TIL about the artificial sweetener thing, this explains a lot. I have never been able to understand people enjoying diet soda.

have you tried ants?

My grandfather had low cholesterol no matter what. It was always perfect. This man ate more bacon and had more buttermilk and cornbread than anyone I've ever met in my life.

I have to watch mine pretty closely. Well, I should, but I'll just die horribly and early I guess. The alcohol will get me first anyway.

I find that most sweeteners have the aftertaste, like Canderel and Sweetex, but Hermesetas taste fine. It might be worth trying a few brands and seeing if any work for you

Look at Triglyceride to HDL ratio from the basic test, cholesterol is mostly about statins these days (sugar/carbs in the past), which only help mortality in ppl who've had heart attacks. Look into it.

Bitter and spicy kinda sounds like an allergy my dude

Celery man. Everyone tells me it has no taste, but to me it tastes like an entire lawn's worth of grass clippings compressed into a stick. Extremely pungent.

Same with cucumbers. They taste awfully strong and bitter to me.

Just to signal boost the other guy that sounds a lot like a food allergy friend

Cognitive Modulation of Olfactory Processing: Neuron

We showed how cognitive, semantic information modulates olfactory representations in the brain by providing a visual word descriptor, “cheddar cheese” or “body odor,” during the delivery of a test odor (isovaleric acid with cheddar cheese flavor) and also during the delivery of clean air. Clean air labeled “air” was used as a control. Subjects rated the affective value of the test odor as significantly more unpleasant when labeled “body odor” than when labeled “cheddar cheese.” In an event-related fMRI design, we showed that the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)/medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was significantly more activated by the test stimulus and by clean air when labeled “cheddar cheese” than when labeled “body odor,” and the activations were correlated with the pleasantness ratings. This cognitive modulation was also found for the test odor (but not for the clean air) in the amygdala bilaterally.

If I eat cilantro by itself and focus on the idea of it tasting like soap, I can kinds taste it. It still tastes good to me, just with a hint of soapiness. It's not enough to ruin it for me, and I have to be looking for it.

Sure is! It's my favourite superpower.

Petrichor is after the rain, also an amazing smell! But sometimes there's also a distinct note before summer rain starts. Similar to petrichor, but different.