Is Anyone Else Having Problems With Tasting Cans Or Dyes ?

[marciab]

Hi All,

Has anyone else noticed that canned foods taste funny ? I think I am tasting the can. I noticed that foods with dyes in them taste funny to me too.

I have finally figured out why I never liked red velvet cake. While everyone else was talking about how great it was, I was always sheepishly looking for a garbage container. It never dawned on me that the others were not tasting the red dye like I was.

Anyone else ? Also, I swear I saw a sign up at Publix that said their strawberries were color enhanced. I emailed them though and was told that only oranges were color enhanced. BTW, there is a sign in front of the farm raised salmon stating that it is color enhanced.

Marcia

[rinne]

All processed food tastes of chemicals to me and so I tend to avoid it. I have never liked red velvet cake which even as a child, some 40 years ago, tasted funny to me. Some of what passes for food amazes me because I cannot taste any flavour of food in it, only chemicals.

[Rachel--24]

I cant really taste the additives in our food but I do react to them. The junk food tastes good to me but the "junk" in it makes me sick so I dont eat it. Sometimes I taste chemicals in fruits and veggies...I have to buy everything organic. Also bottled water tastes "off" sometimes....defineately not pure like it should taste.

[penguin]

Yeah, any flavored lip glosses and things like that taste nasty, like chemicals, to me. I taste cans sometimes too, just a metallic taste. Blech.

Red velvet cake tastes bitter to me, just too much red dye, yuck!

[marciab]

Rinne,

Any ideas on why we are tasting chemicals while others are not ? I have no idea how to look this one up on line Tasting cans is a pain, because I miss buying canned beans and tomatoes. The others I gave up a long time ago. Peas, corn, asparagus, etc have been tasting funny for years.

Rachel,

I am just beginning to realize how food has been affecting me all these years. Now that my head is not so fuzzy all of the time and my tummy isn't grumbling, it is easier to notice when it is and what food may have caused it. It's great that you are aware of what food is causing problems. Hopefully, you are not gettting too much of a reaction though.

I am having trouble with bottled water now too. I started using the Market Pantry water by Target since it says it is purified through reverse osmosis, but it is tasting funny nowadays.

Marcia

[marciab]

Chelse,

I noticed that lipsticks taste gross. And those flavored chapsticks ( I snunk one of my daughter's thinking I was going to get something good) tasted nothing like was it was supposed to.

How r u doing ? I always think about you when I am choking down my iron and baby vitamins.

Marcia

[penguin]

How r u doing ? I always think about you when I am choking down my iron and baby vitamins.

Marcia

Thanks for thinking of me! How are the baby vites going?

I haven't gotten brave enough to try an iron supplement yet

I ate steak for dinner last night and I'm considering steak for lunch, though it'll be expensive. I'm not really eating anything leafy and green, since it doesn't get digested anyway

The doctor said that if I can't tolerate a supplement to just eat more iron rich foods, like, constantly. At least I'm on a gluten challenge and can get the raisin bran variety of iron, and it serves a double purpose of gluten and iron, score!

[gfp]

Try reading this

Open Original Shared Link

[marciab]

GFP,

Thanks for the article - I copied part of it in -

"Scientists now know that not all people experience tastes in the same way. This is mainly down to the number of taste buds on your tongue. The more taste buds you have, the more intensely you perceive tastes, especially bitter ones. People who are particularly sensitive are called supertasters. They can have up to twice as many taste buds as the rest of us.

Whether you're a non-taster or a supertaster or somewhere in-between depends on your sensitivity to a bitter chemical called 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). Non-tasters can't taste the bitterness of PROP at all. Medium tasters sense the bitterness but don_t mind it, while supertasters find the taste of PROP revolting.

The supertaster gene could be a remnant of our evolutionary past, acting as a safety mechanism to stop us eating unsafe foods and toxins. "

I have eaten canned foods all my life, but the "metallic taste" just got too strong too handle.

Chelse,

The baby vites are going down great compared to the adult vites. I'm having some gastro problems, but I pretty sure it is just the raw goat cheese that I really just need to throw away.

I know exactly what you mean about being afraid to take an iron supplement. They kill me.

