arfidmeals

[arfidmeals]

ate a whole breakfast sandwich today. With EGGS. And a PLAIN BAGEL. im battling demons and coming out the other side with a fuller stomach

[arfidmeals]

ARFID Research Paper

Not sure how many people here will see this but hi ARFID side of Tumblr! I'm doing a research paper for my dual-enrollment English course on why ARFID needs more research (will make a more specific thesis as my paper evolves). The thing is, because it needs more research, I don't have many resources to go off of so I decided to make a small google form and reach out to a few different ARFID communities about their experiences with ARFID and treatment for it. If you'd like to, feel free to fill out the google form! https://forms.gle/RLNLbAvVf6db3S4W8

[arfidmeals]

a good meal i make a lot is avocado rice, just pop some minute rice in the microwave (or make fresh rice whatever floats your boat) and add like half an avocado and mix it up, you can add whatever spices you want! its pretty good and full of nutrients!

this is awesome! i would suggest as add-ins - furikake - a fried egg (or hardboiled egg - you can have these saved in your fridge!) - kimchi - nori sheets - butter or sesame oil for nourishing fats/taste - rice vinegar, a sprinkle of sugar and/or soy sauce - or the other half of the avocado too! :)

[arfidmeals]

Hey does anyone know if there’s a word for this beyond autistic shutdown/wondering if it would be inaccurate to call it catatonia?:

rarely, when I find myself subconsciously overwhelmed or going into a shutdown, I completely lose the ability to move or speak (not including blinking)

I mostly can’t move any facial muscles, my breathing stays very shallow because I often can’t move enough to take a deep breath. I am unable to talk and stay stuck in whatever position I entered the shutdown in. I am also visually dissociating. I can still think semi-clearly.

This, on average, goes on for 30 minutes to more than an hour (or until physically confronted). Once I am pulled out of it, I usually feel normal again pretty quickly.

On the outside, I’ve been told that it looks like I’m experiencing an absent seizure by several people. I’ve always referred to these episodes as moments of catatonia, but I actually don’t know if catatonia can last for that short a time? Plus I dont think I specifically have a catatonic disorder. Does ‘shutdown’ just encompass this? It feels like a slightly different thing to me. Maybe because my regular shutdowns are usually in response to overwhelming stimuli, and these can kind of come out of nowhere if im staying in the same place too long?

[arfidmeals]

"being autistic does not excuse being a picky eater" discourse frustrates me alot cause like. they're right that not eating vegetables is bad for you, or that only being able to eat chicken nuggets is going to limit you alot in life, but they say this like KNOWING that it's not healthy is suddenly gonna make the autism less disabling, like some disabled people are go to continue to have health issues their entire life due to their disabilities. like it's also important to have good hygiene or have financial independence, but alot of autistic people can't bathe or hold down a job due to their autism, i'm not sure why some people act like EVERY autistic person should be able to power through that, when it's different for everyone.

[arfidmeals]

found out today that if you’re at a place that serves pizza (for me, dining hall) you can bring a ziploc bag w you and steal an extra slice to bring home and put in your fridge for later. especially if you know you arent gonna have time/energy to figure out a meal in the near future. you can also presumably do this with other foods. ziploc bags ftw !!!

[arfidmeals]

the thing about ARFID is that you gotta remind yourself that, while you should aim for a healthy diet, eating not-great food is much better for u than simply starving

[arfidmeals]

did a non-normal amount of exercise today (needed to learn choreo for an audition) and my heart wasn’t beating super fast afterwards! i was able to keep up with people!

even if i didn’t eat in a ‘normal’ way today (no set meals) i still got calories in my body and made sure i could snack throughout the day so i wouldn’t feel faint. it’s a sort of progress!

[arfidmeals]

people are absolutely EVIL about the boundaries of “picky eaters”. no, they do not have to try it. yes, they can know they don’t like it without having eaten it before. no, they probably have not suddenly grown a taste for the food they’ve said they hate. no, they probably are not going to like it in the Special Way This One Place Cooks It. yes, you are being a bad friend if you try to “trick” them into eating it anyway

[arfidmeals]

AUTISM WIN I CAN BOIL WATER NOW

[arfidmeals]

Do you have any tips or advice on how to improve things as someone with arfid? I pretty much only eat 4 different foods. (apple, english muffins, pasta, strawberry yoghurt)

I don't have a professional diagnosis but was told by several professionals that they think I have it. (I do have a professional diagnosis of autism and anorexia and other mental illnesses). so I also have some typical anorexia fear foods like chocolate, pizza, icecream, candy. (I know pasta and bread are typically most peoples fear foods too, but it's all I can eat)

I'm afraid of getting professional help as I have before many times, and several dieticians try to force feed mee foods that I genuinely don't like and that make me gag. They also threaten impatient care, which I know would make me much worse. They have very strict rules on what foods you need to eat or else they'll tube feed you, and I'll be hours away from home and away from my carer, I have severe separation anxiety so this would be so much worse for me.

