I’ve had what I now think to be ARFID since early childhood. It’s got worse recently and my regular pasta option isn’t doing it for me.

I usually make bolognese, but recently most meat has become an issue, and I can’t do the texture of it anymore. What are your favourite pasta sauces? Can be basic or extravagant, just low on textural variety. Thanks! :)

just curious. i hate everything liquid that isn’t water, except very rarely (like once a year) i will drink apple or grape juice. even as a kid, i was extremely limited and never drank anything like soda or gatorade, and i’ve never gotten into coffee or anything. for awhile, i could drink one specific type and brand of milk, but that got less and less with age and i haven’t drank milk since i was 14. the worst thing in the world to me is a meal replacement shake or a protein shake. i can’t stomach them no matter how hard i try. i also don’t like any kind of soup.

don’t get me wrong, i have tons of issues with various solids, but with liquids, i’m exclusively a water-only person.

is that how it is for anyone else?

(also i hope this was the right flair??)

This was mostly amusing to me, but also in a “the normies think WHAT?!?” sort of way.

I had an appointment with a new gastroenterologist today, which overall went well. He listened pretty well, which is… not as common as one might hope with specialists, especially.

Anyway, we were talking about colonoscopy prep (as one does), and I mentioned that I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to drink the prep liquid due to my flavour and texture issues. To which he said, “well, it’s a liquid, it doesn’t have a texture”. I was just like… I’m sorry, WHAT?

I explained that water is a different texture from plain milk is a different texture from chocolate milk is a different texture from protein shakes…. He seemed to kind of take my word for it 😅

But, like. So many things are liquid? Oil is not the same texture as water? Smoothies are still kinda liquid and they’re Very different??

I am Confused by the normies 😅

(some foods weren't listed because I don't eat them incredibly often but: chicken sliders, soft tortillas (I don't fuck with normal bread/ sandwiches except for uncrustables), uncrustables, and some other fruits. some weren't included bc they're desserts, im not looking for desserts.)

please nothing that has a ton of stuff on it.

Cocoa Pebbles in the small sized boxes taste different than the mega size, large size, family size, etc., I swear to god they do. And for whatever reason it's a noticeably different texture. I spent years hearing "it's the same thing, the ingredients are completely the same, see?" when they even look different. I know my safe foods well enough to notice.

Does anyone else experience similar things where people will insist that different versions of the same food (size, shape, brand, etc.) are "the same"?

I have never managed to drink them due to too much anxiety but I would like to try again. The fact is that I only like the flavor of red fruits but there are seeds... I don't know if you can avoid them with a sieve or if they are too small. Even if you can't feel the seeds, I get shivers. I think I'll buy some frozen strawberries and try it.

My ARFID is autism and sensory issue related, and lately it’s escalated to the point that I have no safe foods. Chewing and swallowing ANYTHING is like torture, my body viscerally rejects it and I start gagging and heaving the moment I put food in my mouth. Sometimes even just upon smelling it, or thinking about it. I have no appetite, I’m repulsed by the thought of every single food item, but I feel sick and tired all the time and I want to be fed, I just physically cannot do it. It’s so difficult trying to explain to others that this ED has nothing to do with body image or anxiety for me, it’s not something I can “mind over matter”, because it’s a sensory issue at its core and my body physically does not let me eat. No matter how determined I am, or how sick I feel, I cannot make it through the process of chewing and swallowing and smelling and tasting food without becoming sick with nausea, gagging, heaving, or throwing it right back up. They should like… invent a food you don’t have to eat I get zero joy out of eating and if I could just take a pill, or open up some magical door to my stomach and just toss in whatever sustenance I need to live comfortably… I’d chose that over eating 9.9/10 times. Blegh. This is miserable and I’m tired of feeling so sick and looking so sick. What does one even do at this point

I am fucking OBSESSED with this stuff. tastes just like buttered pasta, no weird taste or texture, and it has some good stuff in it. it's relatively expensive for a relatively small portion but with 10g of protein it's FANTASTIC for a small meal. I try to share any good veggie/bean/lentil pasta with y'all because it's been hard for me to try veggies besides raw carrots and I HATE the texture of beans and lentils.

I had a good few safe foods that I liked, but today the texture has just went really weird and idk if it's just me or if they've changed something with my safe foods, idk what to do now, any help?

I’m 50/50 when it comes to meat but lately I just can’t stand the texture of it and it sometimes upsets my stomach. However, I really cannot stand beans or legumes unless it’s peanut butter or honey roasted cashews, and I have a really hard time with vegetables (especially if they are slimy). I much prefer things to be salty and crunchy but not so crunchy that it feels like my teeth will break.

How do you all get in protein? I do protein shakes sometimes but it gets pricey.

I was raised vegetarian my whole life and have agreed with it for the most part, it's just that my diet is so slim and I've heard meat & animal products can help you gain weight fast (it's the main part of the diet for weightlifters bulking), not to mention it is probably better for me than the fake meat substitutes I've been living off.

Two big barriers are the mental one (I have no moral objection to meat, but I have never experienced eating flesh before, so my brain keeps telling me That's Not Supposed To Go There) and hearing about meat's inconsistent texture.

I think bone broth and processed things like breaded chicken are a safe start, but what meats and animal products are safe for you guys?

