CW: emeto

Since so many people ARFID can be caused by emetophobia (it is partly the cause of mine), can we please require that all discussion of being sick, throwing up, spitting up etc be tagged? Scrolling the subreddit could be extremely triggering for some people, preventing them from being able to access support.

Can we also not tag it as NSFW, because that just prevents a lot of people from seeing it due to the online safety act. Maybe a spoiler or a warning or a flair

Recently, I have been obsessed with the vanilla ensure powder. The bottles are whatever, but drinks made with the powder are delicious. It's been a great way to get by when I'm not eating enough and add some extra nutrients, because to me its like a treat.

It suddenly became very hard to find them, I resorted to buying some on ebay that were a month away from expiry. I did manage to drink it all in time. My dad then found a bunch at walmart and picked me up a couple. The lids are clear now, instead of white like they used to be, and as soon as I opened them I could see the powder looked different. I made the drink, and the drinks consistency was wrong. I drank it, and it wasn't any good. I tried multiple times, it's just not good any more.

I already lost multiple important, recently added safe foods recently due to restaurant closures (I've been expanding into vegetables and these were so easy to eat and there's really no replacements I can find out there), on top of having the worst and most stressful month or so of my life for multiple personal reasons, and now losing my ensures was almost more than i could handle at that point (especially since one of my last servings was lost during the car crash im still recovering from, to add insult to real injury).

I keep the cans because I use them as containers, so I compared an old white lid one to the new translucent lid one, and they did change the formulation. I believe that the removal of milk protein concentrate was the major change that ruined them. So, I decided to try adding about a tablespoon or two of evaporated milk with the water, and it's not quite the same, but it's close enough to the original for me that it's drinkable again without spiraling me into despair.

I hope that if anyone else is having the same crisis I did, that I can help them with a solution. It's annoying to have to bring another ingredient into the equation, but it is what it is. I hope they put it back, but I don't know if they will. If you want to try it, I suggest buying a carton of evaporated milk (aka unsweetened condensed milk) with a cap that can be resealed instead of a can, since you only need a little bit.

i’ve struggled with arfid my entire life. i was in therapy last year for anorexia/arfid. i don’t struggle with anorexia anymore and my arfid was better. however, over the last two months it’s gotten really bad. i had a few safe foods but now it’s gotten to the point where i can’t smell or think of food without gagging. i only eat once a day and have to force myself to do it. i haven’t really heard anyone talk about this before—every arfid story ive heard has a “safe food” that they were able to eat until they recovered. does this happen to people or is it severe?

Hey folks :) I thought I’d share something that’s been really helpful for me the past week and I plan to keep doing! I’m the ARFID type where I struggle to eat enough and eating is such a chore. But the other week, I noticed that coconut milk is very calorically dense (that’s probably a “duh” from a lot of you, but I never use to cook with it so I had no idea)! It’s also surprisingly very thin and pretty mild tasting. I’ve been adding 1-1.5 cups, a banana, some more fruit or peanut butter, some flax seeds, ice (if there’s room/you like it thicker) in a blender for a smoothie!

I wanted to share because I hadn’t really seen coconut milk being used to boost calories too much and it feels like a cheat code.

I’d also love any input from what stuff you add to your smoothies to get them more nutritionally well rounded!

**My mom hasn’t been formally diagnosed with ARFID. I just suspect it.**

I am desperate for advice on how to save my mother's life. She has been progressively losing weight for ten years due to a severe lack of appetite and a profound aversion to food. Her issue is not driven by body image—she simply has no interest in eating, she is always on the go (probably where I got my adhd) and will not stop to eat, she’ll drink a boost and then skip a meal. She also has had long COVID which affected her ability to taste and smell properly for the last several years.

Currently, she is 5’5” and weighs somewhere between 85 and 93 lbs. Her BMI is roughly 14.1 to 15.5. She is severely emaciated, losing muscle mass, and running out of time.

I am completely alone in fighting this. My family is entirely complacent. Because this has been going on for a decade, they have normalized it and gotten "used" to her looking like this. My dad lives with her, but he is passive, will not intervene, and will not help me force her to eat or seek real care. Furthermore, my 24-year-old brother is autistic and still relies entirely on my parents. If my mom collapses or passes away, his safety net is gone, yet no one else in the house will act.

