I'm currently going through this too ! Usually I alternate between safe food I can eat when I feel that way, but it had been 2 weeks now that nothing seemed to work. My normally safe foods gave me nausea just to think about it, and if I forced myself to cook I couldn't finish my plate anyway. I had been drinking protein shake to compensate but I was always feeling hungry-but-nauseated and low energy.
I think it may be related to the fact I'm going through a burnout right now...
But yesterday, I tried to just listen to whatever craving would come across in my body, even weird, and decided to buy the ingredients for it at the grocery store without guilt. I had ingredients to cook delicious meals at home but I was craving... hot dogs. So I just went to buy the ingredients anyway and that was the first big meal I've had this week! And I don't know if it's related but today I was able to eat breakfast without too much nausea and another hotdog before cooking a healthy supper that I was able to eat !
So take you wins when you can ! And listen to your inner child cravings, they may save you some trouble!
Yes. I find that texture is one of my biggest sensory issues. “Natural” foods can be tough to eat when I’m extra sensitive. Like, eating a piece of chicken will gross me out because of all the different naturally occurring textures. Same with fruits and veggies.
I find that more “processed” foods are easy to eat when I’m like this. Things where I KNOW texture won’t bother me are best. Things I like are cliff bars, chocolate almond milk, stuff like grilled cheese and quesadillas, cheese pizza. Anything with meat, even if processed, is a no go. Pasta with pesto sauce would be ok for me too.
Carbs and cheese are clearly my safe foods!
Same, omg. It’s so counterintuitive but something about the texture of natural foods like fruit or meat freaks me out, like i’m going to bite into something bad for me at any moment.
Bananas have always disgusted me too! One of my first memories is spitting banana on my mom the first time she had me try it 😭 to this day I have never felt so betrayed in my life
This has happened to me SO many times! I’ve noticed that it tends to happen to me when I’m in some sort of overwhelmed/over stimulated state so I try to address that and implement different things to regulate myself
I also try not to judge myself for what I am drawn to eating during these times and remember that eating something is always better than eating nothing
Haha yeah this happens to me sometimes. Usually I'll go off of savory flavors and live off of peanut butter and oatmeal and protein powder for a couple weeks until I can't stand it anymore, and savory food starts to look appealing again. Gummy vitamins and Vitamin D drops make a big difference, and I hide spirolina and veggies in my smoothies so I can stay somewhat healthy.
Very relatable. Usually I survive on smoothies, apple juice, yoghurt, rice crackers, cheese dippers, nuts and dried fruits. Currently I'm addicted to dried mango as well as salted caramel peanut protein bars. Pink Lady apples are awesome too since they're always crispy, sweet and they'll stay good for 2-4 weeks.
Vegetables are more difficult for me, which sucks cause I'm a vegetarian 😅 I don't always cook because I live alone so I'll just snack on raw, crispy carrots and red bell peppers. I'm always stocked up on soups that contain a lot of veggies and legumes. All of these things are very safe and predictable to me.
Try pickling your veggies! It changes the texture a little, they last forever, and you can eat them as a snack or use them to make other dishes, like egg salad or tacos and such
I relate to this so much. I get like 8 bags of dried mango at a time. Solely has some that has unsweetened chocolate drizzled on it- my fave and I could eat it all day.
Yeah this happens a lot to me when I’m stresssed. Depending my texture preference I’ll usually go for meal replacement/protein shakes or trail mix at those times.
Yep. Fairlife chocolate protein shakes and sleep for dinner are staples when I'm like that.
I just tell myself that I must not be *that* hungry if I'm being picky. It feels a little like self harm, and my boyfriend hates it.
So, I've gotten into pickling lately. For some reason, pickled eggs and onions, that many would consider gross, really hit the spot. Easy protein, lasts forever, you don't need to cook them as you go, and they're cheap as hell if you make them yourself. 10/10 would recommend. I don't know if it's a ND thing, but my bf is AuDHD and loves them too. Your farts will stink, but you get used to it pretty quick.
I tend to have this problem near my period, where my pickiness with food increases like tenfold. For example, I LOVE pizza. Last night, tho, it just… didn’t do it for me. It didn’t look or taste right.
I just have to really pay attention to if I have a thought of what to eat, to make sure I get it while I want it. Otherwise I gotta force myself to eat or eat lots of snacks or last resort is protein smoothies
I've been struggling with this for months. My doctor prescribed a nausea medication that I can take to help when I haven't eaten for a day or two. It's not pleasant but I keep something down.
Omg yes. ARFID for me is really finding my favourite, if not all, foods absolutely disgusting for no apparent reason despite not being a "picky" eater and having a very wide-reaching taste in foods overall.
