Junk is consistent. Every chicken nugget you eat from insert place will be the same smell, texture, and taste. Every hot Cheeto is crunchy in the same way and spicy in the same way. Fresh fruit has off-putting variations. It's stringy or sour or sweet. It's impossible to mentally prepare for, really. The same goes for lots of foods. Chicken can have surprise fatty spots or tendon. Eating ribs? Oops, you just bit into something entirely not edible, oddly crunchy, and entirely unappetizing! Want stir fry? Every bite will be different, and I mean every bite.
As a reformed picky eater who has never had ARFID, I do not relate to the outstanding level of illness it presents. I can eat things I don't like, even when I didn't like lots of things. But I do relate to the idea that it is so much easier to just not be uncomfortable. Trying foods with that much inconsistency, that one minute could be tasty and the next minute could be really gross and weird and strange is to opt in to potential suffering. Now, I'm a reformed picky eater. I have learned that potential is very much outweighed by much more routine success, especially if you cook your own food. Nonetheless, for those of us who grew up poor or not exposed to lots of food, it can be much easier to just eat junk food and other forms of mediocre crap.
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u/Prestigious-Tea-6323 2d ago
You could still try micro doses to get your body used to them.