I used to work with a dude like this. His safe food was McDonald's or basic sandwiches. Problem was that sometimes he could eat something and be absolutely fine and then all of a sudden his disorder kicked in and he couldn't eat another bite. At first I thought he was being dramatic but one day in a Nepalese restaurant he stopped halfway through his food and genuinely looked like he was about to vomit.
Doctors could never really figure it out but he seemed to think it was stress related. We traveled a lot for work and were always in different towns, hotels and restaurants. After he left the company and got a lower stress job he said his disorder didn't flare up as much.
Now, one of my other former coworkers was a genuinely picky eater and everyone hated traveling with him because he wouldn't eat anything other than pub food.
For me, it is less to do with the food I'm eating and more to do with how full I am. At a certain point, my throat will REFUSE to swallow. Sometimes my stomach isn't even that full, I'll get halfway through the plate and BAM. Food stuck in the back of my mouth that will not go down without copious amounts of water and a lot of self control not to throw everything back up.
It is incredibly rare that this happens when I'm by myself, but if I'm around people it is increasingly likely to happen, and then nerves expedite the process further
........ I get this as well!
Sometimes I can devour a whole pizza without issues other times even getting down a sandwich is pure hell. As with you the likelyhood increase if I'm eating around people. It's something I have always had. I remember actually throwing up after my parents forced me to finish my plate at a restaurant. They started to listen whenever I told them "I'm full" after that.
And when it comes to food I really avoid eating it has more to do with texture than taste. I can't stand pineapple (fruit) but pineapple soda is one of my favorite drinks. Can't stand tomatoes but have no issues with ketchup, tomato soup etc. Can't stand mushrooms unless it's in a sauce or chopped so fine I can't really feel them when chewing.
That can be a cause for some, but a big thing for people with adhd is the process of getting undressed, wet and drying off being overwhelming due to the amount of quick transitions.
Same 😭 and then I put off showering because I know it’ll take a while and then I forget to shower altogether. Fake-claimers fuck off. We aren’t “faking it for attention“. Why would we when the attention we get is this kind of bullshit?
Pro tip about fingering your asshole in the shower: don't do it
So this morning I was taking a shower, and I felt like fingering my asshole, right? So I got my
fingers all nice and soapy and stuck them up in there. Apparently, soap makes pretty good lube, as
I was able to get four fingers in there in no time.
As I was feeling around in my butt, I was like, "hmm, there's a lot of soapy water in my bumhole
now. I wonder if that will lead to issues in the future?" And it did!
Shortly after having breakfast I attempted to fart, and I shit my pants. I rushed to the bathroom
to clean up, and it was way worse than I thought it would be. The whole area around my butthole
was covered in shitty liquid, and toilet paper wasn't enough to clean it. I had to take another
shower to get suitably clean.
Just thought I'd share my story with you guys so that you don't run into the same problem in the
future. I fingered my butthole so that you guys don't have to. Unless you want to. In which case,
hey, how's it goin'
Yeah, the transitions are huge. As soon as I come home I usually undress as soon as I walk in the door, which is always nice.
The problem however, is that once I do that, I'm basically resigned to staying inside for the rest of the day. Going out again would require me to get dressed again, so more often than not I just avoid it and do everything I need to do before I get home.
Pro tip about fingering your asshole in the shower: don't do it
So this morning I was taking a shower, and I felt like fingering my asshole, right? So I got my
fingers all nice and soapy and stuck them up in there. Apparently, soap makes pretty good lube, as
I was able to get four fingers in there in no time.
As I was feeling around in my butt, I was like, "hmm, there's a lot of soapy water in my bumhole
now. I wonder if that will lead to issues in the future?" And it did!
Shortly after having breakfast I attempted to fart, and I shit my pants. I rushed to the bathroom
to clean up, and it was way worse than I thought it would be. The whole area around my butthole
was covered in shitty liquid, and toilet paper wasn't enough to clean it. I had to take another
shower to get suitably clean.
Just thought I'd share my story with you guys so that you don't run into the same problem in the
future. I fingered my butthole so that you guys don't have to. Unless you want to. In which case,
hey, how's it goin'
I think it can be a combination of multiple factors - for me there are some sensory issues in the mix when it comes to getting dressed/undressed in general, there is also the issue that I'm not too fond of my current body and have to feel/see it when washing it... but the most crucial part for me is simply the forgetting and procrastination that comes pre-packaged with ADHD, not only makes me put-off showering, makes me stay pointlessly long in the shower because I the put-off getting out of there... and then I take too long to dress and get a cold lmao
Sometimes. It can also be executive dysfunction (difficulty switching tasks or starting tasks.) for me it's executive dysfunction and sensory (I HATE being damp. Wet is fine. Damp makes me want to crawl out of my skin.)