Marcia

[schuyler]

I always thought that I was crazy for hating canned food, and things with artificial flavors and dyes! They all taste horrible to me. I even prefer to use plastic utencils to avoid the metallic taste of regular utencils

[queenofhearts]

My family used to tease me because I refused to drink soda from a can... but I do use canned beans. I always rinse them off very thoroughly in a colander & find that makes a huge difference in their palatability. I'm sure I do lose some food value that way, though, so from-scratch is probably healthier, if you have time.

I don't think I'm a "supertaster" because I enjoy strong & "bitter" flavors like dark chocolate, black coffee, arugula... some folks think they taste like poison! My son detests cilantro, but I could eat it by the handful. But I do dislike the "tinny" taste... not sure why. I am also one of very few people I know who dislikes the flavor of bananas. I like every other fruit I've ever tasted, but for some reason find bananas repulsive!

My kids get sick of my repeating "chacun a son gout" but there is no disputing it-- we are all different, & we can't help what tastes good/bad to us!

Leah

[jennyj]

I had to quit drinking pop(soda) out of a can, I couldn't stand the taste.

[rinne]

marciab. it looks like gfb found our answer, thanks gfb. I did the quiz and according to it I'm a supertaster, and here I thought I was just a "food snob". Actually I don't know that I really am because I do like coffee but it has to be organic, very dark french roast, freshly ground, just made.... you can see where the "food snob" comes in.

So who are they marketing to? What happens if the majority of the food you eat growing up is processed, canned or frozen at minimum and much more highly processed foods, pizza pops, eggos, kraft dinner? What about all the baby supertasters out there? My nieces and nephews refer to my cooking as antique food but I notice whenever they are here they eat and eat and eat. I wonder if a generation raised on fast food will turn to slow food and a culture of food. I think the Europeons have it way over us when it comes to enjoying food. It's like we have been brain washed into thinking of it as purely fuel and as long as we refill ourselves regularly we will keep going but the truth is that when we refill ourselves with highly processed additive laiden substances that are shadows of what was once food, we are "running on empty".

[Rachel--24]

Rinne, I took the quiz and I'm a non-taster.

I could have guessed that cuz if it werent for being sick I'd still be eating whatever....I was never choosy about food. I honestly, never gave food a second thought...I just ate what was convenient and pretty much everything tasted good. If I dont like something it must be really gross because I'm like Mikey..."I'll eat anything".

[marciab]

I am in between a normal and a super, but I had a tough time with the test. I could have gone with any of the three depending on my mood and the restaurant and the people I was with.

This actually feels more like a chemical reaction than a food preference. I get a strong metallic taste if I eat something from a can. But, I haven't always been this way. I used to love Skittles. M and M's.

Any other thoughts ? Marcia

[jerseyangel]

I'm a non-taster

[rinne]

Rinne, I took the quiz and I'm a non-taster.

A strange and mysterious creature to a super-taster like me.

I sometimes suspect my husband falls more into the non-taster category not so much because he doesn't enjoy food but he would live on toast without a care if that is all there was. Well, maybe not all toast come to think of it, we bought some rice bread at the Gluten Free store and he hasn't been eating it. I feel badly about that because he has given up bread in our home and mostly out there in the world. He came home last Friday and said that one of the things he has realized is that if you can't eat wheat you go hungry more often than not.

Rachel, did you grow up eating lots of fast food? I've seen a few people say that until they got sick they ate junk food all the time without any problems and then WHAM big problems. I'm curious because I've known for years that wheat gave me problems, I just thought I could manage it by mostly avoiding it. The junk food I couldn't handle. It must be nearly twenty years since I've volunteered to drive under the arches, the last time we were travelling and it was a breakfast item, I took one bite and wouldn't eat it, said it tasted rotten, DH ate his and subsequently threw it up. It was the perfect opportunity to say, "I told you so" and as I recall I was just immature enough to do that.

[penguin]

I'm a supertaster apparently, but I like all the foods that they said I wouldn't as a supertaster. Go figure

I think that test had more to do with food snobbery than tasting food

I don't think it's related to the metallic thing, I don't know what that's about.

[rinne]

When I went to the Acupuncterist back in January I was having a strange metal taste in my mouth, a kind of burning almost, is that more what you mean? Almost as if there was a toxic overload of metals in my body, such that I was starting to taste them. It didn't last long, it went away just after I started going twice a week for treatments but I remember it kind of scared me.

