r/PickyEaters

Did you eventually start liking it, or do you still hate it?

So this is a repost from r/arfid but it says that this subreddit may be a better place for my question. I got one answer on another but I need another opinion since my post in ARFID isnt getting much traction.

Hi so I am a 13m and I haven’t really had a history with picky eating up until a like a couple months ago. So just for background info I have extreme contamination anxiety (as well as social but Thats not important) and possible ocd (my sister has it and I show symptoms). So some foods I cannot eat include melted shredded cheese, cereal, Mac and cheese, corn, canned and fresh mushrooms, key lime pie, graham crackers, and frozen yogurt tubes. It seems like the foods i can’t eat are expanding every day. So backstory on some of the foods, I had a burrito one day and decided to save the rest for later that night, I reheated it at like 12am not really thinking much of it. I took a bite and there was so much cheese in my mouth I started gagging and almost threw up. I threw the burrito away. Another time I reheated a meal that had cheese in it and I ate some and got a glop of cheese and started gagging, spit it back into the bowl, and threw everything away I haven’t eaten melted shredded cheese since. For the cereal i was eating some cinnamon toasters (off brand Cinnamon Toast Crunch) and I took a bite and it just tasted off and I gagged and threw it away and haven’t eaten cereal since. I could gag just thinking about the cheese and cereal. For the frozen yogurt tubes i was eating one one day and I just didn’t like the residue it left on the roof of my mouth. I spit it out and haven’t eaten it since. I don’t like Mac and cheese because I ate it and it tasted too much like the Mac and not the cheese I guess? (And there was melted shredded cheese in it. Im okay with powdered cheese and cheese sauce) and I haven’t eaten it since. Now for the other foods i dont know where I even heard of this but I was searching up the amount of bugs allowed in certain foods i was eating, and it absolutely disgusted me. Now about the graham crackers i was eating some and I saw holes in it that weren’t apart of the design and it disgusted me and I threw it away and haven’t eaten them since. Now more on the bugs, I don’t want to say exactly how many bugs are allowed due to the fact that this subreddit is about arfid and some people have really bad anxiety but corn, mushrooms, ingredients in key lime pie, and ingredients in graham crackers have an allowance of bugs in them. (Sorry if this is really unorganized but I don’t really care.) my appetite has been getting really small like one day we had egg rolls, rice, and broccoli and I had 1-2 vegetable egg rolls, like 3 florets of broccoli and threw the rest away. I didn’t even touch the rice. My anxiety has been so bad one day i was drinking water out of my water bottle and swallowed something solid. It disgusted me so much I forced myself to throw up just to feel reassured that there were no bugs in me. I have lost 11 lbs since to middle/end of July. Is this arfid? I feel like it might not be because I don’t have a history with picky eating but this is really jarring to not be able to eat some of my favorite foods.

sometimes I try including like one little broccolini sprout or a cooked veggie but I cannot swallow it, it makes me feel like I have to gag. I hate that I almost only like beige food like butter toast, nuggets, cereal. I feel like a toddler but I‘m 26.

I don't like Thai food but my schools chef and my mom's boyfriend both keep making Thai food and I live at my school 5 days a week and I keep vomiting it out and my mom's boyfriend is the primary cook when I'm home so I can't ignore the food

My 5.5-year-old son is not taking eggs, milk, or health drinks. What should we do? How can we give these to him?

I am so bored with our protein, we have a restrictive diet, allergies, and I have developed aversions due to my pregnancy that never went away fully. I experience a lot of food boredom with our diet in general. With protein, I need way more of it, but I have worked myself in a hole and am not sure how to work my way out.

What are some creative ways to eat protein?

Here's what I cannot do:

- Dairy, eggs, or soy. Either I am allergic or they generally mess with me. I can cheat with goat cheese if I am careful.

- Fish or seafood. I can maybe manage tilapia or salmon, at most, once a month. Maybe. I tried fish soup and it was a disaster.

- Turkey burger. No matter what I cannot disguise the taste and I hate it.

- Lamb or veal (ethically I refuse.)

- Rotisserie chicken (this is a mixed ethics/gross out issue. I can trick myself into eating them maybe once every two or three months.)