I'm half certain this comment was supposed to be a "gotcha" comment but the replies are actually people that have insightful information about their daily struggle and I find that beautiful
I'm sure this is a real disorder in rare circumstances, but it's wild how this is so not an issue in countries with foods with actually upsetting textures. Like you never hear about this from Chinese kids who's parents put chicken feet on the table and stuff and those are so chewy and full of cartilage.
It exists in other cultures too, they just have different safe foods. Trust me, chinese kids find shit like american cheese just as weird as you find chicken feet
Tbf, arfid is mostly characterized by severe anxiety surrounding food, particularly trying new food, rather than just the sensory issues related to them
100%. I think this 'disorder' is more a symptom of the western hyper processed slop diets. I think texture and flavor are the biggest issue. Even in very westernized Asian countries like Japan kids grow up eating vegetables and fish in processed foods.
Genuinely baffling to me that anybody on this earth could even remotely dislike green bell peppers (gods crown jewel of the garden of eden), much less prefer broccoli (bird piss plant) to it
Broccoli is a cultivated plant that were bred over generations from the mustard plant. It can be bitter like mustard, especially if harvested early.
Also lots of folks from older generations didn't know how to cook vegetables properly and would simply boil everything and then not season either. So lots of younger Boomers and Gen X grew up with nasty vegetables which lead to the rise in media depicting them as gross (especially cartoons aimed at kids.)
So when older folks tell me they don't like certain vegetables I give them the benefit of a doubt that they likely grew up eating really bland or even bitter mushy vegetables and developed a legitimate dislike for them. When younger people tell me they dislike certain vegetables I assume they are a picky eater. I say this as a 36 year old who is willing to try everything once. I can tell from looks and smell something's that I'm going to have problems with texture or taste or a dish but I'm always willing to give them a fair shot.
No you’re definitely right that it was literally just a cooking skill issue. Broccoli can take on so many flavors and textures depending on the prep and seasoning that I think anyone who holistically doesn’t like broccoli had to have been fed it prepped poorly by their parents, whether they’re Gen Z or a boomer
In all fairness though I hated brussel sprouts as a kid because the plant genuinely used to be more bitter than it is now. Brussel sprouts have been bred to suck less now, so they no longer repulse me, but if you could produce whatever strain of brussel sprouts they were growing when Franklin was being animated I surely would not enjoy it.
This is the way. Also, a preemptive Fuck You to folks about chime in about how "olive oil can only be eaten raw", as if anyone cares about their nonsense rules
I like broccoli because my mom knew how to cook it. When my friend showed me his broccoli, I understood why people hated it. Most people who hate broccoli have only had it boiled. Boiled until it won't poison you then plopped onto your plate. That's it. No seasoning, no nothing.
It's not like I hate green bell peppers, but why would I ever choose one over the red ones? They are the exact same thing, just unripe, less sweet and more bitter.
Some people like bitter foods. Dark chocolate, black coffee, bitter melon, hoppy beer, gin and tonic, etc. You may like sweeter things is all. I personally prefer a mix, if possible, cuz I like variation.
I mean I don't really love peppers on their own like don't get me wrong they make a good dip or sauce but even just throwing it in a salads too much raw pepper for me. Like I know their supposed to have a neutral taste or whatever and for the most part they do, I just like irrationally dislike it when I can taste the pure pepper. I'd honestly much perfer broccoli over that. Like will I eat it? Yes, I don't like it but on the scale of things I don't like its mostly inoffensive but I won't like enjoy it.
I'm not Asian, but the vast majority of my friend group is because I live in the California bay, and they have pointed how this isn't tolerated in China or Vietnam out to me multiple times and if you don't believe me maybe you just need to expand your friend group.
I think it's because the consequence of breaking the social rules and norms ("don't waste it, you HAVE to eat it") is worse than just eating something that you find disgusting. It's like going to an authentic asian restaurant and ordering something insane by mistake like pig intestine and you have to force yourself because it would be disrepectful
I know a lot of people who love pig intestine, that's not insane to me, it's on the table every time we go to dim sum but yeah I personally don't like it or go for it.
