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by AtlasBarfed 2001 days ago
Sugar is such a powerful taste that it actually "drowns out" the flavors of other food. So you lose appreciation for the various flavors of foods.

Thus if you pair soda with other foods, those foods need flavor enhancers (lots of salt, fat, etc) to compete for recognition on your palate's sensory neurons.

Since I cyclically try to do this elimination, I get routinely reminded of this as I try to cycle out soda and excess sugar.

It's strangely similar to the difference between commuting by bicycle and commuting by car, with the car mirroring sugar: a rush of power and convenience that appeals to your id, but all your natural surroundings drowned out inside a car cabin with the radio blasting. Not just visual and sensory separation from your surroundings, social separation.

It's one of the major insights I had into the nature of America. Car entitlement is everywhere.

Anyway, I still drink way too much soda. At least now I have transitioned to 1/3 regular 2/3s diet.
2 comments
djeiasbsbo 1999 days ago
Is soda a common thing in america? I ask because while there certainly are a lot of soda products here (central europe), we've been thaught from a young age that it is reserved for special occasions. For example, when the parents drink a glass of wine for some occasion, the kids get to drink a glass of soda.

But the thing is, I haven't had much soda since I was a kid. I drink tea, oj and milk but most importantly, I always have a big water bottle that I take absolutely everywhere... This also seems to be really common. I always see lots of people in public transit drinking from their own water bottles.

Maybe it's because tap water is clean and cheap here...

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inglor_cz 2001 days ago
Absolutely true. Whenever someone says "how can you drink your coffee black and without sugar", I reply "because it actually has its own taste like that".

Sweetened beverages lose their original taste and cluster around a common taste that feels like glue in your mouth - at least once you wean yourself off sugar. The spectrum of tastes of sweetened beverages is very narrow.

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