TLDR: my kid is picky. I worry about him and wonder if I'm causing more harm than good by continuing to expose him to non-preferred food and ask he try it sometimes (but never force him). Advice welcome.

My four year old has been increasingly picky over the last few years. I've been perusing posts here, and I'm trying to not spiral into anxiety thinking my kid could actually have an eating disorder possibly. If he does, he does and we would support him however we need to - but my brain tends to jump to the worst case scenarios when I read about others' challenging experiences and see parts of my own in them. I'm trying to not armchair diagnose my kid before I do more research, talk to his doctor, etc.

Right now foods he will eat include applesauce and yogurt pouches, almond butter biscuits, plain breakfast biscuits, chicken nuggets, apples, goldfish, veggie straws, almost any carby snack (eg pretzels), pancakes, protein waffles, muffins.

As a baby and even young toddler he'd eat almost anything. But he's regressed with food he'd even eat in the last couple years - like pb&j sandwiches. For the most part I'd attribute this to being picky (I was too, as a kid) and have been trying to not push it while still offering non-preferred foods with ones I know he'll eat. He is obsessed with the applesauce or yogurt pouches. He'd eat 30 of these a day if he could. We've been trying to find creative ways to get in other nutrients (did you know a snack size bag of gold fish has 4g of protein?).

He was in OT for a while for fine motor stuff, but we stopped going to that due to cost. We did mention the eating piece when he started going, but that was never addressed otherwise.

He will pretty consistently eat his preferred foods when hungry. He tells us when he's hungry. He won't always eat during "meals," but if we save his breakfast waffle and he tells me an hour later he's hungry and I give him that he will eat it.

I know this is all over the place, but I'm just asking for input or advice. I'm nervous to (but will) bring this up to his pediatrician because I worry she'll brush it aside. My older kid is also picky, but she has a few foods from every food group she'll eat.

We have a strong presence of neurodivergency within the family, I know there is a sensory component. At what point should I be concerned? He seems to be growing. He seems to be keeping weight on. There's just very little variety in anything he consumes.

Am I wasting my time and food by continuing to put small servings of non-preferred foods on his plate or in his lunchbox? For example, I'll put a single carrot. He never eats it. I stopped making sandwiches, as he didn't eat them. I put the breakfast biscuits generally as his main lunch entree for cold lunches, in addition to his pouches and apples and a carby snack.

I never force him to eat foods he doesn't like, but I do ask him to try it sometime. He usually refuses. The only time I say he "has to try it" is if he wants an additional treat, something other than what he's been given. And I usually tell him he can choose something on his plate to "try," and note there's always multiple options of things he will eat on the plate. For example, he may have chicken nuggets, apples, and grapes on the plate. He wants a third applesauce pouches. I tell him he needs to try eating something else on his plate before I'll give him a third applesauce (I recognize how ridiculous this may sound given he has actual apples on his plate and he's just wanting them in a different form).

He gets cranky and has behavior issues sometimes and I think it's because he's HUNGRY. So while yes, it's apples in the applesauce pouches, the physical apple may (? Idk I'm not a food scientist or dietician so call me out) fill him better or leave him satiated more efficiently. Like when I've eaten a big bowl of fruit vs drinking a smoothie. I'm often hungry sooner from the smoothie alone.

Came across this sub probably because of a recent post I made in the pregnant sub. I am pregnant and this thanksgiving despite everyone knowing I am the pickiest person they collectively know I was asked all day "are you sure you don't want to try it, the baby might like it" the baby is in me bro. I have to like it first. I do not eat a single thanksgiving food besides apple pie and candied yams. I do not eat any form of noodles, rice, boned meat, cooked vegetables, gravy, none of it. The noodles for some reason is the hardest thing for people to wrap their heads around. They look at me like I have 5 heads when I say no, not even mac and cheese or spaghetti. I am not diagnosed with ARFID but sometimes I do wonder lol.

