07/11/2025
Cut out processed foods for a few weeks, and you’ll be amazed how good healthy foods can taste.
When switching to a low-salt diet, for example, everything might taste like cardboard at first.
But research shows that over the next several weeks, taste buds adapt.
âś… Participants started preferring the taste of salt-free soup over salty versions.
âś… They added less salt themselves the longer they stayed on a low-salt diet.
✅ By the end of the study, soup tasted just as salty to them—even with half the amount of salt.
If you've ever been on a sodium-restricted diet, you know how salted foods can start tasting too salty. You just naturally start favoring less salty food.
A similar thing can happen with fat, too.
âž” The less fat we eat, the more sensitive to fat our taste buds appear to become, which may lead to spontaneous reductions in butter, meat, dairy, and eggs.
Salt may override this effect, so it may be helpful to cut down on fat and salt simultaneously.
There is a brain component to this, too.
➔ People who regularly eat ice cream (which contains sugar and fat) have a dulled dopamine response when drinking a milkshake. Once we’ve dulled our dopamine response, we may then overeat in an effort to achieve the degree of satisfaction previously experienced.
➔ In contrast, diets rich in whole plant foods don’t lead to a deadened dopamine response––even with the same number of calories. So, they help us achieve natural satisfaction without overeating.
The longer we eat healthier, whole foods, the better they taste. Don’t believe us? Go ahead and put it to the test!
See the video “Changing Our Taste Buds” at https://bit.ly/2MmG0aV to learn more.
PMID: 3728360, 21757270, 26708735, 22338036
