ARFID-what do you or your child with ARFID eat?

[AuADHD]

I’m sat here eating the same comfort food that was safe back in 1994 and it got me wondering what other people with ARFID eat. What are your safe foods and what are your absolutely won’t eat?
Mine:
Black coffee with vegetarian pâté on toast.
Pizza but preferably homemade or from certain restaurants. If it doesn’t look right though I won’t eat it.
Dry cereal, preferably Frosties, Golden Grahams or Cheerios
My homemade soup
Chips
Biscuits

I eat more than that but not a lot of variety.

Is there a reason most of the ‘safe’ foods are junk food, sweets? Is it the salt or sugar in them?

My mum was told when she took us to the DR as kids that as long as we were eating fruit we wouldn't perish. My kids both love at least a few fruits each so I make sure they have 5 a day but often it's hidden lentils, tomato based sauces kept very plain, sweet corn for 1, peas for the other and the rest is fruit. They both eat Bolognese/chilli on a good day so we make half mince, half lentils, very bland blended tomato and onion based sauce.

They were both weaned on everything, before aged 2 my youngest ate kidney beans like sweeties and eldest fave food was a frozen veg mix from Morrison's. I'm hoping it comes back round.

It's the uniformity. Every cracker in a packet is the same, the same cannot be said if every raspberry in a packet.

My daughter is under investigation and currently she will eat chips, but only crinkle cut from Tesco.
Salt and vinegar rice cakes, but only one specific brand.
Schar gluten free muffins in the individual bags
Some fruits.

That's literally it at this point, she used to love pasta and tuna and chicken etc but she won’t eat any of it anymore. Anything else at all will result in very distraught emotional breakdowns.

Our daughter’s diet was far more restricted than any outlined here. We had a paediatrician who was happy to make referrals but there was little or no help. A few Clinical Psychologists started out with the intention of widening her diet but quickly moved on to other things.

We were invited to appear in a documentary. I was against it at first due to publicity and potential effects on her. She ended up kind of negotiating her own terms as it meant we got to see Dr Gillian Harris and Dr Liz Shea (Clinical Psychologists and experts in the field) who we hadn’t been able to get referred to.

It was the first time we and she really felt listened to and understood. We attended a parent event too.
They worked on acceptance ( including for parents) and relaxation therapy.
Nothing happened overnight but they managed to reintroduce one previously discarded food.

Any books or courses by these wonderful Psychologists are highly recommended.
This first book is dedicated to our daughter.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autistic-Teens-Avoidant-Eating-Workbook/dp/1787758591/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=1BZEYBSMFHQP9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MK1sqZ5uwaWkOC4fZjm0Yp4nECpy2aqfQVxevPliRhs.yqIm9nrGWVUe9K7-QTp7M3oenhLZgDpW3Lx1NPytswQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=dr+elizabeth+shea&qid=1748675201&sprefix=dr+elizabeth+shea%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avoidant-Children-including-Spectrum-Conditions/dp/1785923188

https://www.arfidawarenessuk.org/post/understanding-avoidant-eating-part-one-tips-and-points-for-parents-carers-medical-professionals

Not diagnosed, but both my DC only eat limited foods. Things like white bread, specific crackers, plain pasta (one brand only), selected fruit, specific yogurts and occasionally the odd bit of lamb or chicken in tiny quantities.

I was also very picky as a child, but eat most things now, so there is hope! It is thoroughly maddening in the meantime though.... and the judgment from other people is difficult.

My teenage daughter hasn't had a diagnosis but Im fairly convinced she has it - she actually asked me the other day if I had heard of AFRID.
Nor sure knowing if she may have a condition will help her?

We try not to pressure her to eat new stuff - we gave up to be honest and we didn't want the eating to be a big issue, you like what you like and that's it as long as there are some veg/fruit eaten then we’re happier. She doesn't eat any meat though so finding other protein sources is a struggle.

Her go to favourites:
Pasta/plain or a specific tomato sauce. (A sprinkle of grated cheese but this is often turned down or picked off!)
Pizza cheese/tomato
White rice
Most forms of chips waffle/curly/regular
white baguette/crackers
raw carrots/peppers and cucumber/tomatoes
crisps ( she would live on these)
cereals containing chocolate.
yogurt/ maple syrup.
apples/strawberries/raspberries.
white chocolate and sweets ( which she would also live on given the chance) I think she craves the sugar for energy as she has limited protein intake.

it is concerning and she is also very slim - we don’t want this to turn into anorexia/ bulimia.

How to people in developing countries deal with ARFID in children?
Many replies on here seem to suggest their children will eat pizza & macaroni cheese….are these types of food available worldwide, or do hungry children eat what’s given to them?
Serious question.

