I know there's people that will freak about this one but remember: Whatever an individual chooses to do with their own body, if they're not hurting anyone else, it's their OWN business
I'm proposing taste bud removal. It's a fact that severe calorie reduction is the only thing PROVEN to extend life expectency. All the processed food we are constantly tempted with has extremely high fat density and would not be found in the natural wold, it's no wonder obesity has become an epidemic. I for one would totally sacrifice the enjoyment of tasting food for the power to be able to use food as it should be used, as FUEL.-- ignorantimmigrant, Mar 11 2005 U.S. News- Cells of Immortality http://www.usnewscl...000320/immortal.htmScientists Tinker with Life Spans [ignorantimmigrant, Mar 11 2005] National Geographic- Longevity http://news.nationa...30_tvlongevity.htmlDiscoveries Unlock Secrets of Long Life [ignorantimmigrant, Mar 11 2005] Google- "Calorie Restriction" http://www.google.c...&btnG=Google+SearchMany Many Links [ignorantimmigrant, Mar 11 2005] //All the processed food we are constantly tempted with // So, don't eat it. Simple. You'd need to remove olefactory senses too (mmm...bacon sandwich), and that is going to lead to a whole new level of food poisoning - these senses have evolved for a very good reason. Have a smell-less, tasteless fishbone.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 11 2005 How will you go about removing the taste buds?-- calum, Mar 11 2005 You may not live longer, but it'll sure feel like a long time.-- Basepair, Mar 11 2005 //I know there's people that will freak about this one// That'll be most of us then.-- wagster, Mar 11 2005 taste bud? is there only the one then?
wonder if I bit mine off here sometime or other.-- po, Mar 11 2005 [ii] few people overeat because they are satisfying their urge to taste. Instead, many eating habits are psychologically linked to feelings of comfort or togetherness - the inability to taste would not take these feelings and learned behaviours away.
As such, having their tastebuds removed would probably not solve their eating problem.
On another tack, if amputees are said to feel 'ghost' pains in their amputated limbs, I wonder if you'd be able to have 'ghost' tastes once your tastebuds were removed?-- zen_tom, Mar 11 2005 I'm not sure that it would have a lot of effect as most of what humans interpret as taste is received through an olfactory, rather than taste, sense.
Be that as it may, there may be a chemical way to reduce nerve communication from taste receptors in the tongue. Does anyone ever notice a reduced sense of taste after receiving a local anesthetic for dental work? I can't remember if it does or doesn't.-- bristolz, Mar 11 2005 Yeah, I've heard that most of tasting comes from sense of smell. I don't want to lose my sense of smell. Taste buds are there only for tasting. About the nerve communication from the tongue: Well. you definitely can't taste as well when your tongue is burnt.-- ignorantimmigrant, Mar 11 2005 Maybe a small plastic tongue jacket? A brush-on coating of some sort that would either dissolve slowly or could be peeled off?
In any case, as I think about this, I realize that the chemical receptors in the tongue and nose are responsible for triggering certain functions of the body's chemistry for ingestion and nutrition and there might be unintended side effects of blocking the taste buds.-- bristolz, Mar 11 2005 Perhaps you're approaching this from the wrong angle. Don't remove taste buds, have them work for you. Spray something nearly inedible on everything you eat. Perhaps something painfully spicy, or a strong salt spray. You'll quickly associate eating with pain, and will eventually only do it when the pain of hunger is greater.
Perhaps a strong sucralose solution, for that sickeningly sweet taste without adding calories.-- Worldgineer, Mar 11 2005 People always say that smell and taste are intrinsically linked, but I've lost my sense of small (well, smell actually - my sense of small was working quite well last I looked) but not my sense of taste. I'm hoping to get my smell back later this year, it'll be interesting to see what it does to my sense of taste.-- wagster, Mar 11 2005 What about your sense of small? Will you still recognise, say, a chihuahua?-- angel, Mar 11 2005 As a rogue scholarly note: Two things have been shown to increase life expectancy, lower core body temperature and decreased calories as the daily diet. The calorie reduction shown to be effective in lab work was not extreme either; about 10% intake below the body's daily metabolic requirement was shown to be effective at significantly increasing life expectancy. That is the equivalent of fasting one day of ten. I don't immediately recall the degree of core body temperature reduction needed to produce a significant increase in longevity, but I seem to recall that a degree or three on average was effective.-- reensure, Mar 11 2005 Interesting. Lower body temperature is often cited as symptomatic of a poor metabolic rate and an inability to efficiently deal with spikes in caloric intake. Many obese people have a lower than normal body temperature.-- bristolz, Mar 11 2005 I remember years ago when I first got braces. My orthodontist must have been a bit of a sadist, as he delighted in seeing his patients in pain.
