Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Carolyn on 13/11/2007 18:00:32
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I don't snack between meals, but have been informed by the doctor that I should have several small snacks daily such as raw veggies. I HATE raw celery and carrots, but want to like them. So is it possible to force ourselves into liking an unpleasant food?
OH......and is it just me or does raw celery burn everyone's tongue a little bit?
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You just have to believe that raw veg - like crusts - will make your hair curl and make you iresistable to the opposite sex. The taste won't matter then. You will, eventually, get used to it.
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The mind is a powerful thing but not easy to trick.
Telling yourself I LOVE cellery when you KNOW/are convinced that you can't stand it won't work very easily.
You could try the ol' diversion tactics; e.g. read your favorite book / watch your favorite show do anything that will take your full attention in a positive way while having some celery. You simply won't notice it as much given a bit of time and conditioning.
Alternatively you could also try to dip it into some yummie stuff e.g. hommous, salsa, other dips....
What's actually quite nice is a waldorf salad - finely chopped celery with walnuts and apple in a light mayo / creamy dressing. My fav way to get some celery in [;D]
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww1.istockphoto.com%2Ffile_thumbview_approve%2F3135908%2F2%2Fistockphoto_3135908_classic_waldorf_salad.jpg&hash=7ba23e110f808792e4cf4a789d10c410)
Waldorf salad, here with grapes
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Ants on a log a little protein and celery sticks, raisens, and peanut butter! Yummy!
I have never had celery burn my tongue really no food except redhot chilis and jalapenos that do that! You must really hate celery! Surely you can find an alternate vegetable more to your liking.. I love carots celery and such sticks of vegetables.. broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, potatoes, and Don't go there!!! I love them all raw!! My all time favorite Raw vegetable are green peas fresh out of the pods! I used to shell them with my mom there would be 7 five gallon buckets full of raw peas when we were done shelling to freeze for the year! They were delicious I do not like raw green beans however ... Love red cabbage especially the heart of the cabbage YUMMMMMMMMM!
Check to see if you are allergic to celery as it should never burn your tongue!!! That worries me!
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Oh I also love tuna salad with chopped celery and fresh chopped apples also in it! YUMMMY Split a big tomato quartered and eighthed,LOL, don't cut all the way through then stuff your tomato with tuna or chicken salad with the apples and celery mixed in... It is terriffic! Tiny chuncks they will go well and won't bother you so much!
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Thanks for the answers and the recipe ideas. The Waldorf & tuna salads sound delish! I love cooked celery and I like raw chopped celery, mixed in with other stuff like tuna or chicken. I don't know, maybe it's a texture thing.
So here's how it's been today. Normally I don't eat before dinner time. I usually have a protein shake for breakfast and one for lunch and then a regular dinner. Today, I've managed to have about 4 celery stalks and about 10 radishes. I wanted to add the celery and carrots because they're supposedly negative calorie foods. Usually I can have the 2 shakes and I'm not hungry at all during the day. Today, after the veggies, I'm starving and can't wait for dinner!!!
The celery has been ok, as long as I coat it with salt, but so far the thought of carrots...ugh!
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The celery has been ok, as long as I coat it with salt
Take care how much salt you put on that. Too much salt in your diet can cause soooooo many problems.....
Raw vegies don't fill you up the same way as a protein shake will - that's why you're hungry pretty quickly again. Your body will adjust though - give it time. A good trick to bridge time till dinner is to drink hot / warm water. It will fill you up without filling you up plus helps with hydration and metabolism. It's even detoxing [;D] and best of all it's got 0 calories!
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Why hot water? I drink lots and lots of water, about 160 - 200 ounces a day, but it's ICE cold.
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The cold shocks the system doesn't it. Even my doctor says tap water and that room temperature is even better!..
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Do you like shredded carrot salad.. I hate carrot salad but it is the dressing I hate! LOL~!
