Taste Buds

Ever since I started running longer distances (2010), I have started to get in better shape and pay more attention to my health.  I got in really good shape when training for the marathon.  I was eating relatively healthy, but wasn’t paying that much attention to nutrition.  After October I figured I would gain some weight back – with the big running being over and the holidays/food.  In the past 3-6 months I have leaned out even more.  Surprise, surprise – it is when I started cooking and paying attention to the food I was eating.  I used to live on frozen lunches for work, then I cut that down to only having them 2-3 times a week.  Now I don’t even buy them.  I have leaned out even more. 

A lot of the food I eat now is food I would have never touched before.  Two of my favorites that I eat almost daily (avocados and tomatoes) I didn’t eat even 4 years ago.  Then add in the fish/sushi, blueberries, greek yougurt, etc.  It got me to thinking about taste buds.

Did you know that we have around 9,000 - 10,000 taste buds?  There is a difference of opinion on if your taste buds actually change every 7 years.  There are so many theories - one that your taste buds change every 5-7 years during transitional periods, but are pretty much set by 27-30.  Or the theory that your taste buds start wearing out/diminishing around the 40-50 year mark.  A third theory is you can train/reprogram them to ‘get used to’ different foods.  I believe your tastes can change over time, I also believe you can get used to eating different foods.  Greek yogurt was one thing I had to eat a couple different times to get used to the texture and taste.  Now I have it every day for an afternoon snack.  Nutrition is a key component to being healthy.  Just because you workout everyday does not mean you can eat whatever you want.

One of my new favorite quotes: ‘You can’t out train a bad diet’

Side note: my spin instructor tried to kill us last night.  I know it wasn’t just me because two of the regular guys who are pretty serious spinners were struggling as much as me.  It was the hardest spin class we have ever had.