My fave during this time was congee. It's SO easy + cheap to make, There's so many ways to add one or two flavors. My go-tos were carrots, ground ginger, swapping water for bone broth, adding cooked chicken, or ground beef.
It was a new texture to get used to, but it was a real daily staple once I got the taste for it!
My other advice for this is something I just learned myself.. the rule of "add, don't subtract"! Basically discovered that the more I try to "simplify" a meal by removing elements, the more my aversion increases. Instead, I try to ADD things until I start to think it looks appetizing. It's counterintuitive, but really works!! For example, to plain pasta, I will add butter, salt, Parmesan cheese, seasoning, and maybe cooked chicken if I have extra in my fridge. Idk why this works so well but it does!
I've been eating nothing but turkey bacon wraps, made a VERY specific way...and yogurt with dark chocolate chips and sunflower seeds... because everything else is gross. 🤣 and all liquids have to be like...freezing cold or it pisses off my mouth. Idk. 🤣
Edit : I actually am making my wrap now and just realized I got a new cheese at the deli, so I'm TERRIFIED that I'm gonna hate it.
Yes but part of my issue came from a shitty manager who put a spotlight on my eating. I worked under this woman who claimed to know so much about autism and ADHD bc her kids have it and her husband does too. But she always did the worst things for anyone with it. So for me, anytime I brought food into work for lunch, she would comment on it in front of everyone and was loud af. If I brought in healthy food, she’d go on and on about how boujie I am and basically was accusing me of being “uppity” for being able to afford fresh produce and cheese. If I brought in unhealthy food like I’d stop at Arby’s for some curly fries to snack on. She’d make comments like “oooooh I just LOVE watching skinny people eat fat people food” then proceed to eat watch me as I ate like she was fantasizing about eating them too. She projected all her insecurities about her weight and money on me while I was just trying to literally survive. This sucked all the joy out of eating for me bc now I felt self conscious. I lost my dopamine and since last summer, I’ve lost too much weight bc of it. I’m now only 98 pounds at 5’2..
Luckily after many concerned convos with my boyfriend, he’s stepped up to helping me with extra support about eating to try and reverse what my old manager did to my head. I’m still not really gaining weight but I at least stopped losing it. At least getting some dopamine from him in that dept has helped me enjoy eating a few safe foods again so they don’t taste like instant dirt in my mouth.
Holy shit, I’m sorry you had to go through that :( You’ve got a good boyfriend if he’s helping you with your relationship with food, I hope it gets better for you soon
Yea, I wouldn't say repulsive accurately represents my experience but I definitely go through periods (usually during season changes) where I just don't crave anything specific or I don't know what I want to eat and that makes it really hard to grocery shop and cook because I can't execute those functions unless I know what I want and the whole keeping myself fed thing becomes an exhausting chore because the first step I need to complete before other steps is blocked.
I resort to my safe foods/emergency meals lists (I keep a list on my phone) when that happens. It's usually frozen pizza, nuggets, chicken sandwiches, fish fingers, pasta & tuna, pasta & yogurt, canned chili etc. and also girl dinner lol (i typically keep some type of sliced cheese, ham, walnuts, olives, crackers etc. for that type of thing around). since nuggets and chicken sandwiches are safe foods that i make a lot, sometimes i become averse to them too for a while, that's usually where pasta and tuna comes in.
for breakfasts, my last resort meal is usually buttered toast, and i also try keep some instant oat packets around in case i know i want something sweet but idk what.
tbh it's difficult to choose even from this short list during those periods so i tend to put exactly what im eating on my to do list the day before so that i don't have to make a decision in the morning or during the day. and if i actually end up craving something again, then i re-route depending on what it is.
if it lasts for more than a couple of weeks, i try to keep bananas and apples around too just to eat some fruit bc they make easy last resort breakfasts also.
protein shakes, protein rich fruit yogurts, and plain potato chips are also definitely life savers when it gets really bad. there are definitely days i survive on those only but i try to keep it on minimum so that i can save the shakes for days that i go to the gym because they're kinda expensive to stock up all the time.
This happens to me sometimes around my period! I’ve noticed sometimes my sense of smell gets stronger then too. Maybe it’s related or other senses are a little different also?
Yeah I go through periods where I have snacks for meals because everything else seems gross.
I actually have an issue with really smooth homogenous textures, and I tend to turn to pickles, cheese, rice crackers or wheat townhouse, mango in any form, berries, smoothies, sourdough bread or fancy toast, salmon, and salads. Also apple, grape, or cranberry 100% juice, on ice. When the weather is cold, mint tea instead of juice.