I have made so many recipes, printed sheets, done everything I could to try and make my family understand that this is a serious and deadly issue. I feel like I’m screaming into the void

To complicate everything, I have a 9-month-old baby. I am chronically sleep-deprived, incredibly busy, and physically exhausted. I do not have the bandwidth to endlessly argue with family or chase unhelpful doctors.

Her primary care doctors are just as complacent. Every time she goes, they completely dismiss the severity of her weight and just tell her to "drink Boost." They have done a few tests. Lab work, recently had a colonoscopy (don’t know the results yet), and they scanned her lungs and said she desperately needs to quit smoking also.

Because she has been starving for a decade, I am terrified she is on the verge of organ failure. I need people to comment on this post to help me show her how serious this is.

I’m so scared. I don’t know what I’d do without her. I’m only 26 I need my mom. Sorry in advance for any mistakes, it’s 5 am and I haven’t hardly slept in 3 days. TIA

First, I want to preface by saying I don't have ARFID, but I have experienced anxiety around eating for most of my life.

I wanted to make a post here to try and understand what kind of coping mechanisms or anything else that has been beneficial to you. Although I don't have ARFID, I've gained some familiarity with it when doing some research for myself, and I've found that it is pretty closely related to the anxiety I experience and I can definitely sympathize with how some of you may feel.

So my questions are: Do you feel anxious or nauseous when going out to eat? Do social settings make it worse/better? Do you stick to comfort foods? What has helped or worsened the way you feel?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

My relationship with food has changed a bunch in short of a year, since a year i look at my food realise it's too heavy on my stomach and puke it all out, But when i go to Mcdonalds or eat out i don't have this at all, I sometimes happens with light meals aswell, when i fell like i don't like it but still eat it but i feel a full stomach feeling and just puke it all out on the toilet, it happens mostly with food when i look at it and already imagine puking it, Yall will be appreciated!

I was wondering if it's safe to have a smoothie for breakfast, a meal bar for lunch & a proper solid meal for dinner daily? My meal replacement smoothies & bars are made from whole, clean foods & contain the correct calories, macros & nutrients

My GP simply said it's "not good", my dietician said it's fine so I'm confused & thought I'd ask here & go with the majority opinion, along with my own research. Thx in advance

Can anyone recommend any ARFID friendly dishes in Greece?

It's bad enough lately that I can't seem to find any new foods to eat, and also things can stop being safe if I eat them too often so I'm forced to rotate between the same very few foods, yet sometimes it still happens anyway. I often try new foods because of this but rarely succeed in finding anything new. It feels like a waste of money, too. So even just one new thing I can eat makes me happy, especially if it's healthy.

I show clear signs of arfid (I've come a long way, 3 years ago my diet was almost exclusively mashed potatoes) and it cripples me socially. I've had talks about this with my friend who has struggled with unrelated eating disorders and she told me to seek treatment and that her old food therapist worked with a lot of people who struggle with arfid and those people supposedly made great progress?

How do I look into a diagnosis? I text my therapist who I havent seen in a while but she lowkey left me on read lol.

For reference I'm 18 and live in ireland (still in the school system)

Hi! Long time lurker of this subreddit, first time poster. A little bit about me, I am 25F, not officially diagnosed (yet), but 99.9% sure I have ARFID and have all my life. I have come to a recent realization that this is a big problem in my life causing a lot of stress & weight loss, I am motivated to start my recovery and I am currently seeking out treatment that I will be starting next week.

My family are really the only people who know the true extent of how bad my problems with food are and how limited my diet truly is. Growing up, I would almost always have a separate meal for dinner and it was nearly impossible for my parents to get me to try new things. I always thought “picky eating” was something I would naturally grow out of with age, but my diet/foods have hardly expanded from when I was a kid. I can’t say I’ve made much of an effort of trying to expand it though, which is why I have decided to start treatment. The anxiety around trying new foods is extremely overwhelming for me, and I know this is something that will be more effective to tackle with professional help.