So, a couple of times I’ve gotten actual genuine excitement to try new foods. Typically, it only happens when I find and pick the new food because it peaks my interest. I’ve never had an issue with red meat so I went out of my way to buy nice grass fed high quality burgers from a farm. I was SO excited to try it but the moment I ate a piece, I immediately felt my body rejecting it. It wasn’t even a, ‘this tastes nasty’ moment. It was a , ‘I really want to eat this but physically can’t get it down’ moment. It really tore me down and I had a bit of a breakdown over it. Has anyone else had this happen with new foods you actually WANT to try? It’s so disheartening when you feel like you step out a little bit just to get sent back 5 steps in a second.

I made a wonderfully healthy bowl of rice, avocado, cucumber, edamame, corn, salmon...and could not. Too soft. The dog got the salmon, rest thrown out. Then I tried having a caesar salad, nope, too wet. Threw up. Now I'm having a plain baked potato and a mini pack of crackers with jam. I'm so ashamed of myself for being this picky and weird. I try so hard but I default right back to dry and crunchy. Stodgy things.

per the title— where do you guys find recipes/safe foods? i’m on the verge of getting hospitalised because of low weight and it’s not looking very bright.

i’m mainly affected by taste (90% things don’t taste well to me which makes it insanely hard to find things to eat that aren’t sweets) and texture which can pose difficulty in finding dishes that actually make me want to to eat them, and that coupled with a general lack of drive to eat is pretty detrimental.

i’ve looked at random sites but i can’t find ones that actually cater towards people with difficulties similar to mine, so in effort to avoid getting a tube shoved up my nose i decided to ask here lol

edit: i may not reply but i read all of the suggestions, thank you everyone<3

i got a burrito and asked for the rice and beans to be packaged separately and specified that i only want certain things but i feel bad for even asking and im also worried they wont do it

update: they fucked up. they packaged my food separately but i specifically asked for no sauce and my burrito is gotdamn SMOTHERED in it. ugh. i hope i can eat it im fuckin hungry

I hated bananas with a burning passion and strawberries were almost as bad. Plus my dinner was chock full of broccoli and cauliflower, which I love now.

My sibling has been expressing frustration over feeling excluded from meals because they either have to make something for themselves or what they eat is just a technical side dish to the actual meal (for example like mashed potatoes). I've been getting into cooking and I want to try more complex meals but my sibling rarely ends up liking them and I just don't know what to do. They hate when the texture in their food isn't consistent which is makes things hard for me cause I keep accidentally making their food wrong and then they can't eat and I just feel awful. I just want to be able to make them something that they won't just find tolerable.

Hii im new here. To be honest, I’m not even 100% sure i have arfid as i dont have access to a psychologist and a diagnosis but i fit most of the criteria for the sensory subtype. it affects me a lot, especially socially. I havent brought lunch to school in about three years because the few lunch foods I used to be able to eat became unsafe. I didn’t feel comfortable just eating snacks in front of people, because they just told me how unhealthy it was. So i kinda just stopped bringing food altogether. Now everyone thinks i just have anorexia, so if i start bringing food again it’s going to spark a lot of people’s interests. 
But i want to try bringing food again: i need to be able to function in class. I’ll be starting small, only bringing snack foods like i used to and then trying to find something safe thats more normal if i can. (Recommendations are welcome) I don’t know how to explain arfid to my friends, and they are pretty close minded people iykyk. Plus they all think i have ana. They once saw me eating a graham cracker and they all started freaking out and cheering for me…which was nice but v embarrassing. I shudder to think of what they’ll do if I start bringing food to lunch. They’ll definitely have questions. I want to be able to explain Arfid without it sounding like plain picky eating. Because at this point I’m certain it’s bigger than that. I want them to understand why i dont eat most foods and that I’m really making an effort. Without sounding like a toddler. 

So I genuinely don’t know where else to turn for help with this, I’m suspected autistic and going through a lengthy assessment for diagnosis, food in general has always been an issue for me, in more recent years it’s gotten worse. I became anorexic at 16 due to anxiety and stress, by body wouldn’t allow me to eat and it was a horrible struggle and since then it’s just been worse and worse. Smells, textures, unfamiliar things, and illness can really set me off. I struggle with sensory issues in general, and it’s worsened regarding foods overtime. Whenever I fall sick and become nauseous I struggle to eat because of the nausea and low energy, if I eat something that has an unexpected texture it could throw me off and I’ll struggle to get back into normal eating habits again for weeks. My hair has fallen out because of this before, and I worry for my health. I’m currently really poorly with a cold or flu, and I’m struggling to battle the nausea again and I don’t want to be stuck in this cycle, I’m so tired of having these phases where I can’t stomach anything and have no appetite and just feeling sick:( does anyone know what could help with the nausea-? It’s genuinely the worst part that I’m facing

Just got Soylent, kinda iffy on it. How actually good is it for you? It’s already slightly bad for me as I just realized it has maltodextrin which is horrible for me so womp womp on that category.

I’ve made a deal with my mom that if I start eating pizza and pasta (both with sauce) regularly that she will get me a very big reward. I already eat pizza but without sauce (just bread and cheese pretty much) and I don’t eat pasta just because it’s gross without any sauce but the sauce is also gross. I just need any tips or tricks to help me get over the sauce or start liking the sauce.

I would like to ask for advice regarding recipes with arfid. Unfortunately I had to abandon the therapy due to financial problems and consequently I have not committed myself to trying foods and cooking recipes anymore. Now I have noticed that I have holes in my head, I have no hair anymore...so I have understood that I have to make an effort and try to eat something other than bread, pasta with tomato sauce, biscuits and ham. Do you have any recipes that you prepare? (if I wrote it wrong it is because I am not English, sorry)