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Carolyn check out the carrot link here!
http://www.yahoo.com/?.home=ytff
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No, I have to say I don't like carrot salad. The only way I can stand them is to have them shredded in very small amounts mixed in with other stuff, like coleslaw or salads.
I'm determined to have at least on whole carrot with dinner tonight. Hope it doesn't kill me.
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LOL You crack me up! HEE HEE HEE!
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I don't snack between meals, but have been informed by the doctor that I should have several small snacks daily such as raw veggies. I HATE raw celery and carrots, but want to like them. So is it possible to force ourselves into liking an unpleasant food?
OH......and is it just me or does raw celery burn everyone's tongue a little bit?
This is what you do !!
Well..actually firstly...YES you can't force yourself to like something ewe don't like but ewe can acclimatise yourself to tolerate it...little and often.....eventually...you'll get used to it....hey.......ewe might even eventually like it....but not in a forced way....
...this happened to me and avocados !!
Ok... in the mean time...this is what ewe do....grab a bunch of celery, grab a few potatoes, grab a few carrots, grab a few onions, (grab any other veggies ewe might wanna add too...peas for instance....especially nice sweet ones !!)..chop the buggers up and fry in olive oil for a few minutes to sweat them...add a fair bit of seasoning ......then....add enough water to cover them....(or vegetable stock)....boil the stuff for about twenty minutes or more...or until all the veggie are nice and soft.....then..here comes the good bit....grab yourself a blending thingy stick thing (i hope ewe have one)...and whizz all that stuff into a thick soup......taste....add more seasoning if you wish.....ewe really wanna whizz it down completely....
...if ewe do not have a blending thingy stick thing then blend in a blender but ewe might wanna wait for it to cool a little bit...
...what ewe'll have is a soup of health !!!...you can for luxury...add a dollop of cream...but ....whack it in a bowl....and the next day it's even nicer........
..Now , instead of forcing yourself to eat celery...just have a single hot cup of health soup...add some croûtons if you wish...or a piece of bread for dipping !!..
I know it's not raw...BUT...if ewe cook it quickly ewe will still retain a fair bit of goodness...PLUS...ewe can always add fresh veg to it too...peas, beans, shrooms, brocolli....
...it's gotta be done !!!
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I reckon you can. Most of the food i don't like i have never tried, they either look bad or i am convinced they taste bad. So you must be able to do the opposite.
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Thanks for the recipe Neil. That sounds delish. I'm going to try it as soon as I get back from Michigan.
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Good one Neil, especially now that it's getting fffffrrreezing.
You can never loose with veggie soup Carolyn and change the recipe to add other veg, substitute this for that and you never get bored.
One tinsy weeny lil' tip to be luxurious with a lot less fat: a dollop of yoghurt or creme freche instead of cream.
Yumm!!! [;D]
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I love soup any time! Yummy but double yum on a rainy winter day when your chilled to the bone... oooooooh it is so good!
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There is certainly some evidence that some of our tastes are genetically coded (probably people are tasting the same thing differently - maybe because of different receptors for taste or smell). This is ofcourse different to what Paul is talking about, where he does not like the idea of eating something, but has never actually tasted or smelt it (most taste is in fact smell).
One thing that I can never understand (because it is not something that effects me) is that some people have an aversion of food because they do not like the sight of it (I assume they must have stronger links between visual processing and taste/smell processing than I do).
Ofcourse, you can learn to override your natural dislike for things. I am never quite sure how good an idea this is, since if one is trying to ignore the natural messages your senses are telling you about what is good and what is bad, could that not risk learning to ignore messages that try and tell you what you are deficient in (i.e. often I have a desire for one particular food group, I assume because it is satisfying an immediate deficiency, whereas at other times it is a very different food group I desire, presumably because there are other nutrients that I am at that time deficient in).
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This is why I could never get into alcohol......people would tell me "it's an acquired taste"...well....what's that all about ?
Why would I want to acquire a taste for something I don't like ?
