If a pill could make your taste/smell diminish...

[TheLittleRoo]

to the point where you can't taste or smell your meal, would you take it?

I was asking about Alli earlier today, and got to wondering why no drug companies have thought of this as a weight loss option. I had a nose job done when I was 20 and had parts of my nasal passages cauterized due to allergies (to help me breathe better) - - to this day, I can't taste or smell much more than most people can with a bad cold. I remember going out to eat with my family once when I had a REAL bad headcold (totally clogged nose, ears popped when I swallowed, ) and had no desire to eat my favorite foods. Eating was a process of refueling only.

I would totally go for a prescription drug that eliminated taste and/or smell. Am I weird, or would other people do it too?

 

[FairyGodmother76]

I would be first in line to take it. Smells of food trigger me to want to eat them. If I took the pill I would be able to walk down the boardwalk at the shore and not want to eat EVERYTHING I smell. Then once I lost all my weight I could stop taking the pill!!

 

[JudyS]

The general theory is the food serves both a reward function (that is, it tastes good) and a homeostasis function (that is, it reduces hunger.) This pill would only affect the reward function of food.

In my case, I think the amount that I eat is determined almost entirely by hunger, not by the taste of food. So, I don't think a pill like this would really do anything to help me lose weight.

I do often have a problem where I'll smell food and suddenly become so famished that I'll start shaking and break out in a cold sweat. Even so, I don't think the pill would help much -- I sometimes get the same symptoms just from seeing food.

 

[tiggerlover]

It wouldn't work for me because I do not always eat for hunger, I eat for comfort. I take sleeping pills every now and again and one of the side effects is an alteration of your taste buds. Even on days when my taste buds are altered I still eat. I have often thought why I do when I am not really tasting anything, but it is a long routed problem that I still haven't conquered.

 

[lisaviolet]

to the point where you can't taste or smell your meal, would you take it?

I was asking about Alli earlier today, and got to wondering why no drug companies have thought of this as a weight loss option. I had a nose job done when I was 20 and had parts of my nasal passages cauterized due to allergies (to help me breathe better) - - to this day, I can't taste or smell much more than most people can with a bad cold. I remember going out to eat with my family once when I had a REAL bad headcold (totally clogged nose, ears popped when I swallowed, ) and had no desire to eat my favorite foods. Eating was a process of refueling only.

I would totally go for a prescription drug that eliminated taste and/or smell. Am I weird, or would other people do it too?

Never. I love food. The preparation - well when I'm in the mood that is. The smells. The taste. Everything. And would never ever want that to change.