation as a carbohydrate source), and healthy fats like avocados. Constantly indulging in ice cream bars, Oreos, or chips will dull your appreciation for real food.

Reset your palate and recognize how self-sabotaging it can be to try and make margaritas fit into your diet. Certain things just don’t align with your shift in focus and goals. This takes time, so don’t overwhelm yourself. Realize that old habits die hard, and making things easy and enjoyable is key to lasting success.