One of the most debilitating aspects of life without smell is the impact on the way we eat. Especially with parosmia; it’s bad enough not tasting the food, but when even water smells disgusting, both physical and mental wellbeing is badly affected. It’s one of the top topics of conversation in the groups and forums.
In the webinar on Tuesday 15 September, we brought together the knowledge and experience of three specialists to share skills and techniques to navigate through an altered eating difficulty. Dr Duika Burges Watson is founder of the Altered Eating Network and lecturer at the University of Newcastle, Professor Vincent Deary is a health psychologist at Northumberland University, and Sheri Taylor is specialist in nutrition rehabilitation. They have worked extensively with patients struggling to eat because of smell loss, particularly as a result of head and neck cancers but the findings apply to all anosmia and parosmia.
The discussion looked at what we know about the connection between smell and eating, and the panel shared some helpful strategies to meet the challenges, plus practical tips to experiment with. It’s clear that there is no one single approach that works for everyone. Individual preferences and circumstances mean that you have to be your own sensory detective and be brave enough to experiment to find what works for you.
Vincent talked about his experience of working with a wide variety of patients working to overcome the challenges of their recovery. He highlighted anosmia as an invisible disability and that others ‘just don’t get it’. Having to explain each time is wearing and that alone can take the joy out of eating. He encouraged people to focus on what to say to those who do want to understand to help build your story.
Duika went on to explain how anosmia and parosmia can affect weight loss and gain. When the experience is so off-putting, you don’t want to eat. On the other hand, you can end up bingeing to feel satisfied. The difference between being full and being satisfied has been demonstrated by research. Duika explained that it’s normal for people with anosmia to have food cravings as they search for that feeling of being satisfied. She highlighted the importance of being conscious about whether you want something or whether you like something to try and control that temptation.
Talk to the experts
Strategies and tips to eat well when you can’t smell well are summarised in the linked articles. There is no magic formula , but there are lots of things to try if you’re struggling. The panel were united in their overall advice: be curious, be your own detective to discover what works and what doesn’t. Vincent observed that those with the curiosity to find new ways to experience food and the persistence to keep trying were generally the most successful in managing altered eating. And from the PhD work of Helen Carter, he recommended talking to the experts - other people with smell disorders. Sharing experience, hearing what worked for someone else and what you’ve found out, often down to the detail of a brand that seems better than another, is key to managing your condition.
And a final word: be kind to yourself. “It’s a journey, a struggle, an experiment” said Vincent. As with any job of work you need to take a day off to rest and recover.
For practical tips and information, take a look at these articles:
Five ways to overcome anosmia eating challenges
Using the Sensory Star for a better eating experience
Nerves take time to heal. Depending on the damage, this could be two months or it could be two years, or even longer. No one can predict how long recovery will take or how completely you will recover. But we do have evidence that smell training helps.
Doctors recommend that you commit to smell training for a minimum of four months, but training longer, with variation in the scents used, will bring greater benefit.
Olfactory nerves are the wiring between the nose and the brain. They can get damaged by something as ordinary as a cold, or as traumatic as a knock to the head. The good news is that olfactory nerves repair themselves.
With any injury, recovery can take time but smell training can help speed up the process. Just like a broken leg needs physiotherapy to build up strength, so does your nose. Smell training is physiotherapy for your nose.
Everyday, take the four fragrances and sniff each in turn. Just lots of short, light, little sniffs - we call them bunny sniffs - just taking air into your nose. Spend about 20 seconds on each smell.
You may not see an improvement for many weeks, so it’s helpful to keep a note of how you get on so you can see the progress, however small.
Progress might also be the way you feel about your sense of smell. Smell and emotions are closely linked and people living without a sense of smell are more likely to experience low mood or depression.
No, you can assemble your own kit and any fragrance will do. AbScent’s Original Smell Training Kit has been formulated to replicate the aromas used in the original scientific studies into the effectiveness of smell training. Lemon, Rose, Eucalyptus and Clove were the fragrances selected for the trial and we have blended those four fragrances in a way that will remain stable over time.
All proceeds from AbScent’s Original Smell Training Kit go straight back to the charity to help people living with smell disorders.
No, any fragrance will do. There is no evidence that essential oils are more effective than other fragrances. Even herbs or spices from your kitchen can be used for smell training. Remember, we don’t use the scents because there is something special about them. We use them to stimulate your sense of smell.
It’s helpful to have a smell that you know you can rely on to remain stable over several months. That way you know the changes are in what you can smell, rather than changes in the fragrance.
If your olfactory nerves have been damaged, it’s possible that you won’t go back to smelling things as you did before. Thinking about the leg injury again, imagine having a scar where you’ve hurt yourself. . Smell training can help you heal, even if your sense of smell does not recover 100%.
