Key Messages
Exploring The Science Of Taste And Flavor: Why We Love Our Favorite Foods
First Bite reveals the powerful connection between food and our habits.
You will understand why you eat the way you do and how you can change bad habits that lead to unhealthy choices.
The book helps to understand why less than 25 percent of food marketed to children is healthy, what Japan can teach about eating, and why nearly half of American men suffer from a delusional self-image.
It takes readers on a journey through their own memories associated with food, exploring how the flavors and textures of their favorite dishes influenced them and taught their bodies to crave these flavors over time.
Ultimately, First Bite will help readers uncover the root causes of negative eating habits while providing strategies they can use in order to make healthier choices going forward.
The Environment You Grow Up In Emerges As A Key Factor In The Development Of Your Palate
Did you think that your distaste for certain foods was something you were just born with? Think again.
Contrary to popular belief, our palette is not something that comes pre-programmed within us, but instead it’s something we learn and develop through experience.
Recent research has verified this fact.
Neurologists and biologists alike agree that it’s our environment, not biology, that makes up most of what colors our palate preferences.
This means that if you were never exposed to particular kinds of food in childhood, then as an adult it won’t ring any bells or be considered a “tasty” treat.
Whereas someone else from a different background who did grow up eating such fare might actually find those same elements quite pleasing to their taste buds.
Take the example of sweet foods – while humans are typically drawn to anything sugary, the reality is that what one person considers sweet can be tasteless or lackluster to another individual.
A 2012 study even demonstrated how some people’s cravings favor mozzarella balls or fresh corn over traditional sweets like cereal or cookies.
How Pressure-Free Eating Can Encourage Children To Explore New Tastes
When it comes to feeding your children, remember that they have an innate sense of what’s best for them.
In 1929, Dr.
Clara Marie Davis conducted an experiment where she allowed a group of infants between the ages of 6 and 11 months to eat whatever they wanted from a list of 34 different foods, without putting any pressure on them.
Incredibly, every child ended up trying all the foods, and even self-medicating with food when they didn’t feel well.
This indicates that children can make common-sense decisions regarding their nutrition if given the freedom to do so.
Therefore, don’t pressure your children at the dinner table – let them feed themselves what they think is right for their own needs!
They are perfectly capable of doing so and will likely widen their horizons by exploring new foods on their own terms.
Why Healthy Eating Initiatives Fail: Parents, Food Companies, And The Disconnect Between Nourishment And “Kid Food”
Food marketed to children today is incredibly unhealthy, with nutritionists appalled at the ingredients that can be found in many of these items.
Companies get away with it because, unfortunately, parents don’t realize what their children are eating or don’t know any better.
The issue has become not just a personal one but a public challenge as well, where popular school lunches were full of hamburgers, pizza and french fries.
On top of this, it’s almost too easy for food manufacturers to make unhealthy snacks as they are inexpensive to produce – and a 2013 study has even shown that almost 75 percent of foods marketed towards children had an abysmally low nutritional value.
However, attempts at reform have been made – chefs Jamie Oliver’s British school lunch program and Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign – yet they have all unfortunately failed to achieve the desired outcome.
This is mainly due to the fact that none of these initiatives had addressed the root cause-children never having previously known about food being a source of nourishment in the first place.
Until this obstacle is resolved, kids will keep throwing away their healthy lunchboxes.
How Poor Eating Habits In Childhood Set Us Up For Unhealthy Futures
Due to the experiences of their past, grandparents who lived through famine or food shortages may be more prone to fattening up their grandchildren.
Growing up in an era with a different experience of food or hunger can lead those from older generations to worry about their children not getting enough food.
As a result, they likely give them larger portions than necessary, creating unhealthy habits in kids living in cities.
The extra serving of ice cream may seem innocent enough, but it can have serious consequences like childhood obesity which has nearly quintupled in China over the last few decades.
