5 Sensory Perceptions To Eat Healthier

Gayatri Kashelkar explains how sensory perceptions are crucial for an enriching eating experience

Our five sensory organs - the eyes, nose, tongue, ear and the skin (sense of touch) play an important role in living a healthy life. It is through these five senses that we perceive our surroundings and understand what is healthy and better for us. This holds especially true when it comes to food. Our sensory perceptions play an important role in our food preferences, right from choosing what to eat to how much to eat.

So, how do the sense organs influence our eating habits?

Eating should be a pleasurable and enjoyable activity in order to live a healthy life. Our senses communicate with the areas of the brain that are involved with emotions and memories. Contrary to the belief, all the five senses are equally involved when it comes to dietary choices. The colour, taste, aroma, the texture of the food and the sound it produces while we eat affect our dietary preferences. Any change in the food can affect our senses and our brain's ability to like a particular meal.

Sometimes, we experience a loss of taste due to prolonged medication and affected taste buds. This may affect our food intake and we may tend to eat less than the usual.