Do you have unusual eating habits, incl food fads?

Post Reply New Topic

I eat ludicrous amounts of hot chillis and hot chilli sauces... So blandness obviously doesn't do it for me.
Might hot food be a stim??

I've always been a very picky eater. I'm 26, and have the same eating habits I did when I was in elementary school. Oh, except that I've been a vegetarian the last four years, but even when I was younger, I refused to eat red meat and would only eat white meat if it was sliced really thin or in deli meat form.

I eat pizza almost every day. I also drink copious amounts of soda every day. I love the slight, tingly burn of the carbonation, and find that carbonated waters are just too sweet (yes, sweeter than Mountain Dew, my favorite).

I hate every single 'grown up' food that I disliked when I was little, and that includes most vegetables. Yes, I'm a vegetarian who hates vegetables.

Most of the foods I eat are highly processed and come in cans or boxes. There are a few things I can cook, but more than 3 or 4 ingredients overwhelms me.

TEXTURES. Big deal. I can love the flavor of something, but if the texture is off...it's over. My favorite texture in the world is ice cream!

My biggest problem is that nutrition is one of my secondary special interests. I know all about the body and what kind of fuel it needs, and what kinds of foods are harmful, and the effects they have. I know exactly what types of food I should eat...but I don't like any of them! I've tried to eat the right way countless times, but I always relapse to my soda and pizza.

Also, I smell and inspect every single dish or glass I'm about to use. If there is any detectable scent, or if there are spots (even if they are water), I won't use that plate or dish. This creates issues, too, because I try to be kind to the environment, but I usually eat off of paper plates and use plastic utensils. I hope when I have my own home I'll be able to find a detergent scent I like and make sure the dishes are thoroughly rinsed before going into the dishwasher.

I think that I could live off of Hummus, steak, sweet potatoes, and chicken wings.

I don't like crunchy foods, for multiple reasons. For one, the sound of crunching is too loud, and my mouth is rather sensative. I also don't like foods that are very spicy or salty. Basically I like mushy bland foods. I get fixated on particular foods for weeks at a time, where I will eat the same 3 or 4 things all the time. I don't eat much red meat unless it's ground, and eat so much chicken, it's amazing I haven't started laying eggs right now I'm eating anything with tomato sauce, and hummus and spinach sandwiches. I tend to crave colors...maybe I'm just weird. Red, brown, yellow,green and white are my favorites.

I'm not terribly picky, but I do have some quirks:

-I will not eat egg yolk in any form unless it's incorporated into the rest of the egg. Scrambled eggs are good; fried or boiled eggs, not so much. Even then, I'm not a huge egg fan; something about them can be decidedly unappetizing.
-I'm fussy with chicken, especially chicken wings, thighs, and drumsticks. I don't eat the skin, and I don't eat too close to the bone. I tend to dissect it.
-I don't like spicy foods, and I don't like foods with especially strong flavors (i.e. super-sweet or super-savory stuff).
-Baked potatoes are difficult for me to eat. They taste fine but the texture is such that I have to choke it down. I feel like I'm eating cotton balls or something.
-I avoid raw onions when I can.
-I do go through food stages. I've eaten Froot Loops for breakfast almost every morning over the last six weeks. Mmm...
-As my username suggests, I like fish sticks.

I have always been very picky and quirky with food. I mean I would only eat certain things for a while, but if I find something I love, I might eat it every meal for a month. I mean like. just 8 filets of fish per day for a month. Then 8 kfc doublestacks for a month. Then This one topping of this one pizza place every meal for a month. Then sushi every meal for a few weeks. I get "stuck" on foods.

Then, I can't eat the ends of french fries. I can't eat anything that i know was on the same plate as a bell pepper. I leave one corner in each sandwhich. If its a round sandwich, I eat a corner into it?

I prefer not to eat in public, anyway, because Im normally just so anxious around people talking and other noise that I cant eat. I can eat pizza if its not too loud. But I cant eat pizza without ranch!

