Selective Eating Disorder

You're probably thinking, what the hell is that?! Basically, it's a case of extreme fussy eating. Don't laugh it off and call it "silly" just yet... hear me out.

Ever ate the same food every day of the week? Boring, yes? Try eating the same food every day of your life.

Ever been so scared of something (even if you know it's daft to be scared of it) it's made you panic and avoid the same situation for as long as you can remember? Ever been so worked up about something you were sick?

I'm sure many suffers of various eating disorders can relate to this one especially - ever missed or avoided social situations because of food?

I wonder what would happen to someone who only ate fries & burnt sausages almost every day of their life?

Unfortunately, little is known about severe cases of fussy eating. Many children grow out of it by puberty thus it is quite rare seeing it in adults. I've had this problem all of my life and although I'm more willing to try new things now and have a slightly better diet than I did when I was a child, it is still a problem. Especially when you're trying to lose weight as your diet is so limited anyway.

Smell, texture, appearance and even the brand name can effect whether I can eat certain foods. I love plain egg fried rice on it's own (have to take the eggy bits out first though), yet if you put a bowl of boiled rice in front of me, I'll throw up.

Although now, it doesn't effect my social life as I can usually find something I can eat when I'm out but some of the people I know on Fussy Eaters are so limited in foods they avoid going out with friends and family. I find it so sad that food has to control your life to such a degree (other ED sufferers will know what I mean there) so I'd just like to raise some awareness for this little known disorder, SED.

I'm sure there are some of you out there with SED and might not realise there was an actual name for it or even that there are others out there with the same problem. I'd love to hear from other CC members who have the same problem. Maybe we can exchange some ideas for weight loss.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_eating _disorder
Fussy Eaters Forum: http://www.fussy-eaters.com/

I knew nothing about this until I started watching a series called "Freaky Eaters" that was on BBC via YouTube.  Strangely enough, I just got through the entire second series yesterday and saw this forum today.

I don't suffer from selective eating disorder, but I thought I'd mention the series in case you haven't heard of it.  It's an interesting watch.

Yes, I've seen Freaky Eaters! It's great that some awareness is being broadcast on TV. Maybe enough publicity will soon make it a recognised condition amongst GP's and thus some course of treatment/psychology for it. I've not seen all the episodes, but it's wonderful how some people make fantastic changes on that show. One of the people involved in making that series posted a topic on the Fussy Eaters forum asking for potential candidates for the next series. I believe one of our fellow forum members was accepted!

I'm 19 and still refuse to eat ALL fruits.  The only vegetables I will tolerate are potatoes and corn.  Other than that, I haven't consumed a fruit or vegetable since I was 13.  Other than the facts that they smell disgusting to me and I remember the tastes as being absolutely abhorrent, I was forced to eat them for 5 years with every meal.  Since that time period in my life ended, I have had the choice of whether or not to eat fruits and vegetables, and my choice has been not to.

My diet may seem bland, fattening, and even malnurtitious to most people, but I have adjusted it such that it is healthy.  Each day, my diet consists of 3-4 servings of wheat products, 5-10 servings of meat products, and 5-10 servings of dairy products.  I get a maximum of 60 grams of fat, 20 saturated, and get all my vitamins through a multivitamin.  To combat blandness I use a variety of herbs and spices on sandwiches and meats.

My family thinks that my diet is freaky, anyone elses thoughts?

It's also called 'orthorexia'... and if you really want to, you can overcome it the same way you tackle any other severe phobia. But you have to have the motivation (and the willpower, perserverence, endurance etc.) to want to do it, and an awful lot of patience and tolerance of personal discomfort. You have my sympathy - it's not one of my problems, but I know all about anxiety/phobias from personal experience... I was terrified of anaphylaxis and choking on my food, and I refused to eat any form of nut-containing food for over a decade because of a fear of a non-existant nut allergy, and I only recently overcame it. I'm still afraid to eat tropical fruits for the same reason, even though I know it's a stupid and irrational fear... one day I'll bring myself to eat some and then that'll be dealt with too, but for now I'm enjoying my nutty freedom!

If you can bring yourself to widen your diet even a little, it feels fantastic... of course it's scary, but there's a big difference between a rational fear and an irrational one, and a lot of food phobias/refusal are totally irrational.

People with sensory disorders also have a lot of food intolerances and that's a different issue altogether...

I work in child care. One of my kids is 4 years old and sounds exactly like this.  He won't eat anything except baby food and apple sauce. We have tried everything. Ice cream, fruit, crackers...he won't eat anything in solid form.  I don't know what to do about it.  Mom has seen specialist. he has an eating couch. I've never heard of anything like this before! Are you born  with it or is it something you develop?

I think it is something you can definitely grow out of and if you come across v.fussy children there isn't really too much to worry about. I didn't like any fruit and v.limited vegetables until i was 13/14. I guess I hadn't tried them for so long and then started trying different fruits etc and turns out I now love fruit and veg!!

Original Post by 1lbsatatime:

I work in child care. One of my kids is 4 years old and sounds exactly like this. He won't eat anything except baby food and apple sauce. We have tried everything. Ice cream, fruit, crackers...he won't eat anything in solid form. I don't know what to do about it. Mom has seen specialist. he has an eating couch. I've never heard of anything like this before! Are you born with it or is it something you develop?

There's another documentary on YouTube from the BBC called "My Child Won't Eat" that might shed some light on that situation.  It's another interesting watch.

I'm starting to think I spend too much time on YouTube xD.

Original Post by kajikit:

It's also called 'orthorexia'... and if you really want to, you can overcome it the same way you tackle any other severe phobia. But you have to have the motivation (and the willpower, perserverence, endurance etc.) to want to do it, and an awful lot of patience and tolerance of personal discomfort. You have my sympathy - it's not one of my problems, but I know all about anxiety/phobias from personal experience... I was terrified of anaphylaxis and choking on my food, and I refused to eat any form of nut-containing food for over a decade because of a fear of a non-existant nut allergy, and I only recently overcame it. I'm still afraid to eat tropical fruits for the same reason, even though I know it's a stupid and irrational fear... one day I'll bring myself to eat some and then that'll be dealt with too, but for now I'm enjoying my nutty freedom!

If you can bring yourself to widen your diet even a little, it feels fantastic... of course it's scary, but there's a big difference between a rational fear and an irrational one, and a lot of food phobias/refusal are totally irrational.

People with sensory disorders also have a lot of food intolerances and that's a different issue altogether...

 I tried tackling the issue on my own some months ago but it seemed to have an opposite effect. I managed to try a fair few 'new' foods. Some foods where the taste didn't bother me but it was the smell or texture that I struggled with, I kept trying every few days to hopefully get used to them.

I never did quite get used to them and for some reason a few of my 'safe foods' were effected by the experience too. A certain type of ham I'd eaten since I was a child, I can't even bear to look at now! It seemed like one step forwards and two steps back. I gave up :( I can eat (and enjoy) strawberries now though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time!

I've heard from a few people that hypnotherapy can work wonders on these types of phobias. That might be something I'll look into one day (when money allows it!).