- Certain sausages, I'd say its 50/50

- Edited to add: we avoid pork due to how unhealthy they are, but I don't dislike the taste.

I am honestly willing to try any suggestions to overcome the food boredom and find better ways or creative ways to eat protein. I do refuse to change my ethical aversions, like lamb, but for example fish, I would happily eat if I could get around the taste.

edited because everyone has been asking:

- I DO eat tons of beef, chicken, canned tuna, nuts and beans, bacon (because I refuse to give it up) and turkey bacon (somehow it doesn't gross me out.) I don't like bison but I do eat venison. most other exotic options like duck or elk that others have mentioned, are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive.

- I'm not going to get much into the ethics of my food choices because it just seems to be causing debate, which isn't really helpful to the context of this post.

thank you all for caring ❤️ I appreciate the overwhelming amount of responses and I got a lot of good ideas!

What does everyone else put on picky plates i make 3 today. Trying to mix things up but still use what they like

i'm curious if anyone here has actually changed their mind about a food after avoiding it for years. i've tried some foods more than once and still can't get past them. was there anything that eventually clicked for you?

Growing up in my house there were two choices for meals – eat it or get a job, even if you are only ten, and go buy your own food. If any of my siblings expressed distaste, there was always somebody to say I’ll take it. Nobody got by with being fussy. Consequently at 77 I will pretty much eat anything. Can I have seconds and what is it?

By Wednesday, I usually feel like throwing the chicken and rice right out the window. I’ve started making two different sauces or adding different vegetables midweek, and that helps a little. But by Friday, the monotony of the main dish still starts to get old.

I (19F) live with my older brother and my parents. The two boys are very picky eaters, will not touch vegetables and mainly eat chicken, chips (fries) and Italian food. My mum isn't picky but she basically can't eat most fibres due to stomach issues. As a result the only things they cook are extremely carb-heavy and lack vegetables and protein. (We can afford meat but they act like having more than half a chicken breast each is only for royalty)

The issue is I feel very ill after eating the carb heavy meals they make and I genuinely love vegetables and beans and chickpeas. I'm not shaming their habits but having them forced in me is literally making me feel sick. We also have the rule of having to eat as a family so it's hard to make my own meals with the kitchen space. Any advice on how to handle this?

I am a 15 year old teenager, and the last time I maybe ate a vegetable other than potatoes was when I was 5 years old.

My parents never forced me to eat them as a kid when I disliked them, so I never ended up 'getting used' to them and now whenever I try eating vegetables I feel sick and like throwing it back up, sometimes even the smell makes me sick.

My family says its all in my head and im just picky, but I dont feel like thats the problem because I really DO want to eat vegetables, since my health isnt the best without their nutrients and I fear everyday that by the time Im an adult I'll be extremely sick as well as not wanting to keep annoying my family by them needing to make the same foods all the time just so I'll eat.

I'm not sure whats wrong with me and if I really am just picky, and I want to know how to fix it (maybe ways or recipes to get myself to eat vegetables or ways to trick myself into eating them, stuff like that).

my girlfriend and i have only been dating for about a month, and i’m still learning how specific she is with food. there are things i eat without thinking twice that she won’t touch because of the taste, texture, or how they’re prepared. i don’t want to pressure her or make her feel weird about it, but i’m realizing that even choosing where to eat takes a little more planning than i’m used to. i’m trying to learn what she actually likes instead of assuming she’ll be fine with whatever i pick.

for anyone else dating a picky eater, did it take you a while to adjust too?

I'm most picky about vegetables. I like corn and potatoes, occasionally carrots if they're in something like a stew, and that's about it. I don't even like lettuce, I hate the texture and taste (yes, there IS a taste!!!).

I get labelled as just being fat/unhealthy because of this. I'm not like this by choice. Do you know how BADLY I wish I could like eating a salad?? Sushi??? I would if I could! It feels so embarrassing ordering a burger and taking off everything but the patty and meat.

Don't even get me STARTED on things that have onion in them that aren't meant to! (i.e. not on the packaging/listed on the menu) I'm stuck trying to pick out these little pieces, and even then I can still taste it throughout the meal, and I have to fight myself not to just throw it all away.

