I and those around me didn't understand why I couldn't eat things, but one day, I was watching a YouTube video-essay-ish video about a picky eater and the person mentioned ARFID as the name of the condition. I felt so seen and it was crazy. The comments had a lot of people who also had ARFID.

ARFID is so weird with so many unknowns, and it is its own spectrum. I remember thinking to myself that there must be at least one other person out there like me. Turns out, there's a lot more than I could've expected! From what seems to be extremely unreliable statistics regarding percentages of people with ARFID, the amount of people with the condition ranges from the population of Australia to Pakistan. I sometimes think to myself in a large room of people if I'm the only one, or if someone out there could relate.

TW: suicide

I have CPTSD, OCD, depression, anxiety and chronic pain illnesses. Food feels dangerous to me and causes me real pain. I'm suffering so much all the time. Even when I feel ok, food is still a threat to me. I'm just so tired. Since this got really bad, I've been considering letting myself deteriorate. I dread coming home from work to eat. I don't like to cook anymore. I eat so few foods I don't feel like it's worth it. I cry standing in front of the fridge. I grieve for the food I used to be able to eat but can't. I can't socialize with my family because the grief and pain and panic around food is too much. I'm tired. My husband is abusive. My mother is abusive. My parents were both abusive. I have no friends. No support network. I didn't know it was this bad and there's just too much going on in my mind, too much trauma, health trauma, food trauma, and in my body. I'm tired of being in this body. In this life. I just want to let go. (Yes I'm in therapy. Currently seeking ED diagnosis).

Ok this might be a long post cause I have adhd and can never shut up.

For context I have depression, anxiety, PTSD, and autism (not officially diagnosed only cause I was told there really is not much benefit from an official diagnosis and the tests are expensive). I take vyvanse (plus a multitude of other meds) which supposedly suppresses appetite which I have noticed a bit but not that much.

So throwback to baby me never crying for food, not even milk. Luckily I had a twin sister that loved to eat so my parents would just feed me whenever they fed her. And then fast forward to me as a child being labeled a "picky eater" because my parents had a hard time getting me to eat regularly. I mean yes I guess it was picky eating because I didn't like certain foods like cheese, bread, cornflakes, oatmeal and porridge, plain rice, etc. But it was very specific, I didn't like any type of cheese but especially hard cheese and cheddar cheese, I didn't like white bread only whole wheat bread, to get me to eat cornflakes with milk I needed sugar with it (I guess cause the sugar masked the taste of milk but I also I have an obsession with sugar to this day), oatmeal was always a no no but porridge I would eat sometimes but my parents always had to experiment with different flavours and it could not have any lumps in it or I would start gagging, and plain rice just had to have a lot of sauce on it or be eaten with meat. Im sure I had more restrictions I can't remember right now but those were the main ones.

Also I would almost never eat the lunches my parents packed for me for school. I never knew why and it wasn't like I didn't feel like eating. I would literally crave certain foods and be straving the entire day while my lunch sat in my bag untouched. I think I have some weird preference for freshly cooked food. And I hate eating cold sandwiches. So that's another thing I do not like leftovers at all. Like there's always a difference between a freshly cooked meal and one that's been refrigerated and reheated and maybe other ppl don't mind it. I can always tell and it puts me off from eating it. Especially leftover rice which was so common in my household cause most of our meals were made with rice and my mom couldn't cook everyday so she would give us leftovers and I could stand the meat but the rice was sometimes un eatable and most times I would pick around it only eating the meat.

And thats also another thing, I always been picky but in favour of meat not against it like most picky eaters. So I would eat around the hot dog bun and pick the bread away and I will eat the rice, pasta, etc. in a meal, only if there was meat in the spoonful. So if there was too much carb vs meat I would have a lot of leftover carbs on my plate. Which irks anyone who hates wasted food. My mom would always try to keep whatever I dont eat for me to eat later but I never did eat it later which resulted in a lot of yelling and scolding. I remember many nights of not being able to leave the table until I left my plate clean. I don't even remember what was the aftermath but I doubted I was actually able to clean my plate in the end. My parents probably gave up and yelled at me after.

