Healthier eating - can you train yourself to crave healthy foods?

Read an interesting article on CNN recently.  Find the full post here.

Basically the articles says most of us crave unhealthy, fatty goods due to evolutionary traits that haven't disappeared - IE - Our ancestors spent most of their time hunting for food so eating foods high in fat was good for them since they burned a lot more calories and didn't have food as readily available as we do today.

However, since things have changed and we are significantly more sedentary and have food essentially at our fingertips (in this country anyway), this leads to many people over indulging in high-fat, unhealthy foods...thus, you crave foods like chocolate, bacon, ice cream, etc. instead of salad, strawberries, and other healthy foods.  Most people anyway.

But according to this article we can take over and change the way our brains work so we can crave healthier foods.

 vs.

I really like this idea.  At quick glance I was like...NO WAY.  Never gonna happen.  Besides...chocolate will forever hold a place in my heart.  But then I think about it more and realize...I bet this is why lately, no matter how many green beans I eat, I still want more.  And more, and more.  And I find myself craving salads and healthier foods.  See, I've been increasingly cutting out processed foods and eating more and more produce and whole grains.  Chocolate though..yeah, still eating it every day...because have I told you lately...I LOVE CHOCOLATE.

Okay Amber, moving on.  Back on track.  Healthy eating.

I really think that eating more healthy foods can help retrain your brain into thinking more about healthier foods.  Don't worry...I have no intention of giving up chocolate anytime soon - as I mentioned, it's my indulgence and I'm okay with that as long as I eat healthy otherwise.

I don't know how I feel about wedging your craving food in the middle.  I guess that could help initially to get people to eat healthier...but I'm thinking that you're better off learning some self control and keeping your indulgence as a reward for eating healthy.  That's just me though.

What are your thoughts on this?  Can we retrain our brains to crave healthy food vs. fatty foods?  Seeing that I'm craving green beans and okra right now...(Instead of chocolate ironically), I'm thinking its possible.  Then again, I do want chocolate again...darn it all.  You win again chocolate.

Amber