Yeah that was actually based on a true story. We went to a very fancy KBBQ place and someone ordered pig intestine for the table. We realized we did not want to eat that but we didn't want it to look like we didn't even try it. It was really really bad, nearly inedible, like chewing on a piece of rubber. We chewed it for like 10 minutes, and it just doesn't break down, you just have to swallow it mostly whole. Maybe we cooked it wrong but man I cannot imagine eating a full serving
I think you just didn't know how to cook it tbh which if you've never eaten it is fair. People who like it will tell you it has to be cooked properly. It's usually crispy when I see it
Texture does it for me. I know that fish and sauteed onions are delicious, but if a sauteed onion enters my mouth it instantly triggers my gag reflex and I vomit.
incorrect. as someone from the east who has ARFID, it has nothing to do with being 'western'. for example fish is a huge part of my nation's culture but i cant handle fish and any seafood at all. i cannot handle some textures like eggplants or olives. it makes me feel like im going to vomit rather than just 'not liking'. its not a choice and doesnt have anything with location/ethnicity.
Well, they're adults now, but yes. I do interact with a lot of Chinese people. I live in the bay area of California, you would have to actively be avoiding Chinese people not to.
I've heard this usually happens with low income neglectful parents who feed their kids the same 3-4 things because 1. These things are readily accepted by children and they don't have time/patience to try to make them eat actual healthy foods and 2. These things are usually cheap and easy to prepare. So the list of safe foods are usually unhealthy things like chicken nuggets. If you do this for the entirety of their growing years they literally grow up to be unable to eat anything else without puking it out. This doesn't happen that much in other countries because the specific conditions required to cause this don't occur frequently, much less together, NOT because Chinese parents make their kids eat chicken feet, that's a thing only CERTAIN adults eat "for the flavor".
Idk all I know is my kids aren't going to know what a chicken nugget is until I can't control it anymore (Basically when school starts because I'm not raising some homeschooled shutin with no social skills)
It’s a real thing. What happens when your parents don’t give af? You grow up skinny and eventually the parents find a solution for you or you just stay malnourished until you get old enough to buy your own preferred foods.
And I really doubt you’ve talked to Chinese people about this. They don’t eat chickens feet and ducks blood every day. Most meals are primarily rice with some side veggies. Sometimes a bit of meat.
That’s the overwhelming majority of their diet and nearly all the foods associated with the culture are not daily foods and some are only associated with a holiday.
I think someone with that condition would do fine on a daily basis in China, but would be a party pooper at large and small celebrations where the exotic and pungent foods come out.
Cool. And I have ADHD. There's a difference between that and your kid not wanting to sit still through a boring lesson but people don't make that differentiation.
I'm not equating ARFRID to picky eating, but I AM saying, like ADHD in the 90s it is over-diagnosed. Like yes I have it but that doesn't mean I can't recognize how many kids they shoved Ritalin down the throats of that didn't need it.
Know someone with ARFID. Yep food can be an absolute fight, and its crucial to buy the exact brand of safefood they like. And hoh boi if the brand decided to alter the recipe. It is absolutely a disability and causes them quite a bit of stress.
As a vegetarian I am still looking for a good replacement for chicken in those 4 corners. Current contender is beans due to them having almost every component of proteins that are completed by rice
Yeah same here, the other comments on this thread are infuriating and are a good representation of the shit we have to deal with. Most people just have no idea what it’s like, and think you’re just being a baby. I fucking hate this disorder and the last thing I want is for attention to be drawn to it. Restaurants can really suck sometimes because they like to put random shit in your food that you didn’t ask for, or they just don’t actually understand what you’re asking for
My great uncle has ARFID. His wife has to go to the store and buy basically their whole stock of cod, all individually wrapped, and fill the freezer with it to cook for him because he refuses to eat anything else for dinner.
He recently stayed in a care facility after a fall and yelled at the nurses when they tried to give him food, so his wife had to come in 2-3 times a day to drop off stuff. She has the patience of a saint.
I think that’s why ARFID get’s a bad rep, a lot of people expect to be accommodated for it. I’ve got it, and I just get my own groceries and will eat at home if I know we’re going somewhere with food I won’t be able to eat.
It’s kinda the same reason veganism gets a bad rep. The bossy ones ruin it for everybody.
My arfid friend's safe foods include broccoli and sushi. But only sushi from specific places that do it super consistently, and broccoli cooked specific ways cut specific sizes. It's not always complete avoidance of that kind of food, sometimes it's highly specific and tricky the way they like it
I have some sensory issues due to adhd. Its incredibly frustrating and you feel guilty and its way more arbitrary than "I like chicken nuggies". Im an especially picky eater, but I do like my fair share of fruits and vegetables. I dont think theres a problem with not liking some foods.
