Afraid of Rotten Produce

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I haven't brought a fresh banana into my apartment in ages because a) I cannot stand them unless they are bright yellow with no "sugar spots", and I can only buy maybe three or four while still unripe and then eat them as quickly as possible when they become yellow, and b) the fruit flies are a huge nuisance. I keep a small green bin in my apartment and even non-fruit foods like used tea bags has caused them to infest everything even in the dead of winter.

it is difficult for me to find fresh fruit that isn't as perfect as can be, and then eat all of it before it goes bad or it will be a waste, unless I feel like using it in baking. And it's not cheap since resources to grow and import it are on the verge of becoming non-existent.

Pardon me for commenting on such an old post, but I thought I was the only one with this! Though my case might be slightly worse, because I can't even touch a container with rotten food in it, or even anything that has been near rotten food. Sometimes I go through episodes where I become extremely paranoid and throw away all the produce, leftovers, and anything in a cardboard box, even if it's totally fine. I have to put every cardboard container in a plastic bag because I'm afraid moths will lay their eggs in them, which has happened a few times before. I never eat strawberries, salami, and most cheeses because of this, and I'm always wary of eating leftovers. For whatever reason, this all stemmed from an occasion when I was little where I kept a glass of crangrape juice in my room for two weeks and it became moldy, but I drank it anyway because I didn't know what it was. I asked my mom about it and she got upset and told me it was dangerous to consume it, and ever since I've had an obsessive fear of it. The last time I took a bite of bread that was moldy I screamed and threw it on the ground and wouldn't go near the spot I threw it for a week. The worst parts are the episodes I occasionally go through where I won't eat anything at all for a few days after seeing something rotting. It's a hard thing to talk about because no one really takes it seriously. If you're looking for the name of it, it's called cleithrophobia.

Last edited by LonelyJar on 14 Apr 2016, 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Try systematic desensitization/exposure therapy CBT. Create a list of tasks/situations that provoke this rotten food produce anxiety, then rank them from most anxiety provoking to least anxiety provoking. Start at the bottom of the list(least anxiety provoking), expose yourself to the task/situation, rate your anxiety out of 10, rate it again 30 seconds later, again 1 minute later, again 3 minutes later, again 5 minutes later, and again 10 minutes later, all written on a piece of paper for you to look at in front of you.

Look at the paper, acknowledge that your anxiety levels decrease over time as it is impossible for the body to remain at a consistently high level of anxiety indefinitely, even if its only 1 or 2 points less out of 10. Be mindful of the decrease in anxiety. Repeat this situation the next day until this situation becomes significantly less anxiety provoking.

Move onto the next item on your list working your way up from the bottom of the list by repeating the above procedure.

Examples of anxiety provoking tasks or situations you could have involving rotten produce could be:

- standing in the same room as rotten produce, while looking at it from across the room, while someone else handles it

- handling rotten food with half sleeve rubber gloves

- handling rotten food with smaller, thinner gloves

- handling rotten food with your bare hands, but without any attempt to decrease any excessive cleaning of your hands afterwards

- handling rotten food with your bare hands while smelling the food from an arms length

etc etc.

This approach really works. Good luck.

^Noca, my fear of rotten produce isn't THAT bad. I just twitch and whine (especially if I'm hungry or tired), but that ticks off my parents. It seems like for my parents, me reacting to anything is a problem, regardless of context, and they give me flak for it. Thank you for your concern, though.

Oh god I was just reminded of a hideous evening last year when I made my usual midnight bagels and started chowing down merrily, there was no peculiar taste but in the glow of the television I saw some weird furry thing and thought an inquisitive bug had trundled along the pleasing sphere and was about to tear off the offending piece of territory it was on and then in horror movie treacle vision I beheld the whole bagel and one half of it was almost quivering in mold... the obscene heat had turned the thing rancid in the bag, I didn't vomit but I did launch the thing across the room where it crumpled chuckling in its fetid mirth in the corner! I don't like stuff that has gone off and springs it on you unexpectedly!

It might help to see a psych about this.

Sorry, the website I was on gave the wrong definition.