Don’t Be Shy To Try!

On my journey from Anosmia, to Parosmia to…..well something in-between, I’ve realised I’ve become a wimp.

Yes ok, at the Anosmia point who would actually want to eat anything when it doesn’t have a taste but just gives you a sensation of eating cardboard? But YOU HAVE TO EAT, and I did. Then the Parosmia point which personally I think is worse than having Anosmia. Do I really want to put something into my mouth, try and chew it when it tastes like dog sh….?  You get the picture. But YOU HAVE TO EAT, and I did. (Whilst trying not to gag).

Now I’m at what I call, ‘the unknown quantity stage’. This is me……

Taste:

• There is food I still can’t tolerate, you’ve heard me talk about this before. Onions and garlic being the worst.
• Food I can eat one day then can’t the next, because all of a sudden they’ve taken on the ‘yuck’ factor. At the moment, eggs, sweet corn, beans, bacon, sausages, bananas and a few more besides….sigh.
• Some things I can eat for the time being. Beef, pork, apples, fish and chocolate, for example. I even actually enjoy them sometimes…smiley face!
• Food I can always eat, cheese, grapes, lettuce (ok doesn’t taste of much anyway), tomato’s, potatoes and most sweet things and very salty things….yes I know unhealthy!
• Some food I just eat because I can, but its tasteless…..bored face.

Smell:

• I get a smell, its not a horrible smell but its unidentifiable.
• I get a sweet perfume smell, its a scented candle….yippee!
• I try to smell something that I know is strong, I get nothing….sighs again.
• I still get a horrible smell sometimes…..wrinkles nose.
• I get some kind of smell, can’t be bothered to make the effort to work out what it is so dismiss it….shrugs shoulders.
• I wake up to horrible smells almost like they are in the air itself then they fade away to nothing after a while….what?

 

So now you probably understand why I call this the ‘unknown quantity stage’.

I’ve given myself the ‘wimp’ label because now, from my bad experiences with the real no go tastes and smells I refuse to even try them.

If I get a sandwich from a shop I have to totally dissect it in case I find onion, and if I do as far as I’m concerned the whole thing is contaminated and I wont touch it. I have to read the label on everything and if there is even a miniscule amount of onion or garlic in it, even garlic powder, I wont even try it.

So the pizza that I very carefully hand picked all of the toppings for then discovered the tomato base had garlic powder in…. AFTER I’d eaten and enjoyed the different textures and crunch, was bit of a surprise to say the least.

Also eggs, if anything contains these evil things…its a nope again. Emmm but I ate a crème brule the other day and it was sweet and pleasant no hint of ‘nasty’ at all.

Corn on the cob, instead of tinned sweet corn…was actually ok when it had butter smothered over it and wrapped in tin foil then baked in the oven.

The smoothie with the main ingredient being banana that I unwittingly tried before discovering that’s what it was. Yes you’ve guessed it, I enjoyed it!

These experiences seem to be happening more and more these days. To the point where when I refused to eat a curry having discovered it had a hint of garlic in then decided to try it for my husband sake, well he was tearing his hair out at the time, I discovered that I couldn’t tell there was any garlic in it!

Ok sometimes it doesn’t always work that way, crisps with garlic flavouring in are still horrible for example. It seems however some things aren’t these days, but the only way I will ever know is to take the plunge and TRY things. So now I’m attempting to eliminate the ‘wimp’ label I’ve given myself, and at least give the ‘no go’ food a try instead of dismissing it straight away.

The same goes for smell. I cant go into a kitchen if bread is baking as it smells terrible, or did smell terrible. Until I went to see my parents and dad was baking bread….it just smelt insignificant, nothing to make a song and dance about anymore.

My best perfume that smelt like a cross between vinegar and antiseptic, up until I sprayed some on without thinking because we were going out. Instead it smelt sweet and pleasant.

As with taste, some things are still bad. I’m sad to say grass still smells horrible….maybe one day. But my Smell Training is coming along nicely, I haven’t given up on it, and things are progressing well.

So the morale of the story is an obvious one my friends. Don’t dismiss things without trying them first, don’t be ‘shy to try’. You may be missing out on the opportunity to discover pleasure in food and smells that weren’t there before. You’ll never know if you don’t give it a go!

 

Have you discovered tastes or smells that have improved recently? Please share if you like.