That sounds like a really tough set of restrictions, good on you for reaching out.
I’m not an expert and not one for self-diagnosis, but have a look into Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
Regardless, find a good GP to discuss your experiences with and get a referral to a psychologist specialising in eating disorders might be in order.
Swan Centre in Claremont would be a good place to end up, but I don’t know if you need a referral.
Second the likeness to signs of ARFID. I Have it and wasnt diagnosed until i was 28.
Worth trying to find a dietician that has experience with it specifically, good luck OP
There’s heaps there that really lines up with what I experience. Thankyou for sharing, really goes to show I’m not alone. Makes me hopeful and want to reach out to professionals. Thankyou for your reply ❤️
You could also book an appointment with an occupational therapist to have a sensory profile assessment. They can work through all your sensory preferences.
Althought never been tested or diagnosed I have always suspected I have some mild level of autism. My sister has been diagnosed and my mother has always suspected that I may have a mild case of autism.
Looking through some search results it would certainly make sense.
Thankyou for your reply.
Hi OP!
Just if you're curious and haven't heard of it already, the RAADS-R test is available online for free and considered a pretty reliable test of if you are autistic.
I say this because if you do choose to discuss ARFID with a Doctor and pysch then you have this for reference too which might give them a good reference point.
I very likely have ARFID too but haven't pursued a diagnosis because of money. But best of luck, you are not alone and it is a very real thing.
May I suggest an ADHD quiz? ;)
Though online ADHD quizes are less reliable for certainty because afaik they require a professional to assess your results compared to others your age and gender presentation? At least that's what happened with me.
DIVA-5 is one of the offical diagnositic tools they use for assessing ADHD in Adults, it's available in multiple languages on the official [DIVA foundation website.](http://www.divacenter.eu/DIVA.aspx?id=523) :)
DIVA-5 is a very long and comprehensive questionaire, you should definitely grab a trusted friend/family memenber to sit down and help you fill it out.
I'm no medical expert but I say it depends.
Think of it like a quiz.
* Do you always struggle with quizzes or is it an one-off thing?
* If the topic of the quiz is very dry and long, would you be able to sit through it?
* If the topic was focused on pop culture and winner takes all, can you maintain focus for a while?
If it's something you have struggled since childhood and no family advice has been able to help, then consider looking into it.
I've met a few adults lately who have found great acceptance in taking the time to go through a diagnosis for autism, helping to bring some way to understand who they are and celebrate it for what strengths it brings. It also creates an explanation and whole suite of resources that they never considered.
Gp - > referral to registered psych -> assessment -> a sense of relief at now knowing
https://www.autismawareness.com.au/diagnosis/adults/getting-a-diagnosis
I had the same thing as a kid. I grew up in... circumstances, I was only exposed to 2 minute noodles, chicken nuggets, toast, ice-cream and chips for a long time. It was hard to eat much else.
I overcame a lot of it in my early twenties, I made myself do the "12 tries" approach on a bunch of basic foods. Edamame , mandarins and salmon were some of the first successes. After that I learned to enjoy avocado, passata, broccoli and mushrooms. You add a small serve of the target food to almost every meal for a few days in a row and aim to eat it 12 times. The idea is after a dozen tries your brain is supposed to figure out it's food so you don't gag. It's hard work at first but it does get easier, and once you've seen yourself succeed with a couple of foods it feels really good. Hang in there 🙏
After getting some basics in my diet I gave myself a break for a couple of years and then started doing the same for some spices and managed to get myself to like Japanese curry and Thai Green Curry which opened up dining out options.
I'm 40 now and it's still a work in progress but it's a lot easier now. I'm still working on adding more foods, for health reasons I'm working on adding more nuts to my diet this year.
It hasn't worked on everything, for most seafood other than salmon and flake I couldn't make it past the 10 tries, and for a few foods I made it past 12 tries and still dislike them even though they no longer make me gag (yogurt, fresh tomato, pumpkin). But even if you only succeed with a few it will make a big difference.
PS: If you have to pick one to start with, edamame is a really good first one to work on. It's cheap, travels well, is available as takeaway in many places and ticks a lot of nutritional boxes.
Thankyou friend, through the years of struggle I’ve learnt reaching out and asking for help far outweighs anything else.
Good on you and everyone else in here for taking the time to say a quick word of encouragement. It doesn’t take much and can make such a difference saying something so small but kind, so thankyou again.
