What tastes good and what tastes bad?

Hi WC3,

Foods that tasted good: bananas, grapes, oatmeal, potato soup. Anything bland, I guess.

Foods I couldn't eat: like you, anything "meaty". Taste was so distorted I also couldn't eat complex foods like pizza. Water tasted like spit to me, so I drank sports drinks.

Weird, but effective: I drank with a straw while taste was off. I would put the straw to the back of my mouth (kind of by-passing taste buds). This way I was able to drink without being repulsed by the taste.

Hope this helps,

Vickki

If I had all the money I wasted on food during treatment...! Glad your taste is coming back. It came and went with me, but luckily was very patterned so I would know exactly when to eat certain things. How many more treatments do you have? Definitely ask for the magic mouthwash if your mouth gets too irritated. It makes such a difference. I even used it in my nose when I got sores in or around it (weird, but it worked!).

Vickki

Unfortunately for my scale nothing tasted bad....so I ate everything in sight....manically. I did some serious eating. I think I'm one of the few that could have done better by suffering the taste side effect

For me, when the tastebuds are the worst, I like the bland stuff. I think it seems like any thing that has lots of complex flavors/aromas sounds and smells good and then it doesn't taste like it should which is kind of shocking and disturbing to previously known reality. on the other hand, when you have something bland, there isn't much expectation of flavor explosion, so when it doesn't come it isn't a shock or disappointment. Scrambled eggs, french toast, peanutbutter sandwiches, club crackers, cinnamon sugar toast have all been relatively good for me on the worst days and I get more normal as the next chemo approaches. For fluids, I like fruit punch PowerAde. It has a little flavor, a little sweet, no aspartame, and there is coconut oil in it which gives it a little more of a mouth feel when you drink it.

Sweet things have continued to taste pretty good too, pistachio oreos, twizzlers and nibs, not great for the weight gain, though.

I've started to describe the taste disappointment to other people this way: you have a fantastic perfectly ripe HoneyCrisp apple that you are about to bite into. you are expecting the sweet, crisp, juicy somewhat tart mouthwatering perfect first bite and you take that bite and it ends up tasting like a bite of a Red Delicious from your elementary school lunch

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I craved mashed potatoes. I could not eat Asian noodles. The smell of ginger would put me over the edge.

I couldn't taste much during chemo. The lining in my mouth (including tongue) was so burned that I had to add extra of everything just to taste something. I still remember one day we had friends over and I made spring rolls from scratch and I could see their jaws slowly dropping at the amount of seasonings I was putting on mine in the hopes that I could taste anything. And before you ask, yes, I munched on ice chips all the time during the treatment.

When I was on chemo I ate pickles and olives just so I could taste something. For a while I had a craving for Fritos corn chips. Tomatoes also tasted good to me.

Things that tasted bad to me were chocolate, any kind of soda, and bread.

I absolutely could not eat tomato based foods. They warned me not to and they were right. It caused awful heartburn. I craved pizza rolls on one occasion & Panera tomato soup on another. Both times I gave in. Both times I paid for it!! But I learned to wait until the 3rd week just before chemo. Then I could eat just about anything I wanted and I was fine.

The one thing I couldn't stand the taste of and had to give up was beer. I was really disappointed by that. My doctor told me I could still drink in moderation. But beer was SO bitter to me that I just couldn't drink it. And I work for a beer distributor!! Lol But soon after chemo my taste buds straightened out and beer tastes good again!! Lol

Almost everything is bitter, and all bread tastes bad. A frozen strawberry in my water helps. Sweet potato fries are delish.