I'm a 28 year old woman from Sydney. Haven't had fruit or vegetables since I was 2, my mum assigns the event to a particularly bad case of food poisoning. However - for me, it's the texture and I have felt it was a tad deeper than that. The way something crunches or the way it spurts with liquid. I have heightened sense of smell to the smell of deteriorating organic matter. It sets off an emotional outburst of fear and disgust. I get very agitated.

My husband is the only person who has never judged me or tried to get me to 'try something'. But, I'm terrified to have children: to be unable to provide them with the nutrients to develop in a healthy way. I am terrified of long term illnesses and disorders from malnutrition.

I would turn it off if I could.

I am 49 years old and have been a picky eater for my whole life. I don't know what fruits or vegetables taste like. I don't eat any meat except white meat chicken off the bone or white meat turkey off the bone, and pepperonis. Most of my meals include some kind of potato, bread, pasta, or cheese. I hate being this way and would like to eat fruits and vegetables mainly. They are so colorful and look good! I cannot eat them though, i feel like i am going to wretch and that is embarrasing. I am thinking of trying hypnotherapy because i don't want to be like this. I get teased all the time, no one gets it. I often get told "Just take one bite,you'll like it". I HATE that. I am so glad that I am not alone.

I am so glad there is a support group and website for us "picky" eaters! For years I wondered why I could not like what others ate. i have been teased since I was a kid. I just turned 41 and I am still feeling ashamed at times that I cannot eat a "healthy" diet like many of my friends are starting to do. No one really understands me. My brother has the same issues. His tastes in foods varies a bit as he likes some things I find gross and I like things he finds gross. My mother likes just about anything and eats very healthy. I have tried foods and could not stick with it. it just turned me off. I eat what I like. I have cultivated a taste for milder things over the years but basically my diet is pastas and pizzas and food must have certain textures or I can't eat it. Looking forward to knowing more people dealing with this issue.

My kindred spirits! When it comes to eating, is not what won't I eat but what few things I will eat. I read your stories and see some similarities. I sat at the table until late at night to "finish that plate" and did the secret napkin flush. I don't do Mexican, Asian, Italian, or any other **an food. I only like spaghetti if it has no chunks and I make my way. I live on chicken strips, certain brands of fish sticks, plain and dry hamburgers, etc. I can do baked potatoes but only butter. Salad makes me choke and gag. Pizza must be cheese or pepperoni only...and then only certain pepperoni. Very few veggies I can stand...can cut green beans with only butter, salt, pepper...peas same way. I could go on but you get the idea...very limiting. I love the smell of oatmeal but texture makes me gag. I deal with a bunch of people who think I'm just super spoiled.

I'm 17.
As a child, my parents tried to make me eat meats, but I just wouldn't. I would smack their hand from putting it in my mouth. I've always eaten chicken tenders, nuggets, fries, bacon, no other meats. I have this fear. When I try a food that I already know I won't like, I just gag. It definitely is hard in public and social gatherings. I only like ketchup for a condiment.. I only like chicken nuggets from Chickfila. I won't get a chicken sandwhich from anywhere.
I don't eat chicken at home or anywhere else, unless it's fried and probably processed.
What normal eaters dont understand, is that we didn't ask or choose to be this way. I wish that I liked burgers like everybody else, but I don't. I will just gag. And why would I want to try new foods in public when I know 99.9% I will gag. Legit tears in my eyes as I try not to throw up in front of somebody. I will also eat Balls Park all beef weenies, but not on a hot dog bun, and only with ketchup. My weenies and bacon have to be cooked well, because I am afraid of illness and just the soft texture of the meat. I am weird about how my meat and eggs are cooked. My eggs look burnt compared to normal cooked eggs. I don't like the texture of soft eggs, and I still feel like they're not cooked long enough for eating.
I am fine with my vegetables and fruits. I think that it's just a meat thing. But I still struggle to eat meals and take in enough calories each day. its just, I don't like trying new foods, becasue I don't want to waste food, money, and I don't want to eat something that I pretty much know I am not going to like. It's pretty embarrasing, and I don't like people talking to me about what I eat, unless it's my mom who knows me so well. It's even embarrasing with other close family members when they bring it up. Family members that know I don't like meat, and still ask me at family gatherings if I want a turkey sandwhich. And when I say no I don't eat meat, everybody turns their heads at me and says "You such a skinny thing, you need to eat something. Absolutely no meat on your bones!!'
Embarrasing things like that, that make my cheeks burn and wish I was invisible.
I'm trying to work on my eating, But I don't see myself trying seafood and stuff like that. It's just weird to me, to eat something like that. I get to thinking about the future, and cooking for my husband and kids. I just want tobe accepted by the people I Care about. I know I can take care of my health without eating meats. It's just, people love meat and those meat lovers always have some way to make you feel like a weirdo.

