My girlfriend has anorexia and i have ARFID and when i undereat it really stresses her out and makes her feel fat. I usually am able to finish what she gives me but recently i be been nausous and throwing up due to it and i dont know what to do because i cant eat anything without this nausea but it really freaks her out.

I hate thinking about what I want to eat, I hate going through all the effort of preparing food, I wish I could just have a drink full of whatever I need to live that I could just down like medicine and just have that for every meal. I don't care if it tastes particularly good.

Any one else feel like this? Maybe possibly even know how to achieve this?

Hi, I'm a college student and I live alone. Been struggling with ARFID for as long as I can remember, but lately it's gotten worse because of some traumatic experiences.

I have not been eating well lately. I eat whatever I can find in my fridge that is "tolerable" in the morning, once in a blue moon I make myself scrambled eggs, but I don't really have the energy for that. I leave at 7:00 every morning and come back in the afternoon or evening.

Last week I visited the cafeteria. I was excited because I knew the food was cheap. But, um. I took, like, 3 bites at most? then I felt like I would cry or throw up because the texture on the chicken was all wrong, it was dry, it lacked condiments, and the mashed potatoes were too salty and made me want to gag. I decided not to force myself any further because I was sitting at a table with a bunch of people, and it was pretty embarassing (I also struggle with eating in front of people).

Anyway, the conclusion is, cafeteria is not for me. This was literally the only food that seemed somewhat tolerable, but it was worse than bad and I don't indend to sample any more cafeteria food. Problem is, restaurant food is expensive, I am very afraid of fast food because I fear it makes me sick, and I don't have time or energy to cook at home. Pastries have been an option for days when I said ok, better eat something than nothing at all, but I don't believe they're the most nutritious option...

I need advice on food I can bring with me to uni. Keep in mind my budget is really low.

Little food profile I guess~

I don't eat meat, unless it's chicken prepared with a specific set of condiments and tomato sauce, or grilled. I eat salmon sometimes, i prefer the smoked or raw (sashimi) version as the texture gets kinda weird when cooked. I hate most vegetables with a passion, except Brussels sprouts (weird pick, I know). Potatoes are tolerable ig but not a big fan of them and not even trying because they don't have a lot of nutritional value. Most of my safe foods are sweets, especially containing chocolate, or plain bread or pasta if I'm very sensory overloaded and hungry. (i don't eat sweets if I'm hungry, it makes my stomach feel really weird so i prefer to starve) I like figs, but their availability is almost over, since it's the middle of fall. Everything else that I didn't mention is most likely a fear food. Or tolerable. Idk. I don't like thinking about food I lowkey feel sick now

Hi everyone,

A couple of months ago, I got released from the hospital from an eating disorder recovery program for my ARFID and gained a couple of pounds when I got out. I was really happy about the progress I have been making up until I got released from the hospital.

Due to some complications and life stuff happening, after I got out I have not been taking care of myself as much as I should and have been struggling with the symptoms of my ARFID again for many months due to a very distressing situation that happened to me a couple months ago and I have been noticing a significant drop in weight. Around 6 months I've lost ~6-7 lbs in total and I am getting more and more worried about it.

I've been trying to fix my schedule when it comes to eating meals but it's just so hard to stop limiting my diet especially when I am not feeling the best at the moment in my life and this feeling has persisted over the months I have been going through this stump. My therapist recommended me to seek out outpatient treatments if it gets worse and I am unsure where to start looking.

I just don't want to deal with all of these feelings I have and my symptoms anymore and get back gaining weight again so I can be a healthier person again.

plain tortelini with four cheese in the middle, buttered
so yummy and such a good texture

Hi! I have ARFID and also POTS causing insulin resistance. Unfortunately 99% of my safe foods have lots of processed sugars and things that do not help with my a1c and whatnot. So I was hoping maybe somebody here would have good advice? I already do what exercise I can with my disabilities but I figured maybe somebody here had advice?

