Taste of Heaven
Of course, the pleasures of the nose are matched only by the pleasures of the tongue. Like rock ‘n roll, taste is big and bold and exhilarating.
Can you imagine a life without knowing the pleasures of chocolate, fresh strawberries or seafood? Well, thanks to friendly little chemical receptors on the tongue, roof of mouth and throat, you don’t have to. For the most part, the tip of tongue reads sweetness and the back of the tongue is sensitive to bitterness with salty and sour receptors found on the top and sides of the tongue. The signals move along through the limbic system, which also reads the messages for odors. Given the proximity of the pathways for taste and smell, it’s little wonder that there is a symbiotic relationship between the two.
“The sensation of flavor is actually a combination of taste and smell,” said Tom Finger, a professor at the University of Colorado-Denver Medical School. “If you hold your nose and start chewing a jelly bean, taste is limited, but open your nose midway through chewing and then you suddenly recognize apple or watermelon.” This explains why taste is affected when a head cold renders a person stuffed up and unable to smell. Conversely, a scented candle burning on the dining room table will affect the taste of the meal.
While it’s usually true that denying one sense enhances the others, we can see now that this doesn’t pertain to the relationship between smell and taste. However, taste will be greatly enhanced by removing other senses, most notably sight. It can be extremely erotic
to enhance the sense of taste with blindfold play. Take turns with a blindfold, and feed each
other some tasty foods such as juicy fruits or fine cheeses.
It’s also incredibly erotic to intimately explore your partner’s body with your tongue without the aid of vision. Pay attention to taste of their kiss. Savor the sweetness of their sweat. Lovingly perform oral sex, not as a means to intercourse but as an act of sensory exploration.
Speaking of oral sex, the flavor of semen and vaginal juices can be influenced by the foods we eat. If you’re going to explore the flavors of the body, the best thing to do is to have a fruit-filled diet leading up to the adult playtime, as the natural sugars enhance the flavors in both sexes. Coffee, beer, garlic, onion, and milk products all create less pleasurable flavors, generally speaking. Smokers tend to taste the most bitter, which is another good reason to give up smoking.
Light My Fire
Stories about aphrodisiacs and their abilities to increase sexual desire have been around for decades and run the gamut from seeds to sweets to serpents.
“Taste is a sense to be taken seriously. It’s a powerful aspect of sexual compatibility.” – Dr. Pepper Schwartz
There’s plenty of debate on whether there are any true aphrodisiacs but there are certainly reasons why some may work as triggers for sexual enhancement. The most powerful aphrodisiacs work on both physiological and psychological levels. The smell of jasmine,
perhaps, could be a physiological aphrodisiac which also brings you back psychologically to that incredible night when you made love in the garden by jasmine bushes.
Many of the foods heralded as aphrodisiacs may simply be considered sexual because of their shape. Consider the phallic shape of carrots, cucumber, bananas, leaks, zucchini, and licorice, or the female sexual organ design of clams, mangos, figs, kiwi, artichoke, peaches and passion fruit. The act of eating them can feel sexual given the way they look, or the fact that they are juicy, messy or moist on the tongue.
There are a few foods, however, that have caught the attention of scientific researchers with the authentic enhancements they provide.
Real Aphrodisiacs
♥ A stalk of crunchy celery is packed with two pheromones that can help men attract women, according to Dr. Alan Hirsch, a neurologist and psychiatrist who has devoted over 25 years of research to the science of smell and taste.
♥ Vanilla ice cream can boost your libido and can make your orgasm more powerful. A study conducted at Chicago’s Smell and Taste Treatment & Research Foundation found that when men smell the scent of vanilla it reduces their inhibitions.
♥ The American Dietetic Association reports that Brazil nuts can help keep sperm cells healthy. If you prefer almonds, you’re in luck as they are also libido-boosting vitamin E.
♥ Blueberries are Mother Nature’s original potency food for men with erectile problems. Professor Mary Ellen Camire at the University of Maine reports that they are loaded with soluble fiber, which helps push excess cholesterol through the digestive system and they are packed with compounds that help relax blood vessels, improving circulation all through the body.
♥ The naughty looking banana can help your body produce sex hormones a few hours before getting it on and it converts carbs into energy so it will give you more endurance between the sheets.
♥ The Journal of Sexual Medicine reports that one cube of dark chocolate daily can lead to greater desire and better overall sexual function.
♥ Cherries are sweet and tasty, but also stimulate pheromone production and have potassium that is essential for producing sexual hormones.
♥ Cucumber is a phallic looking food that arouses women with its aroma as well as its taste. Nutritionally, it provides several nutrients essential for sexual health, including Vitamin C and a mineral called manganese.
♥ Strawberries are luscious to look at and delicious to eat, but they are also a high source of vitamin C and are rich in antioxidants that benefit the heart and help lower cholesterol.
♥ Chewing on black licorice found it to enhance love and lust as it contains plant estrogens and stimulates the sex glands, bringing oxygen to the female genitals 40% faster.
Are They Or Aren’t They?
Many believe that alcohol is an aphrodisiac, but it doesn’t raise sexual interest as much as it lowers inhibitions. Quickly absorbed by the digestive system and the bloodstream, drinking taints judgment, impairs memory, creates mood swings, and reduces control of
motor skills. Sexually, these consequences diminish performance, healthy decision-making, and the quality of relationships. It also has the ability to undermine self-esteem, which hinders sexual pleasure. Doubts about love, attractiveness, and worthiness run amuck. And let’s not forget that too much booze can mean too little sexual sensation, including impotence. Alcohol is haunted by an aphrodisiacal paradox. When the edge of “just enough” is crossed, the substance goes from sexually good to sexually bad.
A different but similar paradox is found in medicines created to treat erectile dysfunction. Some men consider the introduction of Viagra to be the greatest medical breakthrough in the history of time. As grandiose as that sounds, it gives some insight into the importance
virility holds in the minds of many. Proclaimed by some sexologists as “the greatest aphrodisiac of our time,” Viagra and its brethren are certainly noteworthy, but the medicine at work doesn’t exactly fall within the formal definition of the word.
Sildenafil nitrate is the drug commonly known as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis. People view it as an aphrodisiac, but clinically there is no evidence that this impotence treatment changes sexual desire at all.
Without the component of desire, sex is like digestion. The system produces a physical change (penis engorges with blood), but the physiological component that defines a true aphrodisiac is left out.
Now where is the pleasure in that?