It's not something I've really encountered much but I've always been curious about how you know what is a safe food or not. Is it experience or instinctive?

I understand the uniformity element of it but even some of the options given here, I avoid because of the unpredictable variation (as a non ARFID person).

Eg I disagree that it's hard to find a bad chip or that pizzas are consistently good. I mention these because they seem to feature heavily in these lists but I find them very inconsistent! And, if I'm eating out, are things I would avoid for that reason.

My daughter's ex boyfriend had it (he was also autistic) and his diet was extremely limited. I understand he ate more at home but would only eat dry cooked pasta, a particular chicken curry or pizza. If we went out to dinner, we would always make sure we went somewhere he'd be able to get something to eat but he was happy to go to new places (occasionally) to eat but only if he could get those foods. But, to me, they vary a lot in terms depending where you get them from.

All of the previously mentioned stuff. But also Young's fish pies (not the one with sweetcorn or paisley, though). Fish is generally a no-go but the texture and beige-ness makes it a notable exception.

We have a similar story! My safe foods were:
Plain chicken or ham
Pastry
Toast
VERY SKINNY chips
Bacon
Crisps
All fruit (mum breathed a sigh of relief!)

Basically came about after a prolonged illness when I was younger and had to be force-fed. Couldn't eat anything mushy or wet after that.

Nowadays with the help of moving out of the house and trying things on my own, as well as a husband who introduces things with no pressure, I'm a pretty good eater! Still no tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, salad. But still.

Mum was very good with it, and put her foot down with certain things (no fizzy drinks, sugary cereal, fried things on a regular basis. Used to get a box of Weetos/Frosted Flakes for birthdays 😂)

Grateful to have got past it, but couldn't do it without patience for myself and understanding.

I don't know the specific answer to your question, but I do know that there were many times as a child that I chose to go hungry because I couldn't stand the food that was served to me, and there was no option to have an alternative.

@JustAmusedMe
Info on the links I posted earlier
Can be a range of things often sensory based. Frequently brand specific.
Our daughter always checked a packet or date and sniffed an item before eating. Anything near a sell by date was usually not the correct texture and would be rejected.
Any change “ new improved” etc in a safe food would lead to rejection.
Attempts to hide foods swap one brand for another in a packet etc ( all Grandma) led to rejection and never eating the food again.
Receptacles or plate colour etc can also be important especially when young.

Dd is in her teens and I suspect she is ND but she doesn’t want to explore this. She ate wonderfully as a baby but from around 3 became very restricted and now eats very limited foods-
chicken nuggets or breaded chicken. Could try small amounts of plain cooked chicken breast. But like one nugget size piece.
Ham- has to be honey roast and only some types will suit. Ham can be plain or on white bread no butter.
cream crackers or oatcakes with butter and one type of cheese
most biscuits or chocolates
milk
ice cream
chips, roast potatoes, wedges
lettuce
raw carrots
apples and quite a few fruits as well - has recently tried making her own smoothies.
yoghurt- smooth type.

She is keen to try to eat more and we support her in trying even when she isn’t successful. She hates standing out and if we are to eat out we always check the menu as she needs a plan- often she would get the kids meal but now she is embarrassed at this… so she wants to change and widen her food choices. It’s so hard.

i have been volunteering on the helpline of an ED charity for a few years now.
ARFID is one of the EDs that is the most difficult to diagnose because, unfortunately, it is often misconstrued as “picky eaters” “fussy” etc.

there are also so many layers in ARFID as with all EDs but for ARFID you had all the sensory (texture, smell, taste) together with anxiety, control, the voice, etc so it is very hard.

the PPs who have mentioned eating on their own terms, knowing how the food is made so prefering homemade, studying the menus in restaurants, or ordering chips, scream ARFID to me especially in an adult as no they didnt “grow out of it”.

the recommendations we go on the helpline is to really push for a diagnosis, I know it is hard and underfunded but push for it.
in the meantime let the child/adult

• meal plan
• cook as much as possible
• ask them to try and describe how that particular food feel: is it the smell? Etc
• it is also about familiarity so keep showing the food: step 1 look at it and describe it, 2 put it on your plate, 3 touch it with your finger, 4 smell it, 5 touch your lip, 6 your tongue, it can weeks and month to go from 1 step to the next but as someone said her child has now discovered that different kind of potatoes is good.
• patience
• let them serve themselves do not plate up: it s also about giving them back the control

good luck

amy questions please ask or DM me

It’s actually comforting to read of others who are like me. I went veggie at 13/14 and before that ate most things but was very particular about it. Only M&S wafer thin ham for example. I didn’t drink the milk from the cereal bowl. Hot chocolate was difficult incase a skin formed on top. I remember being 11 and refusing hot chocolate my mum made because for some reason we only had full fat milk instead of the normal skimmed. Refusing to eat in hospital because the ham wasn’t M&S wafer thin. As a teen I’d regularly eat a big packet of toffee bonbons for dinner instead of proper food. I’d eat chips and curry from the chippy. I went through a garlic mushroom phase and it had to be exactly half the packet. So certain foods and a certain number and always in a certain way. My children are dreadful at times but will always eat some kind of vegetable soup.