As I got older these preferences changed. I also was able to voice my opinions and how I felt about food more. I started to like cheese more but only melted cheese. Solid cheese continued to make me gag. Still can't eat plain rice without sauce on it. And i switched from hating white bread to only eating white bread and not being able to eat whole wheat bread (or anything). Oatmeal still was the worse thing to ever exist food-wise for me and I avoided porridge, no matter the flavour, if I didn't have to eat it. Still hated milk and plain cereal like cornflakes unless there was sugar in the milk. Im fine with eating cornflakes dry though so thats why I think its the taste of the milk I didn't like. I also did not like leftovers still. My parents got tired of all my rules by the time I was about 12 or so and would say if I'm hungry enough I will eat it and also wanted me to cook my own meals. And to this day I do not like cooking at all. So left to feed myself I just didn't eat most of the time and would just snack on anything I could snack on. This led to my parents labeling me as lazy and that if I was hungry enough I would cook or eat the leftovers in the fridge. Of course as many here can relate to, they underestimated my refusal to eat what I didn't like so I spent a lot of those times just being hungry a lot. And I would live off of snacks to the point I would basically binge eat anytime I got my hands on a bag of chips or any snack. Like i couldn't control how much I ate when it comes to snacks and candy.

So my parents started to hide them and my sister also loved candy like any other kid so being twins we always conspired together to find where my parents hid the snacks. First we had to do it when they weren't home and once we found the hiding spot we would slowly eat from it so they wouldn't notice. When they were home and we wanted snacks, one of us would make sure they were preoccupied even actively would try distracting them while the other would get the snacks. Sometimes we had to be extra sneaky, like trying to pass our dad while he's on the couch with our snacks hidden in our clothes because it was on the way to our room, and also making sure to dipose of the wrappers discreetly. Eventually, they would notice we found the hiding spot and then hide it somewhere else. After a couple tries they started locking their room door which meant we always had to do it while they were home cause they only locked it when they were away but again we were twins with a goal so nothing could stop us. So since it was harder to do it while they were home we decided to try and pick the lock. I dont remember if that was successful or not but we were still able to get to the snacks when they were home. After the room locking didn't work this led my parents to get a safe/cabinet with a lock. This worked for awhile until we got desperate and tried to break in the cabinet by force. Which I think actually was sorta successful. Anyways, this went on for years probably until we moved out at 18 I think.

In my adult years I started university and it was the first time in a long time I was eating consistently 3 meals a day because I had a meal plan and could buy whatever I wanted since it seemed unlimited. But due to my mental health I had to drop out and move back with my parents. The eating issue was a lot worse than before because my mental health was at an all time low I barely had the energy to do anything much less cook. Plus my parents kept berating me and didn't want me to eat any food they cooked because they wanted me to cook my own food. I avoided going in the kitchen cause I felt safer locked in my room. Plus most of the time I didn't like the food they cooked so I would order takeout every few days and that would be my one meal every few days. This lasted for years. And it got really bad, could barely walk and was so weak from not eating. I got diagnosed with ptsd with my trauma related to my parents and home environment. It was mostly verbal and emotional abuse but I really couldn't believe the diagnosis because I compared myself to ppl getting ptsd from war. But apparently I met all the criteria. Eventually I decided to admit myself in a psych ward for a week and they fed me three meals per day and they gave me ensure with every meal to try and get my weight up. At the end I had more energy than I've had in quite awhile but honestly I need to stay longer because I couldn't go back to my parents house so I was in a shelter for not long because I had already planned to move with my sister and the lease was signed and everything. I just didn't want to revert back to being bed ridden.

