Why some foods Taste GoodWe all know that food must taste good for us to eat it with any type of regularity. So ask your self what makes food taste good? What foods do I like to eat that taste good?I know that our brain is very smart, it is the control center for the rest of the body. In fact you might think of this, The brain sends signals or messages to the rest of the body to perform its function so that it ( your brain) will continue to live on for ever. Our brain strives to be _ _ _ _ _ _ . So when it comes to food; the brain remembers which foods it had to get which nutrients it needed to survive. So if the brain needs, for example potassium, then it remembers that you get some potassium from the super size hamburger with lots of fries, and a large shake. The brain also makes a correlation between those nutrients it needs, by storing a message to send out for a craving or desire for that type of flavor contained in the shake and hamburger and fries. So as we observed in the previous chapter foods that are high in calories and low in essential nutrients , is what causes us to gain weight. We over eat most of the time because our brain is sending messages: Keep eating you are not full yet! (I need more of that nutrient) The food taste so good ( I need more of that nutrient) The food smells so good ( I need more nutrients) Foods taste good because of: 1. the flavors we smell and taste 2. the color we see with our eyes So now we need look at why some foods taste good , and if food taste good due to the flavors. So while preparing our food why not add some flavor to foods that are typically high in nutrients and low in calories? That makes a lot of sense. Let’s discuss Flavors:flavor" is primarily the smell of gases being released by the chemicals you've just put in your mouth. The aroma of a food can be responsible for as much as 90 percent of its taste The act of drinking, sucking, or chewing a substance releases its volatile gases. They flow out of your mouth and up your nostrils, or up the passageway in the back of your mouth, to a thin layer of nerve cells called the olfactory epithelium, located at the base of your nose, right between your eyes. Your brain combines the complex smell signals from your olfactory epithelium with the simple taste signals from your tongue, assigns a flavor to what's in your mouth, and decides if it's something you want to eat.
This is why when we have a head cold, food just doesn’t taste as good.
"NATURAL FLAVOR." That ingredient helps to explain why the fries taste so good. It also explains why most fast foods tastes the way it does. Why Foods Taste Good is from the Flavors.
Open your refrigerator, your freezer, your kitchen cupboards, and look at the labels on your food. You'll find "natural flavor" or "artificial flavor" in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories are far more significant than the differences. What is the difference between Artificial Flavors, and Natural Flavors? Both are man-made additives that give most processed food most of its taste. What ?? wait a minute here I thought that Natural Flavors could not be man made but must come ““Naturally in Nature”” and that Artificial Flavors were man made additives!
Also a myth or the belief I had or you may have is” Natural Flavors” is healthier than “Artificial Flavors”
NOTE: Before I begin to discuss the difference between “artificial flavors and Natural flavors” , I must confess to you that I was an Organic Chemist I worked in a laboratory , and/or taught Chemistry at the University Level for about 26 years.
I used many of the instruments used in the flavor industry, such as Gas Chromatographs, Mass Spectrometers, Infrared, and Liquid Chromatographs. These are the instruments used to detect and measure the amounts of these organic compounds.
I was not a Flavor Chemist, or a "flavorists”
For the past twenty years food processors have tried hard to use only "natural flavors" in their products. According to the FDA, these must be derived entirely from natural sources -- from herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, yeast, bark, roots, and so forth. Consumers prefer to see natural flavors on a label, out of a belief that they are more healthful.
Distinctions between artificial and natural flavors can be arbitrary and somewhat absurd, based more on how the flavor has been made than on what it actually contains.
." Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods. Amyl acetate, for example, provides the dominant note of banana flavor. When it is distilled from bananas with a solvent, amyl acetate is a natural flavor When it is produced by mixing vinegar with amyl alcohol and adding sulfuric acid as a catalyst, amyl acetate is an artificial flavor. Either way it smells and tastes the same. "Natural flavor" is now listed among the ingredients A natural flavor is not necessarily more healthful or purer than an artificial one. When almond flavor -- benzaldehyde -- is derived from natural sources, such as peach and apricot pits, it contains traces of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison.
Benzaldehyde derived by mixing oil of clove and amyl acetate does not contain any cyanide. Nevertheless, it is legally considered an artificial flavor and sells at a much lower price. Natural and artificial flavors are now manufactured at the same chemical plants, places that few people would associate with Mother Nature.
The phrase "artificial strawberry flavor" gives little hint of the chemical wizardry and manufacturing skill that can make a highly processed food taste like strawberries.
A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.
