17/04/2026
I lost my sense of taste this week after being sick, and it's given me a real window into something a lot of clients have to deal with long term.
First, I noticed how easy it is to accidentally skip meals. When you're not excited about food, I lost all drive to have breakfast and lunch. I got to about 3pm before realising that I was just running off one coffee, and the headache I was feeling was because I hadn’t eaten!
The second thing that surprised me was how my food choices shifted. There was no temptation for hot chips with our weekly takeaway meal, as it would taste the same as other vegetables. I also found that my portions decreased, there wasn’t that nice taste to keep pushing me to eat more!
Lastly, and most surprisingly, there was still food perception. I hate the taste of soy milk, and we ran out of my usual milk (skim) and only had soy. I found I was going to skip my morning caffeine boost entirely! While the taste wasn't even there to notice, my brain still said no.
Now I know this is temporary, but for people going through chemotherapy, long-term illness, or decreased taste with age, this could affect them for a few months or even permanently! I imagine when it goes on for weeks or months, the nutritional impact adds up fast. Muscle loss, unintentional weight loss, and malnutrition would happen before you knew it.
It makes me think of the strategies I've used with clients and how important it is: eating by the clock rather than waiting for hunger or interest, making every meal count nutritionally (especially protein), and keeping portions small and frequent rather than forcing three big meals. Again, this is the gap where dietitians are so valuable, a lot of the time people know that they should be eating, but the strategy to get there is often lacking.