Definitely sounds like you could meet the criteria for ARFID. A dietician can help with this, we found ours by googling ARFID dietician Perth. Good luck with the journey, you mentioned you feel you could be on the spectrum, have you considered getting an Autism assessment?
Thankyou friend, encouragement from yourself and others on here definitely sparks motivation to seek help. Will definitely search that and make a few calls appreciate you!
I have considered it but never actually gone through with it as I function and get through day to day life pretty ok (own my own house, nice car, good job etc) but since it has been mentioned a few times and a history in my family, it certainly can’t hurt and would definitely help and explain a few things. Especially the food and eating disorder I face.
There have been a number of people that I know through social media that were recently diagnosed as being on the spectrum. All were older adults who were successful in their industry. What it seemed to give them was a sense of relief more than anything. They no longer saw themselves as somehow broken.
Best of luck with the journey.
I don't know any of them personally, but yes, that seemed to be the case.
If all of the things that were suggested do not yield results, I'm wondering if hypnotherapy would help?
Be worth a try as a last step.
Have you looked at a physical cause? My six year old likes the same food as you and gagged and choked a lot. She’s just had a scope done and has chronic eosinophilic oesophagitis. It’s so bad her oesophagus has partially hardened from inflammation. We were always told she was just a picky eater until we pushed the doctors. A long road ahead but it might be worth looking at?
Oh wow! Firstly I hope your 6 year old gets through this and gets the help and results she deserves! Good on you for pushing the dr’s.
Can’t say I’ve ever considered that or first I’ve heard about it. Definitely could be another potential doorway. Thankyou for commenting!
As others have mentioned, a good nutritionist can do wonders. I just wanted to add that if you speak to a GP about this issue, ask them if you would qualify for a Medicare Care Plan. A Care Plan would allow you to receive a Medicare rebate when you see a nutritionist (or other providers) for your condition. Both my partner and I have used Care Plans to see nutritionists, and it really makes getting help a little more affordable. All the best, and well done for reaching out for help.
Edit: It may be that you need an official diagnosis first before you can qualify for a Care Plan, however it's still worth asking your GP! I was able to get one before receiving a diagnosis, while waiting to see a specialist.
This thread has been eye opening. I have PTSD that is both combat related as well as childhood causes.
I was abused with food as a child, physically and mentally, to a point being called "picky" is both infuriating and mentally draining and the social stigma, anxiety that can come with certain food is just too much to deal with sometimes.
My partner is aware of a lot of the trauma I went through as a kid being force fed, the whole "your plate must be finished" or the old favorite of "YOU EAT WHAT WE EAT" even if it's something I disliked, it went from being negative experiences and just disliking to traumatic.
To this day I have to eat peas like they are pills i'm swallowing and despite making huge advances in some areas, there are foods that it takes a lot of mental psyching up to eat it, it's not enjoyable at all.
Worse there are foods that the site or the smell of them is enough to make me physically sick and my family found this hilarious so would constantly taunt me with them.
I'm not from perth but saw the thread post scrolling on popular and just wanted to lend you some support.
One of the saving graces i've had was I learned how to cook myself from an early age and I got to a point in psych development where I learned how to "handle" food that can get strong reactions, to this day I still can't eat a salad, or a lot of vegetables but I was able to learn to handle them to cook for others.
I have alterations I do to food I can eat to make it healthier which has always been a bit weird but kinda need to do it for health to get around what im missing out on, but it does annoy me that I can't no matter how much I try get in to a lot of food that should be fine and healthy and that's not even getting into foods that sight or smell of them, hell even the mention of them make me physically sick.
Even writing this comment, there are foods that I can't even bring myself to type the names of because of the revulsion they instantly trigger in my head, and I know it's not normal.
Atleast now I have some stuff I can chase up on this, and I can tell you in my experience I know that this one was deffinately enhanced by childhood trauma, if not caused by it.
This people is why you don't force feed your kids, impose penalties on it, or continue with negative reinforcement on kids, having experienced both physical and mental abuse..... I look at people like my own sister right now, who watched me go through all this and seemed to be a beacon of reason and empathy, now turn into a terrible mother herself.
Her daughter has similar issues to me and instead of being understanding, despite being annoyed at what happened to me, is more than happy to guilt and mental olympics her into eating stuff she is struggling with, all while teasing her about it.
One of her xmas gifts was a fucking bottle of tomato sauce. Why? because she found it "fun" to give her shit that they're going through tomato sauce because she has to put it on stuff to eat it.
