Why is food so hard?

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Hello!

First post on this forum! Excited to be here!

The reason I came searching for a forum is specifically to one question I was having--why is food so hard?

I've recently come to find out that I have Aspergers--life is making sense as I'm sure you all can relate to. And now when I realize something different about me, I start to journey down it being an Aspie thing, and usually it is.

So today's "weird" thing, is about food.

I'm not talking about some eating disorder (which is what google gave me *eye roll*), I just find that getting food into my system is incredibly difficult. If my partner makes food for me, I'll totally eat it, but it feels easier to part the Red Sea than to try and make food for myself. And when I DO, I don't even want to eat it! Anyone else relate to this? Anything that helps? I would say that this is probably my hardest struggle besides the burn outs.

Have you ever been tested for celiac disease or food allergies? Apparently they can be pretty common with autism/Asperger's. Or do you mean food is too physically hard? I encounter that myself most times after I make the mistake of drinking dark colas. It messes with my teeth and makes them sensitive for days.

Yeah, I definitely have a gluten allergy, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the process of getting food from A to B. The effort to make something or any of the day to day things I have to do in order to eat. I seriously feel like it takes up my whole day! Three meals a day? Crazy. But that's what we have to do.

Do you mean physically "hard" (to chew or sumpin)?

Between cooking and cleaning up the kitchen food prep is indeed time consuming. I relate if that's what you mean.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 17 Jun 2017, 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I totally get it. First, going to the grocery store frequently causes me stress. If I get in the habit of keeping a list going at all times, though, it makes that step and all subsequent steps easier.

Then I have to want to cook and eat what I have bought.

With each of these steps, I have to plan when to do it, or else hope that I think of doing it when I have time. Depending on my overall stress level, I may just not want to go to the store, or not want to cook something complicated that I've bought. I may forget about food all day long, and then realize my situation in the evening.

If I have my act together, and get good routines going, it becomes easier, even smooth. I just try to keep a supply of things on hand to grab and eat quickly if I realize I have gone too long without thinking of food.

yeah i hate cooking. and i am bad at cooking. when i was about 13 my precious lil "mom" had the nerve to tell me to take the bus straight "home" from school. every schoolday. and immediately start cooking dinner.

when i was about 18, made scones, bread, pancakes.

when i was 21, cooked taro roots.

past six months, almost every day. ate 5 potstickers. frozen. add to boiling pot of water. eat. potstickers are not ideal or healthful. but there are a lot of worse things.

but i love eating though.

it's just too expensive to buy what i wanna eat. and the supermarket/restaurant versions contain larger portion size than desired. and at supermarkets, they cook it with a lot more fat/sodium than homemade versions.

seriously i never feel satisfied

crave variety, novelty

but stuck on obsessive compulsive disorder

eat 9 or more total servings of fruit/veg per day

used to eat 4 daily servings of japanese yams daily

Sudden appetite change aside....

I've always had trouble with digestion. I have a constant nausea and a lot of fatigue throughout the day. Chronic diarrhea and gas, constipation, and just horrible process in general. Inefficient and generally terrible. I have this with most foods, cheeses, breads, chocolate, milks, all kinds of dairy and wheat's, fruit, vegetables, etc. the ONLY thing I can truly eat without regretting it afterwards is meats, like Chicken Beef and Fish.

My other problem is that I love food, ESPECIALLY when I'm hungry. I'm severely lactose intolerant but I eat lots of cheese because I like the taste, so I don't know why I have a right to complain. I guess it just feels good to get it out...

well if it is hazelnuts or walnuts or brazil nuts or coconuts etc, then it is wise to remove their shell before you sink your teeth into them with a vengeance.

also oysters should be removed from their shell before being eaten.


hope that helps.

I love cooking and have been cooking since I started primary school at the age of 6. But until the age of maybe 19-20 I wouldn't eat what I cooked however good it could end up because the process of handling raw food, especially meat, would have already grossed me out before the food was done. I eat the food I cook since I started to live alone because I have no other choice. I can't eat well restaurant or supermarket food, or even food that my boyfriend cooks, because they always add 'things' that I don't like and I have the ability to distinguish every ingredient.

Yeah , I had a real problem when I lived on my own , it was quick food only - biscuits , toast , snacks etc.

My GF used to do all the cooking but since she's got ill and can no longer do it , I had to step up and cook the meals. I only do it for her , if she wasn't around I'd revert back to snacks.

So the only thing that helped me was having responsibilities but it is still a big chore to do and the last thing to I want to do.

