Things That Have Failed to Get Me to Eat Better
I’d Love New Suggestions and Can Pitch What Might Work
By Scott Mason
The Problem Sitting On My Pallet
Healthy eating is hard for me. My senses are insanely powerful and finding ways to override them, shift my values, reframe my situation, change my environment, show more or different kinds of self-love have not, pun intended, born fruit. My difficulties are a mix of texture, odor and lack of neutrality regarding taste. I’ll start with what hasn’t worked.
#1. Changing My Environment
In the 7th book of quite possibly my favorite fantasy series, an army that is invading an unfamiliar continent begins by burning the transport ships after making the landing. This not only served as misdirection to the defending force but also showing every soldier who made the amphibious landing that there was no way to retreat. In the case of cultivating better eating habits, that meant clearing out all the food in my apartment that did not contribute to my goals. The result is that I started eating too little. My first tweak when I noticed this after a week was to create a 90%-10% ratio of foods for cultivating better habbits vs reward foods. The result was eating the 10%. I tried setting reminders and making plans to eat the better ones but after trying to manage that it just never got any easier because my cranial nerves are so explosive.
#2. Roleplaying
I tried imagining myself as the hero of my story. I tried looking at the food as a friend that I wanted to make. I tried envisioning myself as stronger, faster and smarter because of my efforts. It isn’t enough to overpower the tidal wave of sensory data that happens when an object comes in contact with the sensory neurons on my tongue and in my throat. It doesn’t erase the gagging and shivering in my body that occurs.
#3. Gamification
The process of making food fun is not enough to bypass my physical discomfort due to the odor, taste or touch of certain foods. Playing with preparation, serving and chewing won’t make the experience of eating any less pleasant. Nor will bring others into my journey.
#4. Mindfulness
I tried pulling my consciousness into another part of my body every time I put food into my mouth, whether I liked it or not as practice. I tried sending my consciousness into my toes, my fingers or one of my glutes. The point was to distract from my olfactory and glossopharyngeal nerves. Unfortunately, these are very powerful and receptive parts of your human nervous system. As far as dating parsing goes, there is no contest when it comes to the flood of information the slams into my brain.
#5. Concealment
Others have tried to suprise me as well to add more mystery to my meals. It doesn’t work. My sense of texture is the one that usually causes the unpleasantry of the experience because it’s a lot harder to fool than the others. You don’t have 100% control of your nervous system based on the power of interpretation. You can’t avoid feeling something if it provokes a working sensory nerve and if it’s a sufficiently powerful stimuli, you can’t ignore it. If a loud noise erupts in your vicinity that is too big for headphones to handle, being deaf is the only way to shut it out. Taste and touch operating on this principal as well.
#6. Preparation
This one may have more options but here’s the list of what hasn’t worked and why: Juicing hasn’t worked for two reasons. There’s no way to fully expunge to disruptive solid textures and juices taste is amplified. Saucing hasn’t worked because I can’t shift my focus towards a different texture or taste while chewing. Heating preparations to vary the firmness, juice levels or aromas haven’t worked either. I’ve even tried washing it down with a variety of different beverages. It’s not enough.
#7. Focusing On the Positives
I’ve tried focusing on the prevention of potential healthy conditions. I’ve attempted to see myself as becoming a better version of who I am. I’ve considered the fact that I will blend in better with my fellow millennials but eating like them. I’ve even tried to see it as a small victory every time I force myself to take that unpleasant munch. It never works, no matter how much I want to improve and take steps to do it.
#8. Tough Love
On the flip-side, I have tried focusing more on the concept of social acceptance from others. Attracting people. Fitting in more at gatherings. Adaptability. The need to improvement. I made sure to do this second in order to avoid undermining the attempt at positivity and being required to undo any of the effects of being a bit more harsh with myself. No change in performance.
#9. Setting Reminders
“You are more than what you ingest.” “You are showing self-love when you eat healthy.” “Treat healthy food like a romantic encounter with the most amazing, beautiful person you can imagine.” “You will attract more people by eating better.” It’s part of your fitness journey.” “Remember to eat one veggie and one fruit a day for a week.” These are all the kinds phrases I have put on my wall in the past to hold myself accountable and maintain self-acceptance during my eat journey. I’ve also relied on callander updates. It’s not helping me.
#10. Positive Reinforcement
Every time I went a week with 5 healthy meals getting down my esophagus, I would get an iced cream instead of my Greek yogurt or skyr. When this didn’t work I tried making it two weeks. Then I tried five days. Then three. Then per-day of a healthy meal. Then I ruled this experiment as another failure and went back to the drawing board. I then tried doing it with activities. Still didn't work.
Possible Opportunities
I am looking for foods have most, if not all of these properties:
Small for minimal chewing.
Small and neutral with the solid textures to avoid taste overload (more neutral than carrots for sure.)
Neutral tasting juices. Those are even more powerful.
Virtually no pulp.
Doesn't fall apart easily in your mouth and develop a thin, papery texture.
Lack of gooey sensation
Lack of a leafy crunch
Where I’ve Made Headway
Wild Blueberries from Trader Joe’s are smaller than a moderately sized Cheerio. I can handle something that’s that small and requires that little chewing. With the minimal need to break the food apart before getting it down my throat, any discomfort from the skin is too small and getting into through the most receptive parts of my digestive tract quickly is a must. There’s also some promise with rice substitutes. That’s how I get my source of cauliflower, so anything riced is another plan for attacking my problem. I’d love to get further insight from this community. There’s no shortage of healthy eating content on Medium so I’m sure I might get some more advice by putting this to a committee.