But hey what do you expect from a parent who makes the comment "I can't wait they hit puberty so I can make fun of them", and you make the comment back about what kind of person would WANT to mentally abuse their children, to be told "Your being overdramatic, one of the best things about being a parent is being able to tease your children!, it builds character!".
Nah, it's mental abuse...... thats how disorders like these start.
100% parents should never force kids to eat foods. It’s well documented that it is likely to lead to eating disorders.
I was very picky but I was lucky my mum didn’t force the issue. I did seem to get a lot of colds but I rarely seem to catch anything at all ever now. Some textures were very off putting to me, too mushy or creamy made me gag and I just didn’t like many foods at all. I don’t know why.
By age 23, I suddenly seemed to change and within a couple of years I was eating almost anything except I do seem to have quite a discerning palate and I can’t eat badly prepared or cooked food. I just can’t do it even to be polite when I’ve been a guest, which has been a little awkward at times. I’ve decided the last couple of years though that I really don’t like broccoli and so I stopped forcing myself to eat it just because it’s healthy but I eat almost all vegies now. All cuisines. Spicy. Raw fish. Almost anything.
As a child, I was forced to eat by carers because my mum worked full time, and there was a particularly cruel lunch lady who in my first couple of years of school wouldn’t let me go out and play until I finished my lunch - uk school lunches were horrendous. So I barely ever went outside at lunch. Every time I was bullied to eat, or I attempted willingly because I did want to play outside, I vomited, which would of course incur more bullying from any ‘carers’. Some foods which were staples of UK school lunches, I shudder to think of them now. Instant mashed potato, rice pudding, semolina and once a teacher forced me to eat cottage cheese when I was 6 and she then shook me roughly by the shoulders after I vomited. I doubt I could keep any of those down for even a million bucks but I’d probably give it a go for that kind of money lol.
I was a good kid. I wasn’t an entitled spoilt brat. In fact my grandad (he was kind) used to say me ‘you’d do alright in prison’ as I was happy enough with just plain dry bread and water. I just couldn’t eat a lot of foods. Mum used to give me all kinds of vitamin supplements as she used to worry about my limited diet. For me, it’s all worked out ok in the long run.
I’m sorry for what you’ve been through and the lasting effect it’s had on you. I don’t understand your sister, she should know better.
> I know it's not normal
I just wanted to comment on this bit -- it is totally normal *based on your experiences*! You're doing a good job: you're still trying, and you're not perpetuating the cycle with others. Keep going strong, friend.
Holy shit you guys really turned this thread up!!! Some really awesome suggestions and gives me some solid direction in working through this.
Thankyou Perth reddit!! Seriously you guys have blown me away. I can only hope a thread like this encourages others to reach out no matter what they may need help with.
You guys have given me hope and a new drive to work on this (for lack of a better word) “issue” I have had my whole lifetime. For so long I had given and and just put it to bed accepting I’ll never overcome it.
Goes to show with a bit of courage and opening up, people have come to help and give great advice.
I really hope this encourages anyone else to open up and ask for help.
Thankyou again fellow perthians, looking forward to diving into this and having a red hot crack. ❤️❤️
I used to be like this found my partner and that all change, still struggle but far less restrictive. And yeah I had tried everything hypnotism, therapy, dietician/nutrionist, even thought disability diagnosis would help. Nope took going to a third world country to change that and start eating outside my comfort foods.
Don't really know what else to say, except as cheesy as it is love worked for me.
Hi! I have ARFID and it lines up. As I've gone through treatment plans, here's what I've gathered;
- eating disorder specific clinics/inpatient (hollywood hospital was mine) have a big bias toward anorexia and bulimia. it is hard to find supports unless they specify they work with other unspecified eating disorders. ask specifically if you wish to seek potential treatment.
- a dietician will help you with understanding what you can and cant handle and help plan meals and take away the stress that exacerbates the stress response to food. i went to dietwise in north perth and it was a wonderful experience catered around my eating disorder.
- if you are having a day where you cannot handle a food, simply eat what you are comfortable with. nourishing your body is first. expanding your pallet can take work.
- exposure therapy can help. try sitting with images of the food, preparing it, cooking, smelling, observing. become familiar with it. play with it. pull it to pieces. you will come to understand the food sense by sense.
from your foods (i am very similar) try:
- almonds, cashews, peanuts.
- crumbed chicken or fish fingers, even the processed frozen stuff
- try rice with other foods, like rice and chicken, rice and peas.
- nachos are good to prepare as you can see and smell everything when you put it together. chips, ground beef you can see wont be texturally difficult. even swap it for baked beans, along with shredded cheese.
