When I was smoking, I tended to go with foods with extra flavor. Really spicy, really garlicy, sickly sweet. It wasn’t until after I quit that I realized I was doing it because my taste buds had been so dulled. The odd thing is, that didn’t change the garlic or spice intake, just the sugary stuff. I barely drink soda anymore. But throw a pile of garlic on the meal dammit! And very few returants offer up enough kick in their spice.
Congrats on the paradigm shift. That is what really finally did it for me, after 10 attempts at quitting.
Thanks, altho I can’t take credit for the event which caused it (emergency appendectomy). I am, however, doing my part now to keep the momentum going. I also have not had a drink in that time (one month today, actually). The beer-less-ness is a good bit more difficult than the cigarette-less-ness; although I see now that it was more bad habit than anything else. I suppose that a beer or two is a lot less harmful than half a pack of smokes; however I can’t imagine one without the other, so here I am. Today I choose not to indulge.
Not related to smoking, but my sister-in-law collapsed one day and on the way down hit her head -hard- on the kitchen counter. The collapse was later attributed to MS. Anyway, after this trauma to her head, many foods started to taste “off” to her. The worst is lettuce, especially iceberg lettuce, which she swears now tastes “minty.”
sigh. Like peanut butter and jelly. That was one of the hardest parts, but it goes away. It’s also when I knew I had it licked, as when I could get blotto and not smoke. (It’s also when I fell off the wagon the most). But, it is true. Hangovers are far less severe without smokes.
I’m going on 11 months smoke free and I can say that I absolutely noticed a change in tastes as many here have already mentioned. I totally get the beer-with-a-smoke thing. That was certainly the most difficult to reconcile, but frankly the beer tastes better now too! I think that I still taste things with more sensitivity now, but like many things, once you get used to it, it is noticed less frequently.