Although flavors usually arise from a mixture of many different volatile chemicals, often a single compound supplies the dominant aroma. Smelled alone, that chemical provides an unmistakable sense of the food. Ethyl-2-methyl butyrate, for example, smells just like an apple. Many of today's highly processed foods offer a blank palette: whatever chemicals are added to them will give them specific tastes. Adding methyl-2-pyridyl ketone makes something taste like popcorn. Adding ethyl-3-hydroxy butanoate makes it taste like marshmallow. The possibilities are now almost limitless. Without affecting appearance or nutritional value, processed foods could be made with aroma chemicals such as hexanal (the smell of freshly cut grass) or 3-methyl butanoic acid (the smell of body odor).
What is very important, in our quest to lose weight and maintain the weight loss. We must want to eat foods that taste good. Theses flavor enhancers, either artificial or natural, will help in providing us with the foods that taste good.
Examples might be:
Vinaigrette: Use a tablespoon of this classic -- a combo of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and mustard -- to top steamed vegetables, grilled greens, bean salads, chicken, shrimp, or tofu
Bacon: Turkey bacon is lower in saturated fat than pork, but even pork is okay in moderation. Crumble on a salad, add to sautéed or steamed vegetables, or use it to top a turkey sandwich. Remember to watch those calories, sprinkle lightly
Guacamole: A bean burrito can taste a little dry — even with a dollop of salsa -- but add guacamole and you'll have a much more satisfying experience
Toasted nuts: Freshly roasted nuts add texture, taste, and richness to your meals To toast: Heat in your toaster oven at 250° for about 4 to 6 minutes, watching carefully that they don't burn. Try adding a little of this to you Rice and taste the difference.
Cheese: It helps if you like stronger-tasting cheese; a little goes a long way. A tablespoon of Parmesan, for example, gives boring steamed broccoli the same lift as it does a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. A pungent goat cheese makes any salad -- and your standard turkey sandwich — much richer.
Low-fat or fat-free sauces Reduced-sodium soy sauce transforms a skinless chicken breast; with a flavor might be to your liking. Fresh herb-infused ,light mayo tastes great with fish; barbecue sauce, mustard sauce, and many others perk up grilled foods
The Flavors available to us are endless, just remember to use the flavor enhansers in moderation and think about the calories. The benefits are overwhelming, when you combine flavor enhancers with high nutritional foods. WOW we get food that taste good!!
Our Brain is very smart and it has for many years associated food that taste good to you with colors, Or how the food is presented on the plate.
Studies have found that the color of a food can greatly affect how its taste is perceived. Brightly colored foods frequently seem to taste better than bland-looking foods, even when the flavor compounds are identical. It is no secret why the fast food chains, and fast food packaging, are bright colors. They are marketed like this due to our brain association with the flavor of foods and their color! People usually buy a food item the first time because of its packaging or appearance. Taste usually determines whether they buy it again. About 90 percent of the money that Americans now spend on food goes to buy processed food The canning, freezing, and dehydrating techniques used in processing destroy most of food's flavor -- and so a vast industry has arisen in the United States to make processed food taste good. Without this flavor industry today's fast food would not exist
For thousands of years human beings have relied on visual cues to help determine what is edible. The color of fruit suggests whether it is ripe, the color of meat whether it is rancid. .. During one experiment in the early 1970s people were served an oddly tinted meal of steak and French fries that appeared normal beneath colored lights. Everyone thought the meal tasted fine until the lighting was changed. Once it became apparent that the steak was actually blue and the fries were green, some people became ill.
Remember our goal is to have food that taste good and also provide the nutrition our bodies need to function properly. Control Your Appetite Without Cravings
If you're like most Americans you've probably tried a few approaches to weight loss - and without much lasting success. The problem, according to experts is the combination of our sedentary lifestyle and our strong tendency to overeat. Most of us spend 8 to 9 hours a day, 5 days a week sitting at our desks, plus more time sitting on our daily commute. And exercise is apparently of little help when it comes to dropping pounds. Even though Americans spend $19 billion dollars a year on gym memberships, and most of us say we exercise regularly, two-thirds of the population is still overweight or obese by government standards. Something just doesn't add up. Overeating seems to be the main problem. To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you consume and unless you're following a strict diet, it's very difficult to "work off" the excess amount of calories that most of us take in. For instance, for a 140 lb. woman to burn off the calories in a bagel with cream cheese, she would have to jog for an hour. And that's just breakfast control the appetite and convince the brain to stop overeating. smell and taste affect the brain's functioning.
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