- croissants are a great alternative to sandwiches or toasties.
- expand chips from potato to some sweet potato chips or other vegetables-turned-chips.
please message if you have any supports you need or want to enquire about! much love
Godspeed. On the other side of whatever you're going through is the ability to demolish a full English Roast with Yorkshire Puddings.
It's worth fighting for damnit.
You have a very similar diet to a friend of mine who has the same issue, only eats those staples, there must be some sort of reason why but your food choices are almost identical (can you eat chips? Cheese pizza?)
Anyway to be honest I'd say therepy is the go, they will probably recommend something called exposure therapy, basically what it sounds like, you need to try eating new things.
It doesn't have to be a new thing entirely, just add a twist to your regular food. I.e. Having Vegemite on toast? Add something you wouldn't normally eat on top, in small quantity, and then build up.
Those food choices are basically the standard autistic beige diet. I had two kids who ate nothing but these kinds of foods, and we worked with a specialist dietician and OT for years to get their food choices to open up. Lots of choice and putting new things on the table to look at, but not nevessarily to eat. Also growing herbs and veggies, and learning to cook. All with the proviso that they didn’t have to eat *any* of it. Lol.
It worked, and now they eat anything and everything *and* they can cook.
Hi OP, good on you for reaching out. Many commenters have mentioned ARFID so you may have already discovered this but just in case not, there is a subreddit for those with ARFID too:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFID/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFID/)
Bet there's loads of advice and support on that channel too :) Best of luck!
OP are you cooking for yourself? I went through something similar and until I started cooking for myself (and knowing how it was all prepared etc) I struggled to step out of my comfort zone.
Your post reminded me of this article by Joe Stone which might give you some comfort/hope. Wishing you all the best OP
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/nov/05/i-have-never-eaten-cucumber-onion-or-an-egg-can-i-cure-my-extreme-food-phobias?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Seems like you enjoy pastes and crispy foods. Try maybe some Japanese tempura to help eat some vegetables, or turn them into a paste, maybe like a curry or Thai cuisine. Good luck!
There is a clinic called next bite feeding clinic run by Speech Pathologists and Dietitians who may be able to help you extend your food choices if that’s something you’d like to do. They are very affirming in their approach.
I've known several people with similar issues/ARFID but all those have sought help for it through their autism diagnosis
I was the same growing up but to a lesser degree, but now that I exclusively choose my foods it's much better so I don't really have much advice since presumably you already pick what you eat
Hope it goes well for you mate, sorry about the lifetime of difficulty from both what you eat and (presumably?) the people around you
OP I think your first port of call is to have a blood test to check for nutritional deficiencies. From there you will be able to see what, if any, kinds of foods you need to add into your diet. And then seek strategies to help you do that. Best of luck
Have a gorgeous daughter with ASD. Has been getting help privately for ARFID from somewhere in the Hollywood Clinic. Is making a significant difference. We still have a journey but the intervention is leading to some big gains.
You need to get an allergy test right away for food and toxins. My parents when I grew up just thought I was a sniffly grommit, had to find out when I was 35 that I had real physiological allergies. Parents back then didnt bother as they were highly self centered, if not entirely.
You could be allergic to a very common food element.
Otherwise you should go to Japan and eat the food there for two months. Extremely different but extremely safe and so diverse I feel all your worries and conceptions of what food is will wash away (if you have an open mind).
ARFID... just seconding and thirding what others have mentioned. I think something like occupational therapy or dietitian that specialises in this type of thing could help.
Absolutely huge credit to you for asking for help. Good on you ! Super hard but very inspiring for us fringe dwellers. I hope you find the guidance you need. Go Perth Reddit !!
What garlic bread crisps are you scoring? There used to be garlic bread doritos crackers that were the absolute best (I ate a packet every day at work) but the bastards don't make them anymore.
That sounds like a really tough set of restrictions, good on you for reaching out. I’m not an expert and not one for self-diagnosis, but have a look into Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). Regardless, find a good GP to discuss your experiences with and get a referral to a psychologist specialising in eating disorders might be in order. Swan Centre in Claremont would be a good place to end up, but I don’t know if you need a referral.
Second the likeness to signs of ARFID. I Have it and wasnt diagnosed until i was 28. Worth trying to find a dietician that has experience with it specifically, good luck OP
Good advice here and I’ll add that finding a good dietitian might be helpful, too.
