"White Diet"

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This is a topic close to my heart, since I have a very odd diet and refuse to eat a number of foods because they taste, smell or feel weird to me.

When I had my AS/NLD diagnosis a couple of week ago, I was questioned about my diet. The psychologist asked, "What about potatoes, pasta, and bread?" I grinned and pointed out that at least one of those is present in every meal I eat. My mother, who was present at the appointment, said "She eats a remarkably poor diet," meaning that it is heavy in carbs. The psychologist nodded and confirmed, "the white diet is something we see commonly in people with autism or Asperger's." This makes sense to me, because I do eat foods that are primarily white/light in colour: cheese pizza, french fries/mashed potatoes, processed meats (eg. hamburgers, chicken fingers etc.), canned tomato soup, Ramen noodles, most fast foods.

Well, as the psychologist pointed out, a diet heavy in carbs is common in folks with AS. I had no idea about this.

What is your experience/relationship with carbs? Do you find that it is related to your AD/AS? Please share anything that you care to on this topic.

I love white food and carbs. I would just eat ice cream if I let myself.

My diet consists mostly of bread, meat, rice, vegetables, fruit, and a little dairy.

I don't think it's too bad. I've noticed that fruit and berries have exceptionally heavy flavour to them. So maybe this 'white diet' is because of sensory sensitivity. Or perhaps because we get stuck eating the same thing and don't like to actually cook ourselves? Overgeneralising there. I'm more talking about myself.
But I need a lot of colour on my plate. That's why I like carrots, tomatoes, and avocados.

My diet is heavy in carbs and so are the diets of the kids I volunteer with.

I have Celiac disease and I'm lactose intolerant...
My diet is pretty healthy and I try to make sure to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and fish... BUT...
My favourites are always still "white foods". I'll go on binges of eating oven-baked french fries covered in mozzerella veggie-cheese, or rice bagels... I recently found some really delicious gluten free crackers and ate the whole pack in two days, I had the crackers with every meal. I just finished a huge container of potato soup. :[ LOL~
I think eggs count too, right? They do to me, at least... "white foods" are the only foods that make me feel satisfied, like I actually ate something! Other foods make me feel empty inside... D: I just ate a whole raw red pepper and some mushrooms and I can't stop thinking about a toasty tapioca bagel <3

My diet is heavy on vegetables, bread, and milk. Not so much meat or fruit.

Starch-heavy diets are common in the Western world. That they'd be common among autistics in the Western world is hardly surprising!

If this was true, that many people on the spectrum eat "white diets", heavy in carbohydrates and dairy, ( low on fruit, veg, and meat ), it would be another piece of evidence to support the theory that a subset at least, ( a third or more ), of people on the spectrum are being exposed to unusually high amounts of the food opioid peptides in glutenous grains, ( eg. wheat ), and in casein, ( dairy ), because have unusually permeable intestines, ( a very recent study showed that 36.7% of people on the spectrum have unusually permeable intestines compared to 4.8% of the population ), and that as opioids are addictive/habit-forming this causes a subset of us to crave or habitually eat more of these foods than any other, finding food with no opioids in uninteresting even unpalatable.
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Another explanation for systematic avoidance of "colourful" foods could be that a significant number of people on the spectrum are sensitive to salicylates, the food chemical associated with colour in fruit and veg, and "amines" ( as in histamine, an inflammatory agent ) present in many/most types of processed meat and fish aswell as several kinds of pulses.

Yet another possible explanation, if it were indeed true that a lot of people on the spectrum eat an unusual amount of carbohydrates compared to meat, fish, eggs, and veg, is that, as studies have suggested is the case, a subset of us have lower than normal levels of pancreatic amylase and intestinal disaccharidases, ( which digest starch and disaccharides respectively ), and that the complex carbos that we do not digest well "feed" an overgrowth of bacteria in our gut, whereas not eating them causes die-off of these bacteria and a flood of endotoxins to enter our bloodstream, making us feel crap, and stimulating the production of inflammatory cytokines which can cause depression. And the subset ( 36.7% ) of those on the spectrum with unusually permeable intestines would perhaps suffer more than those with normally-permeable guts.
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I eat more meat and dairy makes me sniffly so I have very little.

i eat a bit of everything, although i am quite fond of chicken

I also eat a lot of those white foods. I'm slowly switching to whole wheat breads and pastas, because I eat so much of those foods.

I am the exact opposite. I'm liable to just leave out the carbs in any meal and eat only meat with vegetables. I often only eat one food at a meal, the entire meal consisting of that one food. If a meal has two foods I will eat all of the meat, followed by a second helping of vegetables. I mostly use dairy as a garnish or flavoring (cheese, sour cream).

Eating everything separately is a big thing with me. I'll even "deconstruct" foods. If I get a hamburger I'll take out the meat patty and eat it by itself and throw away the bun. If I get a salad I'll eat the ingredients in it in my order of preference. If I have a slice of fruit cake I'll eat all the fruit off the top of it, then daintily eat all the creamy filling, and finally if I'm still hungry I'll consume the empty crust that's left.

I didn't realize until college that, largely, I ate only white foods. Pasta, cheese, plain pizza, etc. It was pointed out by the people I ate with.

I've gotten somewhat less picky, but would still only eat buttered noodles with cheese all day, everyday, if I didn't have to set a good example for the kid.

My 13-year-old who is on the spectrum has the same habit.

My diet is almost completely carbs, with the exception of smoothies, soy milk, and sushi.

I do not enjoy the texture of raw fruits/veggies or canned ones, and to cook them removes most nutrients anyways. So I'm obsessed with Bolthouse Farm smoothies as a source of fruits/veggies. It's a texture thing completely. Also I'm lactose intolerant. And I don't like to buy/cook meat. If I go to a restaurant, OK. But at home I have this overwhelming fear of not cooking the meat "right" and getting sick. So I buy lots of sushi. I think I'm gonna start buying canned meat & frozen veggies to add to my pastas and rices as stir frys though, because it'd be more healthy. Eating a high carb diet in the winter is never good for me, because I get seasonal depression, and carbs/sugars only amplify that.