The earlier you start training the better. You may be concerned that you can’t smell anything at all when you go to sniff your jars of scent. Remember that smell training is not only about the sniff. It’s the thinking about the smell that is also part of the exercise. You’ll be engaging everything about your sense of smell from the tip of your nose up into the part of the brain that stores your memories and emotions.
If you constantly experience an unpleasant smell, or your favourite food suddenly smells like burnt rubber, you could be experiencing parosmia. This is a natural part of the recovery process as the nerves regenerate, but can last several weeks or be more persistent. Smell training will not help parosmia specifically, but it helps the regeneration process and could help you get back to smelling things normally more quickly. You can find out more about parosmia here.
Yes, Covid-19 is a viral infection and it’s common for people to lose their sense of smell following a virus. Studies on patients before Covid-19 have shown that smell training helps recovery. Watch our short video for more information.
In some cases, yes. If your head injury is less severe then it may help you. Starting as soon as possible after your injury gives you the best chance of recovery, but people who have not started smell training until some years later have also benefited. Smell training won’t hurt and your time investment is low, so everyone should be encouraged to give it a chance.
Studies have shown that 30 percent of people above the age of 75 have little or no sense of smell. Like all our physical abilities, what we don’t use, we lose. Smell training in older people has been shown to improve other abilities such as processing information and mental agility. A study also showed that smell training in a group of older people improved mood.
Nerves take time to heal. Depending on the damage, this could be two months or it could be two years, or even longer. No one can predict how long recovery will take or how completely you will recover. But we do have evidence that smell training helps.
Doctors recommend that you commit to smell training for a minimum of four months, but training longer, with variation in the scents used, will bring greater benefit.
Olfactory nerves are the wiring between the nose and the brain. They can get damaged by something as ordinary as a cold, or as traumatic as a knock to the head. The good news is that olfactory nerves repair themselves.
With any injury, recovery can take time but smell training can help speed up the process. Just like a broken leg needs physiotherapy to build up strength, so does your nose. Smell training is physiotherapy for your nose.
Everyday, take the four fragrances and sniff each in turn. Just lots of short, light, little sniffs - we call them bunny sniffs - just taking air into your nose. Spend about 20 seconds on each smell.
You may not see an improvement for many weeks, so it’s helpful to keep a note of how you get on so you can see the progress, however small.
Progress might also be the way you feel about your sense of smell. Smell and emotions are closely linked and people living without a sense of smell are more likely to experience low mood or depression.
No, you can assemble your own kit and any fragrance will do. AbScent’s Original Smell Training Kit has been formulated to replicate the aromas used in the original scientific studies into the effectiveness of smell training. Lemon, Rose, Eucalyptus and Clove were the fragrances selected for the trial and we have blended those four fragrances in a way that will remain stable over time.
All proceeds from AbScent’s Original Smell Training Kit go straight back to the charity to help people living with smell disorders.
No, any fragrance will do. There is no evidence that essential oils are more effective than other fragrances. Even herbs or spices from your kitchen can be used for smell training. Remember, we don’t use the scents because there is something special about them. We use them to stimulate your sense of smell.
It’s helpful to have a smell that you know you can rely on to remain stable over several months. That way you know the changes are in what you can smell, rather than changes in the fragrance.
If your olfactory nerves have been damaged, it’s possible that you won’t go back to smelling things as you did before. Thinking about the leg injury again, imagine having a scar where you’ve hurt yourself. . Smell training can help you heal, even if your sense of smell does not recover 100%.
The earlier you start training the better. You may be concerned that you can’t smell anything at all when you go to sniff your jars of scent. Remember that smell training is not only about the sniff. It’s the thinking about the smell that is also part of the exercise. You’ll be engaging everything about your sense of smell from the tip of your nose up into the part of the brain that stores your memories and emotions.
If you constantly experience an unpleasant smell, or your favourite food suddenly smells like burnt rubber, you could be experiencing parosmia. This is a natural part of the recovery process as the nerves regenerate, but can last several weeks or be more persistent. Smell training will not help parosmia specifically, but it helps the regeneration process and could help you get back to smelling things normally more quickly. You can find out more about parosmia here.
Yes, Covid-19 is a viral infection and it’s common for people to lose their sense of smell following a virus. Studies on patients before Covid-19 have shown that smell training helps recovery. Watch our short video for more information.
In some cases, yes. If your head injury is less severe then it may help you. Starting as soon as possible after your injury gives you the best chance of recovery, but people who have not started smell training until some years later have also benefited. Smell training won’t hurt and your time investment is low, so everyone should be encouraged to give it a chance.
Studies have shown that 30 percent of people above the age of 75 have little or no sense of smell. Like all our physical abilities, what we don’t use, we lose. Smell training in older people has been shown to improve other abilities such as processing information and mental agility. A study also showed that smell training in a group of older people improved mood.