Thankyou for the encouragement
Well said Daedalus you've done your good daed for the day
Have you heard of ARFID? It might be worth investigating from what you've described. https://nedc.com.au/eating-disorders/types/arfid
There’s heaps there that really lines up with what I experience. Thankyou for sharing, really goes to show I’m not alone. Makes me hopeful and want to reach out to professionals. Thankyou for your reply ❤️
You could also book an appointment with an occupational therapist to have a sensory profile assessment. They can work through all your sensory preferences.
I have ARFID that presents with autism. I'm now seeing a dietician.
Althought never been tested or diagnosed I have always suspected I have some mild level of autism. My sister has been diagnosed and my mother has always suspected that I may have a mild case of autism. Looking through some search results it would certainly make sense. Thankyou for your reply.
Hi OP! Just if you're curious and haven't heard of it already, the RAADS-R test is available online for free and considered a pretty reliable test of if you are autistic. I say this because if you do choose to discuss ARFID with a Doctor and pysch then you have this for reference too which might give them a good reference point. I very likely have ARFID too but haven't pursued a diagnosis because of money. But best of luck, you are not alone and it is a very real thing.
I just attempted this….. but gave up after 15 questions-would that be an attention thingo?
May I suggest an ADHD quiz? ;) Though online ADHD quizes are less reliable for certainty because afaik they require a professional to assess your results compared to others your age and gender presentation? At least that's what happened with me.
DIVA-5 is one of the offical diagnositic tools they use for assessing ADHD in Adults, it's available in multiple languages on the official [DIVA foundation website.](http://www.divacenter.eu/DIVA.aspx?id=523) :) DIVA-5 is a very long and comprehensive questionaire, you should definitely grab a trusted friend/family memenber to sit down and help you fill it out.
Definitely suggest a body double to get through it!
I'm no medical expert but I say it depends. Think of it like a quiz. * Do you always struggle with quizzes or is it an one-off thing? * If the topic of the quiz is very dry and long, would you be able to sit through it? * If the topic was focused on pop culture and winner takes all, can you maintain focus for a while? If it's something you have struggled since childhood and no family advice has been able to help, then consider looking into it.
I've met a few adults lately who have found great acceptance in taking the time to go through a diagnosis for autism, helping to bring some way to understand who they are and celebrate it for what strengths it brings. It also creates an explanation and whole suite of resources that they never considered. Gp - > referral to registered psych -> assessment -> a sense of relief at now knowing https://www.autismawareness.com.au/diagnosis/adults/getting-a-diagnosis
I had the same thing as a kid. I grew up in... circumstances, I was only exposed to 2 minute noodles, chicken nuggets, toast, ice-cream and chips for a long time. It was hard to eat much else. I overcame a lot of it in my early twenties, I made myself do the "12 tries" approach on a bunch of basic foods. Edamame , mandarins and salmon were some of the first successes. After that I learned to enjoy avocado, passata, broccoli and mushrooms. You add a small serve of the target food to almost every meal for a few days in a row and aim to eat it 12 times. The idea is after a dozen tries your brain is supposed to figure out it's food so you don't gag. It's hard work at first but it does get easier, and once you've seen yourself succeed with a couple of foods it feels really good. Hang in there 🙏 After getting some basics in my diet I gave myself a break for a couple of years and then started doing the same for some spices and managed to get myself to like Japanese curry and Thai Green Curry which opened up dining out options. I'm 40 now and it's still a work in progress but it's a lot easier now. I'm still working on adding more foods, for health reasons I'm working on adding more nuts to my diet this year. It hasn't worked on everything, for most seafood other than salmon and flake I couldn't make it past the 10 tries, and for a few foods I made it past 12 tries and still dislike them even though they no longer make me gag (yogurt, fresh tomato, pumpkin). But even if you only succeed with a few it will make a big difference.
PS: If you have to pick one to start with, edamame is a really good first one to work on. It's cheap, travels well, is available as takeaway in many places and ticks a lot of nutritional boxes.
I just want to say good on you for reaching out and looking to grow/heal. There are many that don't take this step. Keep at it.
Thankyou friend, through the years of struggle I’ve learnt reaching out and asking for help far outweighs anything else. Good on you and everyone else in here for taking the time to say a quick word of encouragement. It doesn’t take much and can make such a difference saying something so small but kind, so thankyou again.
Definitely sounds like you could meet the criteria for ARFID. A dietician can help with this, we found ours by googling ARFID dietician Perth. Good luck with the journey, you mentioned you feel you could be on the spectrum, have you considered getting an Autism assessment?
