Tuesday, March 19, 2019

testing taste fatigue


TESTING TASTE FATIGUE
I’ve been a dumbass so many times in my life that I can comfortably sit back all fat a sassy and have writing subjects based on those occasions for the rest of my existence.  Well, at least amusing tales to spice up the otherwise boring prepping tropes repeatedly flogged worse than a redheaded dead horse.  I’ve had exposure to taste fatigue before.  And it isn’t like you think.  You don’t stop eating.  Unfamiliar food, that which you do not recognize as food, sure.  You won’t eat that even when hungry.  But familiar food?  You’ll keep eating it.
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The trick is going to be to discover which foods you can eat the most of.  Don’t be like me and eat nothing but one food ( in abundant times ).  I don’t think anyone is going to be able to do that successfully.  I ate nothing but potatoes for a month once.  Then I didn’t touch another one for about five years after that.  Not even French fries.  And that is saying a lot because to me there are really few other near perfect foods like fries.  And yes, just like in Pulp Fiction, fries in mayonnaise ARE damn skippy good, even if it doesn’t sound like it.
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Thirty years ago I ate nothing but rice for a week, and to this day I can barely stand the crap.  I did the same with Top Ramen and only eat that a couple of times a year now.  And that was twenty years ago.  About the same time period I ate way too much peanut butter and I don’t think I’ve eaten it since.  Perhaps every few to five years I try it again and hate it.  I can’t even stand the smell of tuna anymore, and that was from eating it just once a week while living off grid ( I can’t eat chili, either, but that might be the heartburn ). 
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So, yes, taste fatigue is a real thing.  Mostly AFTER the fact.  While you are hungry you just keep shoving the slop down your gullet.  My one food I have found I can eat every single day, even two or three times a day is whole wheat ( I can’t stand white flour anymore.  I can eat flour tortillas and hot dog or hamburger buns, but sparingly.  As soon as I eat too much white bread, it upsets my system with bloating, discomfort and constipation ).  I can’t even do that with potatoes, and that is the dinner with meat carb I prefer the most.
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So, what can you eat every day?  Not bacon, that would be cheating.  Even if you canned your own bacon, you couldn’t afford that.  What carbohydrate can you eat every single day?  Have you actually experimented?  You might find that ONLY storing rice and beans is a mistake.  And a breakfast food probably doesn’t count, either.  It almost seems to be a universal trait that we eat the same thing every breakfast.  Dinner seems to be where we crave variety.
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Of course, everyone will be different.  Just ask yourself what meal or food group you seem to crave variety the most.  I eat oatmeal every morning now ( I can’t put butter on an empty stomach anymore, and dry toast, or toast with jelly, simply sucks ass-so I started with oatmeal.  Coat the stomach for coffee, and eat bread a few hours later ).  I can choke down leftovers for lunch.  But I have a hard time duplicating both meat and carbs from one dinner to the next.  So, take your variety meal and start eating your storage filler food every meal.
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You should very quickly find out if you can stomach that food repetitively.  As I said, if you are hungry, you’ll eat the same thing time after time.  I’m NOT saying that all those beans and rice you stocked will go to waste or fail to feed you.  They will.  What I am suggesting is that some foods are more palatable than others to you individually and will be less unenjoyable.  Whole wheat is mine.  I ate it for two meals a day-complete meals-for many years.  Taste fatigue won’t be an issue with me for the apocalypse.
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As long as the foods you stock are familiar foods ( no sheep entrails or eyeballs, no stir fried insects ), you’ll eat them rather than starve.  So, why am I saying on one hand that food fatigue won’t bother you under starvation conditions and on the other hand encourage you to test to your preference?  Because of your long term situation.  If I am correct, and I always am except for timing, we are headed into a centuries long Dark Age.  There will be no recovery in your lifetime.  Your food storage needs to be five to ten years long.  And you need to store what you eat.
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First, why you can’t bet on a recovery.  Systems decline because they cannot change.  Britain was seemingly wrong in relying on her colonies to feed her during both World Wars, as submarine warfare from a naval inferior almost starved her out.  Then she hooked her wagon to the US financially and food security wise.  She never changed her imported food reliance.  Rome and Greece both declined imperially after becoming vulnerable to imported food.  And now, the US does not decrease its exposure to foreign oil which feeds her.
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Despite history, and despite first-hand experience,  these systems refused to change even when faced with fundamental food issues.  Because they couldn’t.  Systems increase in complexity to deal with necessary growth ( you must grow or be defeated by a rival who will grow instead ), and you cannot change.  Because change both endangers your growth and is impossible because the system in place must be used to support the system already in place.  There is no resources available to support the present system and also introduce change.
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The example I always give is that only petroleum feeds the globes seven billion people.  Petroleum is needed to make all the machinery, and the feedstocks ( natural gas to artificial fertilizer ) and to pump the water and to process and move all that food globally.  And even though the rate of growth has slowed, we are still seeing population growth.  At the same time conventional oil supplies decrease ( you cannot use fracking oil for most agricultural inputs, and at the same time fracking takes conventional oil away from other tasks such as agriculture.  It is like using a third of our grain to create ten percent of our gas as ethanol ).
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We cannot even keep pace feeding the growing population ( former famine grain stockpiles have been drawn down during each year of harvest shortfalls ).  So we cannot stop using Industrial Agriculture to feed everyone.  And yet, only decentralized organic/permaculture can feed us when the oil runs out.  But to decentralize, we would need to go back to the old system of farms surrounding each small village.  You need to remove transportation from the equation to reduce energy requirements.  To do that, where do we put all the suburbs now resting atop former fields?
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There is zero energy available we need to invest in reproducing the agricultural infrastructure pre-petroleum that we destroyed.  So famine and massive die-offs are baked into the cake.  Ignore that at your peril there, Spanky.  Now, having established you need oodles and gobs of food, because Peak Oil famine, you cannot just stockpile a duplication of today’s present diet.  Not for that many years of food.  And you need a heck of a lot more food than you now have.  Most people look at grains as a filler to better tasting survival food in their stockpile.
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I’m saying, get used to the fact that grains are going to have to be your primary source of calories, with only a tiny amount of better tasting food to compliment it.  That is the only way the average Debt Peasant can stock a half decade of food ( or, ideally, even more ).  And since most folks don’t yet have that mix ( 95% grain, 5% luxury goodies ), you still have time to test your starch preference.  And you want to do THAT because I believe all folks are different in your body’s performance and composition.
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Tests have shown that a baby clearly shows preference for the foods it got as a fetus.  Of course, a fetus doesn’t get the actual foods but is nourished more like another organ.  So the taste preference is more of a chemical nutrient preference.  This is clearly a way of altering a body to exist on local foods.  This alone tells me we are programed to optimally run on different foods.  Add in cultural food bias and you might begin to see why it is stupid to think one size fits all nutritionally.  The USDA food pyramid, or the paleo diet, or any other diet, cannot be optimal for everyone.
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I don’t know if our genes actually mutate to run off different foods, or it is just an immediate alteration since we did evolve to be mobile wanderers.  But I do believe we at least have different body types that run differently and require different foods for best performance.  The obvious example is the “corn fed look” stocky guy that doesn’t eat extra but always carried extra weight.  But that doesn’t matter.  What does is that since everyone is different, recommending ALL preppers store rice and beans is stupid ( as is, granted, the old school Mormon based wheat diet ).
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Test for the starch your body rejects the least in preference.  When choice is available taste fatigue is much more obvious and utilized.  Try different foods.  It shouldn’t take long before you lose appetite for the overly repetitive food you are testing.  The one that lasts the longest wins.  Concentrate on that one, to give your body the fuel it best utilizes.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click here )
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note: here is an article/video countering the claim that Evil Socialist Venezuelans are fighting for scraps of garbage to eat.  Yes, it might be counter-propaganda, but an alternate view is still good click here .
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30 comments:

