Understanding and Conquering Food Aversions - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

AMY: Hello, and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's “Ask a Nutritionist” podcast brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. My name is Amy Crum, and I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. We are thrilled to be celebrating 20 years on air, discussing the connection between what you eat and how you feel.

Thank you for your support and listenership over the years. And if you've enjoyed this show, let us know by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast platform, because your feedback helps others find these important real food messages. Now, let's get started. Today's question from our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook group is, “Is there a way to help a food aversion? I used to love vegetables, but since I'm in perimenopause, that's all changed.”

What are some possible reasons for food aversions?

This is a great question. Food aversions can be very common. There can be a variety of reasons for a food aversion. Some start in childhood. Some can be related to sensory processing disorders. Sometimes they're related to medications because they alter the taste, smell, or how much you salivate.

Sometimes a food aversion can be from a negative experience while eating that certain food. And sometimes it's genetic. Certain people can taste certain flavors differently. Another reason for aversions can be hormonal fluctuations, like in our listener's question. We often think of this in pregnancy, specifically in the first trimester when nausea is common.

But it makes sense as hormones are changing during perimenopause and menopause, that those hormonal fluctuations can significantly alter taste and smell preferences and result in food aversions. Food aversions during perimenopause can be caused by a number of reasons. When estrogen levels decrease, it can affect the mucous membranes in the mouth, which can change the way you taste sweet and salty and sour things.

Hormone changes can slow down digestion, and your body produces fewer digestive enzymes and stomach acid as you age. Also, increased anxiety and stress levels as you are in perimenopause can lead to poor digestion. Taste buds don't regenerate as quickly as they did before, so taste can be altered.

Falling estrogen levels can reduce saliva flow, which can change your taste sensation. And some women report a bitter or metallic taste in their mouth during perimenopause. So that's a lot of reasons why someone might be having an aversion to a food. And today we'll talk about lots of ways to help improve those food aversions.

What is a food aversion?

First, we'll start with, what is a food aversion? Food aversions can vary by person, but they're characterized by an intense dislike for specific foods. And for some people, it can lead to strong physical reactions, such as gagging, nausea, or vomiting when they're exposed to those foods. Food aversions can lead to nutrient deficiencies, especially if they cause someone to avoid an entire food group, and they're just not getting those nutrients that their body needs to thrive.

Today, we'll talk broadly about how to improve food aversions, but do know, depending on the severity of the aversion, this is something that can really benefit from meeting one on one with a nutritionist to make an individualized plan. Our counselors have experience with this, so I'd highly recommend making an appointment with one of us.

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Have patience with the food aversion

So, how do we start? First, I think it's important to remember to have patience with the food aversion. This is something that often isn't fixed immediately, so going into the process knowing it's not going to be solved overnight is going to be one of the first steps. I often see people try to rush to fix food aversions, whether in themselves, or with their kids, and go too quickly, and then get discouraged when they find it's not getting better right away.

And sometimes rushing to try and get someone to eat a food they have an aversion to can make it worse than where they started. So patience, patience with yourself if you are trying to add in more foods back to your diet, or with a family member you're trying to help.

Be mindful of the eating environment

My next tip is to think about the environment you're eating in. Sometimes we forget how much the brain and gut are connected. The gut and brain are constantly communicating, and this connection can affect how we feel and perceive GI symptoms. The nerves in the digestive system are often called the second brain. So, if you're in a stressful environment when you're eating, it can be almost impossible to try new foods.

How you make your environment less stressful will depend on the person. Some things I'd recommend is to be in a setting where your body knows it's time to eat. If we're looking at our phone or standing up and eating something quickly, our body may not be ready to eat yet.

There's a pretty amazing symphony of things that happen in our body when it's time to eat, and we want our body to go into that rest and digest mode, so allowing for a calm eating environment will help encourage that. So maybe that's sitting in a dining room listening to calm music for some people or maybe it's just not rushing and eating food in the car for others. But don't discount your eating environment. It can really make a big difference.

Tips for food aversions in kids

If you're helping a child with a food aversion, something that can help their eating environment could be using their favorite plate, preferred silverware, or having a seating arrangement they feel comfortable in. Allowing a child to help prepare a meal can help them to take ownership of the meal, And allowing a child to touch or play with the food without actually eating it can help them to feel more comfortable with the food before they actually choose to take a bite.

Think outside the box with food preparation

My next tip for food aversions is to think outside the box when it comes to how a food is prepared. The original question specifically said they were having issues with vegetables, and that can be one of the most common aversions. Some people can tolerate cooked vegetables and not raw, and sometimes it's the other way around.

So, if you have a specific food you want to add back into your diet, maybe try preparing it in a different way than you have in the past. Maybe cooked carrots aren't appealing, but if you change them up and eat them raw, you might have an easier time eating them. Raw vegetables often have less smell, and the texture is different enough that it can be a little easier. Maybe a new dip, like guacamole, or our Lil’ Dippers recipe online at weightandwellness.com may be a helpful way to get in more veggies.

Another thought is to try adding them to a smoothie. It's amazing how the flavors of a smoothie can mask the taste of vegetables. Start by adding just a small amount of a veggie you would like to get more of. Think spinach, riced cauliflower, but also carrots, beets, cucumbers, zucchini. You probably won't even notice it's in there.

