so im a 19 y/o girl from munich in germany and i've been a picky eater aslong as i can remember, I cant eat any animal products and also i hate any sweets such as chocolate, cookies etc. . the only few dishes, that i love and that im able to eat at the moment are pasta( without any sauce), potatoes, salad, noodle soup,certain fruits and rice. Also if im eating two of the above they cant be on the same plate, because then they are "contaminated". My parents dont consider it as an eating disorder, but say that im only doing it for attention. Im actually at a point where i hate food and i hate having to eat, not because i want to lose weight or anything but because its so hard for me to actually prepare a meal that i can eat without having a panicattack. Now when i f.e. make myself a salad i have a certain routine for making it and when its done the right way i can eat loads of it , but if theres too much cucumber or carrrots in there i wont be able to eat it. Also i eat all my veggies (besides the potatoes) raw, because the smell of steamed or cooked veggies makes me sick to my stomach. i just wish i could go out for lunch with my friends sometimes or maybe to a family dinner

wow! I knew i had a disorder but my therapist totally wrote off the idea. when i was younger i sought help from therapists but nobody would help so i gave up and just eat what i like. I only knew 2 people like me. My cousin and a guy in college who i beat as being pickier. I have been picky for as long as i can remember. My mom cooked only what i liked bc she wanted me to eat even if it meant more work. I eat steak and beef roast with any kind of potatoes. Why do they ruin mashed potatoes with chunks of something? I eat chicken baked or fried. I like plain bread or rolls and cheese garlic bread and pizza with sausage. I got adventurous in my 20s and added cheese to my burgers and ate cheesesteaks or roast beef sandwiches. I will gag if i tried any fruit or vegetable or salad or fish or beans. I like chocolate no nuts or fruit and plain cake yellow or choc and plain cookies. No sauces or spices but my friend introduced me to quesodillas. Just a harmless tortilla toasted up with chicken and cheese hold the disgusting guacamole and sour cream. My dad made it worse one day when he tried to force feed me peaches in syrup and my mom abandoned me there. He gave up. My cousins family teases me i only eat beige food. I avoid social gatherings and leave early if i have to attend. I offended my host family in France with my limited eating and also i dont like alcohol when their wine isa national symbol. I cant travel to exotic countries bc of the food. I couldnt join the military out of high school i knewi would starve. I couldnt join the Peace Corp out of college and go to Africa bc of the strange food. I used to be a healthy weight until i started a boring job and ate cookies every morning. Now i am overweight. I struggle with what to have for lunch at work and what to eat in the a.m. at work when i am hungry. I am so glad to have a diagnosis and hear other peoples stories.

hi im phil 42
i was diagnosed as bpd (9/9) in my 20s also apparently on the autisum scale, but my eating was always ignored ,i definetly suffer from arfid and some degree of body dysmorpia but have never received help for my eating probs but alongside severe mental health probs and cronic drug addiction(if its addictive ive had it,but i was mainly a heroin/cocaine user in the end) the eating dissorder aspect was totally forgotten.
fortunately im now clean and dealing with my bpd it would be nice to look at my food/body probs.

Hello from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I'm 24, soon to be 25. Ever since I was a young boy, I was a picky eater. As I got older, I did slowly incorporate new foods to what I'll eat. But I do still consider myself a picky eater. Yes, I do have a fear of trying new foods because I feel I won't like them. I want to do a fitness program, but that will mean I have to eat new things I'm not used to. If I can't do that, I'll never do well in fitness. Does anybody have a solution as to what I can do?

Hi. I really thought I was on my own! I'm 49 and tbh have been a picky eater most of my life. Some of it was because I think my mum prefers plain foods and I just copied her, but as I've got older I find it's texture that stops me eating a lot of things. People ask me what I don't like and I usually answer with "it would be quicker to tell you what I DO like!" Pasta of any kind is a no-no, because of the texture, sauces on food or any soup ...again the texture puts me off. I don't like pizza because I can't face cheese or tomato. Sometimes I'm put off by the smell as to my mind food tastes as it smells, but some foods smell lovely and I just can't bring myself to put any of it in my mouth. If all food had the texture of crisps (potato chips to you US guys!) I'd be fine as I can eat any flavour imaginable when it comes to crisps! My friends are really good and do try to get me to try stuff but they don't push it. It would be SO nice to go out to a restaurant and not have to ask "can I have that dish but without such and such on it?" Think I'm a bit long in the tooth to change my ways now, but nice to know I'm not alone!

