any successful picky eaters/super tasters?

Girlrose · August 2013

I'm a supertaster, too (I found out my sophomore year of high school when we put strips of paper on our tongues in chemistry class). For the longest time, my diet was EXACTLY like your friend's (I called it the bad vegetarian diet because it was basically just a combination of bread and cheese with the occasional fruit thrown in). Now, I eat a much more diverse diet, including fish. I still really can't tolerate eating many vegetables raw (like spinach, kale, and broccoli), but I have found ways around it by either changing or masking the bitter tastes by preparing food differently. I bake broccoli in the oven and I cover the taste of spinach and kale in smoothies.

I'm sure every supertaster is different, so I wouldn't be surprised if these methods don't work for your friend, but they're certainly worth trying! That being said, if she is obese, I agree with what the other posters said. Focus now on reducing calorie intake and she can be pickier about nutrients of what she eats after she gets closer to a healthier weight.

Edited to add: I lost about 15-20 pounds by eating unhealthy food like the above in smaller quantities, so it is possible!

JanMarie2BHealthy · August 2013

Perhaps she would be comfortable with low fat cheese, breads, and whole wheat pastas...also if your friends can increase activities even just walking around or stretching exercises. Little changes can add up and make her a bit healthier day by day.

maybeazure · August 2013

I am really picky. I don't know if I am a super taster, but I do know that there are tons of foods that I won't eat. I hate most vegetables, and the ones that I do like I only eat raw. Cooked vegetables are slimy and gross. I only like smooth tomato sauce. If there are chunks of tomato they gag me. I prefer bland food. I don't want seasoning on my meat, not even salt. I don't like bread with "sand" in it (whole grain). I like pastas, potatoes, white bread and most things with sugar. I don't like mayonnaise or mustard. I do like ketchup. I like most fruits, as long as they are ripe enough. I don't eat any kind of fish, shrimp, muscles, etc. I could go on forever.

It gets horribly annoying when people either make fun of me for it, or try to "fix" me. I'm 43-years-old. Part of the benefits of being a grown-up is that I get to choose what I want to eat.

I'm losing just fine eating what I want to eat, but watching calories. I am trying to eat healthy too, partly because it's a good idea, and partly because a lot of healthy foods have fewer calories than unhealthy ones, and so they fill me up. I do eat salad (but I don't like most dressings so I eat it plain or with cottage cheese). I used to eat only iceberg lettuce, but I discovered that romaine lettuce is not too horrible, as long as the crunchy parts are there, not just the ends of the leaves...baby romaine is bitter as is spinach and lots of other lettuces. I have discovered that protein fills me up better than white carbs, so I do try to get in some of that. I also try to eat some fruit every day and sometimes I have one of the four vegetables I sort of like...salad, carrots, sugar snap peas, and celery. Whole grain white bread isn't as good as real white bread, but it's better than wheat or rye bread.

I take a multivitamin. I think that's one of the most important things since I don't probably eat enough of them. I've been thinking about a fiber supplement too, but they look so gross that I haven't done it yet.

Lizajayne23 · August 2013

Being a supertaster isn't something you just "grow up" and "get over". It's not just about being "picky". I'm "picky" when it comes to things I perceive as gross like bologna or hot dogs because of what they are. I'm not picky because I'm incapable of eating foods that taste very, very, very bad to me. I've been living it my entire life and no one ever understands just how horrible things like broccoli, greens, cabbage, grapefruit, artificial sweeteners, plain tea, black coffee, dark chocolate, and even plain water will taste to us. Spices are extremely painful while everyone around me says "oh, this isn't hot at all!" I also have MAJOR textural issues to deal with, as well, and there are many foods that I love the flavor of, but can't eat without gagging... pumpkin, sweet potatoes, fatty meats, any type of cooked fruit and some cooked vegetables. Bananas can be a problem. Mushy and slimy are repulsive to me. My reaction to many things isn't just "oh, these taste bad" but violent gagging and heaving if I manage to swallow which my body often does not allow.

While the friend should make an honest effort to try new things, it's not like you can suddenly stop reacting to bad tastes. And if you have to resort to masking in an unhealthy way with condiments, sweeteners or sauces, it kind of defeats the purpose of trying to eat them in the first place. Even masking doesn't work for me in most cases, but I will occasionally try to choke down things like broccoli when my family wants something that contains it. My husband has convinced me to try most everything over the past 20 years and most of them are just as intolerable today as they were 20 years ago. I am willing to keep trying, though, and recently discovered kale chips and someone suggested roasting broccoli in a similar manner to reduce the strong flavor which I'm willing to give a go.

