Maturing the Palette

     How does one go from snack-cake addict and penny candy feign, to creme brulee connoisseur?  Why do some of us move away from our childhood favorites never to return, while others never kick the skittles and twinkies habit. Is it a mere "biological lottery" as is who will grow tall?  Or is this concept shaped by exposure.  I propose a theory.. It is a mixture of nature and nurture, but more on the side of nurture.  We can chose which foods,(and by "foods" I obviously mean sweets) we expose ourselves to and consequently which ones we grow to love.  Thus the phrase "acquired taste".  So since cupcakes and lemon bars aren't exactly "health foods"  I say instead of trying to "healthy" them up ( and ruin the whole idea!)  Just be choosy about what, and how much you eat.  There is no reason for any of us to blow up on brownies, just because someone brought them into the office.  Do those brownies REALLY deserve you? Do they? Or are they just there?  Be too good for just any sweet and relish the sweets that make the cut.  Enough with the "less calorie cheescake" either eat it or don't.  Evolve your palette to be above just any sugar snack.  No more gas station cookies( unless they are FAB. then I need to know about them pronto!)  And if you want to improve, switch to dark chocolate.  The really dark good stuff is loaded with anti-oxidants which of course negate all negative effects whatsoever.  That's my theory. 

     And it's totally doable.( that is a word)  I had an Oreo addiction so bad growing up that I would wake up in the middle of the night and feed my face.  When I got married, if we were out of Oreos I would actually get agitated.  That's about when i realized I had a problem, ( I gave myself an intervention) and began cutting myself off.  I would reward my self with really good dessert, like cake from a bakery (not the grocery store) if I had gone a while with out the Oreos.  Now I don't really eat them at all.  They taste kinda "chemically"(also a word).  Now that I have gotten used to butter and sugar...high fructose corn syrup and palm oil just don't cut it.  So, we as a society can mature our palettes and demand better stuff.  Cuz better stuff is well...better.