Another possiblity is that for some people who were eating a more processed diet the switch to a simple diet has reawakened taste buds that had gone numb from being bombarded with chemicals and they are now tasting things as they are not as they would have us taste them. I refer to additives affecting the central cortex of the brain and changing us so that we think the food tastes good.

[marciab]

Rinne,

My taste buds definitely have been awakened / changed since going on this diet. But, I noticed all this before going on this diet. The taste doesn't stay in my mouth. It just hits me when I eat certain foods.

I can taste freezer burn right away too. And smell mold on bread or oranges before most people.

I can find articles on allergies to dyes, but none on why some people taste dyes or the can in canned foods. It is interesting that some of us taste it though.

I wonder if I could get a job doing this ? Those drug sniffing dogs make big bucks.

marcia

[gfp]

I'm a supertaster apparently, but I like all the foods that they said I wouldn't as a supertaster. Go figure

I think that test had more to do with food snobbery than tasting food

I included it more as a point of interest but I don't think with the exception of the one substance they quote you have to dislike the foods but a supertaster gets a different range of tastes...

I happen to love grapefruit, no sugar and Ill eat lemon if its in my glass!

But largely I think the site is just an intro... if someone was interested then the food dye test might be the first step

I don't think it's related to the metallic thing, I don't know what that's about.

Could be a part of it but could partly be many of us don't eat much from cans anyway.

The article was to show we all taste differently more than a simple explanation

[indyceliac]

OH, im definitely a super-taster. Canned foods are tinny, could never eat foods from the deli case (potato salad, etc) because of the horrible preservative taste, anything with too much dyes or additives tasted 'werid' to me... and forget about artificial sweetners..bleechhh..diet anything makes me gag.

Also, i think im a super-smeller. Anyone else have a very keen sense of smell? My husband ALWAYS refers to me as "the bloodhound". lol I can smell anything a mile away. He knows he could never cheat on me. haha. For example he can walk into my room and still be 10 ft away and I can tell if hes wearing a new deodorant. I usually have to buy things unscented because i find the perfumes too intense. On the good side of that, Ive smelled gas leaks before anyone else..smoke before anyone else...

[Guest Robbin]

Oh, yes I am a super-taster and smeller! I smell things no one else in the house smells (except the dog and she doesn't say much) It seems to be more pronounced since going gluten-free too. I am the one with chronic sinus problems too, go figure. I once smelled natural gas (or the sulfur odor they add to it) very strong and called the gas co. to come down and check it out. No one else in the house smelled it. Sure enough, some problem with the stove. The man that came out said that women can smell the odor before men do and they hardly ever got calls from men. Strange, I also, ashamedly admit smoke (outdoors only, rain, sleet, snow or hail) If I ever kick this habit, I hope to get that high-paying drug-sniffing job, 'cause I'm sure the smells will overwhelm me lol.

[nikki-uk]

I always knew my hubbie was a super taster!(just done the quiz with him)

He can't drink Coke out of a can either.

He has alway's (even before dx of celiac disease) infuriated me with his fussiness about food,and all his tastes are bland,bland bland!!!(well to me anyway )

He does like brussel sprouts though

Unfortunately,hubbie falls down on the sense of smell.

I can always smell any gas,but maybe that is down to male versus female thing.

When the kids were little (and in nappies) I could walk in a room and say

''Phew,that babyneeds changing-why haven't you changed him?''

He'd reply

''How can you tell?I can't smell it...'

Mmmm.....

[Rachel--24]

Rachel, did you grow up eating lots of fast food? I've seen a few people say that until they got sick they ate junk food all the time without any problems and then WHAM big problems.

When I was growing up my mom cooked every night but I'm sure we had some fast food occasionally too. It wasnt until my teenage years and up that I got crazy with the fast food. I had never learned to cook so whatever I ate was either fast food, frozen, junk food, or mac & cheese. I ate a ton of bread too. I just rarely ate anything that was naturally fresh except maybe eggs.

As far as tasting chemicals and being sensitive to smells...none of that happened to me until I got sick. I'm pretty sure it has alot to do with too many toxins and our bodies ability (or inability) to eliminate them. Its a toxic overload and we are no longer able to tolerate the endless amount of chemicals we come in contact with on a daily basis.