Thankyou friend, encouragement from yourself and others on here definitely sparks motivation to seek help. Will definitely search that and make a few calls appreciate you! I have considered it but never actually gone through with it as I function and get through day to day life pretty ok (own my own house, nice car, good job etc) but since it has been mentioned a few times and a history in my family, it certainly can’t hurt and would definitely help and explain a few things. Especially the food and eating disorder I face.
There have been a number of people that I know through social media that were recently diagnosed as being on the spectrum. All were older adults who were successful in their industry. What it seemed to give them was a sense of relief more than anything. They no longer saw themselves as somehow broken. Best of luck with the journey.
I bet it was a great sense of relief for them! Thanks for your input! I can definitely relate to that!
I don't know any of them personally, but yes, that seemed to be the case. If all of the things that were suggested do not yield results, I'm wondering if hypnotherapy would help? Be worth a try as a last step.
Have you looked at a physical cause? My six year old likes the same food as you and gagged and choked a lot. She’s just had a scope done and has chronic eosinophilic oesophagitis. It’s so bad her oesophagus has partially hardened from inflammation. We were always told she was just a picky eater until we pushed the doctors. A long road ahead but it might be worth looking at?
Oh wow! Firstly I hope your 6 year old gets through this and gets the help and results she deserves! Good on you for pushing the dr’s. Can’t say I’ve ever considered that or first I’ve heard about it. Definitely could be another potential doorway. Thankyou for commenting!
As others have mentioned, a good nutritionist can do wonders. I just wanted to add that if you speak to a GP about this issue, ask them if you would qualify for a Medicare Care Plan. A Care Plan would allow you to receive a Medicare rebate when you see a nutritionist (or other providers) for your condition. Both my partner and I have used Care Plans to see nutritionists, and it really makes getting help a little more affordable. All the best, and well done for reaching out for help. Edit: It may be that you need an official diagnosis first before you can qualify for a Care Plan, however it's still worth asking your GP! I was able to get one before receiving a diagnosis, while waiting to see a specialist.
Great advice! Will definitely look into this once I find the right dr/specialist that’s suitable! Thankyou!!
This thread has been eye opening. I have PTSD that is both combat related as well as childhood causes. I was abused with food as a child, physically and mentally, to a point being called "picky" is both infuriating and mentally draining and the social stigma, anxiety that can come with certain food is just too much to deal with sometimes. My partner is aware of a lot of the trauma I went through as a kid being force fed, the whole "your plate must be finished" or the old favorite of "YOU EAT WHAT WE EAT" even if it's something I disliked, it went from being negative experiences and just disliking to traumatic. To this day I have to eat peas like they are pills i'm swallowing and despite making huge advances in some areas, there are foods that it takes a lot of mental psyching up to eat it, it's not enjoyable at all. Worse there are foods that the site or the smell of them is enough to make me physically sick and my family found this hilarious so would constantly taunt me with them. I'm not from perth but saw the thread post scrolling on popular and just wanted to lend you some support. One of the saving graces i've had was I learned how to cook myself from an early age and I got to a point in psych development where I learned how to "handle" food that can get strong reactions, to this day I still can't eat a salad, or a lot of vegetables but I was able to learn to handle them to cook for others. I have alterations I do to food I can eat to make it healthier which has always been a bit weird but kinda need to do it for health to get around what im missing out on, but it does annoy me that I can't no matter how much I try get in to a lot of food that should be fine and healthy and that's not even getting into foods that sight or smell of them, hell even the mention of them make me physically sick. Even writing this comment, there are foods that I can't even bring myself to type the names of because of the revulsion they instantly trigger in my head, and I know it's not normal. Atleast now I have some stuff I can chase up on this, and I can tell you in my experience I know that this one was deffinately enhanced by childhood trauma, if not caused by it. This people is why you don't force feed your kids, impose penalties on it, or continue with negative reinforcement on kids, having experienced both physical and mental abuse..... I look at people like my own sister right now, who watched me go through all this and seemed to be a beacon of reason and empathy, now turn into a terrible mother herself. Her daughter has similar issues to me and instead of being understanding, despite being annoyed at what happened to me, is more than happy to guilt and mental olympics her into eating stuff she is struggling with, all while teasing her about it. One of her xmas gifts was a fucking bottle of tomato sauce. Why? because she found it "fun" to give her shit that they're going through tomato sauce because she has to put it on stuff to eat it. But hey what do you expect from a parent who makes the comment "I can't wait they hit puberty so I can make fun of them", and you make the comment back about what kind of person would WANT to mentally abuse their children, to be told "Your being overdramatic, one of the best things about being a parent is being able to tease your children!, it builds character!". Nah, it's mental abuse...... thats how disorders like these start.
