The Changing of taste buds?

Hello friendly friends!
Today I want to talk about something that truly perplexes me. Something that makes my brain hurt and keeps me questioning. How can one day I wake up and hate avocado and the next day love it? The same goes for mushrooms, pasta bakes, zucchini and olives.

Please explain!

I blame these little guys:

No that's not a pic of something from a coral reef- that's your taste buds people! And boy are they confusing little things!

Apparently you not only grow out of hating on certain foods (seriously- I was crazy to dislike avocado) you can also retrain them!
So your taste buds have a life cycle where they start as basic cells, develop into taste cells and die- all in a matter of around 10 days- 2 weeks! Nuts! (Something else I wasn't always a fan of!)
Makes sense about the re-training part. It also answers a lot of questions that constantly get thrown my way:

'Don't you miss meat?'
'How can you not eat sugar?'
'You can't seriously like the taste of spinach?'

 Nope, I don't miss meat because I haven't had it in about 4 years... so my current taste buds have never come across it's taste before.

I don't eat/ crave sugar because I stopped eating it a while ago- it was hard at first but after about a month I forgot how much I loved it and now most sweet foods taste too sweet for me.

Yes, yes I do like the taste of spinach. Never did as a child, but after eating it almost daily for around 2 years straight, it's started to grow on me (metaphorically)

Maybe I can simplify my answers down a little though...

My taste buds have changed.

 My life as a person who eats food (I know- weird) started with a preference for raw fruit and veg for every snack and toasted sandwiches/ vegemite sandwiches for lunch and whatever meat and veg was on my plate for dinner.

They used to call me bugs bunny because I would just walk around the house chewing on a whole carrot.

In my pre-teen stage I got into the junk food a bit more. Juice/ ice tea over water, chips, chocolate, lollies, biscuits, sprinkle sandwiches (yes as I got older I had sprinkle sandwiches) muffins, cookies- the list goes on and on- because that's what all my friends were eating.

 Things took a turn upon entering 13-14 years of age and now I prefer whole foods, a large variety of them- lots of veggies (cooked/ uncooked) and some health-i-fied versions of my old favourites. (Nachos, pizza, burgers etc.)
 

Black bean veggie burger

That's where my taste buds be at now- I can't handle too much sweet/ salt because I just don't have it too often. Because I've re-trained my taste buds.

I think this is what stumps some people when trying to like a new food/ trying to cut back on one they like too much and may not be the best for them in terms of health.
Persistence is key and when you think about it, it really only takes a few weeks to change a preference.

If two weeks is still too long, apparently burning your tongue kills taste buds too. Hot coffee/ tea/ chocolate for everyone! (Ok, no, I'm not going to endorse that!)

Fun fact before I leave:
You can't actually see your taste buds- the lumpy things on your tongue are called fungiform papillae with six taste buds buried inside it's surface tissue. Yeah.

So this is me thinking out loud!  Head on over to Spoons (creator of this awesome link-up!) for more great thinking!

Bye friends! :D