I am on a medical Keto diet and have autism and ADHD, I have supplements from a medical brand called Nutricia which can be ordered free from the NHS in the uk. There is one wich is powdered fat, a protein one and one with carbs. THEY DONT REPLACE FOOD. but can be helpful if you struggle to get enough nutrition . Feel free to ask more because I have researched and studied them and use them

It was really good. Beef and mushroom lasagne, chips and a side salad. At the start of this year I didn't even touch salad or mushrooms or even lasagne- so the fact that I cleared my plate makes me feel good about myself.

And I gotta say, it was a good meal!

Visiting my mom in nyc. She couldnt understand how my 4 uear old son wouldn't eat one of the 15 things she's offered him today. She was angry and told me he'd eat of hungry enough. It was a long and stressful day that ended with us ordering McDonald's via ubereats because every pizzeria was closed (he will eat pizza).

Anyways, just here to say it fucking sucks. I've come to terms with it for the most part but it's hard to see others so horrified and think it's your fault that they are picky.

I'm going to Christmas dinner with family that I haven't spent Christmas with before. When my cousin asked me if I have any foods I don't eat because they were deciding what to make for Christmas dinner, I just named 4 things: mayonnaise, mustard, salad dressing, and balsamic vinegar. Those were the only things I won't eat at all that I thought could possibly be in a Christmas dinner meal that would make it so that I couldn't eat the dish at all.

However, I'm starting to wonder if it will be awkward if there are other foods I don't eat at the gathering, when they specifically asked me ahead of time? For instance, I don't like chocolate. I like chocolate candy bars, but I don't like chocolate cake, frosting, cookies, or chocolate chips, so there might be desserts that I won't eat. I didn't mention this because I figure dessert is more of an extra thing, I don't mind not eating dessert. I also don't like breakfast foods at all and I don't like maple syrup, so I probably wouldn't eat what they serve at breakfast, but since they just said Christmas dinner, I just named what might be in a Christmas dinner. Will it be awkward if there are more things I won't eat that I didn't tell them about? Should I have named everything even though it would have been a lot of trouble for them?

Edit: Thanks everyone! I think I'll leave the list as-is. I'm taking a plane trip to see this family and staying at their house, so I can't easily bring my own dish or eat at home beforehand

For 7 years, mealtime was a battle for our family, as our son - full of allergies, and thus already struggling to get proper nutrition - adamantly refused to eat any meal faster than 30 minutes per sitting. He ate tiny portions and was a picky eater both in taste/texture and speed. Doctors side-eyed us and make backhand comments about his lack of growth, being in the 3rd percentile since 1 year old, while we'd (mostly I, his mother) would be in tears desperately feeling like "I've tried everything". I would worry "are they going to take him away from me?" Nursing specialists (because yes, there were problems from infancy) GI specialists, hormone specialists, scopes...you name it - to understand what was holding back his growth, causing him to eat so little food during a mealtime, and so slowly. The kid just didn't like anything....even his "favorites" - it was a 60 - 90 minute battle to finish a meal.

We tried everything - occupational therapy, food chaining, exposure therapy, no-pressure, high pressure, permissive parenting, balanced parenting, rewards, and completely ignoring it.

Then, about a week ago, after giving up on the issue entirely for the past, I dont know, 6 months, it all just suddenly ended. Since then, it hasn't mattered what I put on his plate; he eats the entire thing in a normal amount of time. Things that I even I, someone born and raised on the tales of the food pyramid, would suspect are "too grown up". And the portions are adult sized. He's catching up on lost time, I'm sure.

He describes himself as not picky anymore. So today I ask "are you not picky anymore now because you feel like we will force you, so it's not worth fighting, or is it because you just like food now?". He replied "I just like food now." And he's already gaining weight.

Looking back, I think two things could have happened 1) his sense of control increased when we gave up and 2) maturity.

So there it is. The end of one of the hardest struggles of my life. I remember wanting over and over so badly to jump ahead into the future and just know when this would stop. I hope this story inspires others. Or maybe it upsets someone, because after all, this is Reddit. I just needed to share that sometimes, there is a happy ending. Thanks for reading.

