I can't taste my food

C_Stretton

Let me start by saying that I have relapsing remitting MS; I'm not looking for medical advice and already have an appointment with my neurologist. If my past experience with this disease is any indication, I'll slowly begin to regain the sense over time but will never fully reach 100%. My problem is that food is no longer enjoyable since I can't taste it and I love food. It's only been a couple of days but I've already found myself putting off eating because I know it's going to be disappointing.
My question is, for those of you that don't enjoy eating or forget to eat, how do you motivate yourself to eat? At about 10:30, I finally managed to choke down breakfast. On a typical morning, I would have planned out my breakfast, spent time preparing it, and then sat down to enjoy it. Today, I grabbed a premade salad - spinach, a hard boiled egg, cheese, almonds, dried cranberries, and honey dijon dressing. I tasted a subtlety of dijon and maybe a suggestion of almond.
I suppose I could look at this a different way. Do I have weight to lose? Yes. I've been steadily losing for the last several months before this. Could this jump start additional weight loss? Again, yes, but I want to make sure that I'm still doing this in a healthy way. From Friday to Monday, I lost 3 pounds when I typically go up on weekend due to eating out and overindulging, and yes, a good amount of that is water. But the fact remains that it's the opposite of my normal weekend weight trend.
The second part of this is, when I do start regaining my sense of taste, knowing that it likely won't be back to where it was, I may want to rethink cooking. As it is, I already go overboard on spicy stuff. So, I don't want to add more flavor to food that way; my husband would never survive that. Do any of you have spices and seasonings that you like to cook with that I should try to incorporate into my cooking?
Anyway, thanks for listening and for any suggestions on motivating myself to eat and spices to try in the (hopefully) near future.

sbshoe90

Can you smell at all? I know that smell affects your sense of taste a lot.
You could try some zestier things like lemon pepper or Italian dressing (as a marinade). Garlic and onion powder can add lots of flavor without adding any excess salt.
Hope things improve for you soon!

mbaker566

i use mccormick grill mixes or garlic festivals mixes.
lots of flavors so maybe you'll be able to catch some of it and he can enjoy the marriage of flavors

C_Stretton

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll add these to my shopping list.
In response to whether or not I can still smell things. Yes. Unfortunately. It makes this a lot harder because food still smells good, but doesn't live up to that right now. I was at the Farmer's Market Sunday and the meat guys were smoking a brisket. It smelt so good but tasted like an afterthought of smoked brisket

pinuplove

What are your and his opinions on cuisines that are typically stronger flavored and use a nice mix of spices the typical American palate isn't as accustomed to (thinking Indian, Thai, etc. here) in addition to some heat? Can you spice your food up a bit on your plate if your husband isn't up for it?

I'm sorry you're experiencing this. I'd be very sad to lose my sense of taste

RodaRose

Add Turmeric to egg dishes. Add Ginger to smoothies or chicken dishes. Add Cumin to bean soup. To fresh salads, try adding fresh Coriander.

middlehaitch

I was going to suggest the same as @pinuplove, start looking at Indian, Thai, North Africa recipes and spices. There is no need to add spice heat to the cooking if your SO doesn't like too much of it, you can sprinkle a little heat over yours at the end. The non hot aromatic spices add a lot of flavour.

I had a really bad flu a few years ago and couldn't smell or taste for close to a year (don't think either ever came back 100%), and just got use to eating without tasting as I still got hungry. It didn't affect my weight, just the joy of eating.
Raspberries were the first thing I could taste for some strange reason.

I can't decide if it would have been better or not to have still been able to smell the food.


My dad always had a poor sense or smell and taste, and was a poor eater because of it. He did best with a lot of texture in his meals, and really enjoyed it when we took him out for a curry as he could taste and smell most of the more aromatic spices. (This was back when curries were not as popular as now in the UK)

Cheers, h.

jgnatca

Just FYI, the flavour of food is chiefly the smell. If you can still smell the foods, then your ability to sense salt, sweet, and bitter tastes are affected. It's likely the combination of the two (scent and taste) that gave you pleasure.

Here's a few random ideas.

1. Don't fight it. Switch to a bland diet. Maybe try a home-made Soylent until your tastes return. https://www.completefoods.co/diy/recipes/brets-soylent-oat-wheat-more-protein-low-price
2. Set reminders to eat and ask your significant other to check in to remind you to eat on time. (This is what I saw colleagues do who had a similar problem).
3. I've tried a no salt diet and food tasted very bland until I switched up to stronger flavoured and very fresh vegetables. I used a lot of pepper, garlic, and onion. I loved parsnips.

lynn_glenmont

Are there any foods that you enjoy for their textures, independent of their flavor? Maybe try incorporating some of those as a way to temp your appetite. Or foods that are fun to eat (I'm thinking of the way you can get kids sometimes to eat foods that they eat with hands, as opposed to a knife and fork -- e.g., corn on the cob -- maybe not those exact versions, but maybe you have some grownup fun-to-eat foods that might tempt you).

