# "Tasting" Food Hours After Eating?



## 17807

I've been wondering (for quite some time) how, with some foods, I can still taste them hours (sometimes many!) after eating them. Not all foods. But some particular ones. And I suppose I should say I don't mean taste, as in tasting them in my mouth. Probably more like (pardon the image, please) tasting them 'in a burp.' As if the essence is still lurking in the stomach.

For example, onions. Or maybe strong garlic. I've noticed I have this problem with even small amounts of _lettuce_, which seems weird. There are other foods as well, but as I'm currently tasting lettuce as I type this, it's on my mind. Sometimes I've even noticed I can still 'taste' things this way the following day (having ingested the food in question, maybe, 12+ hours ago). 

Has anyone else experienced this, and with any particular foods? Is this something within the realm of normal? (whatever that means anymore! ) 

I have a tough enough time dealing with my innards and the food I choose to eat... I hate being constantly reminded of previous meals this way; it seems like it's somehow still sitting in my stomach! (Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this question; it seemed more appropriate than, maybe, the general IBS board, though it certainly could be _relevant_ to that one, or possibly the GERD forum as well.)


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## Kathleen M.

Well some of like with garlic they can leave the stomach and the odor gets into the blood and you breathe it back out. That can make you taste it for much longer than it stays in the stomach.Some people don't empty the stomach in a normal length of time but usually even they have moved the food along by the next day.K.


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## Screamer

Yes







I never worried too much about it cause it doesn't happen all that often to me. Just yesterday though I ate some alfalfa sprouts for afternoon tea. A horrible hours long attack of reflux followed and I "tasted" those sprouts well into the wee hours of the morning!







I hate it but always figured it had something to do with my reflux. I can't answer any questions about it but I can offer you sympathy!


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## 17807

> quote:Originally posted by Kathleen M, Ph.D.:Well some of like with garlic they can leave the stomach and the odor gets into the blood and you breathe it back out.


Garlic was, perhaps, a bad (and "easy") example, as I do know that aspect of garlic. I guess I was more curious about foods that don't seem to (normally) have that lingering effect. In my case, lettuce seems to fit that category. Why would I _always_ taste lettuce for many hours after having eaten it (and yet not necessarily experiencing any adverse or obvious other negative effects from the meal in question)?


> quote:Originally posted by Kathleen M, Ph.D.:Some people don't empty the stomach in a normal length of time but usually even they have moved the food along by the next day.


I'd wondered if maybe it was a stomach-emptying issue... though I would be loathe to have to concern myself with yet another goofed up aspect of my plumbing.







No one else I've spoken to in my world seems to have (or perhaps notice?) this phenomenon, barring the obvious "stinky" culprits like garlic.::: pictures a pile a undigested lettuce stewing in his stomach for hours and hours:::


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## 17807

> quote:Originally posted by Screamer:Yes
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> I never worried too much about it cause it doesn't happen all that often to me. Just yesterday though I ate some alfalfa sprouts for afternoon tea. A horrible hours long attack of reflux followed and I "tasted" those sprouts well into the wee hours of the morning!
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> I hate it but always figured it had something to do with my reflux. I can't answer any questions about it but I can offer you sympathy!


Thanks, I appreciate the input--and sympathy!







I guess since it seemed like a 'stomachy' issue, I'd wondered if it was related to delayed stomach-emptying or perhaps reflux/GERD problems. Your mention of reflux and such is making me wonder now if that's where to look.I'd been diagnosed with IBS(D) and GERD some 5.5 years back, though my GERD has been relatively stable, except for times of stress/anxiety.This phenomenon isn't something I notice on a daily basis (though I can regularly 'burp and taste my last meal' for a good 4 hours on most days... I guess that's normal...ish), but I can (without fail!) make it happen when I have even a small quantity of lettuce. I'm positive there are a few other (seemingly benign) foods that do this, too, but as I sit here, I'm having trouble recalling what else falls into this category of weirdness.And good grief I talk (type) a lot!


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## Screamer

Lol, I talk a lot too (kindred spirits in that respect). I too find that sometimes when I wake up in the morning I'll do a small burp and taste last nights dinner (and for me too it doesn't have to have had garlic, lettuce or sprouts etc do it too, I too can't think of any exact one's at the moment though, jsut recall thinking "ewwww I ate that last night!!!!"). I don't know if it is the reflux that does it, I just assumed that's what it was cause of the whole burping it up thing. I have (had before the hypno cd's) IBS D too and was first diagnosed with GERD 6 years ago. It never really bothered me much then I had a 2nd gastroscopy to check how it was going about 8 months ago and I've had trouble ever since. I ended up in hospital the day after the procedure checking they hadn't perforated something I was in so much pain. Now I take Nexium on and off but I'm a little scared to take it all the time because of all the bad press it has received lately.


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## Kathleen M.