Does anyone have any ideas which box brands of stuffing have the least amount of crunchies (celery, onion, etc)? Doing friendsgiving and multiple of us are autistic with food aversions.

I recently turned 38 and very picky. Hate most ethnic cuisine and most restaurant foods. Mainly like: chicken nuggets, fries, tenders, pizza and Mac and cheese, feel like I’m the only one

How do you guys deal with dates as a picky/not picky couple? I'm super picky and struggle to find things I like at restaurants. My boyfriend will eat anything and sometimes he asks me if I want to try new places. I always feel bad saying I don't want to because I want him to be able to have those fun experiences with me, but honestly it fills me with anxiety when I look at the menu for the place and I'm not sure I'll even like anything there and I'm gonna be forced to try a new thing that I may not like and then I'll be hungry.

Tonight, he asked me if I wanted to go for sushi and I was like sure! I love the all you can eat sushi place because he can have sushi and I can have Chinese food and chicken katsu with the sauce on the side and I won't have to ask anyone to change anything. Then he was like, maybe we can try a new place, and i asked him to send me the menu. We'll the chicken teriyaki might be okay, as it just says it's chicken breast with teriyaki sauce on it. Then I look at the pictures and the chicken teriyaki is like a stir fry, 90% veggies I can't identify and 10% chicken, and it's like 20$ canadian! I really don't want to go spend 20$ on a meal that I won't eat half of and I'll probably end up still hungry, but I don't have the heart to tell him that we can't go. He rarely every picks restaurants as it is cause he's scared i won't like them. What do I do? I hate everything about this situation!!!

I recently got back into the gym and actually want to see myself get stronger this time around. The problem is I dont eat most of the foods people would typically use to increase their protein intake. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions

so like one day my mom made macaroni and i didnt like the new spice she used named "macaroni spice" or smtg?? and i told her when she served it for breakfast and there was no time 2 make smtg else so she js told me 2 give it to someone else and like i eat someone else' food and i said OK and i thought the convo would end there but like

today she made sandwiches and the filling was raw tofu like uncooked and coriander and potatoes and now i already knew i wouldnt like it because i dont like raw tofu nor coriander and specially not when they're mixed together and combos like that so i told my momma and she said "she just says no straight in the face" 2 her friend who visits us frequently and she also bought chips but they were the orange "West indies hot and sweet" lays and ion like spicy sweet combos so i didnt have it either and told my mom i wont eat it so she told me 2 give it to my (food dispenser) brother and brah she was venting 2 her friend abt my picky food habits

IDK WHAT 2 DO HOW DO I FIX MY HABITS OF EATING FOOD AND SAYING WHAT I DONT LIKE SUBTLY bc my mom was hurt by the straightforward rejection like if i eat food ion like i gag and feel like throwing up so i just couldnt "deal w it" BC ID THROW UP AND MAKE MORE MESS FOR MY MOM AND ITD RUIN THE WHOLE NIGHTTT

Hello everyone, first time poster here! For years, I have had my go-to meals and snacks, but as of the past few months, I've been having medical issues that are yet to be solved that happen to involve my stomach getting upset by a lot of different foods. I've had to completely rework my diet. I can't tolerate foods high in fat/grease, spicy foods, and some veggies. This has made eating difficult and scary as my go-to foods do me more harm than good these days. To name a few foods, things like black beans, pizza, burgers, salsa, french fries (that aren't air fried) etc. make me feel sick for hours after eating them until they eventually pass. I'm looking for new meals to try that are still on the "safe for picky eaters" side that are relatively easy to prepare (because i'm sadly not a cooking expert). Any and all ideas are welcome 💖

For my entire life i never touched any fruit or vegetable but yesterday i tried a slice of pear and liked it a bit and today i was sitting in my room and thought "i could go for some pear rn" and i am very happy and proud of myself. Tomorrow i might try an orange or an apple i dunno, orange still looks a bit disgusting to me

As the title says, I have extremely high cholesterol that just came back from a blood test.

