Continuing with Jan Chosen Bays’ 7 types of hunger…

Nose Hunger

How does your sense of smell influence your eating?  Do you smell food that is aromatic and want to eat it just because it smells so good even though you aren’t hungry?  Dr. Bays asserts that smell is actually synonymous with taste which is to say that if there is no smell, there is no taste.  “Our taste buds, on the tongue, only register 5 flavors:  sweet, salty, sour, bitter and amino acids.  When we can’t smell food, we perceive it as having almost no taste.”  Think about this when your nose is congested…do you taste food as well as when you’re not congested?  The smell of food is so enticing and, to me, there is no better sign of comfort than walking into a house that smells of home cooking.  If only our actual hunger would always fall in line with our nose hunger!