RunsWithBees

(I got an idea from the movie “Perfect Sense” which I recommend, it’s a good movie!) How about focusing on texture and color? Crunchy, creamy, flaky, rich, dishes with a lot of “mouth feel” and dishes that have a lot of color and visual appeal as well. Use your other senses to fill in the gap where taste/smell are lacking. Play some music you love while you eat and use your fanciest/favorite dishes/glasses/silverware. Eat while watching your favorite movies/tv shows. Make it an experience you can enjoy in other ways. Just an idea, hope you can recover your sense of taste soon!

C_Stretton

Thank you all for your suggestions! I do a lot with Asian and Mexican inspired foods, but haven't tried cooking Indian dishes yet. I'll have to look for some recipes.
I just ate some sesame tofu and fried rice; the texture wasn't great, but I ate it. Added some sriracha to it to no avail. I'll try crunchy next.

kshama2001

I realize this isn't the same as what's going on with you, but when I have a cold I eat spicy Asian soups and they do get through to my taste buds. The holy trinity for me is fish sauce, lime, and hot pepper. My OH doesn't like as much spice as I do so I often add cayenne pepper once I serve myself.

When I make this for one I use a half package of ramen and 70 grams of cooked beef.



I can't think of my favorite Indian recipes offhand, but this is in the neighborhood, and is flavorful without being spicy: https://www.chowhound.com/recipes/slow-cooker-burmese-style-noodles-31184

This seems to be the same as my JOC recipe for Thai Chicken & Coconut soup. Instead of the 2.5 C coconut milk I use one 14 oz can. https://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_31/2010/MAR/52437.html

If it is summer where you are, Thai Beef Salad might be a good choice. I've gotten Thai recipes from American's Test Kitchen and this cookbook: https://smile.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Thai-Cuisine-Cookbooks/dp/4889960945/

Mrsindepenant1

A friends mum has MS and sorry you have to go through it.
Maybe you could join some Facebook food and cooking groups. There a “home cooks passionate about cooking” one and they are amazingly helpful!
Anyhow maybe you could try using smell and look. Make your food look good and smell good. Different textures will also make it more enjoyable.

nowine4me

I’m sympathetic to your situation, but have some practical advice......

Take this opportunity to eliminate the vast majority of sodium and sugar from your food. If you really can’t taste it than you won’t miss it. Neither have any real health benefits. Yes, I know you need a bit of sodium. At least you’ll reap some reward from a crappy issue.

C_Stretton

kshama2001 - That ramen recipe looks amazing! I'll check out the others as well; that cookbook is tempting

Mrsindependant1 - I know this sounds crazy, but I don't Facebook. I am looking at trying more textures
though

nowine4me - The majority of my sodium and sugars come from store bought sauces and eating out. I don't add additional salt to my food except in the form of hot sauce. I have a terrible hot sauce habit. I can probably cut that back because it does nothing for me right now except wreak havoc on my stomach because I've been going overboard on it to try to taste it

NovusDies

In addition to textures you might get some benefit from temperature variances. If you are eating a really nice piece of fish perhaps a make a lemon or wine sauce into a sorbet to put on the side. You could also freeze the sauce in ice cubes and crush it in a blender.

Another idea is to take some of the spices you plan to eat and place it into one of those small quart potpourri crock pots with a little water. If you put it in the middle of your table about an hour before you eat it should help concentrate the aroma.

I wish I could be better help. Sorry.

jlemoore

I’m going to suggest something completely different.... what about going bland for awhile? Brown rice- plain. Oatmeal- Plain. Baked potatoes- plain. Other grains. Fuel your body and stop looking for flavor.

peggy_polenta

to your question, what do you do if you don't want/like/remember to eat. that is me. i don't like to eat. so i eat all my calories in one meal once per day. OMAD. it alleviates all the stress and thinking and planning and rituals around food and thinking about food and what i have to eat during the day. once a day done and over with it

C_Stretton

NovusDies - I like the spice crock pot idea and will definitely look into that.

jlemoore - Someone else suggested bland. And I considered it, but after my first bowl of oatmeal, ruled it out. There was nothing pleasing about the texture or aroma. It made eating even worse. As it turns out, part of what I enjoy about food is the prep/cooking, texture and smells.

karen8787 - When you first started eating one big meal, did you notice any blood sugar fluctuation throughout the day? I've noticed that when I wait too long to eat I start shaking and feeling lightheaded. I struggled with controlling my blood sugars when I was a teen and fear that I'm heading back in that direction with waiting too long to eat. I have started setting reminders for my regular scheduled eating times.

peggy_polenta

no i don't but i eat ketogenic so maybe that is why. are you sure its your blood sugar and not your sodium/salt levels? (electrolytes?) i do sometimes get a big shaky (i do a lot of cardio) and i eat a pickle or drink a bit of the pickle juice and feel better immediately. i would maybe suggest weening yourself down from carb for a few days before going into omad. it may help getting yourself stablized. (unless you are diabetic..then i'm not what the advice would be)