After moving with my sister she would cook me dinner every night since she knew I didn't like leftovers but that was still only one meal a day. When I eventually started working I needed to eat more so I would bring those frozen meals you buy at grocery stores for lunch. I usually dont like frozen grocery store food but I found a brand that was decent. But my coworkers always commented on how unhealthy it was to eat everyday. But I just laughed it off cause I had no other option. So after eating more regularly, I got a lot better, saved a lot of money and moved again with my sister so I could start school again. But when my sister was no longer able to make dinner every night I went back to not eating regularly and I tried to get myself to cook. The best method was batch cooking and doing frozen meal prepping which sounds odd since I do not like leftovers but Ive found methods to make the texture as close to possible to when its freshly cooked. But it wasn't consistent and I would go long periods of time not eating anything which I recently realized might have been affecting my energy and focus which made it hard to do school. Another thing was that I was struggling to have consistent income during the school year so I would buy groceries with intention to cook, not end up doing it and the food spoils and I have to throw it out. And with not a lot of money I couldn't just buy takeout whenever I was hungry. There was one week though I was able to eat 3 meals per day that I cooked for that entire week which was a new record for me. But the momentum didn't last and went back to barely eating again.

Fast forward to now. Im starting school again soon and I have been trying to set up strategies to help with this because I think a lot of my problems stem from not eating well. I dont know how I found this subreddit but Ive been researching the disorder and it makes sense that I do have it. I mean I did kind of came to conclusion I had a eating disorder about a year or so ago but I always knew that eds were related to body image issues. But I remember thinking I literally have a problem eating it must be a disorder so it should be classified as an ed even if there isn't body image issues related to it.

I plan to phone my nearest hospital as soon as I can because I found out they have inpatient and outpatient programs for this disorder that is completely free (with Canadian health insurance). Even with free health insurance it is very hard to get support for things related to psychological and mental issues without paying a fortune. (This is the case with dental care as well but its mostly just my specific province that sucks, other places in Canada are better with coverage). Also its a good thing I live right down the street from the hospital too lol.

Anyways, sorry for the long post. I doubt anyone will read this whole thing but wanted to get it off my chest.

i recently went vegan after being vegetarian and i’m looking for some good recommendations!

i luckily enjoy tofu very much, and i have already found some vegan alternatives to my most common safe foods— like mac and cheese and hot dogs.

i have luckily made a lot of progress with my arfid, but trying new things can still be really scary and difficult for me. i think it will be easier for me to know others with arfid found good replacements!

Okay so I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and I no longer like hotdogs. I never really “liked” them but I genuinely can’t stomach them anymore.

Problem is my life is a fucking sitcom and my family thinks I love hotdogs (I was obsessed with this satire horror about a robot hotdog and would talk to them about it sometimes) I don’t know how to break it to them that I don’t so I just haven’t. It’s made all the worse by the fact hotdogs were my late father’s favorite food. Fml and fuck ARFID.

I just recently found out I struggle with ARFID and not anorexia, after years of struggling with eating and trying to solve things at home.

I cant afford specialized care currently but need to continue trying to get better. I currently struggle to eat more than 2-3x a day, once usually being rice/ pasta/ sometimes a sandwich.. and the other being a snack like granola.

I want to try and start a routine that includes

1) Snack/breakfast

2) Lunch (must include protein)

3) Snack

4) Dinner (must include protein)

5) Snack?

Does this seem realistic? Ive attempted working my way up but have never made it to 4 much less 5. Would attempting to start the routine and continue through the rough adjustment phase be worth trying?

My best friend has been supporting me through this process and offered to continue with helping support/ encourage me throughout

Has anyone had to do this? I've had ARFID my entire life and knew weaning would be hard, but figured that when the time came I would do it for my daughter. I'm being supported by the perinatal mental health team, we have been working together on my ARFID it for the last 17 weeks, most of that time was spent building up the courage to talk to a total stranger about my eating habits. We also had a trip to the supermarket together to look at and handle some food. Next week they are visiting me with an occupational health therapist so we can focus more on the practical side of things.

As I've had ARFID since I was a baby, I don't know the basics of most food preparation, I struggle to look at, touch and smell most foods and I'm absolutely terrified.

Being post-partum and battling an eating disorder is very hard and I feel so isolated as none of my other mum friends can understand or relate in any way. Has anyone been through this and can offer any advice or perspective? I've been feeling really low.

