Tastebuds Changing?

[Joni63]

Hey all,

I'm 4 months gluten free. I noticed that things tasted much better soon after I changed my diet. What is strange is that I quit drinking coffee 2 weeks ago and decided to try it a couple times the past couple days to see how I would react. It tastes TERRIBLE! I used to love the taste of coffee and I haven't changed brands or the way I make it.

Did anything like this happen to anyone else? Anyone have any ideas why something that tasted so good to me now tastes so horrible?

Thanks,

Joni

[buffettbride]

My daughter's tastes have definitely changed. Oreos used to be her favorite food. After a few months gluten-free we got our hands on some Kinni-Toos which to me taste the same as Oreos. To her, they are way too sweet and they just aren't as enjoyable now.

[Guhlia]

Absolutely! I couldn't tell if it was physiolocigal or psychological. Either way, my tastes definitely changed A LOT after going gluten free. Strange, huh? Perhaps it has something to do with our bodies no longer rejecting foods.

[cruelshoes]

My tastebuds have definitely changed, or as I like to say, evolved. There were some things that I tried just after going gluten-free that I thought tasted absolutely terrible. Trader Joe's pasta, for example. But after a few months, I tried them again and they tasted fine. I don't know scientifically why this would be the case. Perhaps it just has to do with what you are used to.

[Offthegrid]

Definitely changed!

I used to be the queen of fast food, and now I look at it and feel disgusted. My hubby ate Cheetos the other day and the smell was horrible.

Even rice milk isn't tasting too bad to me.

Although what I wouldn't give for a normal slice of pizza ... I think that's one thing I'll never stop craving.

[celiacgirls]

The exact same thing happened to me with the coffee. I used to love my coffee in the morning and shortly after going gluten-free, even the thought of it disgusts me. It is the one thing I miss from the old days and it is even something I could actually have. Very strange.

[Offthegrid]

I've virtually stopped drinking coffee because of the dairy/soy issue sadly. I do crave Starbucks now and then. I just can't drink coffee black or with only sugar. I like wussy flavored coffee drinks.

[Trillian]

Did anything like this happen to anyone else? Anyone have any ideas why something that tasted so good to me now tastes so horrible?

I've also found the opposite. I've always been a super picky eater and now I find that I'm eating foods that I always avoided such as onions, red meat, and lettuce. Maybe its due to necessity? My options are much more limited now. I've also started grimacing when others eat chips and even cookies! When I started the diet 2 months ago, I was so upset about not being able to eat my daily dose of oreos - now I don't care and I don't even crave cookies. Weird because I've forever been a junk-food junkie. Bring on the fruits and veggies!

[WW340]

Mine have definitely changed. Some good changes and some bad.

I don't care for coke any more. I used to love it, but couldn't drink much because it hurt my stomach, now that I am gluten free it doesn't hurt my stomach, but I don't care so much for the taste.

I have developed a salt craving since going gluten free. I cannot seem to get enough salt. I used to never salt my food, but now I don't like anything without salt.

[sickchick]

Same Salt craving what is up with that???

[Kaycee]

Did someone mention salt!

I was just eating my tea with chips and my son came in and said "you have way too much salt on those." And just reading the last two comments, I would say my salt consumption has been upped, especially going by how much I add to things like chips. But I still try to avoid salt in the way of processed food, but you need salt with chips. Maybe not as much as I piled on!

Could it be because we are not getting as much salt in our diets, as we don't eat as much in the way of processed foods, which has a habit of hiding a lot of fats and salts? Just a thought. Maybe it is because we need the salt.

And yes my taste buds have changed too.

I never liked my first try of gluten-free bread and my first gluten-free cake. They tasted foul, but I now find I like the bread and my cakes are awesome.

Cathy

[Leslie-FL]

I noticed a big drop in cravings once I went gluten-free. I used to have these cravings that were completely distracting, so I couldn't think about anything else, and I notice now, if I have a moment of thinking, "Boy, I miss Quarter Pounders", I can remember how good they tasted and then move on to something else. I also find that sometimes, the smell of bread or some other thing I can't eat is enough, and I don't feel I have to have some, nor do I feel deprived because I can't. The hardest time, I think, was Christmas, because my mother and sister bake about a hundred kinds of cookies, but even that passed quickly. I love not feeling controlled by my cravings anymore.

I also have discovered, since going gluten-free, that I'm much more able to determine which foods I have a take-it-or-leave-it feeling about. I used to just eat, and not really question whether I was enjoying what I was eating. (Specifically at holiday gatherings.) It was like I was always trying to satisfy a hunger that never got satisfied. Nowadays, when I'm getting together with family and they try to make many of our traditional dishes gluten-free for me, there are some things I tell them not to go out of their way with, since I don't really care for it anyway.

The coffee thing is funny. I used to be a huge coffee drinker - so much so that people associated coffee with me. Then a couple years ago (way before I went gluten-free), some of my tastes changed and I couldn't drink coffee. I felt so bad about that, because it had become almost a part of my identity and suddenly it was gone. Since I became gluten-free, however, my taste for coffee is back. I don't drink as much of it as I used to - not even every day anymore - but I really enjoy a cup or two sometimes.

[Electra]

Yup definitely. I used to taste things one day and the next day I couldn't taste anything. I used to be so disappointed when I craved something forever and then when I finally ate it I couldn't taste it.

Now things taste so much better to me. I can smell better too lol!! I don't dislike anything I used to like, unless it tastes different. I do not like any of the gluten-free cookies that I have tried so far. I tried the vanilla sandwich cream ones and they were so sweet I almost barfed, and I LOVE sweats, but something about them was just not the same. I also tried some animal cookies the other day which were ok, but still very sweet. It's almost like they sugar them up to try to make up for changing the flour lol!!

[TestyTommy]

I LOVE SALT!

I find myself putting salt on everything -- to the point that my nieces lecture me about eating too much salt (the school has them convinced that everyone who uses salt is going to die of a heart attack).

I think a lot of the salt craving comes from eating natural foods that don't have added salt. I suspect if we actually measured how much salt we eat, it might not be a lot more than people get from the processed foods that are the basis of the standard American diet.

Salt cravings can also be a sign of weakened adrenal glands. They need lots of salt to make all those hormones, so my doctor says to 'salt away!'

[Jestgar]

I ate a ton of salt for the first couple years. Lately it's been pretty much none. My vote is for a combination of electrolyte imbalance and no processed food.

[Joni63]

I wonder if the salt cravings are because so much gluten free food has sea salt, which is noniodized. I recently found out there is iodized sea salt and I might try to get that. I'm definately using more salt than I used to, but I also switched to plain sea salt.