I was at a supermarket yesterday and one of our expert cheese stockers told me “Your metabolism & immune system changes every 7 years”. He chimed in after the expert behind the cheese counter confidentially told me that “your taste buds change every 3 months”.
Does being an expert in cheese make you an expert in Metabolism, the Immune System and Taste Buds?
Don’t you love it when people claim to be experts and spread information they think is helpful? lol I’ve talked about this before. There’s a woman who does nutrition workshops. I sat in on one and having videotaped someone really knowledgable in the nutrition field for years and heard everything I need to know about nutrition, I was surprised that she was spreading untrue information, as the expert.
But at the end of the day? I really don’t fault them.
NO CHEF?
No! As always it is our job to research everything being said, knowing that even if it sounds like it could be true…. we know we need to do our homework.
Let’s first start with the one that was the most shocking (since my own experience is so ‘counter’ to the comment). My taste buds change every 3 months? So let me get this straight. I traveled the world, ate in Michelin Star Restaurants, developed my palate and now, I may not enjoy Paul Bocuse’s cooking if I go back to Lyon because….. (say it with me)…. MY TASTE BUDS CHANGE EVERY 3 MONTHS? lol
If that were true, I would be skinny. I think of all the food I crave that isn’t particularly good for me and if my taste buds could just change every three months, I would be repelled by those same foods. Ya feel me?
YES CHEF!
So I did my homework. The buzz about taste buds leans towards the debate about them changing every 7 years as talked about in a Skeptics article.
Wonderopulous.org says “Scientists know that taste buds do wear out over time. As we get bigger and older, taste buds start to disappear from the sides and roof of the mouth. This may result in duller taste sensations as we get older.
Your taste buds can also be affected by other factors, too. Exposure to smoke, for example, can deaden taste buds. Likewise, drinking scalding hot liquids can damage taste buds, leading to decreased taste sensations. Plus, there’s the fact that not everyone has the same number of taste buds”.
So there are many factors that can affect your taste buds. And it does explain why, as kids get older their buds aren’t as shocked by flavors they didn’t enjoy as a younger child, but …..automatically changing every 3 months? I don’t think so.
Now, let’s get to your metabolism. Everything I know to be true, that the metabolism slows with age but can be re-generated with exercise, proper eating etc. was confirmed by an article I read in Self.com. “The more complex the food (think steak, legumes and fibrous vegetables), the more calories you burn as it travels through the digestive tract. Protein also contains leucine, an amino acid that prevents muscle loss when you’re dieting. A simple strategy: For a quick and easy snack, keep peanuts in your pocketbook, trail mix in your desk drawer and hard-boiled eggs in the fridge”.
They also talk about cardio work, using quick bursts of energy – I think it’s called ‘interval training’…. and they remind you that plenty of water helps your metabolism.
But nowhere on their site, nowhere on the web does it say anything about your metabolism changing every 7 years. Now, perhaps this grocery expert was mixing up the fact that our cells re-cycle every 7 years. That would make more sense then what he was absolutely sure to the be the truth.
And as I explore that concept, the fact that our cells change every 7 years was further explained to not be exactly the case, on Answers.com: “If you average all the cells as they live, multiply, and die, many sources say that it takes seven years for all of them to change in your body. This is somewhat true, but also somewhat misleading. The truth is that different cells have different lifespans. For example, the nerve cells in your brain do not multiply and they last for your entire life. If any of them die, they do not get replaced. At the other end of the spectrum are the white blood cells in your body. They have the shortest lifespan and some of them live only a few days”.
So, it’s not exactly true that the cells re-cycle over 7 years because some of them will, some of them won’t and some of them will have replaced themselves many times over during a 7 year period.
I use this story to explain once again that you’ve really got to do your homework. People will say with authority, as a self proclaimed ‘expert’, statements that sound like they could be true. But do yourself a favor?
YES CHEF?
Do your homework. We’ve got the world wide web at our finger tips. Double check info (even mine), before adopting new information as fact.
Happy Eating,
Chef Marian