Changed tastebuds miracle

[theresam]

Went out today with my daughter we decided to get Thai food, which I haven't had since going LF, high starch plant based about 10 weeks ago. It was so oily I thought they must've made a mistake. It was really unedible, but I was really hungry after a hike in the wintery woods, so I ate about half. I asked my daughter if it tasted too oily to her, and she looked at me funny. All I could taste was oil. It was really pretty awful.

When I started this, I was terrified (dramatic word, I know, but I kind of was) that I wouldn't be able to do the no oil thing. Today I saw that totally without me even realizing it and with no withdrawals or cravings for oil whatsoever, I'm over it. In fact, it tastes actually kind of sickening. Next time I'm asking for a no-oil stirfry or I'll pass on it. I'm so happy because I thought this would be hard, but it wasn't, not at all.

[Nean]

Good for you! Makes it lots easier to "sacrifice" and give up all that "good" food. Glad the adjustment was easier than you feared.

I went out for dinner with family after a funeral last weekend. A chain Italian place. The salad tasted like some kind of salt pickled "delicacy" Just iceburg lettuce, oil, salt and cheese - yuck! way too salty and oily to even be considered food! Other folks were adding salt to the salad. For me it was like, 'really, you're gonna pay them for this stuff?' Naked vegies are so much tastier.

[MINNIE]

It is miraculous, isn't it! I have been 100% avoiding oil for 11 months and 2 weeks so far. To be sure I was completely compliant, I decided not to eat in reataurants for the first year of my McDougall WOE. I knew this is what I had to do to cure GERD and other digestive problems, and it worked. I will never use oil again, but expected a longer period of adjustment. In fact it only took few days.

This was surprising, considering that I was raised on Mediterranean food that used olive oil for everything. I thought I would be bothered by the lack of "flavor" in oil, although I was determined to never use it again. However, soon I realized that everything tasted cleaner, fresher and better without it. Now, when I walk by a resaurant or take-out placce and smell the oil, I wonder how come I never noticed the rancidity that all oil-cooked foods have.

Also, I need less seasoning of any kind, because I am tasting and smelling the complexity of flavors in real food. I thought my sense taste and smell had deteriorated with age, but it was really the oil.

[theresam]

Amen, nean and minnie! I resisted the Mcdougall guidelines for a few years because I thought I couldn't live without oil and that it was too extreme. Letting it go wasn't extreme AT ALL. I will admit though that I do sometimes have some raw almond butter or tahini in a recipe and rarely some diced avocado, but even Chef Aj with her recent weightloss adds in chia and some tahini to her diet. Even with this tiny bit of fat, any extracted oils taste awful to me. Wish I hadn't waited to long to do this, but its all good! Halleluiah!!

[JulieS]

Yup, I agree! Mine have really changed, too! This chicken enchilada verde, which my SIL stuffs with a ton of cheese and sour cream, looked so gross to me on Saturday night. It used to be one of my favorites! I brought my own entrée so I was happy and didn't feel deprived. In fact, I felt lucky for the dish that I had brought, which was chopped steam broccoli with steamed cubed butternut squash tossed with cumin, smoked paprika, garlic, tad bit of liquid smoke, red wine vinegar on a bed of cooked quinoa! Our food rocks!

[theresam]

Yup, I agree! Mine have really changed, too! This chicken enchilada verde, which my SIL stuffs with a ton of cheese and sour cream, looked so gross to me on Saturday night. It used to be one of my favorites! I brought my own entrée so I was happy and didn't feel deprived. In fact, I felt lucky for the dish that I had brought, which was chopped steam broccoli with steamed cubed butternut squash tossed with cumin, smoked paprika, garlic, tad bit of liquid smoke, red wine vinegar on a bed of cooked quinoa! Our food rocks!

So darn true!! What you described sounded mouthwatering! No one believes it till they do it!

[Willijan]

Yes, Theresam, when I started cooking without oil I was afraid all my food would burn. Plus I was afraid things wouldn't stick together. No problem with the cooking, and it tastes great. I never did miss oil at all.
It's mainly just getting yourself to TRY cooking that way, and eating that way.
If only the general public knew how easy and delicious this is!

[Willijan]

Julie, your broccoli/squash/quinoa recipe sounds delicious. Isn't smoked paprika great?