How long to train yourself to like good food?

[Letsurf]

I did autoimmune whole30 for a full month and a half and at the end of it felt hungry, weak and hopeless. I'm a fit male with food allergies and did it to see if it would cure my allergy symptoms and it did. The problem is I lost 20 lbs in the process that I didn't want to lose. My question is how long does it take to re-train your body to like fresh fruits, veggies, and whole foods? I'm used to high calorie foods like milk, breads, and sugars and if I'm still starving after 1 1/2 months of whole30 autoimmune not sure what to do from here. 

[jmcbn]

11 minutes ago, Letsurf said:

at the end of it felt hungry, weak and hopeless

It sounds like you weren't eating enough - which obviously stems from your dislike of some of the foods.

Can you give us a rundown of a few typical days? Cooking methods for foods - particularly veg? Often people are used to boiling veg which removes so much of the flavour, when roasting with a little oil encourages caramelisation which enhances the flavours for instance.... A few such tweaks might be just what you need.

What were you eating in terms of fat, which ultimately provides satiety - it's very calorie dense? How much protein were you eating...?

[LisaZ]

I'm sorry you've struggled so much! Do you enjoy cooking at all? Do you cook with any interesting flavors or techniques? You might try learning some new recipes and using some of the cookbooks with approved foods, like the Whole30 cookbooks (which are fantastic--I've never enjoyed food more since using W30 recipes) and Mel Joulwan's Well Fed books--plus many, many recipes free online if you google for Whole30 ideas. Cooking and tastes are so trial and error, and if you could think of it as playing around instead of serious business, you might enjoy it all more. Of course, food costs money so you don't want to waste too much. Taking a cooking class and learning basic techniques might help with that.

I'm lucky in that my husband grew up in a family that cooks really, really well--whereas I did not, at all (my parents are pretty terrible, bland food cooks and eaters, to tell you the truth). So in the 22 years I've been married, I've learned so much from him and I'd say now I'm an even better cook than he is. He started by teaching my how to hold a knife and chop things, way back when we were dating. And it was like an epiphany! There are ways to do this correctly?! I remember thinking...

Two key ingredients in my opinion: enough salt and enough health fats like olive oil, avocado oil, ghee, and coconut oil in the cooking. Don't be afraid of any of those ingredients, despite years of cultural brainwashing to the contrary. Salt is needed for flavor, and fat is needed for both flavor and vitamin absorption. That makes quite a difference in my enjoyment of foods.

Good luck, and I hope you find some foods you love!