Well I assumed that the same processes that work for the odor compounds of garlic that were well known would work with odor compounds from any food.I didn't think it was in some way unique to garlic and all other odor compounds would behave totally differently.People with gastroparesis have symptoms that I don't know if you have, and tasting stuff you ate the next day I do not think is one of them. It is most commonly seen in people with diabetes. K.


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## 17807

> quote:Originally posted by Screamer:I too find that sometimes when I wake up in the morning I'll do a small burp and taste last nights dinner (and for me too it doesn't have to have had garlic, lettuce or sprouts etc do it too, I too can't think of any exact one's at the moment though, jsut recall thinking "ewwww I ate that last night!!!!").


Well, it is somewhat comforting to know I'm not completely alone on this one - it's not a complaint I've seen personally, or can get anyone I know to admit to.







Makes me feel like I'm nuts and/or broken.









> quote:Originally posted by Screamer:I have (had before the hypno cd's) IBS D too and was first diagnosed with GERD 6 years ago. It never really bothered me much then I had a 2nd gastroscopy to check how it was going about 8 months ago and I've had trouble ever since. I ended up in hospital the day after the procedure checking they hadn't perforated something I was in so much pain. Now I take Nexium on and off but I'm a little scared to take it all the time because of all the bad press it has received lately.


Sounds to me like they weren't satisfied with your current state (as in, "Not medicated enough!") and stuck a small, alien organism in you on that last scoping. It probably spends all day with a little bucket, sloshing stomach acid around and upwards, ensuring you need those little purple pills.


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## 17807

> quote:Originally posted by Kathleen M, Ph.D.:Well I assumed that the same processes that work for the odor compounds of garlic that were well known would work with odor compounds from any food.I didn't think it was in some way unique to garlic and all other odor compounds would behave totally differently.


I guess another question might be what is it about any kinds of food (like the ones talked about in this thread so far) that 'stays with you', assuming the actual food itself has moved on beyond the stomach.Is there some kind of Magical Stinky Lettuce Essence that clings to the stomach lining long after eating it, waiting to burped up in an invisible flinch-inducing cloud? Or maybe some chemical reaction that temporarily 'flavors' the stomach fluids/acid for a while ("Now in Wild Berry flavor!")?


> quote:Originally posted by Kathleen M, Ph.D.eople with gastroparesis have symptoms that I don't know if you have, and tasting stuff you ate the next day I do not think is one of them. It is most commonly seen in people with diabetes.


Thanks for that link - I can't say I really fit that profile; scary stuff. I don't really believe that's the problem (hope not!), but the whole phenomenon does get me wondering.Unless I'm now producing burps that original in my lower plumbing (ewww..), I think there must be some secret rooms in our stomachs that little bits hide out in, just stinkin' up the joint!


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## mdonbru

I get the exact same thing with lettuce (among other things)! In my case, I will oftem burp up actual bits of lettuce - then I have to swallow it all over again. By the time I'm burping it up, it has been half digested and is mixed with stomach acid, so it's slimy and bitter and irritating. Sorry for the graphic description, but that's how it is.







I can get away with small amounts, but if I eat a salad - especially with iceberg lettuce - it will almost always happen. Pretty much all raw veggies produce this effect in me, but lettuce is the worst.I also have problems with spicy foods and fatty foods. I assume I have GERD but have never been diagnosed. I don't often get heartburn so I don't think it's too serious. I'm probably forming a hole in my esophagus, though, so one of these days I'll get it checked out...It is annoying to have to relive your meals, though, isn't it?Marty


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## Kathleen M.

Well aspargus/coffee, etc. produces a distinctive smelling pee without there being any of that actually migrating from the GI tract to the kidneys.Odorous compounds get absorbed by the body. They could be in the breath and when belching I don' t think you can actually swallow only clean, not flavored by what you've eaten lately air.I'm not sure how much lettuce odors are for getting in and around the body compared to other things, but you may not have to assume the odor remains in the GI tract (and if the odor is getting released out of the body in the bile, that could be close enough to the stomach to get some odor back up in there. Some things are absorbed and they sent out through the bile, some the kidneys, some come out in the breath. There is a lot of ways for the odor causing molecules to get around and back into your belches.K.


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## Screamer

> quote:Originally posted by ThinkingInward:Sounds to me like they weren't satisfied with your current state (as in, "Not medicated enough!") and stuck a small, alien organism in you on that last scoping. It probably spends all day with a little bucket, sloshing stomach acid around and upwards, ensuring you need those little purple pills.


ROFL!!! Probably! I can just picture a little alien organism with his little acid proof metal bucket and a creepy looking grin on his face!!! I was pretty peeved once I realised it was the scope that set me off. I already knew I had GERD and it didn't really bug me so of course they had to go and MAKE SURE that it bugged me (as you said all to make money off of those little purple pills) GRRR


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## 17176

I get this quite a lot and its horrible, my mum blames me (no surprise there) for not digesting my food properly.


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