......the only reason I can think of is from a social interaction point of view !!....which probably explains why I'm such an anti-socialite !!
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I think you are right!
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I heard a radio programme in which it was claimed that deliberately eating something you didn't like would eventually remove your dislike for it. I'm 41 years old and up 'until very recently never ate carrots, green beans, broccoli. I tried what was suggested and after half a dozen meals now find that I really enjoy the beans and broccoli. I'm still not keen on carrots and can't bear the thought of peas, but what they suggested certainly had some truth in it - my grandmother couldn't believe I was finally eating some greens!
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Foods which you dont like can be put in your 'like list' Just concentrate on the things you like about the food. and tell yourself you like it.
and yes, First time i tasted celary i was told to eat the white bit as it wasnt as hot. i fell hook line and sinker for that one. It burn my tounge too!
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celery isn't hot... is it? i ate it all the time when i was little with peanut butter
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hehe no, not hot, Bitter was the word i was looking for!
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oh ok. i was starting to think i had nerve endings of steel or something
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0508-the_taste_gene.htm
May 1, 2005 — In the first study to link taste genes to behavior in children, researchers looked at how natural variations in a recently discovered taste gene affected sensitivity to bitter tastes and food preferences in a group of children and adults. Collecting genetic samples from 143 children and their mothers, the researchers showed moms and kids who had at least one bitter-sensitive region in the gene were generally able to detect even a hint of bitter flavor in a test drink. The same group of children, carrying one or two bitter-sensitive regions of a gene, also preferred higher concentrations of sucrose solutions and had stronger preferences for sweet-tasting food and beverages than did the bitter-insensitive kids.
PHILADELPHIA -- If you're a parent, chances are you've had a difficult time getting your child to eat certain veggies. The next time your child pushes away his spinach, it may not be that he's being difficult or picky. A new study finds some children may be extra sensitive to bitter tastes.
Abby Plummer is part of a tasting study that looks at the effect of a bitter-taste receptor gene on food preferences.
"We genotyped children and mothers -- and by genotyping, I mean we took cheek swabs and got DNA from mothers and children -- and looked for the presence of this bitter taste receptor gene," says Julie Mennella, a developmental Psychobiologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
Psycho-biologists, who combine psychology and biology, grouped the 143 children and their mothers into three genotypes: PP, AP or AA. The P signifies the presence of the bitter gene. As expected, those with two bitter genes, PP, were the most sensitive to bitter taste. However, mothers and children with the same genotypes did not have the same taste experience.
Mennella says, "An interesting thing is that children who carried one of these bitter taste alleles were much more sensitive to the bitter taste than mothers."
Which could be why many children have an aversion to bitter foods like certain vegetables. "Childhood may represent a period of heightened bitter taste sensitivity in some children that lessens with age. That's not to say that as you get older you can't taste bitter anymore, it's just a dampening effect," Mennella says. She hopes her research leads to healthier diets for kids.
The study also found children who had the bitter taste gene preferred higher levels of the sucrose solution they were given in the study. Researchers point out that as we age, life experience begins to override genetic disposition for taste.
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I heard (note - purely anecdotal) that if you 'force' people who hate blue cheese to eat a piece of blue cheese every day for three weeks that at the end of the period over half of the group will now enjoy blue cheese and will eat it by choice for the rest of their life. Its not the sort of thing that you could ever test - well you could, but who could be bothered to do a decent regulated test for such a strange theory.
Matthew
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0508-the_taste_gene.htm
May 1, 2005 — In the first study to link taste genes to behavior in children, researchers looked at how natural variations in a recently discovered taste gene affected sensitivity to bitter tastes and food preferences in a group of children and adults. Collecting genetic samples from 143 children and their mothers, the researchers showed moms and kids who had at least one bitter-sensitive region in the gene were generally able to detect even a hint of bitter flavor in a test drink. The same group of children, carrying one or two bitter-sensitive regions of a gene, also preferred higher concentrations of sucrose solutions and had stronger preferences for sweet-tasting food and beverages than did the bitter-insensitive kids.