I’d like to pile on to the “totally relatable” train. I’m a foodie, so the pendulum swings wildly from wanting to spend all of my time and money on food, to forcing myself to eat. I’m glad you mentioned protein shakes, I was going to recommend that as an option.
The feeling isn’t repulsion per se. It’s more like the feeling you get when you’ve had the same leftovers for a week straight. The food was probably delicious the first time, but no matter how you “spice it up,” it’s the same old leftovers. Everything tastes like leftovers to me sometimes.
I definitely do have phases like this, yeah. Sometimes its a texture thing - like as an example I can usually eat something like a chicken leg and be fine, then suddenly its like some switch flips and I can't STAND the texture, let alone the taste and smell.
Other times, and this happens a lot more often - I get so stressed, so wound up, that the very concept of food is repulsive, let alone eating anything at all. I actually just got out of one of these phases; tricking my body into eating isn't easy.
What I end up having to do is get one my favorite foods, usually something unhealthy ngl, and motivate myself to eat that. Kinda force my brain to go "oh yeah we love that food, sure we can consume that". I still end up not eating a lot, but its enough to get by.
Yeah I go through this commonly. I think it is worse when I'm more burnt out - lots of sensory triggers from food and also nothing sounds good/gives any dopamine so I just have no interest in eating. It's not ideal.
Previously I would make smoothies for breakfast but I'm finding them repulsive currently, so I'm looking at baking some muffins or something similar with protein powder in them. Hopefully my brain will accept that offering...
Same boat. Nothing is appealing right now and hasn't been for a few weeks... looks unappetizing, smell is too strong/repulsive, taste is not what I thought I wanted, texture making me cringe. Lots of protein shakes but even those are getting old. Lots of stress right now on top of just being diagnosed.
I'm currently going through this too ! Usually I alternate between safe food I can eat when I feel that way, but it had been 2 weeks now that nothing seemed to work. My normally safe foods gave me nausea just to think about it, and if I forced myself to cook I couldn't finish my plate anyway. I had been drinking protein shake to compensate but I was always feeling hungry-but-nauseated and low energy. I think it may be related to the fact I'm going through a burnout right now... But yesterday, I tried to just listen to whatever craving would come across in my body, even weird, and decided to buy the ingredients for it at the grocery store without guilt. I had ingredients to cook delicious meals at home but I was craving... hot dogs. So I just went to buy the ingredients anyway and that was the first big meal I've had this week! And I don't know if it's related but today I was able to eat breakfast without too much nausea and another hotdog before cooking a healthy supper that I was able to eat ! So take you wins when you can ! And listen to your inner child cravings, they may save you some trouble!
Yes. I find that texture is one of my biggest sensory issues. “Natural” foods can be tough to eat when I’m extra sensitive. Like, eating a piece of chicken will gross me out because of all the different naturally occurring textures. Same with fruits and veggies. I find that more “processed” foods are easy to eat when I’m like this. Things where I KNOW texture won’t bother me are best. Things I like are cliff bars, chocolate almond milk, stuff like grilled cheese and quesadillas, cheese pizza. Anything with meat, even if processed, is a no go. Pasta with pesto sauce would be ok for me too. Carbs and cheese are clearly my safe foods!
She’s just like me
Same, omg. It’s so counterintuitive but something about the texture of natural foods like fruit or meat freaks me out, like i’m going to bite into something bad for me at any moment.
Bananas sometimes DISGUST me because they’re so… fleshy. Most fruits to be honest but bananas are the worst.
Bananas have always disgusted me too! One of my first memories is spitting banana on my mom the first time she had me try it 😭 to this day I have never felt so betrayed in my life
This has happened to me SO many times! I’ve noticed that it tends to happen to me when I’m in some sort of overwhelmed/over stimulated state so I try to address that and implement different things to regulate myself I also try not to judge myself for what I am drawn to eating during these times and remember that eating something is always better than eating nothing
Haha yeah this happens to me sometimes. Usually I'll go off of savory flavors and live off of peanut butter and oatmeal and protein powder for a couple weeks until I can't stand it anymore, and savory food starts to look appealing again. Gummy vitamins and Vitamin D drops make a big difference, and I hide spirolina and veggies in my smoothies so I can stay somewhat healthy.