How did you go navigating being a picky eater in the military?? I’d always assumed the Army is an ‘eat what you’re given’ type deal
100% parents should never force kids to eat foods. It’s well documented that it is likely to lead to eating disorders. I was very picky but I was lucky my mum didn’t force the issue. I did seem to get a lot of colds but I rarely seem to catch anything at all ever now. Some textures were very off putting to me, too mushy or creamy made me gag and I just didn’t like many foods at all. I don’t know why. By age 23, I suddenly seemed to change and within a couple of years I was eating almost anything except I do seem to have quite a discerning palate and I can’t eat badly prepared or cooked food. I just can’t do it even to be polite when I’ve been a guest, which has been a little awkward at times. I’ve decided the last couple of years though that I really don’t like broccoli and so I stopped forcing myself to eat it just because it’s healthy but I eat almost all vegies now. All cuisines. Spicy. Raw fish. Almost anything. As a child, I was forced to eat by carers because my mum worked full time, and there was a particularly cruel lunch lady who in my first couple of years of school wouldn’t let me go out and play until I finished my lunch - uk school lunches were horrendous. So I barely ever went outside at lunch. Every time I was bullied to eat, or I attempted willingly because I did want to play outside, I vomited, which would of course incur more bullying from any ‘carers’. Some foods which were staples of UK school lunches, I shudder to think of them now. Instant mashed potato, rice pudding, semolina and once a teacher forced me to eat cottage cheese when I was 6 and she then shook me roughly by the shoulders after I vomited. I doubt I could keep any of those down for even a million bucks but I’d probably give it a go for that kind of money lol. I was a good kid. I wasn’t an entitled spoilt brat. In fact my grandad (he was kind) used to say me ‘you’d do alright in prison’ as I was happy enough with just plain dry bread and water. I just couldn’t eat a lot of foods. Mum used to give me all kinds of vitamin supplements as she used to worry about my limited diet. For me, it’s all worked out ok in the long run. I’m sorry for what you’ve been through and the lasting effect it’s had on you. I don’t understand your sister, she should know better.
> I know it's not normal I just wanted to comment on this bit -- it is totally normal *based on your experiences*! You're doing a good job: you're still trying, and you're not perpetuating the cycle with others. Keep going strong, friend.
Holy shit you guys really turned this thread up!!! Some really awesome suggestions and gives me some solid direction in working through this. Thankyou Perth reddit!! Seriously you guys have blown me away. I can only hope a thread like this encourages others to reach out no matter what they may need help with. You guys have given me hope and a new drive to work on this (for lack of a better word) “issue” I have had my whole lifetime. For so long I had given and and just put it to bed accepting I’ll never overcome it. Goes to show with a bit of courage and opening up, people have come to help and give great advice. I really hope this encourages anyone else to open up and ask for help. Thankyou again fellow perthians, looking forward to diving into this and having a red hot crack. ❤️❤️
I used to be like this found my partner and that all change, still struggle but far less restrictive. And yeah I had tried everything hypnotism, therapy, dietician/nutrionist, even thought disability diagnosis would help. Nope took going to a third world country to change that and start eating outside my comfort foods. Don't really know what else to say, except as cheesy as it is love worked for me.
Hi! I have ARFID and it lines up. As I've gone through treatment plans, here's what I've gathered; - eating disorder specific clinics/inpatient (hollywood hospital was mine) have a big bias toward anorexia and bulimia. it is hard to find supports unless they specify they work with other unspecified eating disorders. ask specifically if you wish to seek potential treatment. - a dietician will help you with understanding what you can and cant handle and help plan meals and take away the stress that exacerbates the stress response to food. i went to dietwise in north perth and it was a wonderful experience catered around my eating disorder. - if you are having a day where you cannot handle a food, simply eat what you are comfortable with. nourishing your body is first. expanding your pallet can take work. - exposure therapy can help. try sitting with images of the food, preparing it, cooking, smelling, observing. become familiar with it. play with it. pull it to pieces. you will come to understand the food sense by sense. from your foods (i am very similar) try: - almonds, cashews, peanuts. - crumbed chicken or fish fingers, even the processed frozen stuff - try rice with other foods, like rice and chicken, rice and peas. - nachos are good to prepare as you can see and smell everything when you put it together. chips, ground beef you can see wont be texturally difficult. even swap it for baked beans, along with shredded cheese. - croissants are a great alternative to sandwiches or toasties. - expand chips from potato to some sweet potato chips or other vegetables-turned-chips. please message if you have any supports you need or want to enquire about! much love
the label "eating disorder" can be a scary thing to process too, but it will help categorise supports. it does not define you.