I have to sit in MY chair.
If I go out to eat elsewhere I have to walk around and choose my table and chair.
At restaurants, if they decide I can't have the table I've chosen, I'll rather walk out and go hungry than sit in the wrong place. This upsets the people I'm with, but I can't help it

( Source: http://www.aspergershelper.com/asperger ... ptoms.html )

When I find something I like, I tend to stick to it a while, maybe just 6 months, but 18 months aren't unusual. When I first moved out, I ate pizza and drank applejuice for 3-4 years(mostly). These diets are not good for our bodies, and I have started to realize this, and are trying to change what I consume abit more these days. But its really hard, and very easy to fall back to familiar things.

When it comes to cheese, I just love it. I have tried to not eat it for a week or two, but I cant go longer than that without it. I've tried to explain to my wife that it's as hard for me to quit eating cheese, as it is for her to stop smoking. I've been eating cheese since I were a kid.

From age 1-4 years, I never mixed my food on my plate, I ate all the meat first, then I ate all the potatoes. My siblings never acted like that, I was special...

So ye, Aspies do have unusual eating habits, which can in turn affect our minds in a negativ way. The body needs a diverse diet to keep the balance of vitamins and minerals intact. With a onesided diet for a long time, an unbalanced body will affect the mind and might show itself as sleeping disorders or depression, etc.

The body and mind are connected in ways we have not even discovered yet. (or perhaps we have, but the knowledge has been lost in time)

I'm a very picky eater. I have progressed a bit though. If I have to go somewhere else to eat, I always ask about the food that will be served and its ingredients; going so far that some people will even try to make only food that I'll eat beforehand.
I don't like a lot of vegetables and fruits but I also don't like some meats and dairy products. I don't like most of raw served foods. I don't like some foods to get mixed and I don't like if foods to touch (think, sandwich). I don't like foods that have a strong smell. I don't like rawness because of consistency and smell most of the times.

But I do love very spicy and hot condiments and sauces (but they have to have a certain consistency, otherwise I don't like them), as well as, very sour flavours. If sour and hot flavours are combined, that's even better. I also like sweet things.

So,...I have to always check if I'm not eating at home what kind of food is being served....otherwise I'll probably end up picking everything apart and only eat less than the half of it.

I only drink water (mostly) and eat cereals for breakfast....everyday. That's it.

I like to cook, especially, to mix ingredients that I like so that I can actually eat something that will taste good for me, without a doubt.

I am a vegetarian, but apart from excluding meats, fish, eggs and limiting my dairy (sp?), I eat pretty much anything, except bananas or spinich. I have no qualms about texture or color or temperature, but I am extremely sensitive to salt. I love spicy food, and I put garlic on everything that isn't dessert or breakfast.

However, I do go on "binges" where for a week or two or sometimes more, I will eat only one thing. Ritht now I'm on mashed potatoes with garlic and grated cheese. Before that it was green peas with garlic and cheese. A few weeks before that it was broccoli with garlic and cheese.

When I go out to eat, I tend to eath the same thing. My local indian restaurant don't even take my order, when I enter the restaurant they smile, nod and shortly after my meal is brought out, exactly how I like it. And the local burger-place where some of my friends / collegues have a standing after-work 'date', they also have my order down pat.

I have certain rituals when it comes to food. I have to eat things in a certain order, and if I need to add condiments or spices to my meal, I have to do that before I start eating. I don't normally notice this since I live alone and eat alone, but when I eat in company of others I tend to get selfconcious about it.