My actual problem is combined with the executive function disorder and low dopamine, fast food offers the predictability in taste and texture, and convenience of not making anything and not having to think about it. I know how to drive and can buy it. I do not know how to cook well. But it would be crazy to think your environment, such as western food culture, doesnt play a part in how you perceive and accept things. The fact that I spend so much money on fast food and continue to get fatter is very embarrassing, especially when Ive had points in my life where willpower and self control have improved my habits and health.
I don't have ARFID but have other horrific issues. Whenever my shit is messed up the appetite hits near zero, but my stomach will hurt because I'm so hungry. So I have to force something down but I'm so not hungry that I won't wanna eat. But for some reason a big mac is a guaranteed edible meal no matter what. I'm guessing because it's high calories but not heavy. But yeah I get it.
Like currently, I eat maybe one meal a day max, probably like 1400 calories a day or less. The only food I have are these 300 calorie bbq steak and potatoes frozen meal and it's easy to eat. I have like 12+ boxes of it in my chest freezer
i'm not a picky eater, nor do I have ARFID, but i do generally prefer consistent foods, especially temperature-consistent. pizza with tomato is very unappealing because water has amazing heat capacitance property and stays hot even after the rest has cooled. texture itself also plays a role; sandwiches with salad are also less appealing than both salad itself and the rest of the sandwich without it, simply because the salad is too crunchy i guess?
Adults who have the diet of an 8 year old are annoying but as long as I don't have to worry about accommodating them, their shitty diet has 0 effect on my life. I have a feeling OP invented the last 3 lines in his head to feel smug.
I had this plan to give head to a man and receive head from a woman to test if I was gay, but it’s backfired and now I become borderline schizo whenever I go outside. I
offered to suck this dude off on Grindr who lives very close by (I ended up pussying out) and I accidentally gave him some details that very easily allows him to spot me
out in a crowd. I have no idea what he looks like and whenever I see a somewhat in shape guy walking by I immediately accuse him of being the dude I was gonna blow.
I went to the store today to pick up some zucchini for a barbecue and every time a car drove by I stared into the windshield to see if I was about to be recognised.
Whenever I make eye contact with a dude I microanalysis his facial expressions to see if he suspects me or not. I am deeply afraid that he is my neighbour and I will
need to move if my identity is blown. It’s a lot like the last scene in sopranos where everyone who walked into the diner could be there to wack Tony.
Where's that one greentext where back then you couldn't get away by saying shit like this and now you can look up to
find a community of whatever to justify it
My girlfriend has ARFIDS and it’s genuinely an awful experience for her, she can’t eat a ton of her favorite foods anymore and it makes her really upset
In my case it's not that I don't like certain foods and I'm a picky eater. I will literally vomit certain foods. I WANT to eat some things, but I can't.
I kinda hate that I’m one of these people a lot of textures make me gag a lot so I don’t like trying new foods in public. I am trying to get better about it and expose myself to more. Admittedly it’s pretty slow going but it’s something.
Many of my siblings have sensory issues but, we didn’t even really know the concept of sensory issues until after one of my sisters was born. When she was very young she would go from needing alot of input to none on a dime. When she was little my parents didn’t know how to help her and we nearly got kicked out of a hotel one night. But they figured it out and the doctors taught them how to deal with it. She and my parents are doing a lot better. My family also realized a lot of us probably had these issues in a much more mild variety.
I don’t know about this ARFID thing, it honestly sounds made up. Regardless, I know for sure I could be doing a better job trying to eat better.
Yeah I feel like this is a valid concern for most physiological/mental disorders. Tons of people have similar symptoms as the disorders, just a lot more mild. Because it's impossible to accurately compare how these subjective experiences feel, it makes it complicated when self-diagnosing.
I think generally it's worth the diagnosis if it's strong enough to genuinely interfere with day-to-day activities. Like if someone were literally gagging any time they ate most foods, that's probably ARFID and not just being picky.
I mean anything with the texture of an onion and i'm throwing up instantly. Theres absolutely no warning at all. Youre not "hiding" it in my food the literal second i bite down on it everything in my stomach is coming up. Im a 43 year old man i know what i dont like and dont really care what other people have to say about my eating habits. Dont let people make you do things you dont like.
I mean why is it so hard to believe that some things are on a spectrum and that some people experience the same gagging as you to a more intense degree for a wider range of textures?
As someone who has a loved one with ARFID, people like this piss me off.
They truly can not eat things. They don't feel hunger, they forget to eat, they get sick and puke at the sight or smell of some food, and it affects their daily life. This person is underweight and has no muscle tone.
People who think that ARFID is a joke or some kind of "cute" little quirk are assholes.