If it's not assuming I'm unhealthy, it's calling me a child. Sorry, bud! Some of us just like different things. I'm 20, but I haven't started dating yet, and this discussion is one I'm dreadingggg 🥲

Hi everyone, my first time posting here. I'm a 25 yr old loser with ADHD, depression, and a fairly tight budget. And, of course, I am a picky eater.

Here's the thing. I do not have the energy to cook. I don't have the energy to prep the food, make the food, and I definitely don't have the energy to clean all of the dishes afterwards. I know I need to put in more effort to eat healthy than I am currently, because nearly all of my food is processed in some way. But buying fresh produce is ridiculously, prohibitively expensive, and it goes bad before I can use all of it, if I can push past the executive dysfunction long enough to cook with it at all!

Enter the food known as beans. Beans have a great shelf life/will last way longer than fresh produce and they have a ton of nutritional value. They would be great to incorporate into my diet. The problem with beans is that they are a sensory NIGHTMARE for me. They are gritty and mushy and I'm sensitive enough to the texture that it bothers me even when it's mixed with other foods (ie in a burrito or a pasta/rice dish with other veggies). They are UNBEARABLE. So I wanted to reach out here hoping someone might have recipes or tips on how to incorporate beans into my diet in a way that is tolerable for me. Can they be blended up/pureed and put inside a sauce, perhaps? Is there any way to consume beans without having to deal with that awful, awful texture?

Thank you kindly for anyone who takes the time to help me out. <3

ETA: Thought of another question....I know there are many kinds of beans. Are some beans more tolerable than others?? Is it about the type of bean itself or the way that the bean is cooked that gives it that texture?

i’ve been eating the tyson dino nuggets every day for years, but i think they changed them. they taste a bit different. i’m alright with the perdue ones but they’re not crispy enough, even in the air fryer. need new recommendations to try

my partner is a pretty picky eater, so whenever we try somewhere new i end up checking the menu forever trying to figure out if there’s actually something they’ll eat. i don’t mind working around it, but sometimes choosing a restaurant becomes more stressful than the actual meal. i’ll find somewhere that looks good, then realize almost everything has an ingredient or texture they won’t touch and we’re back to looking again.

for anyone else dating a picky eater, how do you handle eating out without making them feel bad about it?

update: thanks for all the replies, i didn’t expect so many different perspectives on this and a lot of you gave me things i hadn’t really thought about before.

i think i’ve been putting too much pressure on myself to find somewhere that works perfectly every time, so i’m going to try involving my partner more in picking places and checking menus ahead of time together instead of doing all the worrying myself. i really appreciate everyone who shared what works for them.

whenever we have chicken in a soup or broth type of dish, i always look for the breast part because i only want the actual meat. i really don’t like dealing with bones, skin, or those softer parts. the weird thing is i still prefer when the dish is made using a whole chicken chopped into pieces instead of just using boneless chicken breast. somehow it tastes better to me that way, i just only want the breast pieces on my plate.

does anyone else have a food preference that specific where the way it’s cooked matters even if you won’t eat half of it?

Why should I have to pay for a burger that costs the same even though I ask for no salad, no tomato, no lettuce, onion, pickle, beetroot, etc etc. I don't want all that fancy stuff dammit. And I don't want to order it and then take it all off because then I can still taste when the salad has been, like it's contaminated. I end up having to remove all the parts of the bread where the salad has soaked in and thats like 50 percent of it and then my friends laugh.

And then sometimes I want a burger but it's too hard to find anything I can reasonably order without removing 90 percent of it. If more places just had a meat burger but no, that's usually on the kids menu and is the size of a slider.

Sigh. That's all I want, simplicity. Meat, cheese, sauce, bread.

I think I will start to eat more meat gradually, I like KFC and Donner meat but also I may like steak so I'm gonna get a steak tonight, I'm also gonna try loaded fries which is a food with meat and cheese so hopefully I like them cos I had a steak from a resteraunt before and it was nice it was like the burger from the pizza shop which was actually okay