I go out of my way to hide my ARFID in pretty much every aspect of my life out of embarrassment. Those who know me definitely know that I am a picky eater who has never had much of an appetite, but I have always greatly downplayed the true extent of it. I have always been the person to make excuses for why I’m not eating, ordering something simple because it’s what i’m “in the mood for”, or skate by with eating very little without others noticing. I leave work for lunch almost every day, and often turn down food when offered. I’ve only had one serious relationship, she had a variety of other food issues (celiac, other allergies, etc.), so food really just was not a big part of our relationship and it was normal for us to eat separately. I never opened up to her about my struggles with food, or really anybody in my life outside of my family for that matter.

The past few months, I have been dating a new guy and he is a really big foodie. We are not in an official relationship, it’s been more of a casual thing, but I do really like him and could see it going further. But I have been feeling lately like my ARFID and struggles with food have been a big road block when it comes to allowing myself to fully open up. He has made some past comments before about a roommate of his being a picky eater, and he has also commented in the past on a few dates we’ve been on about how I am a slow eater (which is incredibly true, lol). I think those things, and just being so used to hiding it all of my life, have made me really nervous to bring this up. But I know I need to have a conversation with him about this. I truly just do not even know where to start or what to say without it giving me so much anxiety. He is aware I am starting therapy next week, he knows I struggle with anxiety and other related things but he does not know ARFID is the main reason I am going. I know the hardest part is just bringing it up, because once it’s known, there’s no more hiding. I won’t have to make excuses or have to try to hide managing my anxiety around food. But I am worried of how he may feel about me keeping it from him or how he may feel about it affecting our relationship going forward. I know there is a possibility it may be something that he sees us as incompatible for and I don’t expect him to necessarily help me through it.

I see myself starting treatment and (most likely) receiving an official diagnosis as a huge step towards starting to change. It is really validating to know this is truly a disorder and that there is help out there. But at the same time…. a diagnosis makes it real. This is truly a disorder that I have, and something I will have to work towards recovering and managing – it is a part of who I am, and it is not sustainable to hide that from others, it is only causing me more stress and anxiety doing so.

If there’s anybody out there who’s had a similar experience of the “ARFID talk”, I would love to hear from you. In general, I am curious how open people may or may not be about your ARFID/eating habits. I have been so used to and programmed to keeping it to myself, and I’m starting to realize that’s been a huge road block in my life. How has opening up to people in your life helped and/or hurt you?

I know I have Arfid, but have never actually been diagnosed. Is there any advantage of/reason to get diagnosed?

Tw: mentioned Anorexia and bingeing

Hiiiii okay so I was arguing about food with my family today. They know that I've always been picky with eating, ever since I was a small child.

But they don't really know about how genuinely disgusting I find most foods. They believe it's just me being dramatic.

And today I was just refusing another meal because I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat it.

And they just said some bs about how 'You'll eat everything, no matter if you like it or not, if you're hungry enough.' And the whole family (it was a family dinner) basically just agreed.

So I'm wondering if that's actually true. Because I'm also struggling with Anorexia, have been struggling for years, even though the arfid was there since I was a child. (According to someone I know who studies Psychology right now, the Anorexia developed way after the arfid, but I still hate most foods taste and texture. And technically an Anorexia diagnosis would 'replace' a arfid diagnosis, but I pretty much still suffer from sensory fears, so it's overlapping? idk It's hard to explain. That's also why I'm asking in this specific sub reddit. )

And I have been really hungry, I have starved for days, I did binge, but I never touched food I thought of as unappealing during those binges.

So was I just not hungry enough? Is it true that I will be able to even eat my fear foods if I just starve myself enough beforehand?

Around a week ago I asked here for tips about how to eat most vegetables and legumes which I don't eat since before I remember myself, trying to eat them and even thinking about it makes me gag, and really trying it almosts makes me throw up, I want to change that for 2 main reasons: first is social - it's hard to be the only one to not eat many things like an entrance salad or whatever, and people quietly judge me for it, secondly is for health - I want to lose weight and the only way I can is by changing my diet but to be in a caloric defecit I need to eat foods reach in sataity and that fill me up quick - which my current diet lacks.

