Underrated foods?

I've hated beets ALL my life (and I've been on this earth for a LONG time)...sheer unadulterated HATRED for them, until I blasted away a ton of weight. I started getting out of my box of what I don't like or won't eat and tried beets a couple of months ago or so and MAN!What I've been missing all my life. Beets are everythang to me, especially when they are prepared in exotic and ethnic ways--YUM. Even beet salads I LOVE now.



Don't you think this has a lot to do with the fact that so many of us who have lost weight have dramatically cut back on processed "fast" and "junk" foods and our taste buds are actually working properly again? My family will begrudgingly endure my so-called "healthy" food, but they are unable to enjoy how delicious the food I cook with fresh ingredients is. Their taste buds are so used to hyper-palatable, processed foods that are loaded with tons of salt, fat and simple carbs, that they simply cannot taste the wonderfulness of simplicity.

Edited to add: I kind of stink with the quotes.

yayamom3 wrote: »

Don't you think this has a lot to do with the fact that so many of us who have lost weight have dramatically cut back on processed "fast" and "junk" foods and our taste buds are actually working properly again? My family will begrudgingly endure my so-called "healthy" food, but they are unable to enjoy how delicious the food I cook with fresh ingredients is. Their taste buds are so used to hyper-palatable, processed foods that are loaded with tons of salt, fat and simple carbs, that they simply cannot taste the wonderfulness of simplicity.

Well, I think those simple flavors probably have a hard-wired appeal, installed by natural selection to create drive toward calories.

Aren't our primary taste-receptors sweet, umami, salty, sour and bitter? I think the first two of those are big intake encouragers, the last two slightly discouragers in a natural-selection hardwiring sense, and salty somewhere situationally in between. Realizing viscerally that complex mixtures of those are safe might require a bit of intentional natural-selection over-ride (still easy, not saying otherwise), and the more scent-oriented complexities beyond the core 5 are really more about where people find evolutionarily nonessential pleasure. But I'm speculating.

Beyond that, there are a lot of realms where the majority of people seem to prefer rather simple formulaic versions of (whatever) and not be as pleased by more complicated, nuanced ones. (This is not a criticism, BTW. Taste-preferences in most realms are neutral IMO, not a value judgement). For example, think about wildly-popular music, which tends to be more toward the hook-driven, structurally simpler side of the full spectrum of styles of music. One hears people talk about "educated tastes" in various realms, when it comes to preferring higher complexity, but I don't like that conceptual frame much, either, because it still seems pretty value-judge-y. But that's just me.

As an aside, subjectively, that term "hyperpalatable" kinda makes me SMH. Most of the things so described aren't even desirable to me, and weren't the main things I ate to become obese in the first place . . . though I could still consume the old-school Taco Flavor Doritos with the best of 'em.

As another aside, I think it's interesting that the role of umami ("meaty flavor") doesn't often come up in these discussions, even though the meat side of so-called fast and junk food is pushed hard in advertising ("two all-beef patties", bacon-flavored everything, etc.). Carbs and fats get all the blame, even though meats are one of the prime (heh) delivery mechanisms for the fats.

yayamom3 wrote: »

I've hated beets ALL my life (and I've been on this earth for a LONG time)...sheer unadulterated HATRED for them, until I blasted away a ton of weight. I started getting out of my box of what I don't like or won't eat and tried beets a couple of months ago or so and MAN!What I've been missing all my life. Beets are everythang to me, especially when they are prepared in exotic and ethnic ways--YUM. Even beet salads I LOVE now.



Don't you think this has a lot to do with the fact that so many of us who have lost weight have dramatically cut back on processed "fast" and "junk" foods and our taste buds are actually working properly again? My family will begrudgingly endure my so-called "healthy" food, but they are unable to enjoy how delicious the food I cook with fresh ingredients is. Their taste buds are so used to hyper-palatable, processed foods that are loaded with tons of salt, fat and simple carbs, that they simply cannot taste the wonderfulness of simplicity.

Edited to add: I kind of stink with the quotes.

I can honestly say no...I dine out A LOT and still eat loads of junk foods, maybe as much as when I was obese. The ONLY difference is "how" I eat loads of so-called junk foods. I eat FAR less amount of the "junk-food" that I did when I was obese--FAR LESS and less frequently thru-out the day as well. Example-When I was obese and overweight, : I might eat two McDonald's Sausage egg Mcmuffin, two hash browns, large O.J. and maybe an apple pie for breakfast, I would eat a Wendy's double cheeseburger, large fries, frosty and a large bucket full of soda for lunch and then perhaps eat a Whopper with cheese, large fries, large onion ring and bucket full of pop for dinner. I did this ON THE REGULAR. This is NOT including various snacks and whatnot thru-out the day--I would literally eat from the time I woke up until the time I went to sleep--ALL THE TIME.

Fast forward to today:
I still may have a Wendy's double cheese, A Whooper with cheese with all the stuff--BUT I WON'T/DON'T eat BOTH of these so-called junk foods in one day--only one from these "junk foods or as I hear them called "death shacks"...BUT--I will only eat HALF of the said burger, HALF (or less of the fries and anything else) and drink less than half (say a quarter of the drink and fill it with water as I consume the drink, until there is no more drink...only water). I'd eat that for lunch and then the other half for dinner. I RARELY eat more than 2 meals per day now. I usually eat only 1 meal per day and consume the majority of my cals for dinner and then have a late night snack or dessert. I do tend to eat far more fruits and veggies than I did when I was obese/overweight--I literally eat WHATEVER I WANT TO, WHENEVER I WANT TO. It's simply again, eating FAR LESS (portion control now) and LESS frequently thru out the day for me and I LOVE IT!