Issue is - Im a picky eater with lots of sensory issues. I do not like oatmeal and its texture, legumes of almost any kind, fish, beans, etc. Low fat milk tastes awful to me, like adding water to your cereal.

I love all the bad things! Eggs, mac and cheese, hamburgers, fried chicken, red meats, butter, etc.

I drink soda exclusively. :-/

I can do baked chicken, baked turkey, rice. I'll do multigrain cereal, but have whole milk. But I can't think of much else.

I don't want to go on a statin because I read it has a high rate of dementia and Im on plenty of meds already.

I figure my first step is to get water in my body more often.

Also, to add to the mix - Im disabled and about to get a wheelchair because my walking is so bad. I suppose I can work on upper and lower body strength as best I can.

I need ideas!

i really want to like eggs, they're cheap, a decent(ish) source of protein, and in general just very satisfying to prepare, with tons of variety in method

but the wretched smell that an egg produces just takes the life out of me, i despise having that sulfuric smell in my mouth while i try to force myself into gulping down. I've been having most of my egg-tion with a pancake recipe my father taught me, but id love to stick a fried egg in my morning bread, but the damned smell just spells me into spitting everything out. i despise it, please help me. thank you

I find it really difficult to try foods, and when I do 99% of the time I don't like it. I wanted to try a gnocchi recipe, and when I tried it, I didn't like it. I told my mom it isn't my fault that I don't like it, and she said it is my fault.

I really try to like foods, but if I don't like the smell or I know there's something in the food that I don't like (even though I've never tried said food) Then I won't like it at all. It's like my brain is manipulating me into believing I don't like it. If I could describe "picky eater" In one word, it would be "Curse" Because that's what is it, it's a curse. It's something I can't help. I want to try new foods, and I want to like them. But it's a constant struggle, because the main shit I eat is Mac n Cheese, noodles, apples, garlic bread and mostly carbs.

It's embarrassing when I go to a fancy restaurant and they don't have anything I like. Then I'd have to order just fries or just starve myself while everyone else eats.

I know it's isn't my fault, but is it?

Hi! i’ve looked into arfid but i don’t think i have that. When i think of trying foods it’s fear inducing. I often compare it to someone who is scared of heights. that’s the feeling i feel when someone asks me to try it or pressures me to. I don’t think it’s arfid because im not scared of the food hurting me or me chocking on it. I can’t really explain it. Does anyone else experience this?

Are there any other picky eaters working at restaurants? I don’t eat red meat, I constantly eat at the same restaurants I’m comfortable with. 3 months ago I started my first restaurant job, I’m having a hard time dealing with seeing how food is stored/made and eating it- Is anyone else having this problem?

EDIT: from this job I eat only the things I see made or eat food from the store across the street such as fruits and cheese (cheese prepackaged because it feels safe, maybe deli if I don’t see it before hand)

I’m a 32M and I’ve been a picky eat all my life, but it’s gotten so much worse throughout adulthood.

I can’t handle certain smells, textures, or even the look of some types of food. Certain meats like red meat with bones, pork, or processed meat make me gag if I eat it. And I usually have to watch something involving food in order for me to get through a meal - if I get grossed out, I lose my appetite.

I have habits of eating only “safe foods” which mainly includes boneless chicken breasts prepared certain ways. I don’t do a lot of sauces (besides a very specific brand of BBQ sauce), so it’s usually seasoned chicken, or chicken Alfredo. And I can eat that for several days at a time.

I feel so bad for my partner because if he’s eating something I don’t like, he has to eat it in the other room so I don’t feel sick.

It’s honestly frustrating because I do not know why I’m like this - I love to cook, I enjoy eating, but I feel like my world around food is continuing to get smaller and smaller. I almost feel like I have a disordered way of eating, but that doesn’t make sense.

Does anyone struggle with this? How did you get past it or how are you continuing to work towards it?

