Can You Train Your Brain to Crave Healthy Foods?

Losing weight and maintaining a healthy body weight is an ongoing struggle for many people, but what if we could train our brains to crave healthier foods so we could finally get rid of those unwanted pounds? The question is one that researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Tufts University in Massachusetts set out to answer in a recent six-month study, and the results are pretty promising!

According to the study authors, we learn to crave certain foods over time just by eating them repeatedly—but the behavior can be reversed in much the same way. For example, if you start to eat a kale salad and grilled chicken every day for lunch instead of that greasy burger and fries, your brain will eventually begin to crave the salad over the burger.

Previous research already tells us that high-fat, sugary foods trigger a “reward” response in the brain. Just like cigarettes or alcohol, these foods are addictive—so the more you eat them, the more you want them. However, this new study tracked more than a dozen overweight men and women as they took part in a specially developed weight loss program to see how the brain would react to gradual, deliberate change in eating habits.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans, researchers noted changes in the brain’s reward center over the six-month period. Specifically, there was an increased reward associated with healthy food cues and a decreased reward seen with unhealthy food cues—indicating that we can increase our desire for healthier food choices simply by repeatedly making healthier diet choices.

Ready to retrain your brain? Here are 6 simple tips for improving your diet quality and making healthier choices about what you put on your plate!

1. Eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables and low-sugar fruits
2. Eliminate sugar, refined carbohydrates and grains
3. Eat healthy fats such as Omega-3 (fish oil), Omega-9 (olive oil), and medium-chain triglyceride saturated fat (coconut oil)
4. Reduce your intake of unhealthy Omega-6 fats (mostly vegetable oil)
5. Eat at least 12 portions of lean protein daily
6. Eat fermented foods, which contain beneficial bacteria