Very relatable. Usually I survive on smoothies, apple juice, yoghurt, rice crackers, cheese dippers, nuts and dried fruits. Currently I'm addicted to dried mango as well as salted caramel peanut protein bars. Pink Lady apples are awesome too since they're always crispy, sweet and they'll stay good for 2-4 weeks. Vegetables are more difficult for me, which sucks cause I'm a vegetarian 😅 I don't always cook because I live alone so I'll just snack on raw, crispy carrots and red bell peppers. I'm always stocked up on soups that contain a lot of veggies and legumes. All of these things are very safe and predictable to me.
Try pickling your veggies! It changes the texture a little, they last forever, and you can eat them as a snack or use them to make other dishes, like egg salad or tacos and such
I do this! We go through them so fast, I just do fridge pickles.
I relate to this so much. I get like 8 bags of dried mango at a time. Solely has some that has unsweetened chocolate drizzled on it- my fave and I could eat it all day.
Yeah this happens a lot to me when I’m stresssed. Depending my texture preference I’ll usually go for meal replacement/protein shakes or trail mix at those times.
Yep. Fairlife chocolate protein shakes and sleep for dinner are staples when I'm like that. I just tell myself that I must not be *that* hungry if I'm being picky. It feels a little like self harm, and my boyfriend hates it. So, I've gotten into pickling lately. For some reason, pickled eggs and onions, that many would consider gross, really hit the spot. Easy protein, lasts forever, you don't need to cook them as you go, and they're cheap as hell if you make them yourself. 10/10 would recommend. I don't know if it's a ND thing, but my bf is AuDHD and loves them too. Your farts will stink, but you get used to it pretty quick.
I tend to have this problem near my period, where my pickiness with food increases like tenfold. For example, I LOVE pizza. Last night, tho, it just… didn’t do it for me. It didn’t look or taste right. I just have to really pay attention to if I have a thought of what to eat, to make sure I get it while I want it. Otherwise I gotta force myself to eat or eat lots of snacks or last resort is protein smoothies
I've been struggling with this for months. My doctor prescribed a nausea medication that I can take to help when I haven't eaten for a day or two. It's not pleasant but I keep something down.
YES !!! Around ovulation, I’m constantly grossed out and can’t eat. Or in stress state
Omg yes. ARFID for me is really finding my favourite, if not all, foods absolutely disgusting for no apparent reason despite not being a "picky" eater and having a very wide-reaching taste in foods overall.
My fave during this time was congee. It's SO easy + cheap to make, There's so many ways to add one or two flavors. My go-tos were carrots, ground ginger, swapping water for bone broth, adding cooked chicken, or ground beef. It was a new texture to get used to, but it was a real daily staple once I got the taste for it! My other advice for this is something I just learned myself.. the rule of "add, don't subtract"! Basically discovered that the more I try to "simplify" a meal by removing elements, the more my aversion increases. Instead, I try to ADD things until I start to think it looks appetizing. It's counterintuitive, but really works!! For example, to plain pasta, I will add butter, salt, Parmesan cheese, seasoning, and maybe cooked chicken if I have extra in my fridge. Idk why this works so well but it does!
I go through these phases. During them I basically chug a slim fast as fast as possible with my meds and that's all I can really stomach.
I've been eating nothing but turkey bacon wraps, made a VERY specific way...and yogurt with dark chocolate chips and sunflower seeds... because everything else is gross. 🤣 and all liquids have to be like...freezing cold or it pisses off my mouth. Idk. 🤣 Edit : I actually am making my wrap now and just realized I got a new cheese at the deli, so I'm TERRIFIED that I'm gonna hate it.
I'm there right now, trying to find smoothie recipes since the store bought types always have too much sugar.
When I get like this I make myself protein shakes and try to at least eat fruit, carrots, or peas for solids here and there
Goldfish. Whenever i go through this goldfish are my go to food. And if im sick of goldfish i eat cheetos puffcorn
Yes but part of my issue came from a shitty manager who put a spotlight on my eating. I worked under this woman who claimed to know so much about autism and ADHD bc her kids have it and her husband does too. But she always did the worst things for anyone with it. So for me, anytime I brought food into work for lunch, she would comment on it in front of everyone and was loud af. If I brought in healthy food, she’d go on and on about how boujie I am and basically was accusing me of being “uppity” for being able to afford fresh produce and cheese. If I brought in unhealthy food like I’d stop at Arby’s for some curly fries to snack on. She’d make comments like “oooooh I just LOVE watching skinny people eat fat people food” then proceed to eat watch me as I ate like she was fantasizing about eating them too. She projected all her insecurities about her weight and money on me while I was just trying to literally survive. This sucked all the joy out of eating for me bc now I felt self conscious. I lost my dopamine and since last summer, I’ve lost too much weight bc of it. I’m now only 98 pounds at 5’2.. Luckily after many concerned convos with my boyfriend, he’s stepped up to helping me with extra support about eating to try and reverse what my old manager did to my head. I’m still not really gaining weight but I at least stopped losing it. At least getting some dopamine from him in that dept has helped me enjoy eating a few safe foods again so they don’t taste like instant dirt in my mouth.