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

Lamb.

I'm Greek and grew up eating it a lot. Until I got older, I never realized that it's not a common staple in most U.S. households. I still know a lot of people who have never eaten it. I think it's delicious, although expensive.

Agree with this one. I love lamb and eat it somewhat often (it doesn't seem more expensive if one gets it from a farm than anything else), but it does seem less popular with many.

I was just going to say venison and elk. Yum. Great protein for low calories and fats.

lemurcat2 wrote: »

aokoye wrote: »

yayamom3 wrote: »

I've hated beets ALL my life (and I've been on this earth for a LONG time)...sheer unadulterated HATRED for them, until I blasted away a ton of weight. I started getting out of my box of what I don't like or won't eat and tried beets a couple of months ago or so and MAN!What I've been missing all my life. Beets are everythang to me, especially when they are prepared in exotic and ethnic ways--YUM. Even beet salads I LOVE now.



Don't you think this has a lot to do with the fact that so many of us who have lost weight have dramatically cut back on processed "fast" and "junk" foods and our taste buds are actually working properly again? My family will begrudgingly endure my so-called "healthy" food, but they are unable to enjoy how delicious the food I cook with fresh ingredients is. Their taste buds are so used to hyper-palatable, processed foods that are loaded with tons of salt, fat and simple carbs, that they simply cannot taste the wonderfulness of simplicity.

Edited to add: I kind of stink with the quotes.

Nah - I know at least I and a few people were going on what seems to be underrated in general. I think it has more to do with food culture at a micro societal level than an an individual palate thing. I would also really disagree with the taste bud thing, again, it's more about what we're introduced to as children which is frequently based on what the society around us is eating.

Very much this.

I ate lots of beets when I was gaining weight, as well as now, and never particularly preferred so called junk food (and didn't really like fast food) every since I've been an adult (I did like a lot of that as a kid, when it was a special treat, and when I was also not overweight). I never had a problem (again, as an adult, once I learned to cook them) enjoying vegetables or fruit or whatever else. I ate lots of vegetables, in fact. But I got fat because I ate too much overall.

I consider myself lucky that I was introduced to lots of vegetables and fruits as a kid and taught it was important to eat them and a template for what a meal should look like that I still use. My liking for a lot of these foods increased as I got older, more familiar with them, or found better ways to cook them, and my palate changes to enjoy spicier foods in general.

I do think there's some evidence that people who are used to eating lots of salt can somewhat quickly adjust to less salty foods -- that's discussed in that Sugar Salt Fat book.

I also think it's common to crave what you are in the habit of eating to some degree -- when I eat more salads I tend to crave salads and so on.

I've touched on this before, but I think that it can be very easy for some people to assume that eating fast food/"processed" food makes you fat and that not doing so has the opposite effect (or keeps you thin). That is not an especially wise trap to fall into for a lot of reasons. It ignores that people can eat solely or primarily home cooked meals without a lot of ultra processed (for lack of a better phrase) ingredients and become obese. It also places home cooked meals on some sort of magical calorie related pedestal. In addition, it ignores the fact that people can eat fast food and be a healthy weight and/or lose weight (or be underweight).

I stopped eating fast food when I was in 9th or 10th grade, though I now occasionally will get something like Chipotle - though that happens once every three months maybe (I don't remember the last time I ate there but I do know it was the last fast food place I ate at). I didn't become overweight, and then the lower range of obese, until I was in my 20s and 30s. What changed is that I was baking more and cooking (and eating) slightly more meat that had a fairly high fat content. The other part of that, and this is crucial, is that I was getting far less physical activity because I moved back home where public transportation isn't a reasonable option and I wasn't getting a lot of exercise.

My diet hasn't changed appreciably since I was in middle school, but I have gained and am now losing weight because of how many calories I've consumed vs. the amount of calories that I've burned. I'm losing weight now because I cook with less oil, consume less fat in general (which for me primarily means less beef), bake less, and exercise more. My history of weight gain and loss has nothing to do with fast food or processed food.

I'll add Indian food to the list. Everyone I know in personal life seems to hate it and it boggles my mind!

skelterhelter wrote: »

I'll add Indian food to the list. Everyone I know in personal life seems to hate it and it boggles my mind!

Interesting -- everyone I know seems to love it (me too!). Many of the underrated foods mentioned here strike me as actually quite popular, but that just shows that we all have different impressions or know different people.

Wait... there are humans who don't like Au gratin potatoes?

..don't even get me started about the biscuits and gravy.

lemurcat2 wrote: »

skelterhelter wrote: »

I'll add Indian food to the list. Everyone I know in personal life seems to hate it and it boggles my mind!

Interesting -- everyone I know seems to love it (me too!). Many of the underrated foods mentioned here strike me as actually quite popular, but that just shows that we all have different impressions or know different people.

Definitely true! I feel like everyone I know who is my age (early 40s) loves Indian food, as do most people in their 30s...but all the younger and much older folks I know, absolutely hate it, with the exception of those who grew up eating it due to actually having relatives from India.