  1. https://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Where There Is No Doctor" "...No Dentist" a book for midwives and etcetera.

      Delete
  2. re:
    My Favorite Breakfast

    I simmer a skillet of bone broth, add left-over veggies, then top with diced smoked meat. One morning might be smoked elk, the next morning might be smoked salmon.

    Starting my day with a few servings of veggies helps me attain my goal of twelve servings of veggies daily. But eating vegetables without meat is boring.

    As an extra added benefit, I enjoy the getting of the meat. A couple years ago, we were out on the mouth of the Umqua near Reedsport Oregon during salmon season; I snagged a sixty-pound tuna. It wasn't biting, I snagged it. We dragged it aboard, and instantly, most of that belly was consumed by the eight of us. [mouth waters in fond memory]

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    1. I eat my one fruit a day, which satisfies my "fresh/raw" craving. Three or four times a week we have potatoes, and no more than twice a salad made with cabbage. I don't get 12 servings a WEEK. Can't see how you do it daily. But it also shows how a one size fits all is BS.

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    2. re:
      'one serving of fruit daily'

      Agreed. Overdosing fructose leads to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, a form of deterioration similar to alcoholism. I temper my apple or two figs with a big spoon of coconut oil. This slows the uptake spike while providing anti-viral calories.

      Sugar in any form is food for fungus and cancers.
      Doubly for alcohol because it interferes with healthy immune response.

      re:
      Servings of vegetables

      Half a bell pepper is a serving.
      Three midget carrots is a serving.