Mainly replacements for

Chocolate Timbits (donut holes)
Chocolate chip muffins

Hi! So I’ve never posted here but I’ve looked online for a while and am having a lot of trouble finding something to help me. I’m in treatment for suspected POTs (just waiting on a formal diagnosis but my doctor believes that’s what I have). I also have ARFID which I’ve had my entire life but only recently (a year and a halfish) found the terms/words to describe it.

So with my POTs I need to up my protein intake as well as just eating healthier. With my ARFID though a lot of foods I’ll eat are high in carbs and low in protein. I have a lot of trouble eating meat. I also am kinda poor and healthier food is expensive. I need to be eating small frequent protein heavy meals. And I’m stumped.

Any help is greatly appreciated ❤️

hi there! it's kind of starting to annoy me how every other advertisement makes me [TW] want to throw up, i can't eat probably most foods because of that and just the looks are enough to trigger my arfid. i was wondering if there's a way to maybe block these ads? either individually or by keywords. not sure if this is suitable for this subreddit but if anyone had the answer i'd expect to find it here haha. thanks!

Can anyone point me to some clinics that treat children online. Preferably one that bills insurance.

Hi! I have PANS (inflammatory brain disorder) which has caused really severe ARFID to the point of being totally reliant on a feeding tube for meds, fluids, feed etc. I have just managed to start having small sips of water once or twice a day and am struggling.

Maybe this is a silly question but how am I supposed to actually eat? Like I'm struggling with drinks a lot already and I just can't imagine being able to tolerate any texture or feeling or food in my mouth. I was wondering if anyone had any success stories or tips. All of the typical safe foods don't feel safe to me but I'd still love some recommendations.

I also was hoping to have a party with my friends in 3 weeks involving alcohol (within the legal rights of Australia) but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that either.

Does anyone here consume things that "normal" people would consider sick or inedible/undrinkable? Like for example milk drinks or vinegar with sweetener and salt?

And how do you feel about it?

Or is it "normal" to have some preferences that seem weird to most?

If you need any other info well... uhh... just shoot me a comment!

A lot of my life, i have been known to be very...picky, and I heard about ARFID a while ago and never thought I had it until i started rapidly losing weight after getting on meds (ritalin) and having my appetite being suppressed. Before I even went on meds, I did display a lot of symptoms of ARFID but now it's worse (i think) since i barely eat.

I've also had a complicated relationship with food and my body because my mother is obsessed with me being thin, but i've never had any thoughts of not being pretty / skinny enough and my very restrictive food intake is absolutely not related to anything about body image.

I have had severe reactions to food I don't like, namely tomatoes where even thinking about them or looking at them makes me sick, and eating them raw makes me puke. When blended up into a sauce / soup with no chunks at all i can eat it though (pizza n pasta mainly)

I'm also very avoidant to fat on meat, where i will refuse to eat any meat if there is any tough fat on it as the texture makes me again, want to puke. I hate it SOSOOS MUCH.

Also ver avoidant to chinese food because the texture on a lot of things is absolutely horrid to me and there were times where i skipped lunch and dinner bc of CNY and my parents dragging me to chinese restaurants.

Safe foods - Rice, Cheese, Pizza, Bread, potatoes (any kind BUT raw), Beef, Pork (sometimes, has to be prepared specifically), some vegetables, Apples, Watermelon, Mango and Melon (I rarely eat fruits anyways), Pasta, Deep Fried Tofu, Curry and there's probs some i'm forgetting.

Foods i REFUSE to eat - Tomatoes (unless blended thouroughly)(i can't even look or think of them, writing this makes me lowk sick), meat with fat, most fish, Sweet N Sour Pork, Korean BBQ Pork Belly, Most fruits, nuts, eggs (ESP HARD BOILED ONES I LOOK AT THEM AND WANT TO VOMIT EVEN THE SMELL IS HORRIBLE), Sea Cucumbers, mushy + watery foods, most seafood infact, cilantro (mostly bc it tastes like crap), pickles

I used to be ok going to restaurants but now i'm more unwilling, because a lot of things i wat are mixed with thing i can't eat.