The only good parts to being a supertaster are an aversion to soft drinks or anything carbonated and an aversion to alcohol.

Back to the original question, sure the friend can lose weight eating less of the same foods, but you'd do her a great service by encouraging her to at least try alternatives to see if something can be substituted, prepared or combined in a tolerable way.

NonnyMary · August 2013

Ok I understand that people feel they have very bad reactions to food that is repulsive to them. I dont know what causes this, for me I just say "thats how Im wired" when i have a strange habit or choice that makes sense to me, but not to others. It really makes sense to me how I have some picky food ways. they really cannot get over how I feel about some food.

But when someone has an aversion to something, one type of way of conquering that is to actually go and face what is feared. Little by little. Like people being afraid to leave their house (agoraphobia).

so maybe some people have a food-aphobia.

If a food gives one an allergic reaction or makes them sick physically then they should stay away from it. but if someone WANTS to get over a food pickyness, and the food really doesn't cause them any harm, except that its disgusting, then the person would have to try the new food a few times until they can handle it.

People have gotten off worse fears than disliking food with this method.

But who knows why we are wired the way we are, it could be something going back to childhood, where that food was forced into the child, and something now forgotten really turned them off to the food because its triggering some crap from the past. or maybe when the child was eating a certain kind of food, some trauma happened, maybe someone died, and now the adult associates that food with the trauma, but has totally forgotten about it. this is when you have to get an expert to help. it does not mean someone is crazy, it just means they have some kind of bad food experience in the past.

Lizajayne23 · August 2013

I don't have an eating disorder. I'm not afraid of any food. I haven't been traumatized by events that led me to abhor the long list of things I have noted. I try new and unusual things. There is no magic number of times to try something to make my taste buds change their tune. If that was the case, my hubby's little country heart would be in heaven because he'd get his cabbage, broccoli, spices and myriad other foods that I've been trying to tolerate for 40 years with little change. I grew up exposed to all of these foods and more after marrying into a family of "country cooks" so it isn't a result of not having them as a child or a learned aversion because those around me didn't like them.

Being a supertaster is a physiological condition, not psychological (like my aversion to bologna). It can't be cured or treated. Interestingly, I have other sensory processing issues that go along with food textures. It also extends to tactile reactions to fabrics and papers and overstimulation from certain sounds. Supertasting and sensory disorders relating to food texture are two separate issues, but seem to go hand in hand for a lot of folks.

All of that said, I'll repeat, I don't believe anyone should use this as an excuse to eat nothing but mac n cheese, bread and potatoes without ever trying new things or working on ways to make them tolerable. I never would have imagined that I'd eat kale chips when I first heard of them! It takes a little work to find veggies, in particular, since most ways of masking are not so healthy and I have a long way to go in that area, but every little change is a step in the right direction!

kazsjourney · August 2013

I am picky altho maybe not to the degree of your friend. When I started out I didnt eat vegetables, fruit, seafood, only limited meat, beans etc

These days...I am better...I found new foods I had never tried before like avocado, feta cheese, tahini, semi dried tomatos etc. In relation to vegetables I will now eat things like capsicum, spinach, mushrooms, tomatos, onions, eggpplant....I really had to look outside the box. I will eat barramundi or whiting but no other seafood...i eat bananas and any type of berry (i now love berries) and I will eat chicken, duck and turkey.

For me my issue really is about texture,,,so I made a point to try different fruits and vegetables I had no preconcieved opinion of....and thats how i figured out things....I have lost over 180 pounds and it hasnt stopped me

NonnyMary · August 2013

Spalissa - Ok there goes my theories..

But can you help me understand what is happening with you? I think i kind of understand now that you explained it.

but what happens (or what would happen) if you ate something that is totally nasty to you because of the taste or texture being nasty? do you get physically ill, like if someone ate poison ivy?

I'm thinking if you did try something and it did not physically harm you like a toxic plant, if you tried to bear the uncomfortable feelings, could you overcome? I mean is the stumblingblock getting in your way a real physical threat to your body or is it still your mind tricking you?

I know that sometimes we can get sick from stressful things which do start in our mind, and they really affect our body and we can get sick from stress, so i can understand the mind/body connection, but I'm hoping to hear from you to understand this.

any successful picky eaters/super tasters?

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