My Famous Taste Buds

Ever since I started going to doctors over a year and a half ago (how long ago was Katrina?), my taste buds have been abnormal. At first, I was fairly unaware of them and just didn't feel compelled to eat. After I was going to doctors and taking lots of pills, I became aware that nothing tasted normal and almost nothing tasted good. I had lost a tremendous amount of weight and was down to 145, approximately. I've gone along at least a year like that, until just lately. A month or two ago, some things have begun to taste good again, though I'd still argue that nothing has begun to taste Normal. I'll settle for what I can get, of course. Suddenly (to me) some things taste good enough that I start to want more or even get hungry for extra snacks. While my taste buds were ill, I didn't do that much. My weight is about where it should be (though still way down from the good ole fat-man days. I need the weight to stay nearer to the 160 lbs. than to rise again to the 200's and more. But it is interesting to think how obviously better or normal my taste buds were back when I was 200 to 245 lbs. When food tasted "normal", it was so good that I guess I couldn't stop eating. Though it is now starting to taste so good that I am beginning to have various snack yearnings, I am yet able to think how fucked up it would be to lose track or lose control. I don't wanna be a fat man again.

There may be metabolic things at work on us other than taste which increase our appetite, I'm no expert, not even a doctor. I find I can still watch other people eat and not get hungry, and that's good. But I do have an appetite of my own again, even though I'm mostly following the clock-schedule that I set up. I'm used to eating at noon, for instance, so that's when I eat. Some foods had gotten to where they were almost repellent, but that has changed, partly. Last year I couldn't stand one of my old favorites, Picante Sauce, but this past month I've relished it again! From having none in the house, I've moved to buying the half-gallon size. I don't eat it on everything, but I love it on Chee-toes! That's something else I had ceased to eat until lately. Hamburger meat became repellent for a long time, but less so now, and I'm willing to cook that or even buy a hamburger. That's a big step. I'd gotten to where I'd only eat chicken, and sometimes I'd be sick of chicken and only eat salads.

Things have changed. I still can't eat all the crap that's made with sugar or with too much salt, but I'm hopeful the Bad Old Days are over. I'm still sick, but maybe that mysterious metabolic change my body subjected me to isn't necessary any more and will eventually pass. If it does pass, I'll have to worry about gaining weight like anybody else. That'll be new. I didn't worry about it most of my life; that's the advantage of being fat, you don't have to be a worrier. For the first time since I was a teenager, I'm not really fat; if my taste buds get normal, I'll be fighting the same devil as everyone else, I guess. For now, I'm in a safe zone, I guess. I wonder how long it'll last?

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