A Matter of Taste

Do you ever munch, and munch, and keep on munching when you are not even hungry? Many times we blame emotions or compulsive behavior on why we overeat. But there may be simple, logical reasons too. Sometimes it has little to do with emotion, and all to do with our physical reaction to food.

Our tastes buds are one of the biggest reasons we eat. Do you ever eat a salty, garlicky dinner, and spend the subsequent hour nibbling on more foods to get rid of that aftertaste? Sometimes a simple need to cleanse our palate gives us reason to overeat.

Then there’s the food-that’s-so-good-I-can’t-stop-eating-it. Lay's Sour Cream and Onion potato chips used to the have the slogan, “No one can eat just one”—and they were probably right. Foods that are temporarily addicting usually have salty and savory flavors. As soon as our taste buds get a sample, they crave more. A cleansing of the palate would be the solution here too.

See the two lists bellow. “Problem foods” are foods and flavors that may cause a person to overeat, based on after-taste or a temporary taste-bud craving. Note that not all these foods are bad foods—some of them are quite nutritious. “Solution foods” are foods and flavors that will help cleanse the palate, and to help stop the momentum of snacking.

PROBLEM FOODS	SOLUTION FOODS
Artificial sweeteners	Apple
Cheerios	Celery
Cheese	Cucumber
Chili peppers	Fruit sorbet
Chocolate	Grapefruit
Curry	Green pepper
Coffee	Gum
Garlic	Lemon
Milk	Lime
MSG	Lotus tea
Onions	Mint
Potato chips	Orange
Salad dressing	Parsley
Salty foods	Toothpaste
Soda pop	Water
Spicy foods