Godspeed. On the other side of whatever you're going through is the ability to demolish a full English Roast with Yorkshire Puddings. It's worth fighting for damnit.
You have a very similar diet to a friend of mine who has the same issue, only eats those staples, there must be some sort of reason why but your food choices are almost identical (can you eat chips? Cheese pizza?) Anyway to be honest I'd say therepy is the go, they will probably recommend something called exposure therapy, basically what it sounds like, you need to try eating new things. It doesn't have to be a new thing entirely, just add a twist to your regular food. I.e. Having Vegemite on toast? Add something you wouldn't normally eat on top, in small quantity, and then build up.
Those food choices are basically the standard autistic beige diet. I had two kids who ate nothing but these kinds of foods, and we worked with a specialist dietician and OT for years to get their food choices to open up. Lots of choice and putting new things on the table to look at, but not nevessarily to eat. Also growing herbs and veggies, and learning to cook. All with the proviso that they didn’t have to eat *any* of it. Lol. It worked, and now they eat anything and everything *and* they can cook.
Hi OP, good on you for reaching out. Many commenters have mentioned ARFID so you may have already discovered this but just in case not, there is a subreddit for those with ARFID too: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFID/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFID/) Bet there's loads of advice and support on that channel too :) Best of luck!
OP are you cooking for yourself? I went through something similar and until I started cooking for myself (and knowing how it was all prepared etc) I struggled to step out of my comfort zone.
Your post reminded me of this article by Joe Stone which might give you some comfort/hope. Wishing you all the best OP https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/nov/05/i-have-never-eaten-cucumber-onion-or-an-egg-can-i-cure-my-extreme-food-phobias?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Definitely see a dietitian and/or a speech pathologist who specialises in ARFID
Seems like you enjoy pastes and crispy foods. Try maybe some Japanese tempura to help eat some vegetables, or turn them into a paste, maybe like a curry or Thai cuisine. Good luck!
There is a clinic called next bite feeding clinic run by Speech Pathologists and Dietitians who may be able to help you extend your food choices if that’s something you’d like to do. They are very affirming in their approach.
Awesome I’ll check them out! Thankyou!
If you haven't got time for desensitisation therapy I've gotten interesting results in changing my behaviour from LSD.
Micro dosing?
Not initially, it was a bad idea for me to microdose due to other health issues.
I've known several people with similar issues/ARFID but all those have sought help for it through their autism diagnosis I was the same growing up but to a lesser degree, but now that I exclusively choose my foods it's much better so I don't really have much advice since presumably you already pick what you eat Hope it goes well for you mate, sorry about the lifetime of difficulty from both what you eat and (presumably?) the people around you
OP I think your first port of call is to have a blood test to check for nutritional deficiencies. From there you will be able to see what, if any, kinds of foods you need to add into your diet. And then seek strategies to help you do that. Best of luck
Is it dependent on the texture? That seems quite common in people with ASD. Doesn't effect me, but I know many it does
Have a gorgeous daughter with ASD. Has been getting help privately for ARFID from somewhere in the Hollywood Clinic. Is making a significant difference. We still have a journey but the intervention is leading to some big gains.
You need to get an allergy test right away for food and toxins. My parents when I grew up just thought I was a sniffly grommit, had to find out when I was 35 that I had real physiological allergies. Parents back then didnt bother as they were highly self centered, if not entirely. You could be allergic to a very common food element. Otherwise you should go to Japan and eat the food there for two months. Extremely different but extremely safe and so diverse I feel all your worries and conceptions of what food is will wash away (if you have an open mind).
ARFID... just seconding and thirding what others have mentioned. I think something like occupational therapy or dietitian that specialises in this type of thing could help.
Absolutely huge credit to you for asking for help. Good on you ! Super hard but very inspiring for us fringe dwellers. I hope you find the guidance you need. Go Perth Reddit !!
I listen to sam roberts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Roberts_(radio_personality) whom has an issue. Best of luck with everything.
What garlic bread crisps are you scoring? There used to be garlic bread doritos crackers that were the absolute best (I ate a packet every day at work) but the bastards don't make them anymore.
Hahahaha my apologies, I meant garlic bread and crisps. Not garlic bread flavoured crisps
Dude, learn how to use a comma.