When you’re trying to eat healthier, what kills at times is the flavor. Some of the foods simply don’t taste as good as what you were consuming in the past. And that’s hard. I don’t think there are many of us who honestly eat to live. We live to eat. We love the flavors and habit and sociability of food. Yours truly included. I don’t simply shove food in my face to survive. I want to love what I eat. I can’t eat simply because I know it’s good for me. I eat for enjoyment and flavor … and health.

Thankfully, I do love what I eat these days. And it’s healthy. I figured out how both of those descriptions can exist in much of what I eat. Not all, nope. I’m not perfect. I’m not aiming to be perfect. I’m aiming to be well. And lots of healthy food coupled with some junky food doesn’t hurt me.

What I’ve always said, in getting to this place, is that you have to have a bit of patience. Throughout the process, there will be adjustment. Healthy food item x might not taste that great to you moment one. But, if you can find ways to enjoy it, delete more of the junky stuff, you’ll get there. Taste buds change.

But what led me to being curious about what actually happens to our taste buds was an experience of my own recently. I had eaten a couple sugary things one day. (Reference above!) No big deal. What happened that shocked me, though, was that, just a day or two later, I had something that I previously thought was the best-thing-ever, and it tasted … blah. Okay but not great. It was the exact same item. Earlier in the week I had LOVED it. What happened? I couldn’t believe there could be that big of a difference in just a couple days and with eating just a couple sugary items.

So I got on ye ol’ ‘net and researched. And found a study proving that a variety of people, given sugary drinks, ended up with what they called diluted taste buds. Meaning they didn’t have the taste for healthy foods that they would have because their taste buds were dulled by the sugar hit. They also craved sugary things more, which I’ve found to be the case, too. Go too far with sugary things and the whole thing tips over into Sugar Land.

There you have it. The other risk of eating too much sugar besides all the other health risks of having too much sugar: You can’t taste healthy food anymore. Then you don’t end up wanting healthy food. You want your sugar fix, which doesn’t just mean soda and dessert. It means you crave all the other gunk that food manufacturers are sticking sugar in. From fast food to salad dressings to ketchup to stuffing to whatever. Places I never add sugar when I cook from scratch. Wonder why the food manufacturers and fast food companies do it, huh? (Said sarcastically. I definitely can imagine why it’s in their best interest, from preserving that food so it’ll last forever to getting you addicted to it and eating more.)

Undull your taste buds. When you do, healthy foods can start tasting awesome. Then you don’t have to feel deprived eating. No one loves that. When I skip most sugar, I can have an orange, and think that thing is the bomb. But when I’ve had more sugar, do I want an orange? Oh, hell, no! What’s worse is — and the study showed this, too — the more sugar you eat, the more sugar you want. You’re just not satisfied without it. You know how you’re not happy after a meal until you have that sweet finish? That’s part of it. Sugar has a high addiction ability. A study showed it to be eight times more addictive than cocaine. That always scares me. I don’t want to be addicted to anything.

Today’s American, on average, consumes 90 to 180 pounds of sugar per year. Oh.my.God. A century ago, you know what that amount was? One pound. One little bitty pound of sugar. And we wonder why disease and weight issues are so prevalent?

Make the effort to preserve your normal/smart taste buds. Make healthy eating easier. Save your health. Your sugar addiction will fade away in less time than you can imagine, but you have to rather cold turkey it at first. When I course correct after holidays or so, I only have dark chocolate to kind of ease the pain. It doesn’t really take that long before I’m not pining after dessert like it’s a hunky guy on a romance novel. It’s worth it. I save my health; I don’t find myself surfing endlessly for a hit of something sweet. I eat; enjoy it; go about my day. It’s easier.