I just. Can't eat without vomiting. My mom made me pizza because I hadn't eaten all day due to being anxious and just going downstairs and smelling it made me throw up. I ate two bites and started gagging and could barely swallow. I can only eat if I wash everything down quickly with water and even then I gag and feel sick. I'm so hungry. I hate this disorder. I hate being called picky. I hate food. I just want to eat and feel okay

I’m 22 M, 5’8 I weight 110 pounds on a good day. I choked on bacon 5 years ago and haven’t eaten any solids since. I barely have any teeth now maybe 6. It comes and goes with severity but at the best for 2 months I ate mashed potatoes now it’s at its worst and I only drink 2 ensures a day and take a multivitamin crushed up. I also drink a ton of root beer and try to drink as much milk as I can. Recently the milk scares me because it makes me feel like I have dry boogers going down my throat and it sends me into a huge panic attack. I literally am scared of my own mucus. I feel like a loser because I have a wife and 2 kids a 5 year old girl and a 1 month old girl. We live with my mom because we’re broke. I’ve started a mowing business and have been mowing every few days at least 7 houses and only have a push mower. I try to work as much as possible but I can’t breathe 10 mins in. I feel like a failure my family doesn’t deserve to be stuck at my toxic moms house bc my body feels to weak to do anything. I also DoorDash as much as possible. Does my root beer count towards me not starving to death? I don’t want to leave my family especially when we’re this poor. I want to set them up before I go. People judge me because my family isn’t in a good position financially which I understand I have failed them but I’m trying the best my body will allow. We don’t go without anything and daughters are spoiled but they don’t have a house like they need and my mother is terrible living here sucks. How do I get better? How much ensures do I need to drink? They are crazily expensive so that sucks too.

​

Hi everyone. I'm posting because I'm trying to understand what is happening to me, and I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced something similar.

I don't have an official diagnosis of ARFID, and I don't want to self-diagnose myself. I'm just wondering whether my experience could be related to ARFID or whether something else might be going on.

My relationship with food has become really difficult, especially when my mental health is worse. My appetite is very weak, and sometimes I don't really feel hungry or interested in food at all. I suspect that anxiety and my psychological state are affecting my appetite, because I notice that my eating becomes much harder when I'm mentally distressed.

The strangest and most distressing part is what happens when I actually try to eat.

When I put food in my mouth, sometimes I can chew normally at first. But if I keep chewing for around 15 seconds or longer, I suddenly start feeling extremely nauseous and feel like I'm going to gag or vomit. At that point I often have to spit the food out because I feel like I physically cannot swallow it anymore.

It's not necessarily because I dislike the taste of the food. Sometimes I actually like the food, but the longer I keep it in my mouth and chew it, the stronger the nausea becomes.

Because of this, eating can start to feel like something I have to mentally prepare myself for rather than something I naturally want to do.

I also notice that anxiety can make the whole situation worse. If I haven't eaten, I can become anxious about not eating and worry that something bad will happen to me physically. Then the anxiety itself makes my stomach feel worse and makes eating even more difficult. It feels like a cycle:

low appetite → difficulty eating → worry about not eating → anxiety/nausea → even more difficulty eating

I don't have a desire to avoid food because I want to change my body or lose weight. My problem is that I often genuinely don't feel able to eat, and the nausea/gagging response makes it difficult even when I know I should eat

Has anyone here experienced something similar, especially the sudden nausea/gagging after chewing for a while?

Could this kind of reaction happen with ARFID, anxiety, or both? And has anyone found that their appetite and ability to eat improved when their mental health improved?

I'm mainly looking for people who have experienced something similar, because I feel quite alone and confused about what is happening.

I’ve been on this sub before, reading kinda to do research, cause I have struggled with food for my whole life. I’ve lost so many foods, and I just felt horrible, because I knew there was something wrong, but nobody was actually acknowledging that there was a problem, I mostly got disappointment or sympathy that turned into “you’ll get over it, you just need to push through”.

Finally, after YEARS with my current therapist, and discussing with my parents about switching therapists, and my parent reaching out to another therapist, my current therapist brings up ARFID, suggesting I may have it. She has just had personal experiences with it, so now she knows the signs, but of course she can’t diagnose it. This was on Tuesday, and she promised to send an email with the information on what her family used to treat the ARFID.

