Experiences with 're-introducing' yourself to fear foods?

Hi everyone,

I just HAD to post this somewhere because it was such a personal accomplishment for me and I can't imagine a better place to share this than here!

So today I had not one but TWO glorious slices of cheese pizza and it was just amazing! I mean granted I probably ate it a little too fast and got kind of bloated at the end sorry if thats TMI lol, but I think my body was just so excited to have this after seriously..i can't remember the last time. I look back and I'm like, why was that so scary for so long? And now that I've done it, the fear's no longer there...it all strikes me as very crazy/confusing and almost non-sensical how these fears to food even develop in the first place.

So I was just curious to know, have any of you recently or even awhile back had similar enlightening experiences of conquering your hardest or forbidden food? I'd love to hear your experiences, challenges and success. =)

Oh goodness, I have had SO many. I can't even recall them. Here's my list of fear foods I've conquered/eaten - some of them I even discovered I truly disliked:

Mayonnaise (blech - did not like this. But it was on a sandwich I ordered. I ate it anyways)

Fried chicken (also on the sammich)

Diner-style milkshakes (as in 24oz of whole milk, whole fat ice cream and syrup)

Drinks from Starbucks. Fro-yo and ice cream.

Chicken and fish in general (still mainly vegetarian, but I will occasionally eat them, just to prove to myself that I'm not afraid)

Pasta and pizza (<333 ravioli)

Peanut butter/nuts/oils/salad dressings (this was liberating. Cereal, toast, fruit, yogurt - all better with PB. And for realz - every veg. is better with some olive oil or dressing)

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches/PBJ

Bananas

Pizza

Chocolate.

My best story is the chocolate one. I hadn't eaten candy in six years. SIX YEARS. I remember sitting there at the kitchen table. Chocolate bar in hand. I stared at it. Unwrapped it. And burst out laughing because I could not believe I was about to consume it. My hands were shaking a teeny bit. I broke off a piece. OMG. It was so good. I could not believe I had not allowed myself chocolate in so long. Especially given that I had been eating calorically-equal protein bars with my lunch every day. I actually called my therapist, and several family members to announce my big achievement. I was literally speaking on fast forward because I was so excited and so proud of myself. I think in my head - allowing myself to have chocolate was like saying to myself "I can eat whatever I want, when I want." It was liberating.

Thank you so much for sharing this!! Hm, you know i've never had a PBJ with banana sandwich! I think that's what they call the Elvis? maybe? Lol not sure. My parents are from India, so growing up never actually had PB very much.

Wow i LOVE your chocolate story seriously that is so inspiring! I am so happy for you!!!! Yes, you're right! I can't tell you HOW many bars, protein supplements, cans of Ensure or Boost I have consumed that have just as much if not MORE caloric/nutrients in them! Well granted, the chocolate bars probably don't give us as much nutrient-wise.. ^_^ but its like, if I can have all of that then surely this chocolate is no big deal - and it isn't!! and it's so FREEING when we get to that epiphany. =)

first of all well done i think we actually forget how real food actually tastes. i found once a conquered one fear there was no stopping me

for me

chocolate which i hadnt eaten in years

crusts on my bread

butter learning it dosent make you fat

meat i stopped eating meat but since ive started to recovery ive been eating white meat

i had a fear of drinking milk but i conquered that

and potatoes were a big fear think the size freaked me out my mum baked me one in the oven it was yummy

rebel chick i can totally relate to what you said about it been liberating

keep taking little steps bisbotti you are doing great h x

Wow congrats on conquering all your fear foods everyone!! I pretty much don't have any fear foods anymore, but I did eat a bunch of former fear foods that I haven't had the chance to eat in awhile this past weekend:

-Butter

-Pork ribs

-Brownies

-Pizza

-Starbucks (pumpkin spice latte to be exact :DD )

-Full fat ice cream

-Chicken nuggets

A bunch of those I actually had last night all at once. lol Although I feel as though someone dropped a rock into my stomach now, I don't feel any regret eating each and everyone of those foods.

I remember phoning my mum one day last week - think it was Wendesday - to say that I'd managed to eat all my dinner.

OK, so my portion was tiny by most peoples' standards, but to actually see an empty plate in front of me was a real achievement, believe me.

I didn't put any of my fear foods on there - if I had I can't see the plate having been empty atall, but as it is I cleared it and my mum was very pleased with me!

that chocolate story truly made me say "oh my god" to myself...it is really encouraging, and it helped me realize how i just want to be normal again!

a challenge-accomplishment story: i recently celebrated my one year anniversary with my boyfriend (im 15 almost 16, hes 17) at a fancy restaurant. i ordered the parmesan risotto, which i never let myself had, and i ate the entire thing! i admit it wasnt extremely caloric (i actually dont know how much, any guesses? would be appreciated), but i was truly in the mood for it, and didnt order completely based on calorie content :)

and i got ice cream instead of fat free frozen yogurt at baskin robbins!

this is a great post!

aww thank you for the positive feedback dear =) wow that's a lot of conquering! so well done =)

ooh i've never tried the pumpkin spice things at starbucks! i'll have to do that now =D

congrats on conquering all these fear foods! you've inspired me to add  brownies to my list. =)

I agree! Finishing what you've started on your plate is  HUGE accomplishment and you should be very proud! Hm...maybe others will disagree with me but i don't know if its so wrong NOT to finish everything on yoru plate, i mean other ppl do this and don't have eating disorders...so it's not necessarily a terrible thing, as long as you are getting enough nutrient-wise overall!

sounds like you both had a wonderful time! and ice cream in my opinion always tastes SO much better than frozen yogurt or low-sugar or whatever ice cream - theres just NO substitute!!