The thing is my mom won't take this seriously bc she's happy i'm losing weight and just calls me picky and yells at me when I won't eat stuff. Sad thing is despite my sensitivities I used to have a big appetite and now i can barely finish a plate.

My 5 year old got a coupon for a free happy meal at a trunk or treat today. She was so excited so we went and got one after. She won’t eat meat except for the rare biannual event where she’ll entertain a chicken nugget. She was diagnosed autistic at age 2 so I do wonder if some of it is ARFID.

Our order at McDonald’s is a cheeseburger happy meal and I order the cheeseburger with no meat or condiments, just cheese and bun. I explain that I know it’s weird but I have a picky eater. I worked at McDonald’s through high school and college and I know it’s annoying so I apologize. I’m never rude, I don’t get upset. I thank them and apologize.

Sometimes it’s right on the first try. Often times it’s not. I’ve learned I need to check the box first or she’ll get really upset if she sees a beef patty.

Surprise, surprise, today we got a box with just beef and cheese in it. I went in and explained I just needed a bun with cheese and they were so annoyed with me.

I usually avoid fast food because of the cost but also because of the ordeal it is to order something she’ll eat and enjoy. It breaks my heart that she has such a complicated relationship with food already at 5 years old. I just wish it was easier for her.

Has anyone had success getting back a safe food their child lost, either after an illness or at any other time?

Our 5-year-old is minimally verbal and has ARFID. About three weeks ago she had RSV, and since then she's dropped her only two safe foods, nuggets and potato sticks. Right now she's living on fruit pouches, apple juice and formula.

She still asks for them, touches them and sometimes nearly picks them up, then stops herself and pushes them away. She's also started wiping her hands after touching them, which she never used to do.

We're offering them every day with no pressure, but it's really demoralising seeing them pushed away over and over.

If your child got a lost safe food back, what helped, and how long did it take? Any small wins or tips would mean a lot right now.

I hate the texture of pretty much all vegetables and most fruits, so I do smoothies that have fruits and veggies in them, sometimes with added supplement or vitamins powders.

Im 26, and iv had it pretty much all my life, essentially only having chicken, chips peas, maybe plain pasta ?

Iv never really looked into it because iv been avoiding the situation like a plague but I guess I'm now coming to the realisation that I need to do something about it.

Mine started from my mother forcing me to eat random foods until I threw up, screaming at me, and straight up being verbally abusive to where id nearly pass out.

I cant go near any other foods, I wanna eat normally and god it'd make life easier cos dating is hard when I tell a girl oh sorry I cant go to literally any restaurant, its just embarrassing at this point.

Anyway, was just wondering how other people started with it or.. how they over came it? Is it even possible?

I’m about halfway through my first semester as a sophomore at college, and I’ve found myself slowly whittling down my options at the dining hall.

I used to eat there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (mostly because I’m broke with zero money for groceries + unlimited meal plan), but looking through the menu now just…makes me a little nauseous. It’s not like I’ve had a terrible experience there — the food’s mediocre but not bad — I just feel like I can’t bring myself to go inside. The smells get overwhelming, too, so that worsens my appetite.

It doesn’t help that my dorm reeks because of my roommate microwaving processed meat every day, so that makes my safe foods aka chicken/plain burgers/anything with meat a lot less appealing.

I still eat breakfast every day, but everything else I eat is just starting to look very unappealing, and I feel like I’m caring less about eating a second/third meal each passing day.

Hypothetically, I could eat a burger/yogurt parfait/pizza/whatnot every day and be alright, but I feel like I’d get sick of it pretty quickly, if I’m not already. I’m also trying to be a little more health-conscious (I’m paranoid about my heart and blood sugar, no I don’t have any symptoms of anything), which makes the situation even worse.

Does anyone have any advice/tips? Anything and everything is much appreciated.

I’ve been getting HelloFresh for a few weeks now and it means I at least don’t have to think about making lunches for the week for work, I’m trying new things, cooking for myself, working on skills, whatever. But I still end up feeling gross and not wanting to eat after finishing cooking a meal.