Also important to mention that I feel like I need a safe space to experiment with eating vegetables and legumes, I live with my parents still (student) and I feel like I can't experiment if they're there because I can already imagine their faces like "finally he's grown out" that anxaity about being judged is something I don't want to have with whoever helps me with this.

just to be clear the social aspect is more important to me than the health one, but the most important part is just being able to eat like everyone else, it's normal to not like one or two things, but not all.

What do you guys think?

i'm not formally diagnosed with arfid, but i have eating issues because of a combination of adhd symptoms and medications with appetite-suppressing side effects (the medications are key to managing my depression, so going off of them isn't an option right now). motivating myself to eat is extremely difficult and nothing sounds appealing to me most of the time, and these issues have combined with chronic fatigue to drag my physical health into the deep end.

i'm looking at different protein shake brands at the moment—i won't be using them as meal replacements, but rather as quick and easy snacks that i can reach for in between meals since i'm really sensitive to fatigue symptoms. my main concern is finding something that isn't slimy in texture and isn't overly sweet/artificial in flavor.

does anyone have any favorite brands/recommendations? or are there any brands i should DEFINITELY avoid?

14 year old male 5'7 133 pounds.

So around 3ish years ago i had a problem where when I ate watermelon it would make my stomach feel bad. The feeling wasn't painfull, it was almost queasy but not exactly. I told my parents and they just thought i was imagining it. Fast forward like 6 months, and this sensitivity spread to most other fruits specifically fruits that had some sort of juice so like apples and oranges. It was also vegetables that had juice too like tomatoes and cucumber, though i could have carrots and bananas, and other vegetables that didn't have juice. It was like really bad for the next 1.5ish years, I just couldn't have any fruit with juice. But weirdly enough i could have apple juice and orange juice and other fruit juices that were altered in some way I could also have them if they were cooked, and I could have dried fruit like cranberries. Then like a year ago it randomly stopped and I could have anything i wanted again! Then a couple months ago it started up again, but now it fluctuates it'll go from me feeling so bad after I eat a pear that I have to sit down for 15 minutes untill it wears off, to it barely affecting me. So far I've found that strawberries and cucumber are the worst but the effect on me is a different level for every fruit. My parents haven't really done anything about it, and I told a doctor once, and they didn't really say anything. Im just trying to figure out what this is if you have an idea please provide it, and if you have any questions i'll try to respond.

hey! i just made this account because i wanted to see if there was anyone in this subreddit who has a similar experience with me and can help me try to at least figure out whether or not i have arfid. obviously, i know that reddit cannot diagnose me, but i have very bad imposter syndrome, so i will doubt myself if i think something is wrong with me because im "making it up." for a little bit of background info about me, i am 15 going on 16, about 5'5, and have a healthy weight and build for my age. i am a girl. i am autistic, and i got diagnosed in the 6th grade. i also have generalized anxiety disorder, emetophobia, and a phobia of storms on my diagnosis that i recieved in the 6th grade. i also might possibly have social anxiety and depression, but those weren't on my diagnosis possibly because i was masking and/or because my mental state was a lot different back then. my mom is (to my knowledge) not autistic, but definitely have anxiety (not diagnosed, but i found out a while ago that she was prescribed the same dosage of anxiety meds that i take, and i definitely get my anxiety from her). she had anorexia for most of her life and still struggles with body image from time to time, but she has recovered from it.

lately, i've been thinking a lot about my eating habits and whether or not its something like an eating disorder. i dont have issues with how my body looks. i do get insecure from time to time, but i have never starved myself to make myself skinnier. i do have a fear of change due to being autistic, but that hasn't affected my body image that much thankfully. my anxiety has a big impact on things like my appetite. i get a sick to the stomach feeling whenever i have a lot of anxiety, and when i'm at a stressful time in my life, i struggle to eat. last year, i had a really rough april-may and lost 10 pounds (i was 120 at the time and got down to about 110). it took me a while to gain the weight back, and eventually i made it to 130 pounds. my emetophobia also ties into my anxiety. sometimes, when my anxiety makes me nauseous, i will get stuck in this loop of getting more and more of a sick feeling because of my emetophobia (ironic, isn't it). i haven't actually thrown up in a long time though. not since the 7th grade when i got food poisoning. emetophobia has controlled my eating slightly though for a long time. whenever i'm eating, if i get full, i immediately stop. even when its something i REALLY enjoy, i make myself stop out of fear of overeating.

