Yes absolutely. I've found it's vital and helpful in many areas to understand that perception is not reality, and that it can be changed. This is a fact of human psychology: your brain creates sensations, and your "reptile brain" controls all the important decisions -- e.g. what you want to eat, what kind of information you seek out on the Internet, how you feel towards others, etc.
To be concrete ... in my early 20's, I drink multiple cokes every day. I was addicted to it. Now if I start drinking a can, I can't even finish it. It tastes too sweet.
So what changed? The only thing is perception; the coke is exactly the same. So I've kept 15 pounds off for 5+ years by "retraining" my taste buds. I think that this is the only sustainable way to lose weight. I don't feel hungry or deprived at all. So basically you can train bad food to taste bad, which it should.
I did that mainly by filling the gap with naturally cooked foods that I liked even more than a coke, and then expanding from there into a big world of pleasure. Michael Pollan's advice is good: you can eat whatever you want, as long as you cook it yourself. There are a lot of veggies I liked but didn't eat because they weren't ready available and it was "too much work". (I'd reframe that as undervaluing your health)
It could be partly the gut bacteria thing, but I think of it as just a decoupling of perception and reality. You shouldn't think of your perceptions as fixed. And yes it is an interesting philosophical angle to think of them as NOT "your" perceptions!
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Another way to explain it is via smoking. To some people a cigarette tastes amazing (when they're addicted), but to most people it tastes bad and smells bad. The cigarette is the same; the only thing different is the perception.
~20 years ago I was against the smoking bans because I was in favor of more freedom, and I thought "What next? Are they going to ban fast food?" Now I kinda think they should also ban fast food (not literally, but discourage it). It's addictive, and changes your perception of REAL food in a way that empirically is very difficult to get out of ... to the point that many people die of diabetes first. It's also so cheap that it warps the selection in the supermarket and at restaurants.
edit: I also agree with the sibling comment. I used to eat and snack 5-6x a day. Now I eat 2 meals a day, zero snacking, and don't feel hunger. It's purely an issue of perception. Surprisingly, after 20-30 years of those habits, my body changed its perceptions!
To be concrete ... in my early 20's, I drink multiple cokes every day. I was addicted to it. Now if I start drinking a can, I can't even finish it. It tastes too sweet.
So what changed? The only thing is perception; the coke is exactly the same. So I've kept 15 pounds off for 5+ years by "retraining" my taste buds. I think that this is the only sustainable way to lose weight. I don't feel hungry or deprived at all. So basically you can train bad food to taste bad, which it should.
I did that mainly by filling the gap with naturally cooked foods that I liked even more than a coke, and then expanding from there into a big world of pleasure. Michael Pollan's advice is good: you can eat whatever you want, as long as you cook it yourself. There are a lot of veggies I liked but didn't eat because they weren't ready available and it was "too much work". (I'd reframe that as undervaluing your health)
It could be partly the gut bacteria thing, but I think of it as just a decoupling of perception and reality. You shouldn't think of your perceptions as fixed. And yes it is an interesting philosophical angle to think of them as NOT "your" perceptions!
-----
Another way to explain it is via smoking. To some people a cigarette tastes amazing (when they're addicted), but to most people it tastes bad and smells bad. The cigarette is the same; the only thing different is the perception.
~20 years ago I was against the smoking bans because I was in favor of more freedom, and I thought "What next? Are they going to ban fast food?" Now I kinda think they should also ban fast food (not literally, but discourage it). It's addictive, and changes your perception of REAL food in a way that empirically is very difficult to get out of ... to the point that many people die of diabetes first. It's also so cheap that it warps the selection in the supermarket and at restaurants.
edit: I also agree with the sibling comment. I used to eat and snack 5-6x a day. Now I eat 2 meals a day, zero snacking, and don't feel hunger. It's purely an issue of perception. Surprisingly, after 20-30 years of those habits, my body changed its perceptions!