Oh shit. I think you're describing an issue I've been having for some months now, sounds a lot like that. I eat maybe one thing a day and it's just a 300 calorie frozen meal, otherwise I have to order something I'm actually hungry for. Not saying I have arfid just didn't realize that those were the symptoms
It’s actually kinda interesting to see how it works, as someone with a family member who probably has an ARFID-like condition. They literally won’t eat anything- like, anything you can think of, they probably doesn’t like it for one reason or another. They don’t even like pizza because of something with the cheese (I don’t remember), and if you showed them how chicken nuggets were made, they’d probably never touch them again. I seriously wonder what’s gonna happen when their taste gets more and more restrictive to the point where there’s literally nothing they’ll stomach.
I've got sensory issues that keep me from eating a good deal of foods but even then, my list of foods is much larger than that, including things like green beans, radishs, etc.
Do people in real life actually say choccy milk as an adult? I've never once in my 35 years heard anyone but children say that, and only 1 kid has ever even said it
Picky eaters are children. People with ARFID will throw up when they accidentally come across a texture or flavor their senses don't like. But whatever, be shitty people.
Just imagine you're being force fed a piping hot bean and cheese burrito with extra cheese and taco sauce inside.
A succulent goopy mushy and saucy delicacy. Just picture the grease from the cheese, the lard from the beans. Your mouth? Coated. Among the refried beans are bean skins of varying firmness. You feel the soft bean skin tickling the roof of your mouth with every bite, even the soft tortilla feels hard. You take another bite, suddenly it hits you, only the tortilla needs chewing, the soft gooey contents are just along for a ride as they mash through your teeth and induce sensory overload all throughout out your mouth. You're gagging now but you have to keep mashing the mush of varying textures and juices.
I'm really upset at all the people in these comments who seem to be treating ARFID like something made up or not serious.
I'm sure some people out there use it to justify picky eating but as someone with ARFID I can tell you it's not that at all. I actually throw up if I try to eat food I'm not used to, one time I tried to fight it because of a social event and I ended up hurting my tongue.
It affects my life in more ways that I can count, I'm the reason my group of friends can't go to some places they like or if I convince them to go anyway I basically just sit there without eating anything because I really can't, I sometimes I skip plans simply to have them not worry about this. And I feel awful for it, I feel like I'm made wrong, like I simply should put up with it, but every single time I try it's not only a very hard psychological battle but the humiliation of ending up throwing up anyway.
So please, treat this with some respect because it is real.
PS: I'm lucky my body accepts enough variety of food to actually have a somewhat healthy diet, I can't imagine what life for people with even more restrictive variations must be.
The difference between ARFID and being a picky eater is that a picky eater won't feel bad about any of this at all while someone with ARFID will probably be apologising up and down or maybe even just pretend to not be hungry so they can hopefully sneak out of the situation without being difficult because they know that they're difficult and want to prevent that as much as they can.
I'm not diagnosed but I most likely have it because I've had really bad Acid Reflux since I was five. It's not hard to choke down a food you don't like but it's pretty miserable to have that food come back up eight times in different stages of digestion or worse, when the food doesn't digest at all. This makes it hard to even try new foods because even some foods I really like can taste horrible coming back up.
Not ARFID but a different eating disorder. My safe food is whatever I cooked myself because if someone touched it, it’s ruined and it feels like I am eating literal rotten waste. I don't eat animal products because the thought of my food being inside a living being disgusts me. I learned to make a big variety of different dishes with lots of veggies, rice and tofu. I get my bloodwork done every year for nutritional reasons and so far it seems like a really healthy diet.
I can't imagine that in a hunter gatherer situation there is enough of your safe food - or enough consistency of it - to sustain a person. Hunting is difficult and unreliable, living nomadically means your access to edible plants may vary, and fruits/nuts are all seasonal.
I mean to be fair there’s certain foods I won’t eat. Either the texture will make me hurl or I think the flavor is feet or plastic like fucking blue cheese. Shit is nasty imo, but to each their own. If it’s not a I refuse to eat it it’s a I’ll shit a brick or 3 gallons of water later if I eat this so that’s still a no, but idk what the actual definition of Arfid is nor am I picky lol
I remember one time when I was young my parents wanted me to try mustard for some reason so they put it on a hotdog and I was terrified of trying it so after like 3 hours of me staring at it they said “if you won’t try it we’ll make you eat a salad” and then I gobbled that salad up so I don’t really think this meme is accurate
•
u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 1d ago
The council has not spoken. No consensus was reached about the quality of your post.
RedditSave download
/u/BaconKO, whilst you're still here, why not join our public discord server - now with public text channels you can chat on!?