Ok, I already know that they do, but still I pose the question to you, do they change? Like, for real? And if so, how much? And why? And will they go back? Is it just they get used to things, or trained, and when you change what they are exposed to they adapt therefore making what you used to eat seem unpalatable?
This is a serious concern of mine. It may seem like a stupid concern but it matters to me.
Here is the situation:
I have a sweet tooth, more like a mouth full of sweet teeth lol I like sweets. I looooove pastries! But dessert type things are my favourite, all the time, anytime of day. I will gladly give up all food for a day if it means I can eat a doughnut, or cinnamon bun, or lemon tart, or slice of pie, or or or…basically any dessert.
I have never been that person who is all “I’m scraping the frosting off my piece of cake because it is too sweet” or “I’m not buying a cinnamon bun because there is too much cream cheese icing on it” or “oh wow, isn’t this so sugary?! I can’t eat it” I have never understood when people say stuff like that. Too sugary? Too sweet?? Too much frosting???? Are you from another planet? There can never be too much! The whole reason I always want the corner piece from a cake is because there is more frosting! I pick the cinnamon bun with the most icing. I want the sugar! It’s dessert for heavens sake, it is supposed to be sweet! What is wrong with your tastebuds??
Well tonight, the most distressing thing happened with my tastebuds, I ate and drank two different things and both were gross because…they were too sweet. What?! Oh my gawd did I just say that?! I feel like I need to change my identity and move to another country because I have just written the unspeakable. *ducks head in shame*
I stopped at a Starbucks. Bad idea right there. Now, my fave drink is a chai latte but I thought I’d branch out. Why would I branch out? Because I love pumpkin. What? You mean writing that didn’t immediately fill in the blanks? Weird… 😉 I love pumpkin, it is fall, this means pumpkin flavour stuff is still everywhere, Mmm! I have never ever ordered a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks because, brace for this, I don’t drink coffee, in any form. Ick. I had heard though, if I want the pumpkin flavour get steamed milk with the pumpkin flavouring and I can get my pumpkin sans coffee. Brilliant! Since I got told that I haven’t been in a Starbucks so I thought why not try tonight? So that dear internet is what I ordered *looks around guiltily* crap! fine! I won’t lie to you…that isn’t all I ordered…I also got a chocolate chip cookie *gasp* I know! I know! Horrible! Bad! Stupid move! I have berated myself over it quite enough so rest assured I feel poorly about my well, poor decision, and will work hard to do better in the future. Does that sound apologetic enough? Yeah, I think so. 😉
That steamed pumpkin drink was the most disgusting thing ever! I had it made with soy but it wasn’t the soy that was nasty. It was the pumpkin flavour, it was hideously sweet, as in, I managed 4 tiny sips and called it quits it was that undrinkable. Not only did I not love something pumpkin flavour I also thought something was too sweet! This is unheard of in my world!
This is the dreaded cookie.
The cookie was slightly better. It was a soft chocolate chip cookie that I still can’t figure out why I ordered, the words “I’ll also have a chocolate chip cookie please” just slipped out of my mouth easy-as-you-please and before I could somehow retract them without looking the fool the cookie was in a bag and in my purse. In. My. Purse. Like I had to hide the evidence I bought a cookie. Oh wait, I did. *rolls eyes* I ate it while sitting in my suv in the parkade cause apparently I am in to eating secretly in my vehicle now. Maybe if I eat in my suv the calories don’t count? 😉 The first bite was good, not great, but not horrible. The more I ate though the more I didn’t like it. The chocolate was in too big of chunks, the sweetness level was hurting my teeth (hey, I have sensitive teeth, don’t judge!) but not only that it was almost immediately making my tummy feel not well. Didn’t stop me from eating it though…really wish it had. I know I’ll never be ordering it again because of how icky it made me feel. It was just too sweet. It left me feeling sickly, like I’d eaten a whole bag of halloween candy or something, my stomach hurt, I felt nauseous, it was just not a good experience at all.
I have never eaten something and been all, “nope, it’s too sweet” but that cookie? That cookie was too sweet. And so was the pumpkin drink.
Which brings me back to my question, can tastebuds change? And by how much?
Is this “oh ick stuff is too sweet” thing a phase? Is it only because I’ve been eating such small amounts of sugar, and for the most part what sugar I have been eating is what is naturally occurring in fruit, that my tastebuds (and my tummy) are become not as used to sugar as they once were and are therefore having trouble dealing with it? How sad would that be? *pout*
Could it be *gasp* part of growing up? That is a scary thought!
Could it be a one off and nothing to worry about?
I don’t know.
I do know my tastebuds have changed in the past. I used to hate asparagus, now it is one of my fave veggies. I used to hate all dried fruits, now I like dried cranberries (great salad topper!). I used to love then I hated then I loved again baked beans. So over the years I know my tastes have changed for various foods but never have they changed in regards to how sweet/salty/savoury I like or dislike my foods to be.
I don’t want to stop liking sweet things, like cookies and cakes and pie and pastries and just in general all the wonderous desserts out there. I think that would be sad. Might make losing weight easier though…but it’d still be sad!
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 