Another trick I use in my own family is the food processor. If the consistency of a vegetable is what's giving you the food aversion, try putting it in the food processor and blending them up before adding them to a sauce or stew. I often do this with onions and peppers, but you can use a variety of different vegetables. That way you're getting the nutrients from the vegetable without the whole pieces of the vegetable.

I would recommend starting very small with all of these techniques and over time the more you're exposed to these flavors, the easier it will be to include more of them in your diet.

Try a food multiple times to develop a taste for it

And I'm sure you've heard the advice that foods need to be tried a certain number of times before we like it. And while that number isn't exact, some research shows that it can take about 12 times of trying of good to develop a taste for it. So if you have developed a new food aversion, you might need to restart that process of adding small amounts of vegetables that don't sound as good to you and see if a little exposure therapy helps you add it back in.

Find a vegetable with a similar nutrient content as food aversion vegetable

I would also remember how many different types of vegetables there are out there. We often get in ruts of eating the same vegetables. So, if you're having an aversion to, say, squash, you can do an online search and find other vegetables that have a similar nutrient content to the vegetable you have the aversion to.

Looking at the list might be a good way to find a food that you haven't eaten in a while that will still get you lots of nutrients. By the way, squash has similar nutrients as pumpkin, sweet potato, and carrots. So maybe those sound good to you. We're going to take a quick break and when I come back, we're going to address some of the physical reasons your body may be experiencing food aversions.

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Gut microbiome imbalance can contribute to food aversions

We're back and now we'll discuss some of the physical reasons your body might be having these aversions to food. One common reason is the gut microbiome can be out of balance, which can lead to a harder time eating a variety of foods. The bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live in the gut can affect the chemical messages sent along the nerves that connect the gut and the brain.

Our body contains a large amount of bacteria. The GI tract contains the most bacteria in it, but the mouth has the second most amount of bacteria. There are a lot of things that can alter the bacteria in the mouth. Dental hygiene, like brushing and flossing. But another thing that can affect the types of bacteria in your mouth is sugar intake.

There are recent studies that show that the types of bacteria in your mouth can influence the foods you choose to eat and the sensitivity in your mouth to the taste of sweet, bitter, salt, and sour. One study showed that groups that had the higher sugar intake had less bacterial diversity in their mouth.

Gut health can also play a role in food choices. There are different types of bacteria in the gut that grow best when they are fed different nutrients. For example, one type grows best with carbohydrates. Another type with fiber. Another type with fat. There is evidence that shows the foods you crave can be due to the types of bacteria in your gut.

For example, when people who crave chocolate are studied, they excrete a different type of bacteria than people who don't care about eating chocolate, even if their diets are the same. The bacteria in the gut can also affect mood and behavior. More than 50 percent of dopamine in most of the body's serotonin come from the intestine.

Incorporate good gut bacteria

All of this to say is that the type of bacteria in our gut and mouth can have an impact on the foods we crave and also the foods we want to avoid. So, how do we get the right type of good bacteria in our GI tract? One is to eat foods that have those good bacteria in them, things like sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, yogurt, miso, and tempeh.

If it's hard for you to eat those foods regularly, a good probiotic can be helpful to increase your good gut bacteria. If you've never taken one before, I would recommend starting with a probiotic supplement like Bifido. Clinically, I've seen both adults and children be able to eat more variety in their diet and improve their food aversions when the gut health improves.

Saliva changes in the mouth can contribute to food aversions

Another reason people late have food aversions is due to changes in the saliva in their mouth. We talked earlier about how estrogen can cause less saliva in the mouth, which can cause you to have food aversions. Some ways to help increase the amount of saliva in the mouth is to make sure you're drinking enough water during the day. And ideally not drinking it just one time, but throughout the whole day.

The next is to decrease or eliminate both caffeine and alcohol, which can alter the amount of saliva you produce. Also, keeping good dental hygiene can be helpful. Brushing at least twice a day and flossing once a day.

In pregnancy, there's an increase in the amount of saliva in the mouth, which can cause food aversions. In that case, small, frequent sips of water throughout the day can be helpful. Sucking on ice, eating or drinking something sour, like sucking on a lemon slice, and also brushing your teeth with a minty toothpaste can all be helpful.

Nutrient deficiencies can lead to food aversions

Another physical reason you might be having a food aversion can be related to a nutrient deficiency. One nutrient that is often related to food preferences is zinc. Studies have shown a relationship between low zinc levels and a decreased sense of taste and smell. Zinc is needed to make enzymes in the saliva and also needed to maintain healthy taste buds. It's also needed for stomach acid production.

Some of the signs of a zinc deficiency are a decreased sense of taste and smell, frequent infections, cracking or softening fingernails, and a diversion to meat and protein rich foods. If you're experiencing these things along with a food aversion, it might be a good idea to try to increase zinc rich foods, like meat, shellfish, nuts, or seeds. Or you could do a trial of a low dose zinc supplement and see if your food aversions improve.

There could be other nutrient deficiencies that can cause food aversions, and it can be a vicious cycle. If you're having trouble eating a variety of foods, you might not be getting all of the nutrients you need. If that's the case, starting a high quality multivitamin, like our Twice Per Day, could be a good idea to make sure you're getting in enough vitamins and minerals.

And that in turn might help your food aversions improve and allow you to want to eat more variety in your foods. As you can see, there can be a lot of reasons that food aversions can happen at any age, but I hope you found a few things in today's podcast to try that might help you, or someone in your life increase the variety of foods in your diet for your current and long term health. And also so you can enjoy eating again.

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