Do you have any advice or tips on how I can do this at home? I don't think I'll ever be "recovered," but I want it to get better than this. Anything that you've found helpful maybe. Thank you :)

hi! im also in a similar-ish scenario (no formal diagnosis, though im diagnosed with autism and have talked abt ARFID w/ therapists and my psychiatrist. not in a position to currently receive professional help)

before i get into what’s helped me, i feel like i should mention that i believe connecting with an online dietician is an option (?). i’ve never personally done this, but you could probably get the advice + coping strategies aspect without worrying about seeing someone in person, or being threatened physically with food.

now, as someone who’s largely had to deal w/ arfid without direct professional help, i’d say there are a few stages of severity i cycle through w/ it that inform what actions i feel i can or need to take.

at its worst, the best thing you can do for arfid is stock up on supplements and safe foods, conserve your energy, and make life as easy for yourself as possible in the meantime. if i’m only able to eat one or two singular foods (and not meals), i’ll make sure to do that (no matter how ‘unhealthy’ they may be) enough times in the day as to not feel like i’m starving. on these days, its important to rest as much as you can and find products that can get you the vitamins and minerals your body needs. drinks are easier for me than pills for me a lot of the time, so i go through a lot of nutritional drinks/meal replacement shakes. stuff like Boost or Ensure (though i personally go for Boost bc i like that it just tastes like chocolate milk. there are other flavors though).

on more normal days, i think my pool of safe food options is a bit more than yours seems to be, but all in all your options seem like they’d be easier than most to try expanding upon. english muffins, for example—you typically spread stuff on those right? so even if you’ve been eating them plain, trying different versions of it might open you up to new options. maybe jelly/jam? or peanut butter?

one of my safe foods is also pasta. i very much cannot eat red sauce, so i thought for a while that i’d have to eat it plain. but turns out, i actually really like alfredo! if that doesn’t appeal to you, there are a bunch of different ways of preparing pasta in more subtle ways (like a nice garlic sauce, or adding parmesan cheese) to add a little more to your dish. there’s also something to just trying different pasta shapes! even if it doesn’t make a nutritional difference, it gets you more used to trying new things.

hard agree on the strawberry yogurt as well—the way that I upped my yogurt experience was adding granola and eating fruit on the side (or mixed in, but i personally was not fond of the texture). granola also comes in a lot of different flavors and can make a great snack on its own, so you can play around with that. i’ve also found that trying new yogurt flavors from the same brands i’m used to tends to be easier. you can just buy one little thing of yogurt and if you don’t like it it’s no big deal you never have to eat it again and can go directly back to your usual yogurt ! there’s also strawberry yogurt shakes that i like that have some extra protein in them and don’t taste any different than normal yogurt (i think the brand’s stonyfield? though you can probably find others).

all in all, a lot of arfid recovery is getting slowly used to trying new things. it doesn’t even have to be directly food related. psychologically, putting yourself in new situations (no matter how small the differences may be) will help you later down the line when it comes to trying the same with food. the best thing you can do is keep yourself calm in the process. do new things with friends or family, try a bite off another person’s plate, watch something fun or comforting while eating, distract yourself entirely, etc.

i’ve also found that working on my mental health in general helps with my ability to expand my foods. hanging out with people more often, for example, makes it easier to steal a bite of popcorn or try a new fruit at the dining hall. having someone there to support you feels good—a friend of mine started a bit where whenever i try a new food she shows me a cute picture of a kitten, stuff like that is actually pretty good incentive (“try this new food with me! no pressure if you don’t like it!” helps me bc it’s like im doing it for someone other than myself). you can do the ‘kitten pics’ thing for yourself too—basic reward stuff like getting a little prize every time you meet a goal. there are a ton of executive functioning strategies in general that i’ve also found work okay for arfid!

