Watch Your Tongue
By: Pene Hodge
Tags: Life Lessons, Health, Food, Family, Self Improvement

Be mindful of what you eat and drink

Life has many pleasures, some are good for us and some not so much. At every turn, we are faced with making many decisions. We are constantly bombarded with what to eat, what to drink, and so on. Growing up in a small underdeveloped country I saw firsthand the effects of alcohol abuse.

God has created so much for us to see, eat, and enjoy. As with most things in life, in everything we have to practice moderation. Along with the many things we can enjoy there are some that have the propensity to cause us distress if we are not diligent.

Our sense of taste and smell plays a major role in our enjoyment. We enjoy the many wonderful tastes and smells the world has to offer and make every effort to avoid the not so pleasant ones. Taste comes in several flavors, sweet, bitter, sour, salt, and umami (savory). There are a few everyday issues that can negatively alter our culinary enjoyment and negatively impact our taste buds.

Being overweight

Studies show a link between obesity and having a diminished sense of taste. This diminished taste sensation seems to encourage the person who is overweight to consume more calories thus the cycle of obesity continues. Obesity according to science, is an inflammatory process and impacts the cell turnover of the tongue. The good news is that the process seems to be reversible with weight loss.

2. Smoking kills your taste buds

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Cigarette smoke is odious, yellowing our nails and our teeth, it causes gum disease, high blood pressure, strokes, and a myriad of other ailments. It also kills your taste buds. The toxic chemicals in cigarettes cause your taste buds to lose their shape and flatten in a process known as vascularization. Vascularization causes your taste buds to become less efficient at detecting flavors.

3. Your nose could be the reason you can’t taste

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Smell and taste go hand-in-hand. Your taste buds work by detecting flavors via your nose and tongue. In fact, it’s thought that up to ninety (90%) percent of our sense of taste is closely tied with our ability to smell. For this reason, when your nose is congested it diminishes the way your food taste.

If you are not suffering from a cold and you’re still experiencing a dull sense of taste you need to have it evaluated ASAP. If your taste buds are not the problem your sense of smell could be. Aging, neurovascular conditions, Alzheimer's, and other diseases of the head and neck are a few that can alter our sense of taste. We now know that COVID affects our taste and smell.

So watch that ‘snout’ and enjoy pleasant flavors for a long time.

4. Too much sugar in your diet

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Experts have long cautioned on the implications of too much sugar. Too much sugar actually dulls the perception of sugar itself. That means over time you have to consume more and more sugar to get the same pleasure from eating it. Be mindful and try to reduce your sugar consumption as much as possible.

5. Exposure to harsh cleaners

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If like me you love a clean home and use/used harsh chemical cleaners that could have negative effects on your ability to smell and taste. Did you know that some household cleaners are quite toxic? Strong cleaners like bleach for example can affect the delicate lining and sensory cells in the nose, especially when cleaning small, unventilated areas, e.g., bathroom.

Some exposure will not necessarily cause permanent damage but continuous and prolonged exposure will eventually destroy the cells in the nasal passage and your taste buds.

6. Excessive alcohol intake

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We all know that too much of any one thing is good for nothing. Most enjoy a glass of wine, beer, or spirits, but excessive intake of alcoholic beverages can affect your sense of taste.

One of the ways alcohol damages your taste is by causing a numbing effect on the taste buds. Studies have shown that if your taste buds are really sensitive to ‘bitter’ you are less likely to overindulge in alcohol.

Final thoughts:

Life is for living and though there is much to eat, drink, and do, we are tasked with taking the responsibility for our health by way of our choices.

So take care, eat, and drink in moderation while maintaining an awareness of that which will have negative consequences on your health.

Safeguarding your most important attribute — your health. In so doing we may enjoy the pleasant taste and smells for a long time to come.

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