I especially don't understand stuff like "it's what makes the food you're eating taste good". If something doesn't taste good on its own, then how can adding some mush to it fix the taste?

I haven't ever come across a sauce that i actually enjoy. There are tolerable ones but those that i've tried are either weirdly sweet or just bitter, and they somehow never fit with whatever they're added to. And they're also way too noticeable compared to the food itself (like if i'm eating e.g. chicken, i'm eating it for the taste of chicken and not something else)

On one hand not buying sauces saves a bit of money, but on the other it would be nice to have more diverse taste options and to be able to easily get a few extra calories

I'm a pretty picky eater, and I rarely eat greens. I've started putting plain salad and cucumber in my burgers and burritos, I'm happy with myself because of that, and so I want to include more greens in my food. I feel the "simpler" solution would be to put it in sauces and stuff, but soups and sauces are my worst enemy. Any recommendations on vegetables I could put with my pasta or fried rice or something? Vegetables that doesn't have a very strong taste or a texture that sticks out to much would be preferable

Is Heinz jarred gravy good? Does it have chunks? What is the difference between beef gravy and brown gravy? Are the turkey and chicken gravies good?

Ever since I was a little kid, I HATED bananas. Even thinking too hard about them could make me gag. The texture, the seeds, those weird strings... But today at a church event, my grandma convinced me to try a dessert that was made of pudding and such...and had bananas in it. I decided to just try it, and...I actually loved it! I won't claim I like bananas, but I feel pretty good about myself that I both tried it and enjoyed it. It does get better, guys 🫡

Hi, i have a bit problem. I am a super picky eater. The only things i eat are: just bread without anything on it, toast but only with ham, fried or stirred eggs, pasta with tomato sauce or pesto, schnitzel, sweets and bacon, the only vegetables i eat are potatoes, don’t eat any fruits and sometimes i eat soups (mostly mixed vegetables inside) I want to try new foods but i have something in my head that just blocks me and I can’t fight it. Just can’t. Do you have any (literally any) ideas how to try new foods and be “normal”? That’s my biggest dream and goal for now.

I liked broccoli all my life but suddenly I don't seem to really like it anymore.

The only consistent ones are french fries, chocolate milk, and ice cream.

What is it like for you, do you also stop liking foods you used to eat?

Hello! I hope I'm at the right subreddit?

I'm picky, we don't know if it's arfid, but I still eat too many things for it to even be a consideration.

I have adhd and am on meds for it and another one for mood stabilisation. Those meds are 1. Suppressing my hunger and appetite cues and 2. Making me feel nauseous all the time, Which causes me to literally forget to eat.

Okay, that out of the way, now to the actual problem? I know I need to eat, I know I want to eat, but right now even my safe foods make me want to throw up.

I have one item I can eat, which is a certain type of pudding, but even that is becoming difficult at the moment.

Of course this doesn't necessarily have to stem from me being picky, I don't know, but it certainly doesn't make it easier

I don't really know what to do now and what could help because my safe foods I have for these kind of evenings are kind of gone atm. Does anyone have any idea?

Thanks in advance, and I'm sorry if I sound rude. I do not mean it that way. I am not sure if these topics are triggering, so I marked it as NSFW just in case.

I really want to try ramen again. I don't like the instant ramen but I really love asain flavors. What do picky people put in their ramen? Do any picky eaters even eat or like ramen?

Edit to respond to some mean comments I've gotten:

NO obviously I don't think all picky eaters eat and like the same stuff. I tried cheap basic ramen in the past and didn't like it, so I'm looking for suggestions on ramen that other people who are picky like to i can try them! Sure not all picky eaters like the same stuff, but picky eaters are more likely to enjoy more basic or picky eaters friendly flavors, hence my asking it on this sub and not the instant ramen sub or something.

No picky eating is not "my whole personality". It's a PICKY EATING subreddit. Why would i post about something other than picky eating?

If ur gonna comment about something that isn't ramen, keep it to yourself.