Yes, keeping ourselves fed is, for us, a monumental challenge. Every dimension of AS figures into it. From the fine and gross motor problems to figuring out the steps in a given recipe and rounding up all you need. I have been cooking for myself for about a year now and, owing to my severe hypoglycemia and food allergies/sensitivities, it is pretty much a full time job. Good thing I am retired. But here are a few tips I can pass along:

>>>Don't wait until you are hungry to think about making something to eat. You know you will want to eat dinner so prepare it ahead of time so it can be warmed in the microwave and its ready to eat.

>>>Don't make only one meal when you cook--make 3 or 4 or 5 meals when you get into it. Because you can make multiple meals almost as easy as making one. So make a large pan of beef stew or bake 4-5 fish fillets; you can eat one portion and save the rest for the next several days.

For example, I usually have a large salad for lunch. So I will spend about an hour making 4 salads and then for that day and the next three days my lunch is pretty much made. I will toast some bread and slap some cheese between the slices to go with the salad. Done; ready to eat.

I do the same with breakfast. I like oatmeal with raisins so I will cook that ahead of time, put it in microwaveable containers, and warm one up each morning. For protein, I put soy isolate powder in a large glass of orange juice (I mix that up the day before too). That simplifies breakfast considerably.

If you want more info (I try not to perseverate), pm me. I also have some fairly simple recipes if anyone would like them.

Yes can relate. Not sure if in the same way though.
But i actually like to cook. Only thing is not for me! haha...
If on my own, can often be too tired to cook over a stove and when i do it isnt the same as when others cook..
Even when i cook for other people i often wont eat afterwards or force myself to be polite... Other than not really like eating in front of people i have put it down to taking in all the smells when i am cooking and by the time i have made it i am already over it... So in essence i am kind of eating the food sensory speaking by taking in the aromas and my appetite is lost.

I'm usually too tired from work to cook for myself afterward, and I'm not great at coordinating the whole breakfast thing either. I've taken to cooking and freezing all my meals on weekends. I use tin containers from dollar store. It's a relief not having to actually cook, but still having something home cooked (with only ingredients I chose) to eat.

I can relate to that. I sometimes make desserts to bring in to work because of just that.

Hey all

Thanks for all of your replies. Wasn't expecting so many!

It's good to hear that I'm not alone in this struggle. I totally agree with all of you that said you would just snack all the time--this is totally how I feel. If I could live on snacks and beverages, I would be perfectly happy.

I also do enjoy cooking, but it's almost like cooking and eating are two different things for me. I totally relate to you 1Biggles1! That's how I feel about food--like I get filled up on the smells and all the prep work. But I'm also the opposite, I feel like I need someone else to make me food just so I can eat it. Quite annoying. It feels different even when my partner just microwaves the food for me, haha!

Thanks NeilM for the tips. These are the things that I'm learning are helpful as well. The issue I get with food prep is that I feel this pressure to have my schedule the same every day, and then having one hour food prep one day different from the others (which is really not a big deal) makes me feel like I'm not on a schedule. Which is ironic because I'm not even on a schedule! But this is really helpful advice, thank you. You're reminding me of what I need to remember for myself. What food allergies do you have?

I think with all I said above, it's important that I just start really prepping food (again), because I also want to be more helpful to my gf, so she's not always stuck cooking.

Thanks all!

F*** YES, THIS. I wish I had my own personal cook. It would take me 5 years to learn how to quickly knock up a passable dinner that has enough variety each day to ensure I don't become malnourished. But I don't have that kind of time right now. So on I go, poor, less-than-healthy and miserable. If it weren't for cacao, I think I'd already be dead.

I'm beginning to think it's impossible to work full-time and 'keep house' too, hence why society has always had the marriage set-up of one person stays home and one goes out to work. (Before we went and f****d with it). Shopping alone exhausts me. I'm already tired before I even get into the supermarket.

Some years ago, the Pringles potato chip factory burned down and the texture of the chips changed. My autistic husband still mourns this. MOURNS.

There are certain things he can eat, and most things he cannot eat. I believe a good deal of his time is taken up with planning and worrying about food. If I left him on his own, he would eat nothing but processed food because he can depend on its texture. He doesn't enjoy eating because it's so stressful.

Sure, it's helpful for you to help with the food making, but I would suggest making a detailed list of things you can and cannot eat to post on the refrigerator or inside of the cabinet so your girlfriend has a cheat sheet. If I had had something like that when I was young, that would have saved me so much grief.