Reintroduced eating out

[Jessica B]

I started whole30 Christmas Day. I’ve been 95% good. Was given a bread machine for Christmas and had to try homemade bread! It’s beeen three weeks only while food. Last Friday someone from work brought in white chocolate mochas...it was the nastiest thing I’ve ever had! Tasted like a bowl full of chemicals, was sick for a day. Keeping up with the whole30 until Wednesday when I finally went out to eat for the first time in two months. Wanting to stay somewhat good, I ordered a salad (no dressing) from chick fil a, again I couldn’t eat it. I could taste some type of chemicals in it. The lettuce didn’t taste editable at all. 

Has this happened to anyone? I’m now afraid to eat anything outside the house due to the weird chemical taste I got from these two items. It was very bad and stomach turning. 

 

[ladyshanny]

Hmmm....it is common for people to refine their palette to whole, healthy foods and therefore be able to taste chemicals. Personally, I used to LOVE cheese, especially melted cheddar cheese, but now the smell of it is enough to make me gag and if I do accidentally taste it, all I can taste is chemicals. So, not super uncommon.

That said, I don't think that a white chocolate mocha drink or a salad from a fast food restaurant are generally going to be the best choices for determining what "eating out" really tastes like. The drink for sure is loaded with chemicals and stabilizers and thickeners and emulsifiers. The salad from the fast food place is almost surely coated in some sort of preservative - generally salads at fast food restaurants aren't huge sellers so they need to last more than a couple of days.

I would suggest going somewhere good and trying again. That said though, be aware that things you used to like and take for granted (like my cheese aversion) might be a more permanent thing for you. Not necessarily bad if you are repulsed by chemicals.