The MOST UNUSUAL eating habit I've ever encountered was done by an autistic I used to take care of years ago. He lived in a nursing home and only ate once a dinner. Food service would bring up his one meal around 6PM and leave it in a corner of the dining room. It was the exact same thing every day: 12 slices of bread, two bowls of borscht (beet soup), two bowls of apple sauce, two containers of milk. Heaven forbid if they only brought up, say, 11 slices of bread! Oy! You'd think the world was on fire! Talk about near-incosolable! (I say near because after an hour or two he'd calm down). In any case, he'd "begin" getting out of his room for dinner around 7PM. By the time he's finished flapping his arms and playing with his hair and walking back & forth and around in circles it'd be about 10PM. he'd walk out to the dinining room, uncover then re-cover this food several times, usually for about an hour. During that time he'd of course be pacing back & forth while making these unusual "pfftt" noises with his mouth. It'd be about 11PM or midnight when he'd actually start eating. He also ate standing up. Because he was occasionally flapped his arms and whispered to himself, he wasn't very careful and food woulkd land all over the place. Funny thing is, you'd think he was so completely out of touch that he was way out in space and understood no one. In actuality, he had a perfect memory. He talked about his past growing up, he talked about his parents, he talked about lkife during the depression, etc. We even talked about Rain Man. I told him they made a movie about a guy exactly like him. We had fun. He was my friend for years.

His poor diet, and the fact he used to stand for hours, took a toll on his health. He developed stasis ulcers on his legs & feet and became as skinny as a rail. They sent him to the hospital. Unfortunately, their MD's and dietician didn't fully understand about autism back then (this was 20 years ago). They gave him food which THEY thought would be the proper nutrition. Epic fail. He never touched any of it and subsequently died just a few days after admission there.

I think about the movie "Adam" with his similar eating habits. Yeah, like other folks on this forum, I went through - and still have - eating habits where I'd eat the same thing for a while then move on to another interest. That's the peculiar nature of this beast called autism. We often rob ourselves of proper nutrition and end up paying a steep price for it later. In a way, I'm glad food wasn't readily available when I was growing up. We did a lot of starving back then. Psychologically, I'm not in a position to ignore, scrutinize, randomize, or be picky about what I eat. Considering my past, I'd have to be grateful for a grain of rice.

Will happily eat pretty much anything, in fact I love trying new foods.

However I can't stand the taste of chocolate with less then 80% cocoa, i'm okay if it's mainly not as in a chocolate bar sometimes it's worth enduring for the sweet sweet centre ^_^ tho most of the time I deconstruct it with my teeth like a hamster and just eat the middle.
and I can't eat anything tomato-ey without chilli sauce, I find the taste super boring and think ketchup is the devil ha ha.

I also can't eat food made by kids or old people it makes me cringe.

Picky eater here. I can't eat pasta, pizza, or lettuce. I hate the feeling in my mouth. I can't eat soup, or liquid which contains solid food inside (like soup with spaghetti), It makes me want to throw up. I only drink soda, and would only eat milanesa, because I cook them (It's meat with bread)
If it's liquid, it must be liquid. If it's solid, it must be solid. And If I am eating fresh tomatoes with milanesa, first the vegetable, and then the meat. I have always done that.

I've eaten dinner or lunch for breakfast since I've had control of such things. I'm a major caffeine junkie, though not much of a coffee drinker. My drug of choice is Diet Coke or a couple energy drinks. When I do eat 'breakfast', it's a hamburger patty and eggs sunny side up, with ketchup and tabasco, I can't handle any other kind of egg. Raw onion and tomato are out, unless it's salsa. Mushrooms are a no-go

I stopped eating pork when I was 20, lamb or venison I've never tried and don't care to. I've graduated in 1 area where I can eat fish but only if it's fish-n-chips type fish, however I love battered shrimp. That's about it for seafood.

I've always enjoyed vegetables; my favorites peas, spinach and broccoli. I've become sick to death of green beans though

I don't necessarily have to always eat the same thing, but when I realize I've forgotten to eat I'll grab the first package of chicken nuggets, frozen burrito or pizza bites I see. Occasionally I'll have days where all I've eaten were tacos or burgers, only realizing the fact at dinner time

I have pizza every Saturday night if possible - it has to be cooked at home - I get anxious if I don't have it.

Otherwise I have eaten the same lunch for most days for the last 3 months. I don't worry if I cannot have it but it is what I enjoy, it makes me smile when I find it.

I will eat almost anything and while I do tend to eat the whole of one food type before starting the next this is not a rule and it doesn't always happen.

Ironic considering your avatar