PHILADELPHIA -- If you're a parent, chances are you've had a difficult time getting your child to eat certain veggies. The next time your child pushes away his spinach, it may not be that he's being difficult or picky. A new study finds some children may be extra sensitive to bitter tastes.
Abby Plummer is part of a tasting study that looks at the effect of a bitter-taste receptor gene on food preferences.
"We genotyped children and mothers -- and by genotyping, I mean we took cheek swabs and got DNA from mothers and children -- and looked for the presence of this bitter taste receptor gene," says Julie Mennella, a developmental Psychobiologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
Psycho-biologists, who combine psychology and biology, grouped the 143 children and their mothers into three genotypes: PP, AP or AA. The P signifies the presence of the bitter gene. As expected, those with two bitter genes, PP, were the most sensitive to bitter taste. However, mothers and children with the same genotypes did not have the same taste experience.
Mennella says, "An interesting thing is that children who carried one of these bitter taste alleles were much more sensitive to the bitter taste than mothers."
Which could be why many children have an aversion to bitter foods like certain vegetables. "Childhood may represent a period of heightened bitter taste sensitivity in some children that lessens with age. That's not to say that as you get older you can't taste bitter anymore, it's just a dampening effect," Mennella says. She hopes her research leads to healthier diets for kids.
The study also found children who had the bitter taste gene preferred higher levels of the sucrose solution they were given in the study. Researchers point out that as we age, life experience begins to override genetic disposition for taste.
Thanks George. That explains a lot! So as it turns out, my daughters immense dislike for veggies may not have been all in her head after all. I suppose it could also explain why giving her medicine was such a nightmare. Hmmmm, now I feel kind of guilty for yelling at her about it.
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This is what you do !!
Well..actually firstly...YES you can't force yourself to like something ewe don't like but ewe can acclimatise yourself to tolerate it...little and often.....eventually...you'll get used to it....hey.......ewe might even eventually like it....but not in a forced way....
...this happened to me and avocados !!
Ok... in the mean time...this is what ewe do....grab a bunch of celery, grab a few potatoes, grab a few carrots, grab a few onions, (grab any other veggies ewe might wanna add too...peas for instance....especially nice sweet ones !!)..chop the buggers up and fry in olive oil for a few minutes to sweat them...add a fair bit of seasoning ......then....add enough water to cover them....(or vegetable stock)....boil the stuff for about twenty minutes or more...or until all the veggie are nice and soft.....then..here comes the good bit....grab yourself a blending thingy stick thing (i hope ewe have one)...and whizz all that stuff into a thick soup......taste....add more seasoning if you wish.....ewe really wanna whizz it down completely....
...if ewe do not have a blending thingy stick thing then blend in a blender but ewe might wanna wait for it to cool a little bit...
...what ewe'll have is a soup of health !!!...you can for luxury...add a dollop of cream...but ....whack it in a bowl....and the next day it's even nicer........
..Now , instead of forcing yourself to eat celery...just have a single hot cup of health soup...add some croûtons if you wish...or a piece of bread for dipping !!..
I know it's not raw...BUT...if ewe cook it quickly ewe will still retain a fair bit of goodness...PLUS...ewe can always add fresh veg to it too...peas, beans, shrooms, brocolli....
...it's gotta be done !!!
Thanks for this suggestion! I made this tonight, expecting to be the only one in the house that would eat it. Both hubby and son loved it!!!! Now if I could just figure out how many calories.
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I have a problem with this question because I love just about anything that is edible particularly bitter and acid things. Sweet things are OK but nothing to rave about. It always strikes me as peculier about how people can rave about one food and hate another for example breast meat and leg meat on a chicken when I find them basically very similar and nice with the leg meat being slightly more tasty.
By the way the soup sounds pretty good and similar to the sort of stuff we have several days a week but I like the veg raw as well