I once read that people always enjoy the first bite most. Every bite thereafter, from the second to the very last, doesn’t match up.
It was actually meant as diet advice–use this to fight temptation, only eat one bite of anything, and finally lose those last 10 pounds! 🤮
Decadent? Check.
Apparently, there is something called sensory-specific satiety: the temporary declining satisfaction of eating a specific food.
This “tidbit” has always stuck with me. Especially when enjoying something decadent, I’ve asked myself, was that bite as good as the first? How much less so?
The first bite effect is all around us–whether it’s new clothes or experiences or even a relationship. Have you ever been in love with a new pair of shoes and then months later, they’ve lost their spark? We go from YASSS to meh pretty quick.
No matter if it’s shoes or sweets, we can let the first taste be magical and the rest fade into disappointment. It’s a researched phenomenon after all.
Or we can choose to try to enjoy every bite. Maybe not as much as the first, but a little more than before, remembering and savoring as much as we can.
To being better without sacrificing ice cream,
Elizabeth