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.

Today i tried the paprika salt from mcdonald’s, but for me cause i usually just have regular salt
i tried it in my finger multiple times (wasn’t like too scared after the first) and didn’t like it but that’s okay cause i tried it!

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.

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.

​

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.

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.

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’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.

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?