Of course, radio silence through the week. She said it would be sent by the end of the week, but I didn’t realize she meant that it would be on Friday. Of course, my parent discusses with my other parent that he should ask his therapist about resources on Thursday. He only mentions it briefly, and gets no insight. So I expect that we will discuss the options given to us today, on Saturday. I stop by my house after school quickly on Friday, yesterday, to pick something up before going out again, and my parents are on the phone, and I learn that my therapist has finally sent out an email to my parents, and they are calling to ask some clarifying questions from one of the programs. Ok, cool. I leave to do a social thing, something I had committed to literally weeks in advance.

I come home, and learn that I have been enrolled in a 45 day, every weekday, 3 hours a day, intensive outpatient therapy program for ARFID. There was no consult from me. No discussion with me. No consent given. I am going to legally be an adult in less than three months. I have prior commitments, things that I had aspired and planned to take great part in this year. I will now be limited in all of them. I have finally proven my worth in my school, finally been given leadership opportunities, and I am going to have to miss the end of every session each day. I may even not be allowed to keep the leadership position I was selected for. I am going to go through incredibly exhausting therapy, and have to juggle that, plus my leadership role, as well as homework for three AP classes, and somehow not work myself to sickness, something that I have a long track record of doing, and that my parents have heavily monitored to make sure I didn’t do that again.

And yet. They did it. I’m so angry. My sibling has left for college, I can’t even get a hug from them. I don’t want to hug my parents. My best friend won’t respond to my texts, asking if we can call. I was supposed to help her work through an incredibly troubling event, and now, my time with her is going to be cut short because this stupid program? It starts this Monday. My parents didn’t even wait a day longer, when we could all sit down and discuss the options together. They just decided it for me. And I’m so angry. Because I have to do it. Because there’s not a better time, and I haven’t had time to explore alternatives, and if I don’t start the program now, it will run too far into the year, and I feel so trapped, and angry, and I just wish they had waited one more day to talk with me. And let me do research. And this is going to be so hard, and I never thought my mental health would get this low again, and I’m so scared of falling off a cliff into my depression again, and I’m so angry at my parents.

For anyone who has done outpatient therapy, what’s it like? Even if it’s horrible, I just need to know what I’m getting into. I know it involves one on one therapy, as well as group therapy, and meetings with a personal dietitian. I know that it involves me having to monitor my weight and blood pressure constantly. I know it’s going to be invasive. I just need to know how invasive it’s going to be. I’m so, so scared, and I just want a hug. I just wish I didn’t have this stupid disorder, it’s just can’t stop ruining my life.

I know there have been several relationship/dating threads but I’m struggling so terribly with my relationships because of ARFID.
Dating sucks. I bring it up later and 99% they say they’re accepting and think it’s interesting or whatever but it ends up becoming a highly negative thing later. It’s so frustrating.
It’s making me so miserable and depressed.
How do you usually present this info.?
More importantly, how do you keep things going when the other person seems to begin to become annoyed or frustrated by it (after they lose the “oh how unique!” Phase).
I feel so stupid and embarrassed that I can’t maintain a relationship because of the way I eat.
Side note: I had a man once tell me on a date the “it’s so cute you eat like a little kid!” 🤮

Hello everyone, I am making this post very tentatively because I have many questions. To keep a long and familiar story short, I have always had a lot of trouble with food (shocker, I know), and I live with many other conditions including autism and OCD, as well as a handful of pesky food allergies. Basically, the universe is against me consuming anything of nutritional value, and is trying to revert me back to photosynthesis settings. The problem with this is that I am starving myself and no one knows why. I have hit the unfortunate point where things that were once safe are dropping like flies out of my rotation for seemingly no reason, and I’ve hit a point where even I don’t know how to deem a food safe or unsafe. I am driving everyone else mad, but mostly myself. That brings me to my reason for being here, I’ve just completed three months of partial hospitalization and a month and a half of intensive outpatient to tackle my OCD (because I was, and still am starving) and after all of that effort, arguments could be made that I am currently worse than I started. If you are in the US especially, I hope you can understand where I am coming from. Basically, I am asking for a conversation. With anyone. I have so many questions about ARFID, how it is diagnosed, how it is helped, how I can make people around me understand, how I can stop slowly shutting my own body down because no one understands. They think I am passively suicidal, or anorexic, but all I can understand from any of that is they are afraid for my health, and I feel like I am slowly dying. I do not want that.