[arfidmeals]

also, keep in mind that arfid is a broad eating disorder and this advice won’t work for everyone. there are some people that genuinely cannot try new things without major negative physical and mental reactions. in their case, i mostly recommend trying safe foods in different forms and figuring out if you can supplement the nutrients you might be lacking

since arfid is often comorbid with asd, i’d like to talk about the role of rule rigidity/black and white thinking in arfid and what i’ve found is the best mindset to take to deal w this stuff

one of the most frustrating things in the world is people telling you ‘you don’t know if you’ll like this until you try it!’ or ‘you haven’t had this in years, maybe your tastebuds have changed!’

and the instinctual response many people will have to those comments is a resound No. No, i know I won’t like it. No, it won’t have gotten better with time. there’s comfort in knowing that—even as restrictive as they may be—you have rules your brain has to follow when eating. you don’t know how to step outside those—and doing so literally feels impossible.

the worst fucking thing about this is those people can be *right*. your tastebuds do change over time—your preferences and tolerance for taste and texture change. in much the same way you can lose a safe food, you can gain a new one. but there’s so much more mental resistance to the idea of ‘gaining’ rather than ‘losing’, in arfid.

you know, objectively, that you can try a tiny bite of that food and if you don’t like it you’ll never have to eat it again. but there’s still that barrier.

try going through this mental list:

Does this food have ingredients in it that I am already familiar with and like?

Does this food look like it has a texture I would be comfortable eating?

Does this food resemble any other foods I consider safe or tolerable?

If any of those are true, than there’s at least *something* you can latch onto, to make this food seem safer in your brain. if it’s all three? even better. arfid recovery is a fine balance between knowing your own boundaries and pushing yourself one step at a time. i can eat rice now—it was laughably underwhelming to try it and realize it was fine actually. there’s a lot of food that won’t be the best thing you’ve ever had, but will be good in conjunction with others, or serve an important nutritional value. you need to move past the dichotomy of grouping foods into ‘favorite, always safe’ and ‘can’t ever eat’.

[arfidmeals]

since arfid is often comorbid with asd, i’d like to talk about the role of rule rigidity/black and white thinking in arfid and what i’ve found is the best mindset to take to deal w this stuff

one of the most frustrating things in the world is people telling you ‘you don’t know if you’ll like this until you try it!’ or ‘you haven’t had this in years, maybe your tastebuds have changed!’

and the instinctual response many people will have to those comments is a resound No. No, i know I won’t like it. No, it won’t have gotten better with time. there’s comfort in knowing that—even as restrictive as they may be—you have rules your brain has to follow when eating. you don’t know how to step outside those—and doing so literally feels impossible.

the worst fucking thing about this is those people can be *right*. your tastebuds do change over time—your preferences and tolerance for taste and texture change. in much the same way you can lose a safe food, you can gain a new one. but there’s so much more mental resistance to the idea of ‘gaining’ rather than ‘losing’, in arfid.

you know, objectively, that you can try a tiny bite of that food and if you don’t like it you’ll never have to eat it again. but there’s still that barrier.

try going through this mental list:

Does this food have ingredients in it that I am already familiar with and like?

Does this food look like it has a texture I would be comfortable eating?

Does this food resemble any other foods I consider safe or tolerable?

If any of those are true, than there’s at least *something* you can latch onto, to make this food seem safer in your brain. if it’s all three? even better. arfid recovery is a fine balance between knowing your own boundaries and pushing yourself one step at a time. i can eat rice now—it was laughably underwhelming to try it and realize it was fine actually. there’s a lot of food that won’t be the best thing you’ve ever had, but will be good in conjunction with others, or serve an important nutritional value. you need to move past the dichotomy of grouping foods into ‘favorite, always safe’ and ‘can’t ever eat’.

[arfidmeals]

i just wanted to share this here for my friends with arfid/gut issues/other people who struggle to eat while grappling with food rules ❤︎

[image description - a post by user @chloeshayden on threads that reads: "Reminder for my ARFID/gut issue girlies that the only bad food is food that is not mentally or physically unsafe for you and that breakfast/dinner foods are fake. The only thing I can stomach today is Açai bowls and so that has been lunch and dinner ! Want to eat pasta for brekkie? Perfect !!!! A smoothie for dinner ? Great !!!! Your body won’t let you eat anything except gelato? Eat gelato !!!! ‘Fed is best’ doesn’t only apply to kids." end image description.]

[arfidmeals]

shoutout to all the people with ARFID that have “unusual” safe foods

but also to those that have stereotypical ones

shoutout to all the people with ARFID that aren’t able to get treatment for whatever reason

but also to those that are

shoutout to all the people with ARFID that are overweight/a normal weight

also to the ones that are underweight

shoutout to all the people with ARFID that got dismissed by professionals

also to the ones that didn’t

shoutout to all the people with ARFID that have a comorbid ED/other condition (either physical or mental)

also to those that don’t

shoutout to all the people with ARFID that are not on the autism spectrum

also to the ones that are

shoutout to all the people with ARFID that have more than one subtype

also to those that fit into one subtype

shoutout to everyone with ARFID cause this illness freaking sucks. You are valid, I see you and you’re not alone.

[arfidmeals]

[arfidmeals]

couscous salad my best friend couscous salad.