      Bison,
      You mention potatoes. We eliminated nightshades years ago. No potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers. Your results may differ.

      Because of their sugars, we severely limit root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets. Your system may tolerate more sugars... unless your gut biome is disrupted by a course of antibiotics. Or drinking chlorinated water.

      Grains are pure sugar.
      Alcohol is pure sugar.
      Corn syrup is pure poison.
      Maple syrup in moderation.
      Who remembers the taste of mother's milk. We are programmed for sweetness as a reward, that 'no-cares' place of hugs and unconditional love.

      * * * * *

      Everybody! Listen up! How often do you check your Vitamin D level? Wearing clothes and living away from the equator reduces Vitamin D production significantly. 2006, I demanded a lipid panel to include Vitamin D, and discovered I was at '17'. A healthy level is around '80' or so. I was lucky to be alive.

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    3. I don't eat much for pleasure, but for fuel. And I gotta say, your diet sounds like torture even to me.

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  3. Only when I seriously overdo an item do I get appetite fatigue. When I was a kid, I really like cheese. Then someone gave our family one of those Wisconsin cheese wheels (bunch of foil packaged 'sampler' sized packages). Man, it started out great but as I went on, some of the weirder flavors grossed me out. I couldn't eat cheese for about a year, but I did eventually go back. But those sampler packages - I leave them alone.

    Other foods are no problem. At least three times a week, I'll eat a stuffed pepper for example. Burger meat sometimes, sometimes fried TREET, sometimes rice with some type of thickened soup. Like that stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, thinking back, I don't think we ever really had rice growing up ( and a lot of those locations were close to the Sacramento Delta region, so go figure ). I went to Hawaii and it was like a grand discovery. Perhaps that explains why I just don't care for it that much.

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    2. Well, I'm a Texican (Texas born Mexican) so if we confessed not to like rice, they shoot you dead. Kidding - sorta :^) Hispanics eat a lot of weird stuff, but I drew the line at cattle brains. I like the Chinese recipe of white rice, with some vegetables and fried egg pieces mixed in. I can eat that till my gut explodes.

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    3. Wife #3 was Mexican, and she was a Texas Mexican ( I grew up around Cali Mexicans ). Which meant she ate lots of weird crap. Intestines soup. It just ain't right.

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  4. A good way to beat palate fatigue is by making soup. You then have an easy and infinite method of delivering variety. Whatever you have stored or are able to scrounge from the wild or grow in a garden, no matter how small the amount, can go in the pot. A pinch of grain in a feeder platform can yield you meat when a sparrow shows up and you are at-the-ready with your air rifle (what a trade! meat for your soup for only 3 grains of rice!). I hope everyone here has a quality air rifle because unless you are in an area of abundant fishing, harvesting birds with an air rifle will be the most discrete way to procure meat.

    According to old-timers that cooked this way because of poverty, it's a good practice to never completely empty your soup pot but to just add to it daily, adjusting it however you can. If the soup is a little thin on occasion just dip your flat bread in it and consume it that way.

    An interesting aside about food: when Russian geologists discovered the Lykov family in the 70's, who had fled to the wilderness and had no human contact for over 40 years, what the family coveted above all else was salt. They had gone without, so apparently the body can survive without salt. I encourage anyone who hasn't read about the Lykovs to do so. "Survival" doesn't get any more bad ass than what they did.

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    1. A minion re-found that article for me, bless his heart.
      https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/for-40-years-this-russian-family-was-cut-off-from-all-human-contact-unaware-of-world-war-ii-7354256/

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  5. Shop or recon restaurant supply stores or the warehouse club type stores. They have commercial big sized base ingredient items. Usefull if you repackage in vacuum sealer bags or canning jars. Check on those big jug type containers of seasonings, chef's cooking flavorings, etc. Adding some spices, seasonings, Msg, etc will stretch out and enhance those repetive one course belly quencher rationing meals. When forced to eat pigeons, dogs, horses, donkeys, long pork, etc. It will make that transition better and fool your taste buds into thinking you were back at an old favorite steakhouse or buffet all over again. (See the movie King Rat) A minion brainiac that can come up with a cost effecient soylent green or compressed feed cube type product that stores well and carries enough nutritional fuel for at least slave labor or hermitage hideout rationing would become a legend.

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    1. A combo of pemmican with a side of roasted/ground grain and dried fruit is as compact as it is going to get. Can't remember the name of the grain prepared like that.

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    2. Sounds to me that you might be referring to Pinole. Basically, it’s parched corn, with a touch of salt (So crushed corn nuts, more or less).

      For top ramen, I forgot the keywords, but it’s something along the lines of entering a “1001 ways to cook top ramen” into your search engine. I can’t remember now, but I was surprised to see such a variety of ways to cook this stuff.