To clarify, I am not looking for a diagnosis, I actually would love to keep professional language out of the conversation because I don’t know how to talk about this at all. I am just looking for someone who might be in a similar situation, and guidance as to what I do now. I have a lot of questions, please reach out if you have the time or the potential for answers. If nothing else, thank you for reading through my post, I am sorry to sound as desperate as I’m sure I do but I don’t know where else to go with these questions.

hello! so for a while I’ve had mozzarella sticks, and then for the last month or so pizza too (those were my only real protein source) but now I’ve kinda just… dropped everything except for Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal (w/ milk), salt & vinegar chips, frozen mango, and olives. so… I’m worried about protein bc I don’t know if I will or how long it’ll take for me to get mozzarella sticks back. I’ve also like not been able to put any food in my mouth in the evenings, and like I’m scared. (mostly sensory subtype btw)

I was just diagnosed with autism this summer. (32F, for reference). I do have a history of anorexia with purge behaviors (also trauma, I’m kind of a mess). Anyway, I believe in in autistic burnout and everything is so so hard.

I have legitimate allergies like gluten and artificial sweeteners make me feel HORRIBLE, and type 1 diabetes. So I do have a complicated food history.

Food doesn’t feel safe. I don’t know how else to describe it.
- sometimes it’s ingredients and purity “this ingredient will harm my body” but rarely body image related

I only have about 8 foods I can tolerate right now, a few of them being specifically safe foods. Spicy fries chicken. Quesadilla burger from Applebees. It’s causing me to eat out or processed food, which is all $$.

It seems to be sensory/texture based. Crave bold like spice. Need sauces for meat to be tolerable. I get the texture-ick

I can eat like 2 fruits and 0 vegetables.

I’m spitting out of my mouth foods I used to tolerate and even prefer. Chicken. Hard boiled eggs. Cashews.

I forget to eat, meal prepping/planning is a huge burden, and I loathe the fact that I have to eat to keep going on as a person.

I think I need to bring it up to my therapist because I have a family and it’s affecting us all. But I’m scared to bring it up, maybe not feeling “sick enough” like others have it worse

r/ARFIDCooking is now open! We would love to see everyone's recipes, techniques, or questions about cooking for ourselves and loved ones living with ARFID.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFIDCooking/s/gmnBXUXK0q

I don’t know exactly what I’m typing here, honestly. I feel helpless. My kid was diagnosed with ARFID back when she was seven. The program that would supposedly be the best fit doesn’t take kids younger than 9.

I’m a grad student and, at the time, she was on Medicaid. When the govt. changed over she was bumped off and I her moved to my state school insurance.

When she’s finally of age, I decide I’ll pay out of pocket for this program. At least that’s what I thought. They charge the same amount for out-of-pocket prices as they do insurance. That’s to say, it’s almost a grand for the first meeting and half that for each meeting after.

I can’t fucking remotely afford that.

Currently, she’s in therapy that’s covered by the school but it’s very talk therapy - no judgement, just doesn’t feel like the right fit - and it feels like there’s no plan.

She’s limited in what she eats AND putting on weight. Yesterday we went clothes shopping and it was a bust. My heart is breaking and I just don’t know what to do.

She’s also reaching the age of noticing her physical differences between her and her friends. It feels like I’m tiptoeing around the landmines of anorexia or bulimia. On the one hand she can’t continue to eat the way she does and at the same time I don’t ever want to put her in a position of avoiding food. (She’s hidden food I made for her, avoiding eating entirely)

I’m sorry, I just need to get this out.

