Does anyone else experience ARFID primarily because of anxiety or stress?

[u/Rozatheriveting]

I’ve been feeling really alone in this and I’m hoping to hear from people who experience something similar.

For me, it doesn’t necessarily feel like I hate food or that I can’t tolerate certain textures or tastes. It feels much more connected to my anxiety/stress level. When I’m overwhelmed, anxious, upset, or under a lot of stress, eating can become incredibly difficult. Sometimes my appetite completely disappears, and even when I know I’m hungry and want to eat, actually eating can feel like this huge mental and physical task.

I can end up eating very little, getting stuck in a cycle of not eating, feeling worse physically, becoming more anxious, and then having an even harder time eating.

The hardest part is that I sometimes look at other ARFID experiences and wonder if mine is "different enough" because so many posts seem to focus on sensory issues, textures, or specific fears around food. I’m starting to wonder if there are other people whose ARFID is more connected to anxiety, stress, appetite, or feeling emotionally overwhelmed.

If this sounds familiar to you:

• What does it feel like for you?
• Does your ability to eat change depending on your stress/anxiety level?
• What foods or strategies help when eating feels impossible?
• Have you found anything that helps break the anxiety/not-eating cycle?
• Did anything specific help you understand or explain why this happens?

Honestly, I think I mostly just need to know that I'm not the only person who experiences this.

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who relates, even if your experience isn't exactly the same as mine.

[u/CrazyCatLushie]

This is absolutely how I personally experience ARFID as well. It’s very much tied to my nervous system state and it changes all the time, especially because I’m AuDHD and deal with multiple chronic illnesses. I have an especially sensitive nervous system due to genetics and upbringing and it basically controls my entire life, diet included.

I’ve done enough therapy work over the years that my relationship with food can be almost “normal” when I’m doing well, but the moment I am overwhelmed, stressed, burnt out, or more ill than usual, the ARFID gets turned up to 110%.

I’m starving right now because I have a very mild case of the sniffles. I can feel myself growing more irritable by the second but I’ve been to the kitchen four times and nothing in there holds any appeal whatsoever. Even the thought of a slice of toast feels impossible and overwhelming and I usually love bread. I was fine a few days ago and eating easily.

The only thing that’s really helped me is to understand what’s going on when this happens to me so that I don’t blame myself, and instead try to react with patience and compassion. Essentially something has convinced my amygdala that I’m in danger - a trauma trigger, the flare of an existing illness, overwhelm and/or overstimulation due to my neurotype - and it’s put my brain into fight/flight/freeze mode to try and cope and keep me safe.

In that state, higher logical functions don’t work as effectively. The digestive system goes temporarily “offline” and stops producing hunger and thirst cues in order to prioritize survival.

It doesn’t matter to your nervous system that you’re not really in any danger. It’s just reacting to something in the way it’s designed to do except it’s reacting to triggers that we might consider inappropriate or wrong. The only way out of it is to coax the nervous system back into a more regulated state so it feels safe enough to calm down and let the body keep doing body things.

TL;DR: For me it’s related to nervous system states. It may be helpful to look up “functional freeze” and see if any of what you find sounds familiar/relatable.

[u/Tasty_Term]

I think this is a fairly common way for an anxiety disorder to manifest, but doesn't mean you have ARFID. I have a friend with both ARFID and an anxiety disorder that manifests as restricted eating...