The Taste of Food

My husband and I recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and decided that each month on the anniversary date we were going to do something "different."  It could even be something that we would normally have done, as long as it was not the "same old, same old."  In April we went to a restaurant that we only visit once a year.  In May we played cards with friends.  In June I simply showed up to watch my husband shoot pool (he plays every week, but I never go to watch.)  On Friday, our anniversary date, we were invited to go out to dinner with our lake neighbors (we have an RV at a campground).  The invitation was totally unexpected - our original plans for the weekend fell through, and we had stopped for breakfast on the way up to the camper just to say we had done something "different."  I was now faced with a second temptation to succumb and eat all sorts of unhealthy food items.  I glanced through the menu, immediately deleting any item that began with the word "fried."  As we ordered, I heard this surreal voice speaking "I'll have the shrimp platter, grilled please, and for my two sides: baked potato with butter and sour cream on the side and the vegetable medley."

WHAT?  That voice...that sounded so much like my own, actually said "vegetable medley!"  Who is this woman?  What alien life form has taken over my brain?  Grilled?  Butter on the side?  VEGETABLE MEDLEY?  Less than 2 months ago I would have ordered the fish and chips without giving it a second thought! 

But an amazing thing happened that night as I began to eat.  EVERYTHING tasted wonderful.  I noticed for the first time the intricate taste of each item.  The shrimp, a naked potato - even I commented that the veggies were the best I had eaten in a long time.  The meal was really good and I raved about the restaurant on the way back to the camper.

Interesting thing though...everything I have eaten since then suddenly tastes better.  Eggs, peas, even cereal and milk suddenly has more flavor than it had in the past.  Each flavor is more pronounced, more refined.  Suddenly I'm enjoying eating again because the healthy stuff tastes great.  I've read before that when you drastically cut down on sodium it takes awhile for your taste buds to recover - but they do and you begin to really taste food the way it was meant to be eaten.  I'd go as far as to say not only the salt, but the sugar, sugar substitutes and the fat all mask the true flavor and deaden your own sense of taste.  On Friday it was as if someone had thrown a switch - and a whole new world has opened up!

Weight Lost This Week - 1.0 lbs.
Total Weight Lost -          9.2 lbs.