I've struggled with picky eating for as long as I can remember. I'm in my early 20s now and have a texture problem. The only fruits and vegetables I can eat are potatoes (mashed, fried, or cooked but plain), corn, and cooked apples. I am allergic to shellfish and tree nuts which limits me as well. If I order a burger or sandwich and it has anything on it other than meat and cheese, I can't just pull things off and eat it. I had eating problems in the past as I got fed up with attempting to diet without being able to eat fruits or vegetables and just started restricting. I love cooking and trying new spices and flavors (I can eat chicken) but wish I could eat more without gagging. Sauces with vegetables in them even trigger my gag reflex sometimes. I also cannot eat dairy products in cafeteria type settings. I wish there was something I could do to change all of this as I love the smells of certain foods and want to be able to eat more.

Honestly it's so lovely to find so many people who have as much difficulty with foods as I have. I can't eat seafoods, the only meat I eat is chicken with minor exceptions like Salami, and other than that I seem to only be able to eat what most other people seem to be listing- Chips (Or fries for the US), A few pasta dishes and one or two fruits.
Most things I don't like/new foods will make me gag, which can be especially embarrassing around new people (My partner's father is very pushy and after being forced to try scallops at thanksgiving it was very difficult to hide the gagging) Sometimes it's the smell that turns my stomach, sometimes it's the texture. Honestly I wish I could fix it because I love cooking, it's one of my favourite pastimes but I can't eat majority of what I cook for other people. I usually try and avoid going out to eat with people unless I know the restaurant, because even some foods I do eat (Like for example, a pasta dish) has to be cooked a very specific way for me to actually be able to stomach it- for example, if I went out somewhere and they added an extra ingredient like onion or mushroom I wouldn't be able to get it down. None of this helped when I developed depression and didn't WANT to eat either, and during that timeframe I used to show up to my therapy lessons with my food diary consisting of a few bread rolls and maybe a few meals of chips over the course of a week and be told I needed to eat more variety, something that turns my stomach even without the lack of motivation to eat.
I think the worst part about it all is just how much I would LOVE to be able to eat other foods- I'd like nothing better than to be able to try a new dish at a restaurant with a fairly high chance I'll like it, or eat my own cooking when other people tell me it's lovely. Is there even a way to get around this? I'd do anything.

I am 24 years old and I am struggling with my eating habuts. Since the age of 9-10 I have only eaten French fries and Pizza mainly. I tend to stick with foods that have a crunchy texture. Breads, chips, cookies and the only meat I eat is Bacon and that's if I burn it so it's crispy. My friends and husband have just labeled me as crazy. They think it's all in my head and that I am making the decision to eat this way. When we go out to eat we have to make sure they have fries or I won't eat. I like the flavors or fruits and pepperoni but I cannot swallow it. I gag everytime I try so I have given up on trying new foods and have just settled for my habits. When I eat Pizza i always order pepperoni and they I pull the cheese and pepperoni off and just eat the bread and sauce. Then with fries I like them cooked so they have a crunch and if there is skin on them I won't eat that. It has limited me so much. I got married last year and the responsibility of cooking for my husband is difficult because we never eat the same meal. I have learned to cook a number of meals and just wing it to hope he likes it. I am mainly worried about what will happen when I decide to have children. I don't know if I will be able to support a baby only eating bread and fries. I have never had any health problems my mom told my doctors when I was younger and they only said it will catch you to me. I am not over weight considering my bad diet. I guess I just have a good metabolism which I can't count on forever. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this problem I'd love to hear it. I wanthink to be normal but I can't seem to make my brain understand.

Like many picky eaters, as a small child, I could eat anything and everything! According to my mother, I loved anything that was edible. As I grew older, my list of acceptable foods has grown smaller and smaller. I'm only 16 right now, and my list comprises about a dozen foods and their varieties. Fruits, vegetables, red meats, many kinds of drinks, chocolate, processed meat, and things cooked not to my liking are among some of the things that I cannot tolerate enough to the point of trying them. It has been really painful and difficult at times to see food that looks delicious but I cannot muster the strength to look past my weakness and try. I've always told my mother when she ate a salad that it looks delicious and I wish I could've tried it. Sadly, I could never do it. I'm slowly trying to add things to my list of food, only to have that new group of food become a new part of my selective eating that defines me. There is no escape for me. However, I've accepted the fact that I'm picky and I find it somewhat of a game when I tell other people. They'd ask me questions about foods they'd think I'd like, all the which I'd respond simply with "no" or "if it's made like this". I think my pick eating has some relation with my OCD, but I've never had a doctor evaluate me. I'm really glad to have found this support group though! It's about time I had people relatable to talk to!