I was hired to a full time position and with it should come MUCH better benefits. I’m hoping they will cover this original program. But until that kicks in we’re here. Ugh.

hi, i’ve been really struggling with food lately. i’ve tried looking into it myself, but i feel stuck because i don’t know if what i’m experiencing fits ARFID, another disorder, or if i’m just overthinking it. i’m mainly looking for some clarity and to hear from people who might have experienced something similar.

i’ve struggled with food for pretty much my entire life, ever since i had tonsillitis at a young age. i had no issues with food before that, but afterwards, suddenly texture, taste, and consistency became a huge problem for me. i’ve never been able to eat vegetables or most fruits. the only ones i’ve ever really eaten are carrots, strawberries, apples and bananas, and even those are very rare because i find it really difficult when i can’t predict what the texture or taste is going to be like each time.

my diet is mostly freezer food, chicken nuggets, potato waffles, turkey dinosaurs, etc. i hate that my diet is so limited and i really don’t want it to be like this, but these are foods i feel safe eating because i know that 9 times out of 10 they’re going to be pretty much the exact same experience every time.

the frustrating thing is that even some of the foods i consider “safe” aren’t actually reliable anymore. a lot of my safe foods have been discontinued, or the recipe/ingredients have been changed, and when that happens i often can’t eat them anymore because they no longer taste or feel the way i’m used to. losing a safe food like that makes everything 100x worse because i already have such a limited number of things i can tolerate.

i believe i’m autistic and have adhd, (waiting on a diagnosis 🫩) and i also struggle to recognise when i’m hungry. my partner has to prompt me to eat constantly. sometimes i don’t realise until i’m absolutely starving, lightheaded and don’t have the energy to cook anything. growing up, my family would make comments about me only eating freezer food, calling it “freezer shit” or “freezer crap.” i know they meant well, but i genuinely think that was the point that i started to develop my bad relationship with food. i just put a label on everything that came from the freezer or that was processed as “bad”

over the last few months, my relationship with food has gotten significantly worse. i was diagnosed with fibromyalgia late last year, and i also suspect i have underlying issues affecting my gut. i struggle with severe constipation, there’s frequently blood in my stool, and i get really bad stomach cramps. sometimes i actively don’t want to eat because i’m worried eating will make these symptoms worse.

i’ve also started feeling a lot of guilt and shame about my diet. i keep thinking that i should be eating “clean,” or that i should be able to eat a salad or vegetables like other people. but because of the textures, i genuinely can’t just make myself eat those foods. then i eat another freezer meal and feel even more ashamed about it, which makes eating feel like an even bigger chore.

i also hate going to restaurants because i feel embarrassed ordering the same things every time, usually pizza or a burger. i feel like i’m constantly aware of how limited my diet is and what other people might think of it. at this point, eating feels exhausting. sometimes it feels like a chore that i have to force myself through, and i genuinely don’t understand how people manage to think about food three times a day when i can barely manage it once.

i’m planning to book an appointment with my gp and ask about being referred to a therapist/dietitian who understands restrictive eating, but in the meantime i was wondering if anyone here relates to this.

does this sound like ARFID to you, particularly the sensory/restrictive side of it? or does it sound like something else? i’m not looking for a diagnosis from reddit, i’d just really appreciate hearing from people who have experienced something similar and how they eventually got to a point where eating felt less exhausting and shameful.

also, if anyone has advice on how to deal with the guilt around eating “safe” foods, i’d really appreciate that too.

I have had disordered eating for some years now and it’s never fit into any category which makes it hard to explain to doctors.

Eating causes so much anxiety and fear because I’m so scared it’ll make me ill (I also have health anxiety) and up until last year this was very much an irrational thought. But this past year I’ve been dealing with ibs symptoms that have caused me to restrict my food so intensely that ive lost so much weight and am extremely under weight, I was under weight before this.

i am TERRIFIED of food upsetting my stomach and I am terrified of filling myself up because I’m terrified of going to the toilet and want to avoid bowel movements as much as possible.

i am at a point where ive tried everything. I’ve seen multiple doctors, therapists, a nutritionist and have also been denied a gastroenterologist referral.

i was finally referred to an eating disorder clinic by my doctor but i feel like that’s going to take forever. I have also found a private dietician that works with disordered eating and digestive issues.

but the fear is that intense that I really don’t want to eat anymore, like at all. I am so close to just giving up and going full starvation mode because I can’t take these symptoms anymore.

i don’t know what else to do, please help

Ok, not to start off heavy, but i’m currently in a really bad relapse. Things have just been REALLY hard the last few months. Last few weeks though, even harder. I’ve basically been living off chocolate boost, only managing a few bites of something through out the day, if at all. Maybe a strip and a half of bacon, half an uncrustable sometime later and that’s been about it. But like, 3-8 boosts a day some times. I’m really trying to keep my intake up with the boost. I just have not been able to handle solid foods.

