October Week 4: Deconstructing Your Taste Palate

As we head into the autumn, it is a really great time to think about shaking up what you have been eating. Did you know when we are bored with what we are eating, we tend to eat even more?

As the days get crisp this time of year, I love to pull out recipe books and pore over soups and stews. This year in LA, it’s been too hot to think of hot soup and so I have gone online for some new ideas. I found a great new recipe site that I love that I want to share with you: www.realhealthyrecipes.com
http://www.realhealthyrecipes.com/ 

I also am focusing this week’s coaching on a specific technique to zero in on tastes that you love.  It's a great tool for finding foods that fit that flavor profile without taking you over your calorie budget.

Deconstructing Your Taste Palate

How many times have you been on a diet and have been craving ice cream but instead you forced yourself to eat celery as a snack instead? Think about a dish of ice cream.  What is so great about it? It’s smooth, creamy, sweet, cold and tangy all at the same time, right? Now, imagine wanting that and then biting into a celery stick instead. Is that really going to do it for you?  I think not!  Thanks celery. You are great when we want something crunchy and cold and maybe a bit salty, but as a substitute for ice cream? You’re fired!

If you wanted ice cream and the calories from a dish of it didn’t fit into your daily calorie budget or you didn’t want all the fat and sugar, what would be something else that could deliver the taste and texture goods in about the same way?? Think now of a creamy and cold bowl of 0% fat Greek yogurt.  You know the kind that is thick and creamy and maybe you even sweeten it a bit with a tiny bit of honey or fruit—think of the cold and tangy spoonful touching your tongue and wakening it with the fresh creamy goodness. Think of the silkiness swirling around in your mouth. Mmm...that might do it, right?

The deconstructing food process allows you to take a craving for one of your more fattening food favorites and break down that food into its taste palate components. The next step is to problem solve how to get those flavors and textures in a less caloric and/or a more healthy version.

Take a moment to immerse yourself in all the tastes and textures available to you through the food you eat:

Soft             Chewy           Crunchy/Salty             Sweet           Bitter
Hot              Steamy          Spicy                          Sour             Creamy
Rich            Tangy             Cold                           Frosty           Crispy
Hard            Tender           Flaky                          Brittle             Fluffy
Toasted       Melted            Gooey                        Sharp             Smokey
Aromatic      Semi-Sweet

Which tastes and texture characteristics do you like the most? Make sure you take a minute to think about this. Discovering your favorite tastes and textures allows you to hone in on how to feed yourself in a way that honors your senses and also will allow you to eat within your body’s calorie budget for weight release.

Now, take a caloric food craving for one of your more fattening food favorites and break down that food into its taste palate components.

1. What is a caloric food that you love and get pleasure from?
2. What are the taste components of that food? If my food choice was pizza, I might choose the descriptions: rich, crispy, chewy, gooey, aromatic, salty and hot. What words describe your pleasure food?

Now we are going to find a healthier more “shifted” way for you to get the essence of that food but with more nourishment and less calories. As you evolve your palate, you can move from just finding a lighter version of your taste palate food and take it further by adding some nourishment into your choice as well.

Here are some examples for that Inner Coach of yours to begin thinking about this fabulous way of strategizing:

High Caloric                  Lighter version                           Shifted version
                                  (less caloric and gakky)                  (has more nutrients)

Potato Chips               Pop Chips (less fat)                       Pop Chips sprinkled on a salad

Bacon                          Turkey/veggie bacon                       Bacon bits over
                                          (less sat. fat)                          steamed vegetables

Cheeseburger              Veggie burger with                         Veggie burger with
                                        light cheese                                  a salad (no bun)

Chocolate Mousse       Sugar-Free Chocolate                    Sugar free mousse
                                                Mousse                                   over strawberries

Now you try:

• Your caloric food:___________
• Less caloric version____________
• Shifted version______________

Kinda fun huh? Don’t worry if you didn’t get it right away, this is a skill that you hone and get better at over time. So just to review, mastering your taste palate involves:

1. Recognizing what is the taste or texture you are seeking or craving, then deconstructing and defining it.
2. Begin the process of coming up with healthier solution that incorporates that same flavor profile.

Have a wonderful and tasty week!