My daughter only eats pizza. AMA

[IThinkILikeThisLittleLight]

She has ARFID

Posting to give some insight into what life with ARFID is like

My sibling had kippers on their 'safe' list.

My child that has arfid, would actually starve than try eating anything else. Its taken a long time for him not to vomit at just the sight of some foods.

What are her teeth like?

What's the thoughts behind sufferers mostly sticking to junk foods?

(No judgment, I'm obese because I like too much junk food, but you don't really heat of ARFID sufferers only eating salad or vegetables. I wondered why).

It’s so hard. I find the ‘upfs=poison!!!’ brigade on here so upsetting because aye they’re not brilliant nutritionally, but they’re better than nothing, which is what my son would eat if his safe foods weren’t offered.

I relapsed a good portion of my progress when I fell pregnant and morning sickness made me revert back to safe foods, but I eat a much wider range of foods.

I'm an adult with ARFID and also relapsed during pregnancy. I also find that periods of stress make me narrow my diet again. I think it's because eating a wider range of foods takes a lot of mental energy and when I'm stressed I don't have the bandwidth.

My child requested carrot cake for their third birthday, they love it. What's wrong with carrot cake?! Yum!

Mine only eats apples, pears, lettuce and one type of crisps orally.

That said the only reason he is alive is because of his feeding tube.

When DM was small (she’s 82 now) she would only eat beige foods. Bread, potatoes… that was it. She grew out of it, most do.
DM took me to the G.P because I wouldn’t eat much at all, I was very skinny. There was nothing wrong, I just had a small appetite, which I’ve grown out of… unfortunately.
The homemade pizzas don’t sound too bad, it sounds like a dream diet… chocolate pastries and pizza.
I haven’t read the whole thread, I would just give a supplement and wait awhile. If you are worried I’d see what the GP says or can advise regarding Arfid.

Does she have tummy aches/normal bowel movements etc? I’m not a poo troll, you don’t have to answer. Just something to look out for as I had a few tummy issues as a child.

One of my relatives who I really think had ARFID ate plain toast, dates and lightly toasted teacakes. For years.

I simply can’t imagine being married to someone with that diet. Does it not drive you mad/repulse you? Does he try to get over it with therapy? Do you never go out to eat?

my ds wts only peanut butter,toast,pasta with pepper on it,rice, chips and maragareti pizza from dominos or pizza express (cook at home)occasionally he will have a greggs sausage roll.

I identify so much with what everyone has said on this thread and strongly suspect my eldest son suffers from arfid. I guess we are lucky in a way as his safe foods include some fruits and vegetables. It's the inflexibility that's so hard and the knowledge that he will go without food if he can't find something 'safe'. Sadly at 18, he's not going to 'grow out of it'. I'd be overjoyed if he'd eat a pizza 😂

I have an autistic 7yo whose diet is becoming increasingly restricted. He had a pretty varied diet until a year ago and he's started dropping what I thought were safe foods, no veggies, not eating breakfast. He would eat only crackers and crisps if he could. He's not got ARFID yet but I'm very afraid he's going to go that way and I don't know what to do.

At what point and when did she get diagnosed woth arfid? My 14yo has a small list of things he will eat, though more than your daughter, and wonder whether to take him to gp.

I think my kids would not be impressed if I made them a carrot cake for their birthday
They love the fancy fondant cakes

I just wanted to say I’m so sorry about what you’re going through - I’m part of an arfid Facebook group and I know how painful it can be. Children literally on feeding tubes as they’re starving to death. I haven’t RTWT so I hope you’re getting decent questions and not too much ignorance.

Surely this only becomes concerning if DD starts demanding pineapple on pizza?

Yes. Pringles. S&V disco's are her only crisps.

Sweets are haribo golden bears.

And those zoo cracker things

If she actually has arfid she would literally starve to death if not those feeds. It’s an eating disorder.

I'm pretty sure it's because fruit and vegetables don't reliably have exactly the same taste and texture every time.

I don't have arfid but I'm a fussy eater, I love fruit but I find it off putting that you could bite into a delicious sweet perfectly ripe and juicy pear, or a bland hard powdery tasteless one... ditto with other fruit and veg.

Also, someone with arfid still needs calories, and so I'm guessing their body will crave calorie-rich food... if they hardly eat anything, better it's something that'll give them energy. A celery stick isn't going to cut it, is it?!

Have you ever made bagel pizza in the air fryer? Very nice! But the pepperoni tends to blow away during cooking 😅

🙄
Try educating yourself.

Sounds so hard!
My DS age 8 is autistic and has a limited diet due to sensory issues with food and I find that frustrating enough. He won’t eat any fruit or veg at all and absolutely nothing potato-based (so no chips waffles mash jackets..) and no fish, so meals are quite limited. Thankfully he likes spag Bol, mac n cheese and chicken curry with rice (all done the same way every time!) so we can sit and eat some things together. I always feel terrible about his packed lunches! I read so much about the benefits of cutting down UPFs for autistic kids but then because of his ASD that would be really hard (if not impossible) so it’s kind of a vicious circle!