On holiday and having a nightmare with food

[FoodAnxiety]

Is anyone else like this? I feel like a freak, I feel like I'm spoiling everyone else's holiday.

I have anxiety around food and vomiting bugs, so I'm super-careful about where we eat, checking TripAdvisor ratings, etc. and being easily put off restaurants.

So we're in Italy - should be easy enough to find nice restaurants here?? But I'm so hesitant to eat out in case we get food poisoning, and I'm really fussy about where we eat.

Help me - how can I deal with this so I can enjoy holidays and not affect my family?

At the moment I feel so useless, so stupid that I just wonder what the point of me is.

Thank you! Ds came back for me, we went out and ate a nice meal.

😂😂 I'll try to.

Yes, the food and animal husbandry standards in America don't fill me with joy.

Because I was stressed and it felt the best thing to do. Do you understand that?

And we often go on SC holidays but they're not always practical! And I want to enjoy eating out and not be a bad role model for the Dc.

It’s definitely time for some cbt. You can self refer to your local iapt service when you’re back. You deserve to be able to enjoy experiences with your family.

The restaurants and cafes in Rome will speak English. Stay with pasta and pizzas. You can eat on Via Veneta - the whole street is pavement cafes..

Most Italian restaurants will have plain or veggie pasta options or sides of veg. As long as it is hot and fresh you are unlikely to get sick. Look for where the locals eat.

Hi OP. Sorry to hear about anxiety but pleased to hear you are preserving.
I lived in Rome for 3 years, with 3 young children, none of us ever became unwell with any food at all. Nor did anyone I know there. The food quality is very high there & also restaurants will do you very simple tomato 'pomodoro zucca' sauce for kids if you ask them, they are always happy to accommodate children.
Rome is fabulous, hope you can enjoy your holiday. If all else fails go for pizza - lots of veggie options, it's very cheap & delicious 😋

I meant persevering not preserving!

This is one thing you can do to help yourself.

you know things felt easier before trip advisor so stop using it.

I know it can feel impossible but if you try your hardest to use willpower to ban yourself from going on it then you won’t be able to see what’s written (which is someone’s opinion so you kind of have to take with a pinch of Salt anyway)
you are fuelling your anxiety and doing yourself a disservice.

i think you are right about cbt too.
its great that you are aware that this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue and that you need a bit of support. Use this holiday experience op! this is that last holiday you will allow your anxiety to ruin, tell yourself I am going to be brave and do the work I need with support to manage this because my family deserve more than this but more than that I deserve more than this.

in the mean time though ditch trip advisor and stick to some of the examples you have had on this thread to get through this holiday.

good luck

stick to hot food OP and restaurants frequented by locals and you will be fine. pizza in particular should be completely fine as any germs will get killed in the hot oven, especially if you stick to veg pizza. let the others eat as they will.

Italy is pretty safe foodwise. probably better than the uk especially as so much of the produce is fresh and seasonal

A friend of mine reports she went to India and managed to avoid bugs by sticking to vegetarian food.

I sympathise. I sometimes have a day on holiday when I don’t feel well and I’ve realised it’s the change in water. Not just abroad but going to a different area in the uk also. I drink bottled water wherever I go now. It definitely does help. I avoid salads or anything that could have been washed in water and ice in drinks. Sticking to hot cooked food is best. No shellfish to be on the safe side.

Where does your hope or expectation for 'perfect' come from?

Is perfection important for you?

There loads of decent places in rome. Stop checking reviews online because things change or you may not get rhe xperience even if it promises to be good then will be even more disappointed. Just go with what looks like a clean place from outside settings, if it's busy itl be decent and spot the locals. Hard to gonwrong with pizza , pasta etc if ds is veggie. Maybe give any seafood a miss to be on the safe side and enjoy. P.s. you need cbt when u get back.

I understand how you feel tbh. I would say Rome is a good choice but stick with the busier restaurants and with popular menu choices like a simple margarita.

Also anything deep fried is unlikely to give you the shits.

things felt easier before trip advisor so stop using it.

That. It's not even as though TA is remotely reliable for restaurants. People have massively different tastes and requirements, and (as it's the case on my town) often the highest rated place will be something like a greasy spoon that just happens to have a massive clientele, or pushes people to review it there. While a really lovely little restaurant on a side street is way down the listings because it only has eight tables and doesn't persuade people to leave reviews.

Go back to just wandering, reading menus and choosing somewhere that looks nice.
As so many people have said, Italy is pretty much the best place for food being really fresh and cooked to order. And everywhere will serve you a basic tomato or tomato and veg sauce if you ask then to, even if it's not on the menu.

you can get delicious pizza in Rome cooked in pizza ovens at a very high temperature- surely that’s enough to allay anxiety? These places do vegetable side dishes, salads, charcuterie also (I realise you wouldn’t have cold meats but others could). Would that be somewhere to start?

Or even just live on pizza. It's made to order on Italy, and served fresh out of the hottest of ovens. It must be impossible to get food poisoning from pizza.

Ha! I was fractionally beaten to it by @Renamed !

Chips?!

They're in Italy, not the Costa del Sol. 🙄

I can understand getting food poisoning in Turkey or Egypt, but certainly not in Italy. They're too food proud.

I'm currently in Japan as a vegetarian and it's very hard work trying to find the hidden meat in things! Haven't eaten meat in over 26 years so am worried that if I accidentally eat it, it will completely screw up my digestion.

This used to be me
I'm not cured but sertraline has helped a lot!

It’s your holiday too. If you feel too stressed to eat out then don’t eat out. You need to give yourself a massive break here, this isn’t going to be resolved in one trip. You won’t ruin the holiday.

Avoid seafood, but food poisoning is highly unlikely. Also it's a bit random - I don't think there are safe/dangerous foods as such: most food poisoning is down to handling of food/dirty utensils etc. As I say, highly unlikely in Rome so I would just have whatever you fancy....except shellfish.