How come healthy food tastes so bad?

Thai corn cakes with zesty salsa and kale chips

One statement I hear from my friends when we're on topic of eating healthy is, "I know it's good for me, but it just tastes so bad! I don't know how you eat like that all the time!"

And really, it's a true statement, for them. Rewind  my life back a few years to when I was living in London, eating whatever was cheap, fast and tasted good, there's no way I could have stomached a bowl full of brown rice and sprouts with miso dressing and a side of kale chips. My tastebuds were so saturated with sugar, salt and flavouring that if I had a healthy, hearty, wholefood meal they thought I was the ultimate party pooper.

See your tastebuds become accustomed to whatever you feed them. Feed them sugar, salt and flavourings and that's what you'll crave. Feed them sweet veges, whole grains and herbal tea and that's what they'll come to seek out.

Now there's some good news and some bad news at this point in the story! The good news is that every 7-10 days your tastebuds regenerate themselves, and they don't seem to pass on the memory of their old favourite foods to the new tastebuds (In most cases! The exception for me is cheap wine which still gives me unpleasant memories of my teenage years!) The bad news is that a little bit of self will is required here, to get you through the regeneration period!

So in a nutshell, healthy food tastes bland if you're used to living on highly flavoured foods. As you wean yourself off it, your tastebuds adjust and start picking up new flavours from food that you didn't know existed - it's honestly like a party in your mouth once you allow your tastebuds to really taste! Grapes are so sweet you can only eat a few, Kale has a beautiful peppery taste, sweet potato is literally sweet potato, and brown rice is nutty and crunchy.

When making the transition, here are my recommendations:

• Take baby steps - slowly add healthy food into your meals rather than taking away the highly flavoured foods. You'll slowly eat less of the flavoured ones as you fill up on wholefoods - this way you're more likely to make a long term change.
• Add sweet veges into your day (sweet potato, carrot, beetroot) if you have a sweet tooth. This will help you to stop craving sweet foods later in the day as it prevents your blood sugar levels from dipping.
• Find healthy alternatives to your favourite flavoured foods. Lightly salted popcorn or kale chips are great alternatives if you love savoury snacks like chips.
• Slow down when eating your food, and really focus on the flavour of it. You may begin to notice that flavoured food actually doesn't taste that good - it's just that you've wired your brain to think it does!

Now go make some new tastebuds so you can enter into the world of healthy, tasty superfoods! You'll be amazed at what you discover and the meals you can create that taste friggin awesome! 

Raw berry cheesecake - sugar free!