When I was younger I used to be not picky at all. I would eat almost everything put in front of me. Spicy? I ate it. Mixed together? Just fine. Chewy? Cool. Meat? Perfect. Vegetable or fruit? I preferred meat, but I didn't discriminate a whole lot. After I was five or six I finally kinda grew into being picky. I won't eat anything Mexican or Asian, most spicy foods, condiments or dressings, any kind of sandwich or sub, tough meat, mac n cheese that isn't Kraft, most soups, most seafood, food that has touched other food, food with strongly bitter/gross smells such as pickles, salads of any kind, etc. The list just goes on and on. I am overweight and would like to change this, but if feels so close to impossible because in order to change my diet to healthier foods I have to force myself to eat things I can't eat. My father always mentions tongue scraping, but I don't know what that would do? My parents tried to make me eat diversely, but it never worked. I'm terrified of dating, hanging out with friends, family gatherings, trying new restaurants, etc. because if there's no food I like I'll look like a total fool because non picky eaters don't understand my problem. I hope someday I can find a way to overcome it.

Would love to learn more about this. Thanks for sharing it.

I haven't read through many of the posts yet, so am not sure if someone out there has the same problem or not. If so please forgive me. Since high school I've put a lot of emphasis on staying thin. Up until about my 40s I would try to eat as little as possible. I convinced myself that the food had to be really awesome to be worth the calories. Even though I never counted calories. I never made myself vomit because I didn't really have a gag reflex. In college I began dabbling with weight lifting. There were a few times I was happy with how I looked. I still ate at little as possible. I find it amazing that I had energy to lift with so little fuel. As I got older my body didn't like starving itself anymore so I began to eat a little more. I'd lift for a while and then stop. When the scale got to a number above the magic number I wanted to be I'd panic and try eating less. Now I am 50 ,have a personal trainer and am trying to eat healthy. I have a negative body image. I've decided maybe my body doesn't have the weight to lose so I am trying to build muscle. I want to look toned. Problem now is there are very few things that are healthy that I like. I'm having trouble eating enough to get into the shape I want to. I've never really paid attention to food because I've always tried to avoid it. How do I find healthy things that I like. Also as a side not, when we eat out I am never satisfied that the food tastes good enough to warrant the expense. This post seems so scattered and chaotic. I hope some of it makes sense. I'm hoping someone has some suggestions.

This is going to be a strange post that not even I can understand, but it's so reassuring to read everyone's experiences. I'm glad I'm not alone.
I'm 19 years old and for as long as I can remember, I've always been an extremely picky eater. Although I have read many of other people's entries, I still feel as if not everyone suffers from a Selective Eating Disorder the same way, although we suffer similar circumstances.
Now here's the weird part. My diet consists of nothing but fatty foods, yet I'm still a healthy weight, maybe even a little underweight. I survive on chicken nuggets, chicken strips, french fries, chips, very minimal fruits and veggies, and if pizza was never invented I wouldn't be here right now. And although that may seem like a decent list, all of those things must be from specific places that I trust (90% fast food). I mostly eat out at fast food places and RARELY ever pop most of those foods in the oven.
It's hard meeting new people who can't quite understand our struggle with food everyday. I feel like a freak when I try to explain what I eat to other people and I feel childish or judged. I simply can't "try" a new food. Nobody with this condition can easily "try" something. If you're like me, and have never tried the food they're pressuring you to eat, but just can't put the food to your mouth, then you're not alone. When asked what it is that I don't like from the said food, I honestly don't know how to answer. I wouldn't say it had anything to do with just aroma, appearance, or texture, but maybe a little bit of all three. Something in my brain warns me not to try these foods, even if they smell nice. I cannot even raise the fork to my lips because I will not. Something stops me every time and it's really hard to pinpoint what it is that makes new food unattractive to me. I haven't tried something completely new in possibly a very long time, but my oldest memory of ever trying something new was mashed potatoes and I gagged.
Even trying different nuggets from other places can be a challenge for me and you might think "What why not? All chicken nuggets are the same." They're not to me. I can tell the difference just by tasting it from another place and yes, they all have different tastes. A possibility of people who have this disorder might have hypersensitive taste buds? I'm not really sure how that works though.
Selective Eating Disorder IS an actual disorder even if people don't know it exists. It leads to social anxiety, OCD, and isolation in social situations. We have all faced this. I have somewhat mastered going out with people I'm comfortable with to new places to eat, but sometimes it can still be a challenge having to explain why I'm only eating breadsticks and french fries. What I haven't mastered yet is going over to friend's houses and they make food without you knowing and having to decline not eating using excuses like "I ate before I came" even though you're starving. It makes me feel guilty because I feel like I hurt their feelings by not eating and worry that they thought I was being rude.
I just wish people could understand why we can't just try new foods. I really hope in the future people take this disorder seriously because I'm afraid it might be too late for my body as I get older.