I have been dieting since July 5th(this time around). I am noticing foods taste different.
I made a winter squash with supper Sunday night. In the past I would have baked it with butter and brown sugar. This time I just put a little S&P on it and baked. I thought it tasted so sweet, I couldn't imagine why I ever used butter and brown sugar on squash.
Bananas are another thing that seem to taste so much sweeter. So much so I really don't care for them now, they seem too sweet.
Anyone else experiencing anything like this?

I definitely taste the subtle sweetness in certain vegetables way more than I would before I cut back on sugars and starches. It's freeing, isn't it?

Yep. I especially notice it with carrots and other veggies like that.

Yes, definitely. After a few years of not drinking soda, I tried some Coke (an old favorite), and I was struck by how sweet and acidic it was. I could not come up with anything to finish, "This tastes like ..." because there really is nothing in nature that it resembles. It's a chemical concoction!

Agree, a LOT of vegetables have a sweet component - especially winter root vegetables. My MIL actually puts sugar in the water when cooking beets or corn - I do not get that at all!

yep... you start to taste how sweet foods are - natural foods.

I used to not be able to stomach dark chocolate. It was so bitter. I loved milk chocolate. I had a small piece of milk chocolate while on vacation and I couldn't believe how terribly sweet it was. Now I find dark chocolate perfect - and a small square satisfies my sweet tooth and my desire for chocolate.

Yes, but sort of in reverse. I notice how BAD food that I used to like is. It just doesn't attract me like it used to. Not all of it, but the other day I gave in to a crappy frozen pizza urge, and after two bites it was like. "eww....I used to like,this?!?"

Same goes for me. If ever I have a bite of the unhealthy foods I used to love, I think to myself, "that totally wasn't worth the calories".

I guess I've become a bit of a food snob- I only want to eat delicious (read: healthier) foods now.

Salt and sugar are both desensitizing. The more you use, the more you need to get the same level of sensation.

Also taste buds really do change over time, depending on what else you're eating, and how many times you've tried a food. So a food you hated the first ten times you tried it, can be something you like on the eleventh. Most people don't give a food ten chances before deciding they don't like it, and many will never give a food a second or even third chance, because we tend to think of taste buds as something fixed (If I don't like it today, I'll never like it).

Even though I've tried to keep an open mind I must have tried brussels sprouts dozens of times before liking them. I didn't force myself to eat them, but I would periodically retry them, experimenting with cooking methods and seasonings...

When I tried roasting them, I finally had success, and thought that I'd just found one way to prepare them in a way I liked them. Then I was at a buffet and found steamed brussels sprouts (which I didn't expect to like, because I never had before, but they smelled good, so I thought I'd try them). Oddly enough, even though they tasted pretty much the way I remember them tasting when I disliked them, I now liked them. The roasting them I guess created a bridge in my mind and the veggie went from hated to enjoyed even though they didn't really taste any different.

The same was true of beets. I tried beets often, but just didn't like them. Then one day I was having lunch with my mother and we ordered greek salads that had beets on them. My mom started forking the beets off my salad and I said, "Hey, that's my salad." (Note that I was in my mid 20's at the time, and I'd hated beets since I was five years old).

She said, "You don't like beets," and I said, "Well, they're on m my salad, you should at least give me a chance to decide whether I want to give them away or not."

She said, "Ok, do you want your beets," and I felt I had to taste the beet after the fuss I'd put up, so I tasted it, and it was awesome on the salad. I was surprised.

Now I love beets and I love them for the very reason I hated them as a child. They taste like dirt. I still think they taste like dirt, but now I call it "earthy" (earthy being a nice way to say "tastes like dirt").

So far I have been able to resist all the unhealthy junk I used to eat. I know the other day I was driving with the windows down and passed by a fast food restaurant and the smell of the grease turned my stomach.

I drink a lot of Crystal Light, but lately have even been mixing one packet of flavor with 2 bottles of water. I used to have a terrible swet tooth and I have found that it has basically disappeared. (YAY!)

I have also found that I used less salt on MOST things. Still avocados, tomatos, eggs and baked potatoes MUST have salt.

Hey I can't give up all my bad habits!!

I was feeling lazy one night and ended up having canned baked beans for dinner. It tasted so sweet that it was repulsive. I couldn't even eat half. I've also found that certain veggies that I used to barely tolerate now taste yummy, these being spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. A year ago I started making green smoothies, and I would only put a few leaves of spinach in. Now I put in about 75 grams with just one piece of fruit and water. I can get through a massive bag of spinach in one day. The changes just go on and on.

I noticed it most with regular soda like Coke. Too sweet and carbonated for me. I really can't drink them and I used to drink 2-3 a day.

I definitely notice the sweetness of fruits and even vegetables more.

I also notice the grease more in foods. I used to be ADDICTED to french fries. A couple of days ago I snagged a few from a friend's plate and after a few bites the taste of the grease made me queasy. Now just the thought of french fries still makes me a little sick.

I've never had any negative food taste responses from the medication but one day I found food was particularly delicious. Anything I ate was like a hundred times tastier than ever. Strange, I know! O.O

I cut back on carbs 3 weeks ago and I find plain ol bread just amazing when I allow myself some! And I learned to eat onions! I HATED onions before and now I eat them all the time!

As for veggies I have always had a mad lust for veggies, and eating clean has only reinforced it. I still have what my fiancé describes as a "fierce love of diet cola", but since it's calorie free I'm going to wait for a while before tackling it.

definitely. i used to basically hate vegetables. i thought most of them tasted like nothing. now im totally addicted to broccoli, onions, mushrooms, etc. onions are pretty much the best thing that ever happened to me and i eat them on EVERYTHING. they add so much flavor.