This past weekend I had SO many fear foods! I hadn't eaten french fries in almost a year and I just DID the thing. Fried foods = MASSIVE fear foods. Along with a veggie slider! SO GOOD.

AND! I ate vegan chocolate and chocolate cookies! TWO rows of choc and THREE cookies.

AND, THE NEXT DAY I HAD AN ICED APPLE CINNAMON ROLL FOR BREAKFAST.

Hah, take THAT ED. It was so hard for me to justify what I was eating to myself but it was so so so liberating & GOOD tasting at the same time. Now I'm back home (all that was eaten on a trip interstate) and eating my calories healthily mostly, but I have to keep reminding myself to have treats every so often :)

Original Post by ellabella89:

This past weekend I had SO many fear foods! I hadn't eaten french fries in almost a year and I just DID the thing. Fried foods = MASSIVE fear foods. Along with a veggie slider! SO GOOD.

AND! I ate vegan chocolate and chocolate cookies! TWO rows of choc and THREE cookies.

AND, THE NEXT DAY I HAD AN ICED APPLE CINNAMON ROLL FOR BREAKFAST.

Hah, take THAT ED. It was so hard for me to justify what I was eating to myself but it was so so so liberating & GOOD tasting at the same time. Now I'm back home (all that was eaten on a trip interstate) and eating my calories healthily mostly, but I have to keep reminding myself to have treats every so often :)

 grt going well done h x

you guys are doing fantastic keep it up!! 

Over the last few weeks as I've started allowing myself to just eat intuitively whenever I am hungry and what I'm craving, I've eaten tons of fear food, like oil in cooking, cheese, pasta, lots of bread, desserts...and it's really interesting, I noticed that at first I believe my mind wanted to try as many different flavors as possible, so I would eat lots of bites of different things, like cheese out of the bag and a piece of banana bread and a little bit of cereal and milk, all right after the other! 

But as my mind is starting to realize that I CAN really eat whatever I want when I want, these types of bizarre cravings have started to pass. I'm starting to realize I actually dislike some food i used to hold as being completely forbidden and off-limits, which used to make me crave them. EXAMPLE: Pasta with lots of tomato sauce, don't like it too much! But I still ate it several times just because it seemed "evil" in my mind. 

Has anyone else experienced similar things? 

4 so far but im planning on alot more :)

chocolate.

hummos

avocado

bananas

today i also have 6 big hot chips of my mum i have NEVER done that :) yay ahaha

Original Post by spekgirl:

4 so far but im planning on alot more :)

chocolate.

hummos

avocado

bananas

 

today i also have 6 big hot chips of my mum i have NEVER done that :) yay ahaha

 well done you can do it xx

in the past year i have conquered so many fear foods! and it really feels amazing, and so empowering.

coconut, i now eat coconut flakes in my oats so often, coconut butter sometimes on sweet potato or squash or toast, coconut oil often in cooking, and coconut milk in oats or as a sauce... and the coconut larabar(amazing!) ha i am a self proclaimed coconut lover/addict ;) but once i was so so afraid of this food, but i know think it is just so healthy for you!

larabar flavors, now all the flavors are safe with me, a year back was so scared of the ones over 10 grams of fat...so silly, now i just actually ate the gingersnap lara(14 grams of fat) and so so goood! my favorite! :)

also avocado, for a while i would get trader joes avocado spread as my "avocado" i was so scared of normal avocado, now i eat like 1/2 a medium avocado on my sandwich sometimes for lunch!

normal ice cream, not non dairy, organic etc...still have non dairy ice cream but i had a good humor strawberry shortcake pop last week :) so good and it felt great to break out of my fear of normal ice cream.

chocolate, i now eat probably 1 oz of dark chocolate like 3 times a week :)

i over came my fear of fats this year, last year would never use 2 tbsp of nut butter on a sandwich and now i do always.

also walnuts and pecans used to be feared, i would just stick to almonds because my ED deemed them safer, but now all nuts are safe for me. :)

ahhh so many lol...

pasta, have pasta like at least one or two times a week, its still organic whole wheat or sprouted but still the notion of eating pasta is hard...but i had it last night with a homemade pad thai sauce!

having a banana two times in a day is a challenge for some reason(dont know why?) but any ways...i have been having a banana at breakfast and sometimes make a banana "ice cream" at night(frozen nana blended with a bit of milk and nut butter) amazingly good. :)

hmmm lol...okay i think thats a lot i have here... :)

still must work on my fears of cheese, butter spreads, higher sodium products, eggs, and maybe start eating fish and be more flexible with my vegetarianism.

I ate pizza too the other night! it was really good. :)

I've been eating coconut lately too (I've always loved it, but it really scares me) I bought a coconut milk yogurt the other day because I was really curious to see what it tasted like and it was delicious!

I'm also eating hummus and avocados again. goal: get back on my 2% milk and WHOLE eggs. I've gotten back into my old habit of ff milk and egg whites :(