      If you’re going to eat carbs, it’s probably a good idea to at least consume some healthy carbs, which would be beans. You don’t need to eat tons of beans, but enough for a small portion a day wouldn’t be so bad to store.

      With regards to salt/sodium mentioned by the other poster; yes, many foods have natural levels of sodium.

      http://tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-make-pinole.htm

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    3. Couple gallons of Sriracha sauce - "Makin' RoadKill tasyy all over again!" Yeee Haaaawwww

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    4. A play on the military field rations and Tabasco sauce. Damn heartburn scratched that one for me though.

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    5. 5:35-pinole doesn't sound right, as far as what I was trying to remember. Multiple names? I looked up Kurt Saxon but some of his food articles have non-functioning web sites. I'm sure that is where I read it first.

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  6. I don't eat breakfast, it drags me down. But on Sat sometimes I'll have a bowl of oatmeal with granola mixed in and real maple and real honey and milk. If I ate that stuff everyday I'd be a whale.

    Our regular "meal" here on the compound is supper and I always prepare it, from ingredients, rarely takes more than an hour and our routine meals number about 10 or so. Frequently GV brand canned chicken breast is at the base of it. Chicken soft tacos on whole wheat tortillas, chicken BBQ on wheat hamburger buns, chicken-rice-mixed vegs-cream of chicken soup. Easy stuff. I'm a self learned cook and keep everything simple, never measure or weigh anything, fly by eye. I'm not a picky eater, never have been, but my wife has always been very picky. She needs to go without for a week or so then she'll appreciate food. Our son was a picky dick when he was young, like his mother, but when he got out on his own and had to start paying for it he started appreciating it. My whole lifestyle is getting more frugal each day. I see no way around it.

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    1. Frugal-er every day is both an addiction and soon a necessity. Two thumbs up.

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    2. Right. Heard this one the other day. As people get older, in the 65-70 range, they start to lose their sense of taste. I remember my father in law telling me that about 20 years ago. I laughed it off and told him he needs to come over and check out one of my legendary 22oz porterhouse steaks done just right on the grill. Now I'm becoming him. Losing taste will definitely make the larder last longer.

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    3. My strategy eating a lot of wheat is to stay busy while eating. It used to be driving the donation van, eating while driving ( nuke bread's infamous wet cardboard taste ). I'd read while eating, but that is better single rather than married. It really helps for forgetting what you are cow-cud-chewing.

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  7. ...eyeballs and insects...
    How many Joe Average urbanites or residents of ruralville even know insects are edible or desirable? I recommend insects and eyeballs NOW, as "science experiments" so you can have a positive experience in your memory that you can assist you when you have to eat them. All the insects I've eaten tasted fine. Eyeballs (fish) have a hard center (or front?) part that you can't chew through. The next time I come across some intestines, I'll try those too.
    Peace out

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    1. Tripes stew in the InstaPot.
      Snails sauteed in butter and garlic. (They thrive in planted water-troughs.)
      Crickets dehydrated with garlic-salt. (They thrive on cardboard.)
      Salmon-cheeks stew.

      This may sound like the LastChanceCafe... but remember, nobody goes hungry around me.

      However, a resounding 'no' to wheatgrass. Nor that pondscum / algae popular a couple decades ago.

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      Bone broth. Good for healing a blown cardiac sphincter == the cause of heartburn aka 'GERD'. Manipulation can slide it back into place... after eliminating triggers such as black pepper, white onions, garlic powder. Coffee.

      MountainGuerrilla John Mosby asked for help with elbow inflammation. I suggested turmeric, while avoiding injurious activities. His worst instigator for injuries == being John Mosby. On the late side of forty but not believing the calendar.

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  8. At the library when I spent a LOT of time, there was a book called "Eating Oil" sitting on the shelf - it was what you'd expect - the author noted that without crude oil, a LOT of people would starve. He wrote the book in 1978. We use a lot more oil now. And have a lot more people.

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    1. Yet, somehow he is still a Malthusian Alarmist. I really think our strength is stupidity ( blinding following our species imperative despite the facts on the ground ) rather than intelligence.

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  9. I keep banging on about the need to ensure that Dingoland can feed it's own people without needing imports. Apparently I'm fear mongering

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    1. And apparently that is about to be outlawed. No shame, the US is less free in a lot of respects. But at least we can still buy a shotgun to blow our own brains out when it gets to be too much :)

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    2. Yeah, the Police have started visiting people over what they've said online. Visiting people involves two uniformed officers with their hands resting on their sidearms and a plain clothes detective with sidearm and clip board from the video's I've seen.

      Things are getting very heated.

      Got Rice?

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    3. Happy Thoughts. Happy Place. Zen like state of calm. Pretending he didn't say "rice"

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