No more sugar rush: How did I lose my sweet tooth?

Writer reflects on how she no longer craves the sweets she liked, but thinks it's better this way - to keep diabetes at bay.

- Chang May Choon

Something I never thought possible has happened: I have lost my sweet tooth.

For as long as I can remember, I have always had a weakness for sugar-laced food. From candies to lollies, chocolates, cakes, ice cream and Milo dinosaur, you name it, I've devoured it.

Festivals that legitimize the binging of sweet treats - Christmas, Chinese New Year, even Halloween - have brought me as much joy as candy stores.

I have enough black marks on my teeth to show for it. I'm not proud of them, but they do bear testament to the amount of sweet abuse I have inflicted on my pearlies in my childhood.

Having grown up, I am well aware of the health risks associated with too much sugar consumption, but I'd still caved in to the occasional craving, especially when work stress piled up.

Sweets make me feel happy, I'd always tell myself.

BITTERSWEET REALISATION

So it felt somewhat bittersweet when realization hit me some weeks ago, that the food I used to enjoy does not bring me the same sweet joy anymore.

There is always ice cream in my freezer. Call me naive, but it's the one sweet treat I stock up on as I like to believe it heals all pain.

I had just shoved a spoonful of speculoos ice cream into my mouth that hot and humid evening, and found, to my horror, that it tasted like... sandpaper.

Disbelievingly, I opened up another pint - this time chocolate and cookie dough - and it still tasted like sandpaper.

I panicked. What was wrong with me? Was I sick? Had I lost my sense of taste? Was my tongue numb from something I ate for dinner earlier? Did I get Covid-19 again?

It took a week of experimenting for me to confirm that my tastebuds were still in good order. The only thing I had lost was my sweet tooth, and along with it, the ability to derive instant pleasure and comfort from a sugar fix.

Taste fades with age, experts say.