I’m super excited that you’ve decided to take the free 14-day fake flavor challenge! If you’ve stumbled upon this page & have no idea what I’m talking about, you can sign-up for the challenge here.
During our 14 days together you’ll receive a daily email where I’ll share tips, tricks, strategies, motivation & information to help you crush your cravings and fall in love with real flavor, increasing your enjoyment of food while you burn fat.
Please note that these recipes are to give you ideas. Almost all of these fit perfectly within the 14 day challenge but a couple might have to be tweaked to remove any flavors or sweeteners. Let’s all be light-hearted & open-minded here, yeah?
Fake flavors and frankenflavors are everywhere! The biggest challenge we face is that these fake flavors trigger us to overeat & experience strong, consistent cravings. Today I want to share 10 tips to beat fake flavor so you can burn more fat, feel less hunger & get rid of your cravings.
This is the tactical follow-up episode to the 2 part series I did on how our food has changed. In part one, I talked about the changes to whole foods and how/why they’re more bland than ever. In part 2 I talked about processed foods & how flavor is designed to make us overeat.
Today is all tactic. These 10 tips will help you beat fake flavor, retrain your palate, enjoy food mood, eat less, free yourself from cravings & conquer the world (too much?)
I’ve also invited you to take a free 14-day flavor challenge to help you implement these 10 tips. I hope you’ll join me!!!
Is fake flavor making you fat? What is fake flavor? Why does it seem like year after year we crave food more yet experience less satisfaction from it? What has changed?
A lot has changed.
Our food has changed. Whole foods are different and processed foods are different.
This combination makes fat loss tough and fat gain pretty easy.
In part 1 of this 2-part series we talked about how whole foods have changed. We went into detail on what has happened to our chicken, beef, pork, fruits & vegetables to reduce their quality and their flavor.
Today we’re talking about processed foods & how their flavor has skyrocketed as have their addictive qualities that set us up to overeat & keep coming back for more.
Most importantly, I invited you on a challenge with me. A challenge to break the chains of fake flavor and stop allowing your palate to be held hostage by the food industry. This 14-day challenge is 100% free and you can do it as many times as you’d like! I really hope you’ll take the leap & take control of your food choices and your life.
It’s not about eating fewer donuts. It’s about creating a situation where you don’t even desire the donuts. That is possible & I want to help you create that.
Is Fake Flavor Making You Fat – Part 2 –
Break The Chains
There are a couple problems I want to tackle in today’s episode:
Whole foods are being turned into processed foods
Processed foods are out of control, addictive & often dishonest
I want to help you understand how & why processed foods are causing problems, what foods are a problem & how we can overcome it.
We often approach dieting from the willpower first standpoint of “don’t eat the donuts”.
I want to challenge you to a new approach: “create a state where you don’t desire the donuts to begin with”.
That is 100% possible & that’s what I want to kick off today. Relying on willpower against processed foods is like trying to arm-wrestle a crane. We can be smarter.
There are several ways processed foods are engineered to hijack our palate:
Flavor (taste & smell)
Texture
Emotional state
Hormonal state
Brain response
These foods, from cookies to soups are fake, cheap & addictive.
Functional MRI (fMRI) is used to ensure addictive qualities.
Emotional profiling is used to ensure these foods satisfy emotional needs & trigger desired emotional outcomes.
Macronutrient profile is manipulated to ensure that we stay hungry, avoid satiety & experience cravings
Natural doesn’t mean natural
“Natural flavoring” doesn’t mean the ingredients are from natural sources. It may mean that the processing method was natural.
According to the Environmental Working Group, the chemicals used in natural and artificial flavors are often the exact same or nearly the same.
There is no legal requirement in the United States to disclose the components of “natural flavorings”.
Break the Chains of Fake Flavor – Free 14 Day Challenge!
Practical Implementation – How to Stay Away from Fake Flavor
Ask yourself, “Where did this flavor come from?” Is it coming from the plant or animal you are eating? If not, you might want to dial back.
Cook at home
Limit foods in a box, bag or can
Focus on foods that do not need labels or nutrition facts
Is fake flavor making you fat? What is fake flavor? Why does it seem like year after year we crave food more yet experience less satisfaction from it? What has changed?
A lot has changed.
Our food has changed. Whole foods are different and processed foods are different.
This combination makes fat loss tough and fat gain pretty easy.
Today is part 1 of 2 episodes talking about what has changed about food & what we can do about it so we enjoy food more, eat less of it & reach our fat loss goals without deprivation.
Is Fake Flavor Making You Fat – Part 1 –
What Happened to Whole Foods?
There is a combination of factors that have led many Americans to eat more junk & eat fewer whole foods.
The whole foods have changed. They have far less flavor, less nutrition & less appeal overall.
The processed foods have changed as well. They have more flavor. They have more appeal. They are carefully formulated to make us want, even need, more.
In today’s episode I’m talking about just how whole foods have changed. In part two I’ll be talking about how processed foods have changed and what we can do about it so we stop craving the processed stuff and enjoy the whole foods more.
I share a few stories from the book The Dorito Effect including a story about how & why chickens aren’t nearly as flavorful or nutritious as they used to be.
It all started during World War II when beef was rationed. The limited availability of beef increased consumption of chicken. After the war when there was no more rationing of beef, the chicken farmers had to get creative to ensure that American families would still eat plenty of chicken.
They launched the “Chicken of Tomorrow” contest to challenge farmers to produce chickens that:
Grew faster
Were more uniform in size & color
Had bigger breasts
Required less feed to fuel their growth
Flavor was not one of the judging criteria.
It worked. Chickens got plumper, they grew faster, they looked more uniform and prices dropped. So did flavor.
These “improvements” at the expense of flavor have only continued since the 1940s. They’ve also been seen in beef, pork, fish, fruits, vegetables, wheats and grains.
We have more food at a lower cost with fewer nutrients and less flavor.
This has all happened while big food companies pump out highly flavored low cost processed food-like items.
I can’t tell you how often people email me and say, “I’m doing everything right & it’s not working”.
Here’s what I say in response: “If it’s not working, you’re not doing everything right”
You need to keep in mind that your mental construct of what’s “right” might be holding you back because if it’s not working for you, it’s not right for you.
It might be right for someone else. It might have been right for you a year ago or 20 lbs ago. But if it’s not working for you, it’s not right for you. You have tweaks to make. You need to make a change.
Stop getting frustrated and invest that energy in being strategic.
In today’s episode I’ll be sharing 10 potential tweaks you can make to accelerate fat loss.
Do not take shortcuts here. You absolutely need to listen to the full episode to understand the how & why behind each of these tweaks.
Most importantly: only implement ONE AT A TIME.
Seriously! Being an overachiever will not serve you here!
If you want to accelerate fat loss, you’ve got to know which strategy works & which doesn’t. If you implement more than one at a time, you don’t know which one is responsible for your results!
Eat less frequently
Dial back the sweet stuff (even “healthy” sweet stuff)
Increase non-starchy vegetables
Eat more fat
Eat less fat
Decrease protein
Increase the intensity of your workouts (you’d better listen to the full explanation here!)
Get more sleep
Reduce stress and/or increase frequency of stress-relieving activities
Practice self-discipline
Episode Quotables:
You find the answers in your practice, not in your perfection (and not in your planning)
The more sweet you eat, the more sweet you need.
Moderate sleep deprivation significantly decreases your insulin sensitivity
Fat burning is impaired when you are stressed. Period.
When it comes to fitness, go hard. The greater the stimulus, the greater the response. Intensity matters.