Serious Business: Better living through candy

Can things that are bad for you help you enjoy things that are good for you?

People often express surprise that a registered dietitian is this dedicated to writing about candy, but for me, it all makes sense.

Part of it is that Zen thing I do; there’s value in finding balance, and sometimes things look unbalanced on their way to balanced. That’s not really how it is, but that is how it looks.

Another part, though, is that I believe being willing to taste new things is the foundation of good nutrition. A lot of us struggle with that, but if you think you might want to try to eat healthier, you’re going to need to engage in some serious data collection. You probably think you already know what you like, but do you know why? Pay close attention to your experience of tasting, and you might find more nuance there than you’ve previously noticed.

But, trying new things can be stressful. People often literally bite off more than they can chew, try to plan to cook every night when they haven’t been in the habit of cooking…ever…and they’re setting themselves up for a backfire. We don’t know how to shop properly, or prep properly, or cook properly, and after a dinner disaster or two, the rest of the fresh vegetables add insult to injury by rotting in the crisper. It’s a huge disappointment to feel we’ve wasted money and effort, and to have had to eat something we didn’t like to boot.

For a few conditions, like celiac disease or kidney failure, a person might have to make drastic, overnight changes to their diet, so you should talk to your doctor or dietitian about what’s best for you, but it’s rare that nutrition is an emergency. It takes time to find recipes that fit your dietary guidelines that you’ll also like, and that’s okay —understanding your own palate can shorten that process. And trying something non-threatening, knowing you might not like it, gives you a golden opportunity to learn something about yourself that you can leverage to save money and eat a bit healthier, without all the guilt.

So pick a fun thing like a weird cracker or the pickle jelly beans above, and try these tasting tips:

• If you can, taste with at least one other person. One of the most fascinating things about food is that there are big differences in perception from one person to another. Talking about your respective responses may surprise you.

• If there are kids/sensitive tasters around, gently encourage them to join in at their comfort level. A gentle experience with tasting something you might not like, and the freedom to say “No thank you,” is important to the development of a more adventurous palate.

Am I, a nutrition expert, saying candy could be a gateway to more vegetables? Yes.

You know what, before we move on, let me walk back that part about “non-threatening,” because these pickle jelly beans are absolutely out to get me personally. I’m not sure what I did, but vengeance is theirs.

• Especially if you happen to be tasting alone, consider making this a structured tasting experience. Lay them out on a nice plate. Have a glass of water and a napkin handy.

• Close your eyes for a minute. Find a comfortable position. Now, pay attention to each of your senses. Notice colors, aromas and textures as you choose your poison, even before you taste.

• Assuming you can tolerate it, chew slowly. What flavors do you notice? What do they remind you of? Pick apart the elements in your mind. Do they work together or clash? Do they rise and fall in prominence? Linger? Flavor is not a monolith.

Except the pickle jelly beans. They are a monolith of kosher dill. I really expected bread and butter or sweet gherkin, but I was sorely, painfully wrong.

• However you approach this tasting, you may notice that it informs your future culinary experiences. Use what you’ve learned about your own sense habits and preferences, and others’, to really taste your food.

Is this my way of saying the pickle jelly beans will return to you unbidden, a comestible poltergeist of sense memory, when you least expect it, both in nightmares and in waking hours, to the end of your days? Also yes.

It says sugar on the label, but they aren’t very sweet. You could put these on a hamburger and no one would notice.

I’m pretty sure there is garlic in them.

Pickle too much for you or your victims children? Brach’s has an Easter Brunch assortment right now that’s pretty fun — Berry smoothie, Mimosa, Cinnamon Roll, Blueberry Maple Pancakes, Caramel Cold Brew, Chocolate Glazed Donut. Can you guess the flavor without looking at the bag? Which ones do you like, or despise?

Sometimes when I talk about nutrition this way, a few people find a way to make it justify eating whatever they want. That’s definitely not what I’m trying to encourage. A big component of the process here is intent. Are you setting an intention to examine your experience and response to eating something that is not, strictly speaking, in line with the diet that has been recommended to you by your medical provider, in order to improve your choices in the future? In that case, it might serve my ultimate hope that you use food as one tool to care for yourself, in addition to it being entertainment, comfort, tradition, and the rest. You can’t cheat at mindfulness practice.

Well, you can…but it will just take longer, and the only person you’re cheating? It’s you.

So, use those tips above to try tasting with an open heart. Notice your feelings…

And that brings me to a caveat. Sometimes, especially if there is memory or fear tied up in a food or the process of eating, the feelings we experience may be too big or upsetting to handle ourselves. If you notice this, ask for help. Friends, family, clergy, medical teams, and therapists are all good supports to have.

Even if you already like all the foods and are having an easy time following nutrition recommendations to help manage your health and chronic disease risk, tasting in this way, observing your experiences in an area where you’re finding things easy to do, can help inform your approach to things you find it hard to do. If you find it hard to exercise, for example, how does your habitual thinking differ when you meal plan versus try to get yourself to exercise? You might find areas where you need to be more compassionate to yourself, and find a new way to encourage taking good care.

One way to take good care is to buy a bag of the pickle jelly beans

…and then give them away.

I’m not saying you should fill plastic eggs with them for the neighborhood egg hunt. I’m just saying you could.

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