Many people want to be healthy; however, their version of healthy might keep them from that goal. A person’s perception of food will greatly impact their health and life.
Do you remember the expression, “You are what you eat?” Well, it explains why we should want to eat the best healthy foods for our health. What makes us think some foods are good and others are bad? How does our perception lead us to crave foods that could cause a poor quality of life?
People will form perceptions about food based on four senses—solely on how food tastes, smells, feels, and looks.
Taste is very important. If you don’t like the way a food tastes, it may be years before you eat it again, even though it could be one of the best healthy foods. Some people may not eat vegetables such as broccoli or Brussels sprouts because they smell when overcooked. We might choose to eat a tomato or fruit if it feels ripe and ready to eat. If your food doesn’t look appetizing in your mind or like it appears to be going bad, you probably won’t eat it.
How do we decide what healthy foods we like? There are many factors that form a person’s perception of food, including the media, and educational, cultural, religious or spiritual influences. How did you grow up eating? Often we grow up eating what is given to us because we’re told that many less fortunate people around the world don’t have food, so we better eat what we have. Because we just eat whatever is in front of us, we actually could be damaging our long term health.
Here are five ways to form healthy perceptions about your healthy foods and start looking at your food as something that nourishes your body and soul:
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I often hear people say that certain foods such as sprouts or pumpkin seed butter are “too healthy.” That is one person’s perception and how they currently view food at this point in their life, and I can definitely relate to that; however, once a person receives proper and informative education about food and health they might reverse their opinion, and they could refuse to eat foods because they are “too unhealthy.”
Sources:
Baty, J., “How to Change Your Perception of Food to Create the Healthiest You,” Yahoo Voices web site, Aug. 10, 2011; http://voices.yahoo.com/how-change-perception-food-create-the-8921065.html?cat=5.
Mayo Clinic Staff, “Fast food: Tips for choosing healthier options,” Mayo Clinic web site; http://www.mayoclinic.org/fast-food/art-20047179, last accessed Feb. 12, 2014.