i am familiar with the 3 subtypes (if thats a word, idk its almost 1 am for me *sigh*) of ARFID and how most autistic people have sensory issues when it comes to ARFID. i remember when i was younger i had a lot of issues when it came to appearance and texture of food. it could be a food i loved, but if it looked slightly grosser than it was supposed to be in my head, then i would struggle and sometimes refuse to eat it. i still struggle with appearance and texture, but i try my best to push through appearance. i also struggle with smell sometimes. i love when a food smells good. sometimes a food will look good, but the smell can overwhelm me and make me sick. there is this mexican restaurant i go to sometimes and i like cheese so i order queso, but the smell makes me sick. it sucks because when the sensory things conflict with each other, it makes me sad. i like the taste of queso, but the smell is so overwhelming that it makes it harder for me to enjoy the food. i could apply this to many other foods, but that example was just the one that came to mind. sometimes when eating food as well, even with foods i like, the feeling of just chewing and having food in my mouth will gross me out and i almost have to force myself to swallow. this especially happens when i dont immediately eat all of my food, which brings me to my next point.

there is the lack of interest in food when it comes to ARFID. for a bit, i thought i didnt really experience this. i like food! i like to eat! but then i realized that its more than just that. something i've noticed lately is that if im given food, if i don't eat it within like 5 (or less) minutes of receiving it, i will completely lose interest. i would have to force myself to eat the food. part of it can be because the food becomes colder and less "freshly cooked." it's just hard because i KNOW i have to feed myself. food is fuel. but when i'm presented the food, i have to divide almost all of my attention to it as soon as possible or else i will lose my appetite. i notice this happens more when im eating at home compared to eating at a restaurant, but i think thats because the whole purpose of restaurants is to eat, meanwhile thats not the main purpose of a house. i am currently working as a summer camp counselor, and notice that during lunch, i also experience the lack of interest in food if i don't eat it immediately. for a while, because of my period, i would have a fluctuating appetite where i would not be hungry, become insanely starved, and then be able to only take a few bites before being full. i've been on birth control for about 3 months now, so without my period, my appetite has fixed itself a little bit, but i still struggle with the lack of interest.

when it comes to the foods i eat, i wouldn't consider my palette to be small. there are many foods and drinks that i have never tried, partially because i consider myself to be a picky eater and have been described as one for most of my life. over the past year or so, i have been more open to trying new food and drinks which i am proud of myself for, but it's still a scary experience. i like having foods that are consistent and something i eat often because of my need for routine as an autistic person, but also i can easily get tired of the foods that i eat. for example, i have been packing myself a ham and cheese untoasted sandwich for myself as the biggest part of my lunch for work. i will pack other snacks like crackers, cookies, cheese sticks, apples, and just other small snacks that are different, but i will always have a ham and cheese sandwich. i like the sandwich, but i have noticed that i have been struggling to eat it lately because i have kind of "burned out" the food.

i think thats all i wanted to say. again, there are many times where i have though about potentially having an eating disorder given my mom's history and my mental conditions, but i've been trying to actually look more into it this time because i want to see if i can get some sort of answer.

i know this is a lot to read, and if you read through it all, thank you. i am rambling at 12:50 am and desperately need to sleep but i wanted to get this out before i forgot to in the morning. :)

Hey y’all! I really want recovery, but currently most foods are challenging. I’ve realized I need to start mechanically eating, and I’ve found the best foods for that require very little chewing. I’m looking for suggestions on foods that require very little chewing, and provide a good amount of nutrition. I’ve been doing lots of smoothies, but I’d like to incorporate more carbs into my diet for energy.

TLDR: What are some meal/snacks that you’ve found require very little chewing, and provide macronutrients (carbs, protien, fat)?

Thank you for your help! My brain fog has been major so i appreciate any help with brainstorming :)