In some cases, parents’ good intentions can also contribute to eating disorders as infants pick up on being fed for comfort or as a pacifier for crying and associate eating with calming down emotions.
Kids who are forced to finish every bite on their plate instead of stopping at fullness could grow up having difficult regulating casual consumption habits and resorting to binge eating when feeling anxious or sad.
We Fail To Recognize Feelings Of Hunger, Ignoring The Nutritional Needs Of Both Boys And Girls
Gender norms have a significant influence on how parents feed their children, and this can ultimately lead to future health problems.
According to society, it’s expected that boys should eat steak while girls should stick with salads – but in reality, girls need steak more than boys do to help compensate for the loss of iron during menstruation.
Additionally, boys face a deficiency in the vitamin and nutrients found in vegetables – yet they’re allowed and even encouraged to take as much food as they like.
Unfortunately, many parents and adults don’t realize when their child is considered overweight based on age and height – Scottish survey revealed that most couldn’t recognize it until a child was severely obese.
This problem also carries over into adulthood – American survey found that 43 percent of overweight men didn’t think they needed to lose any weight.
So not only is there an issue with parents failing to recognize when their child is overweight, but there’s also an inability for those individuals themselves to identify when their poor eating habits are negatively impacting them through adulthood.
It’s clear that gender norms have serious consequences when it comes to how we feed our children and set up our future generations for health problems down the line.
It’s time for us all educate ourselves properly so we can better protect those closest to us from such preventable issues.
Understanding And Appreciating The Difference Between Hunger And Appetite
We tend to reach for food the minute we think we’re hungry, but this is usually due to a lack of understanding between hunger and appetite.
Hunger is an instinctive response our bodies have from a young age, while appetite is merely the desire to eat certain foods – they are not always one and the same.
As a result, it’s increasingly common for people (especially children) to mistake appetite or boredom for hunger – which can lead to overeating or eating at incorrect times.
But Susan L.
Johnson’s research provides insight into how children (and adults) can distinguish between physical hunger and emotional dissatisfaction – through practices like a “body scan” technique.
To help recalibrate how you perceive hunger, start by noticing the sensations in your body when you feel hungry so you can learn how to differentiate between real physical hunger and non-hunger cravings.
There’s no need to rush into eating as soon as those pangs of hunger appear – take some time to process what your body needs before reaching for food in order to truly learn what amount you need in order to feel satisfied each mealtime.
How Japan’S Dietary Revolution Can Inspire Us To Reimagine Eating Habits
Japan is an inspiring example of how a society can have a dramatic diet change in just a few decades.
In particular, the Meiji Restoration period saw Japan gradually exposed to different cuisines from China and Korea that were then incorporated into the existing Japanese base diet of rice, miso soup, and other vegetables.
These new dishes included stir fry, barbecues, and smaller-sized meals made from traditional Japanese ingredients with foreign influence.
As Japan introduced more protein into its mostly vegetarian diet and adapted traditional dishes to suit their structures, the Japanese diet slowly transformed from one lacking many ingredients to becoming one of the world’s healthiest diets today.
The amazing thing about this transformation is that it was carried out on a national level—and it is possible for you too!
Personal dietary changes don’t have to remain on an individual level; when friends or family members express interest in improving their diets, be sure to encourage them and guide them along the way.
Change across entire countries can definitely happen—it happened in Japan after all—so why wouldn’t it happen within your own home?
Wrap Up
The overall message of First Bite: We aren’t born with eating habits, but rather learn them in childhood.
As such, it is important to make sure that the experiences we have and foods we eat during our formative years are ones that will create positive pattern to carry us through adulthood.
To do this, spurring interest in improving our eating habits and being a good example are key.
The book’s actionable advice regarding this matter is to be a great example.
If we want kids to eat in a healthier manner, show them how much fun it can be!
Don’t just tell them what they should eat, but snack on nutritious vegetables and add some healthy recipes into your family’s dinner rotation.
If you believe it, then they’ll believe you!
