u/Beems_2

I'm 18 and have always been a very picky eater and recent years it's been causing me a lot of distress. I've been reading a lot about ARFID and questioning whether this is what I'm struggling with or if I'm just looking for an excuse to my poor food related habits.

I always blame my problems on an incident from kindergarten when I was forced to eat an unbreaded slice of meat and threw up. To this day I gag when eating most types of meat, or any food I don't like. I can take a single look at any type of food and know deep in my bones I won't like it without even trying it. I read that a lot of people with ARFID struggle with the texture, which I think is partially true for me, but I mostly just find the taste disgusting.

It's also related to a disinterest in eating which is not wholly true for me. I like eating, love eating the food I like, but sometimes I find myself going hungry for many hours for inexplicably no reason. In social-food situations I often feel a lot of shame related to my picky eating and would rather starve than be accommodated. I was once on a trip outside the country with my family and to avoid annoying them by accommodating me I did in fact starve to the point I got dizzy. If for whatever reason I only had access to food I didn't like, I believe I would rather starve than try eating it.

I am also not severely malnutritioned, but while I have not been checked for deficiencies I don't believe it's possible for me to now have any, considering the foods I can tolerate. I have read, however, that many people with ARFID don't struggle with that.

Recently I've been trying to cook more and add some ingredients I usually don't really like to get used to their taste and get at least some important vitamins, but it's a struggle finding things I feel like I can stomach having.

I can't fully relate to all the articles about ARFID I have read, like with the horrible fear of eating, disinterest with food, malnutrition, but some points I relate to a lot. I just want to understand what's wrong with me and how to help myself, and I'm wondering if there's someone out there with a similar experience. I also don't believe I am neurodivergent, which I know can be a contributing factor.

I'm 18 and have always been a very picky eater and recent years it's been causing me a lot of distress. I've been reading a lot about ARFID and questioning whether this is what I'm struggling with or if I'm just looking for an excuse to my poor food related habits.

I always blame my problems on an incident from kindergarten when I was forced to eat an unbreaded slice of meat and threw up. To this day I gag when eating most types of meat, or any food I don't like. I can take a single look at any type of food and know deep in my bones I won't like it without even trying it. I read that a lot of people with ARFID struggle with the texture, which I think is partially true for me, but I mostly just find the taste disgusting.

It's also related to a disinterest in eating which is not wholly true for me. I like eating, love eating the food I like, but sometimes I find myself going hungry for many hours for inexplicably no reason. In social-food situations I often feel a lot of shame related to my picky eating and would rather starve than be accommodated. I was once on a trip outside the country with my family and to avoid annoying them by accommodating me I did in fact starve to the point I got dizzy. If for whatever reason I only had access to food I didn't like, I believe I would rather starve than try eating it.

I am also not severely malnutritioned, but while I have not been checked for deficiencies I don't believe it's possible for me to now have any, considering the foods I can tolerate. I have read, however, that many people with ARFID don't struggle with that.

Recently I've been trying to cook more and add some ingredients I usually don't really like to get used to their taste and get at least some important vitamins, but it's a struggle finding things I feel like I can stomach having.

I can't fully relate to all the articles about ARFID I have read, like with the horrible fear of eating, disinterest with food, malnutrition, but some points I relate to a lot. I just want to understand what's wrong with me and how to help myself, and I'm wondering if there's someone out there with a similar experience. I also don't believe I am neurodivergent, which I know can be a contributing factor.