Tore mentioned above is amazing. I love his Facebook reels. So relatable and I admire how he tries new things. It would be a straight no from me.
We often talk about going abroad on holiday and I don’t know what the hell we’d eat
So done mentioned contamination and that’s a big thing for me being veggie. Food prepared by others is also challenging due to lack of hygiene. I also can’t eat with others except my children because I find it so disgusting.
I had pâté on homemade bread toast again this morning. I’m watching my carbs otherwise I’d have it for every meal today.

Failure to thrive, malnutrition, nutrient deficiencies, sometimes death. Or manage to eat just enough to maintain life but not develop normally

Pizzas are a living nightmare, cheap cheese pizza from supermarkets, the pizza in our local softplay and dominoes cheese pizza but only slices without bubbles and no pizza where there's no cheese overlying any of the sauce. That's my 7 yr old.

For me I didn't eat pizza for years because Goodfellas pizzas had such an awful time wxture I couldn't trust any pizza.

Same! Being hungry was preferable to having say a slice of tomato, a leaf, fish, anything with a sauce, beef, the salty gravy my granny made the risk of encountering an onion etc etc

Don't know about those suffering famine but ARFID has been observed and studied in a number of countries including those where food culture is very different to the UK, and where food has historically been less abundant.Study

@fourelementary
If she wants to try that’s a great start. Look at the Teen workbook by Dr Liz Shea
Link in my earlier post.

Without being rude, when do you diagnose ARFID and not just being a picky eater?
Looking at the lists my daughter eats more but is still limited.
She will eat
White bread sandwich - cheese (has to be very mild) or ham
Fruit stars
Fairy cake or Barney bear
Strawberries
Red grapes
Croissant (cheap processed ones from Tesco)
Dry crispy bites, chocolate (only the ones from Aldi)
Pasta (specific sauce from Tesco)
Chicken curry (specific sauce from Aldi, but this is waining and not being eaten as much)
Turkey dinosaurs
Asda carrot/potato waffles
McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries (will some times eat nuggets from other places but generally won't eat other chips)
Sometimes baked beans

Listed out like this it seems a lot more than some, so guessing just fussiness

Have you considered dauphinoise, sliced up and cooked with butter, milk/cream and cheese? Still looks like potatoes, but with added protein?

@Tia86

It’s a professional diagnosis

This is from ARFID Awareness UK

Defining ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)?

Avoidant eating behaviour is seen in every one to some extent. The behaviour is on a continuum, from those who will eat anything and everything, to those who have strong disgust and neophobic responses. These responses are linked to sensory hyper-reactivity to sensory stimuli. Those who have problems with tastes, smells and the feel of things are more likely to be avoidant eaters.

Some children will be mildly avoidant – usually described as ‘fussy eaters’; some children will eat anything, (their parents are described as ‘lucky’!). Avoidant eating, linked as it is to sensory hypersensitivity, is largely genetically determined; it has little to do with what parents do or don’t do at mealtimes. Some mealtime strategies can, however, make things worse.

Diagnosing ARFID?

This is a relatively new diagnostic term devised by the American Psychiatric Association (DSM 5, 2013) to describe children who are difficult to feed because of the small number of foods they will accept. The main characteristics are:
A diet made up of very few foods - often as few as 5-20 food items, usually dry, beige carbohydrates. An accepted food may have to be a specific brand, flavour or type. Bread, for example, may have to be soft and white, with no crusts and of a particular brand.
Foods are refused because of their sensory properties. This may include the look, taste, feel in the mouth, and smell of food.
An extreme fear of new food (the neophobic response). There is an extreme disgust response to foods that are not normally accepted. This may include gagging or vomiting, even at the sight of the food.
A seeming lack of interest in eating or lack of appetite. Children will go without food rather than eat foods that are unacceptable to them.
A limited dietary range which might mean that the diet doesn’t include enough vitamins, minerals or fibre for optimum health and well being.
Restrictions on the social aspects of eating. The restricted diet and fear of food may lead to problems with the child’s ability to cope with school mealtimes and take part in social functions.
Managing avoidant eating is not always easy, especially as it often, but not always, occurs in children on the autism spectrum. The usual strategies that parents and carers might be advised to use to get their child to eat will not work, and may even make the problem worse.