It's like food tastes different after recovery
I have been behavior free for 2 years now (though mentally is a whole other story) - but something I have noticed in the last year, is food tastes different. But in a weird way. There were the foods I used to "live" on, when I was restricting, mostly because was "low calories" and I would swear by, would tell everyone how amazing it was and how much I loved them and list 10-20 benefits. Certain cookies, mug cake recipes, pancake recipe, certain combinations of food that after I started following a meal plan 2 years ago (which followed for about 4-5 months) stopped eating slowly. Then when I go back to trying them, especially the types of cookies or cereal bars I used to only buy, it doesn't taste the same.
Those foods taste bland, when they used to taste good. Which is funny, when you consider that foods I used to binge on used to taste like heaven. It's like own taste buds have changed, during those years struggling with ED behaviors, it's as if they were heightened and anything would taste 10x higher.
Anyone else experience this?
It's so weird because I bought last month a box of cookies I used to buy, and actually bought when I first tried recovery because was something saw people on "recovery instagrams" eat, and at the time tasted great. But now they taste terrible to me. And yeah I also dropped those pages soon after because when I mean first tried, it means it failed big time (but that's for another time). I actually threw them away, because even my parents don't like them.
Not to mention I have old packages of foods, still. Things I bought that used to eat and love, but actually don't make sense to me. It's something that when I try, I just think "I used to love this?! Did I brainwash my brain into loving this because the calorie counter seemed pleasing?" - it seems like only plausible options. I placebo'd myself, I used power of suggestion on myself and without realizing.
@givemecoffee - Very interesting! I definitely think that our tastes naturally evolve over time to some extent (I used to like much sweeter things, for instance, but as I get older my sweet tooth has gotten a little lighter, while certain things I used to hate I now think are delicious!). And it also makes sense to me that there could be an element of when you were focusing on the calorie count, your brain conflated the taste and the calorie info to decide how much it liked something, so maybe some of the enjoyment wasn't purely on flavor. I also wonder if there's any element of just exploring more foods has made you find things you like more - like someone who has never had chocolate might thing an apple is the epitome of sweetness, but having chocolate could change how that apple seems. Or how my brother who has to eat gluten free now can find something that is the best gluten free donut option and tastes good relative to others, but relative to the donuts he used to eat, it's still not the same.
Ultimately, I guess, I'm not sure what it is that changes this and in likelihood it could be lots of smaller factors adding up. But one of the exciting parts of recovery is getting to explore new options and find what is delicious to you now! :)
@givemecoffee @Anomalia
Definetly interesting to consider. I think anomalia brought up lots of great points. My taste buds kinda go in waves like sometimes i love pickles and other times i can't even look at one XD I think trying more foods in recovery for sure makes me feel like I can eat a bigger variety. It's nice to be less limited in choices and to be a little freer to chose what you want to nom instead of the ED always choosing. Proud of you for your recovery journey & thanks for sharing your neat perspective on this *sending some extra support your way*