To the point: For about a month after I had my braces put on, I was in agony. I couldn't chew anything, so I was limited to broth, ice cream and farina (cream of wheat). Finally, my parents decided that this much pain wasn't normal. We went to a different orthodontist to have the braces loostened a bit. A few days later, the pain was gone, and I was able to eat normal food again.
I can remember very few experiences as pleasurable as tasting ordinary food again. I've seen similar reactions with people coming off long-term tube feeding.
On the other hand, I know a police officer who suffered a severe facial fracture while trying to break up a barfight. the visible damage was fixed through surgery, but he lost his sense of taste and smell as a result. He claims it's a blessing, as he can tolerate his wife's cooking now. (badump-bump-ching!)-- Freefall, Mar 11 2005 I knew a florist once, who'd lost his sense of taste as the result of a strong electrical shock.
For him, food was now all about textures and temperatures. His favorite dish?
Ice cream and crackers.-- normzone, Mar 11 2005 // I'm hoping to get my smell back later this year //
What did you do, order a new one?
There are pharmaceutical methods that will remove the senses of taste and smell. It's a not-uncommon side effect of several drugs. I'd go this route long before I'd have my tongue shaved (that is, if I thought the base concept had merit).-- waugsqueke, Mar 12 2005 Awwww, no flame war?
[ii] it is unwise to fight against an experienced baker. It is also almost always futile. Don't learn the hard way. The hard way, for obvious reasons, is harder than the easier way.
Welcome.-- DesertFox, Mar 12 2005 [DF] the point of this site is not to cause flame wars, nor to take part in them. You may notice that of [ii]'s 4 ideas, only one has a flame war on it. Don't try to increase that number. It's not what you're here for.-- david_scothern, Mar 12 2005 //Yeah, I've heard that most of tasting comes from sense of smell. I don't want to lose my sense of smell. Taste buds are there only for tasting. About the nerve communication from the tongue: Well. you definitely can't taste as well when your tongue is burnt.//
The vast majority of the experience of flavour comes from the sense of smell. The sense of taste can only distinguish salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami (savoury). Therefore whilst no sense of smell will impair your gustation, it will not make *that* much difference.
Also, as several people point out, over eating is far more closely linked with psychological factors than taste.-- hazel, Mar 12 2005 Welcome, and please respect people like Angel who have been here a lot longer than you. You have only been here three days, whereas Angel has been here for four years.-- -----, Mar 13 2005 I almost quit reading on this idea, because I hate snippy sniping. But it is not a bad idea. I wondered if people who lose their taste for other reasons actually lose weight. I found a report in Lancet (359 9309 p891) of a very obese man who had tried for many years to lose weight. He lost his sense of taste after having nerve damage to his tongue when being intubated. It gradually came back several months later. During the period without taste, he lost 20 kg. The authors make exactly the same conclusion that [Ig] does: that this phenomenon could be harnessed.
It could be done exactly as was done to this man: a surgical procedure to kill the nerve. One could do it with alcohol injection or with a scalpel. Really, this would be superior in many ways to gastric bypass. Like the man described, many or most would gradually have taste return. They could elect to have the procedure repeated, or not.
Re: taste and smell - people who are receiving radiation to their mouths have their taste buds burnt off, but can smell fine. The food smells great to them, but tastes like chalk (or salt) and they derive no pleasure in eating. I think smell is needed for fine distinction between flavors, but you need taste to enjoy the food.
[Ig] - stick around. For whatever reason, the bakers hate therapeutic body modification and hate weight loss plans. It is a good and reasonable idea. More, please.-- bungston, Mar 13 2005 Get a nasty head cold - that removes the ability to smell and taste.-- DenholmRicshaw, Mar 13 2005 random, halfbakery