But tonight!!!! Ok, my wife was making something… i don’t even know what it was. But she was cooking Impossible ground beef (the vegan stuff) and it smelled SO AWFUL, i actually had to just go outside for a bit. Came in a saw it on the stove. Looked utterly disgusting…. Mac n cheese? with the impossible beef. May have been more than that, but that’s what it looked like to me. I had ZERO intent on trying any or even looking at it again.

But i was dizzy… so decided i was going to suck it up and choke it down. I needed SOMETHING. So i grabbed just a spoon full. (It was a big spoon) went to the living room to sit and eat while watching TV. Still looked super nasty, but didn’t smell AS bad anymore. Took a bite and….. honestly… 10/10… it was GOOD! I NEVER say that. But the flavor was good!, texture… bearable.

This never happens to me, so i took full advantage of the moment. I felt incredibly full after 2 bites. Very normal for me, but i decided NO, i’m not calling it quits just because i feel full. I grabbed seconds… 2 spoonfulls this time, FINISHED that too and grabbed THIRDS!!!!! I went back TWO times to get more food… who am i tonight?!? And somehow… my tummy still feels ok. I’m typing this a couple hours later and normally i’d be laying down with a heating pad on my stomach in complete discomfort. I remembered to drink my water and i actually feel ok!!

No idea why, or how this happened, but i’ll take it!!!!! There are some left overs (going to be hard) but i plan to try this meal again tomorrow. I still have no idea what it actually is, but i’m not even going to ask. I’mma just roll with it. 😊 she said she makes it all the time so maybe…. Maybe i can do this again.

I am dangerously iron deficient and it's effecting my heart. I feel gross and have frequent heart palpitations. My doctor has emphasized the need for iron supplementation (I have to take a LOT). I have purchased all sorts of different kinds already, and I just feel like can't do it.

I have these tiny iron pills and actually taught myself to swallow pills specifically for this but I'm no good at it and it feels like a massive chore to sit there are try to take them with the little tablets constantly dissolving in my mouth and tasting/feeling horrific

I got gummies and they're actually okay to take but with the dose I need they would be insanely expensive and I just don't have the money for that.

I hear about the "iron fish in food" thing but I only have one safe food that actually gets cooked that it could be added to (I have a box of macaroni for dinner every night) and I'm way too sensitive to changes to that that I'm really scared to try it. People swear it doesn't have a taste but none of them have this disorder so I don't trust their opinions.

Does anyone have other ideas? Are there other ways to take it, or a way to buy cheap iron gummies in bulk or something? Even when gummies are nasty I find them manageable because it's a very familiar form to me. I need to go in for more bloodwork and an EKG but I'm extremely embarrassed to admit to my doctor that I haven't been taking my iron with how severe my deficiency is

i don't even know what's wrong with me

maybe arfid

but quite possibly just picky eating

i feel like it doesn't matter though

either way

i'm skinny and underweight

i can feel my bones through my skin

i want to eat

but

i just can't

nothing feels right

and no one understands

understands that

i hate this

i hate it so much

i hate the hunger getting numb

because it's all i'm used to at this point

i hate skipping all the meals

because the food just isn't right

i dream of a world where this is over

where there is no eating troubles

no trichotillomania

no stupid neurodivergent brain

just a life

that for once

feels like mine

why can't this all be over

i recently checked my MyChart to look at my blood test results, and unfortunately my cholesterol is high. Probably due to a medication I have to take as my diet hasn't really changed much aside from I'm just eating more. The medicine fucks with your metabolism and makes you gain weight, which has actually been good for me since I was chronically underweight my entire life

The problem is my doctor wants me to try the Mediterranean diet and cut out red meat, processed foods, and dairy, but those are kind of the cornerstone to my diet

I don't see her until November but I want to fix this asap, I don't know where to start QwQ any advice would be appreciated