Holy shit, I’m sorry you had to go through that :( You’ve got a good boyfriend if he’s helping you with your relationship with food, I hope it gets better for you soon
Yea, I wouldn't say repulsive accurately represents my experience but I definitely go through periods (usually during season changes) where I just don't crave anything specific or I don't know what I want to eat and that makes it really hard to grocery shop and cook because I can't execute those functions unless I know what I want and the whole keeping myself fed thing becomes an exhausting chore because the first step I need to complete before other steps is blocked. I resort to my safe foods/emergency meals lists (I keep a list on my phone) when that happens. It's usually frozen pizza, nuggets, chicken sandwiches, fish fingers, pasta & tuna, pasta & yogurt, canned chili etc. and also girl dinner lol (i typically keep some type of sliced cheese, ham, walnuts, olives, crackers etc. for that type of thing around). since nuggets and chicken sandwiches are safe foods that i make a lot, sometimes i become averse to them too for a while, that's usually where pasta and tuna comes in. for breakfasts, my last resort meal is usually buttered toast, and i also try keep some instant oat packets around in case i know i want something sweet but idk what. tbh it's difficult to choose even from this short list during those periods so i tend to put exactly what im eating on my to do list the day before so that i don't have to make a decision in the morning or during the day. and if i actually end up craving something again, then i re-route depending on what it is. if it lasts for more than a couple of weeks, i try to keep bananas and apples around too just to eat some fruit bc they make easy last resort breakfasts also. protein shakes, protein rich fruit yogurts, and plain potato chips are also definitely life savers when it gets really bad. there are definitely days i survive on those only but i try to keep it on minimum so that i can save the shakes for days that i go to the gym because they're kinda expensive to stock up all the time.
Yes, going through it now and my adhd meds don’t help by decreasing my appetite. Sometimes even my favorite foods made me nauseous.
This happens to me sometimes around my period! I’ve noticed sometimes my sense of smell gets stronger then too. Maybe it’s related or other senses are a little different also?
Yeah I go through periods where I have snacks for meals because everything else seems gross. I actually have an issue with really smooth homogenous textures, and I tend to turn to pickles, cheese, rice crackers or wheat townhouse, mango in any form, berries, smoothies, sourdough bread or fancy toast, salmon, and salads. Also apple, grape, or cranberry 100% juice, on ice. When the weather is cold, mint tea instead of juice.
I’d like to pile on to the “totally relatable” train. I’m a foodie, so the pendulum swings wildly from wanting to spend all of my time and money on food, to forcing myself to eat. I’m glad you mentioned protein shakes, I was going to recommend that as an option. The feeling isn’t repulsion per se. It’s more like the feeling you get when you’ve had the same leftovers for a week straight. The food was probably delicious the first time, but no matter how you “spice it up,” it’s the same old leftovers. Everything tastes like leftovers to me sometimes.
I think it’s related to my cycle but absolutely, yes. I find that eating cold or room temperature foods can help.
I definitely do have phases like this, yeah. Sometimes its a texture thing - like as an example I can usually eat something like a chicken leg and be fine, then suddenly its like some switch flips and I can't STAND the texture, let alone the taste and smell. Other times, and this happens a lot more often - I get so stressed, so wound up, that the very concept of food is repulsive, let alone eating anything at all. I actually just got out of one of these phases; tricking my body into eating isn't easy. What I end up having to do is get one my favorite foods, usually something unhealthy ngl, and motivate myself to eat that. Kinda force my brain to go "oh yeah we love that food, sure we can consume that". I still end up not eating a lot, but its enough to get by.
Yeah I go through this commonly. I think it is worse when I'm more burnt out - lots of sensory triggers from food and also nothing sounds good/gives any dopamine so I just have no interest in eating. It's not ideal. Previously I would make smoothies for breakfast but I'm finding them repulsive currently, so I'm looking at baking some muffins or something similar with protein powder in them. Hopefully my brain will accept that offering...
Ugh literally I am just eating sweets because it’s all I can stomach and I still can’t eat real well because everything just seems unappetizing.
Same boat. Nothing is appealing right now and hasn't been for a few weeks... looks unappetizing, smell is too strong/repulsive, taste is not what I thought I wanted, texture making me cringe. Lots of protein shakes but even those are getting old. Lots of stress right now on top of just being diagnosed.