Honestly, I frequently feel like “hey, I’m doing better now than I was before” but really it’s maybe not as bad but mostly just different.

​

back story: Wholefoods sells the only tortillas i eat. they are thicker and much chewier(more gluten?) than any other tortilla ive seen. but its the only thing i buy there and im tired of making 2 seperate grocery trips whenever i want tacos. and their tortilla machine is often broken so 1/3 of the time i leave empty handed.

im trying to find an alternative i can get at giant. wegmans, or harris teeter. my mom suggested gyro bread. i bought some but now im feeling real anxious about trying it.

also open to suggestions for other flat breads that can hold up to folding without crumbing or snapping. i tried naan already but it wasnt chewy enough.

Is it just me who hates chewing? Its awful, even when I like what something tastes like just fine, if I'm aware I'm chewing then im completely grossed out and can't eat anymore.

I have some safe foods where its alright, but most of the time I have to really distract myself so i won't focus on what's in my mouth.

I don't have issues swallowing and I don't have a fear of choking that makes me overchew, I just hate chewing. I didnt even realize it was chewing contributing so much to my food problems until i journaled it out to pin things down more than just Hate This/Gross/Awful/Yuck

I still have other issues with food, but having to chew is one of the big ones for me. I'm gonna try more smoothies and purees and see how that works out for me, but am I the only one?

Hello,

Sorry for the long post.....
My 4 year old used to be curious about food before age 1 and afterwards too, he would try new things and even ate a sandwich with me. However, he would gag often and I noticed that he slowly stopped trying foods and last year after an illness (ear infection), he stopped eating any regular solid foods. He was basically living off of the baby Gerber cereals at age 3. This year he got interested in crunchy junk foods (chips, cheesies) but later only would try a few and then just play and throw on the floor. We were just feeding him the gerber cereals by distraction 3 times a day as he wouldn't eat anything else. Recently, he got another ear infection and stopped eating completely for 2 days, we kept trying all day to feed him and ended up in the ER with hypoglycemia. With treating his ear infection and malnutrition over the next several days of hospitalization, he refused to eat anything substantial and had to get NG tube :( We have returned home with the NG tube and he is on 3 feeds of pediasure, that is all he is having. He has the occasional veggie sticks or popcorn but nothing to even qualify as a snack. The hospital said that they would refer him to the Humber River nutrition clinic but so far I have heard nothing. Has anyone here received ARFID specific intensive therapy for a 4/5 year old child that helped in the GTA area?

Usually I eat the same stuff everyday (low carb, tons of veggies with mostly only protein) Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I decide I’m gonna challenge my fear foods and I’m gonna start eating more carbs (I go to the gym btw). So for example in the morning I would boil some potatoes and decide I’m gonna have it for dinner with chicken and salad.

But when dinner time rolls around, I end up discarding the potato and I just eat an extra serving of chicken with my salad…It’s so weird and doesnt make any sense because calorie wise It’s the same as if I were to eat those damn potatoes…

In always way over my protein target.. its like mentally i would be okay with eating carbs because I actually plan on eating them but if I start eating it my body doesnt want to swallow it…

Okay so I’m hoping someone would know what I should I do. I have a 3 year old that was diagnosed with arfid we see an eating specialist once a month. Anyway I feel like he’s not progressing with this specialist I can suggest someone else but I’m feeling hopeless like what if this next person doesn’t work either. My son has 1 food he eats which is oatmeal. Now I have mixed in other things like eggs, peanut butter, yogurt, other stuff and he did well with that but now it looks like he’s getting tired of his oatmeal (his safe food). Idk what to do or what could be a next step for him he’ll go sometimes not eating much and I haven’t experienced that with him for a long time now except the first time when he turned 2. I keep talking with blue ridge therapy eating therapy and they haven’t given me a lot of info onto my next steps. Like do I find a nutritious, or a doctor that specializes in this? Does that exist any recommendations would be helpful to me. I just wanna see him thriving and eating good again I’ll pay out of pocket if I have to but like what happens when an ot just isn’t getting the job done what’s next? Just to put out there it’s been a year so I have been patient.