Coping with poor diet.

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My diet is somewhat limited for several reasons:
- I'm vegetarian since birth
- I stopped eating with my family because I don't trust their food prep skills (they would use out of date food, dirty equipment etc)
- I am scared of using the microwave because of sparking incidents and I'm afraid it will explode in my face
- I don't like freezer food because I'm scared of undercooking
- I don't like anything cheesy or creamy
- It's hard to prepare from fresh because I only ever cook for myself and it's practically impossible to only make one portion of something
- I don't like using the kitchen because of family's said food hygiene standards
- Given the choice I will always eat "safe" foods - foods that I know I like, that are predictable, and that require little to no prep. So this is usually cereal or something bread-based
- I don't have set mealtimes. I eat when I'm hungry

The downside of all this is the usual stuff you'd associate with poor diet: tiredness, greasy hair, dry skin etc.
I'm reluctant to take vitamins because I'm trying to stop all medications in the hope that I'll feel better. Or, at least, I'll be able to see what my temperament is actually like without any chemicals or supplements.

I am aware that limited diet is not uncommon with ASDs. However, I've only really become aware of it in adulthood; without parental nagging and encouragement I've slipped into a comfortable, albeit unhealthy, food routine. How do you guys cope? Do you find that taking supplements help, or that they just discourage you further from trying new foods?

Well, some of your reasoning is stuff you'd simply have to put through logic:

Vegetarian is generally unhealthy due to lacking vitamins

NOt eating with family is a good idea if hygeine is an issue

MIcrowave sparks only happen if there is aluminum or any other non-microwave safe metal being in said microwave (like eating utensils)
.
Freezer foods are easy to check for how well done they are.

If you make more than one portion of something, put the rest in the fridge and save for later (30+ minutes to prep 2-4 meals is quite economical)

There are manuals on kitchen cleaning and cleaning standards.

All foods can be harmful or safe depending on how they're prepped (worked in food industry and studied biotechnology).

It's best to get into a mealtime schedule (ie 7-9 am breakfast, 11am-1pm lunch, 5-7 pm dinner). I'm not saying the meals should last that long, just a general timeline for when to eat.

Depending on how old you are, daily (or every other day) vitamins will help regulate things (especially for a vegetarian). You might even want to get a vitamin D3 supplement going (you get more of it out of the pills than if you went in the sun). Look at other diets you'd want to try, give them about a month or so before judging them good or bad FOR YOU. When it comes to diets, you are what matters, not what other people say. Best of luck to you.

Theres always TPN

Frances

I can't prepare food because of being disorganised (executive dysfuntion I suppose). I eat these and then try to add actual food:

http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/total_breakfast
http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/instant_oats
http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/total_mrp
http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/es ... mino_acids
http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/alpha_men
http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/super_omega_3
http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/superfood_xs

Seems to work.

I am vegetarian too, and cannot eat ANYTHING anyone else prepares. I just hate creamy white stuff. I have my own little pot in which I do most of the stuff. First off get cron-o-meter (free,google) in which you can put all the intake and see how much of which mineral/vitamin/fat/amino acid do you get. It is obviously approximate but I think it's well worth it to have an understanding of it especially if diet is limited. Do take vitamins, I think they are nothing like meds. In my opinion you will not feel better unless eat very healthy diet which requires some organization. Vitamins do not alter one as meds do. You will not feel true yourself if malnourished.

I was lucky I liked veggies, in fact - a lot. So that's what I am going to recommend.
How do you do with veggies-fruit-beans-lentils-nuts? Any combination of them will be very beneficial.
If you are on a poor diet find out if you get enough of certain minerals associated with not being tired, such as iron.
If you don't eat a lot of dairy then you might be in problem with B12!!
You cannot replace actual food with what fraac suggests. Maybe for awhile and it might work but it costs just too much.

My advice is to add seeds and nuts. You can roast them on a dry pan. Sesame has a lot of calcium, sunflowers have this important vitamin E, and hemp has just everything. Almonds have a ton of stuff also as about any nut, pecans have a lot of antioxidants and walnut has Omega-3. If you roast you can eat more of them but not too much so that good fats in them wouldn't spoil. If you don't like the taste of nuts you can peel them and or soak them - they become more softer.

Porridge. Can you tolerate oatmeal? If you add some ground almonds in it. I do it with water. But it gets a little creamy tho.

Fruits. Just amazing, tangerines and apples and stuff. Any of it is very good as a snack, they all have a ton of nutrients. You can compare what has what with the program. You can eat them when watching a movie for instance. It will boost your energy and give you some nutrients you do not get if don't eat veggies.

However my staple foods are lentils (I just love the taste) and broccoli. You just wash it good, put it in your little pot with a little water - not boiling but for steaming more like it and after 10min you're done. Nothing can replace it! Also I boil plain potatoes. I eat a lot of well washed salads, spinach, celery sticks, baby carrots. If I eat bread I try to aim at black rye bread, I like to dry it.

I know I joked about TPN, but on a serious note, what about macrobiotic diets? That's mostly raw food I believe, so there really is no preperation to it. I'm sure there is tons of information about that out there, along with diet plans of what to eat and when so that you get all your nutritional needs.

Could you eat something premade from say, a restaurant or a shop? I read your post, but I can't remember if it's just your family or everybody. Many health food stores have restaurants, and some of the smaller ones might be willing to maybe make you a whole days meal the day before, than all you have to do is heat it up.

You do not have to use a microwave to heat with. For a long time we didn't have one. I would heat liquid or runny things in a pot on the stove, and other things I would put in a pie plate and cover with foil and heat it in the oven on 350 for about 10 minutes or so.

If you wanted to do that, you could buy your own pot, and pie plate and utensils, then wash them and keep them in your room. That way you wouldn't have to deal with using theirs. If the counters bother you, then simply wash them off and lay a sheet of wax paper down on top to use to set your things on. If you did it that way, and had your own bowl, plate, glass, fork, spoon, knife and sponge, you could possibly heat something easily and only use your things. There wouldn't be much at all to wash, and you could keep them in a large sealed rubbermaid container, so they are handy, and keep them in your room so nobody uses them.

Frances

To Mar00

Do you like lentil curry? That's the only lentil dish I know how to make, and my kids nor husband will eat it, but I love the texture and the nutty undertone of the lentils.

Frances

I don't know much about food and dieting, since everyone is different and so need different amounts of different foods, but I know I try to avoid eating meat when I'm out because of the fear of getting food poisoning (I have Emetophobia). I also avoid things what are said to give you wind (like baked beans), and although I doubt very much baked beans do give you wind or not, hearing that has made me avoid them. I know people say ''but other things you're eating might give you wind'', but I follow the saying ''what the eyes don't see/ears don't hear, the heart doesn't grieve'', so I'm all right there. (Vegetables and fruit don't give me wind, I ate loads of vegetables in one day once and I didn't have any wind - plus I was constipated).

Food processors are amazing for quick, high quality vegetarian food.

To the person who said vegetarianism is unhealthy, false. The only thing you need to supplement (sometimes) is b12. The rest is easy to be healthy with, just pay a tiny bit of attention to what you have for protein.

Lentils, chickpeas, dairy, spices, food processor, nice pan, is my suggestion. Falafel is cheap, quick, tasty, good on vitamins (other than A), complete protein, and has been the primary part of our diet for noticable amounts of time. It's even easy enough I've managed to make it, though only following lists of spices, while my boyfriend does other mixtures like fake sausage.

Of course that assumes you like chickpeas.

Lentil curry stuff is also easy. Lentils, water, cook them, add curry powder and anything else you want after (we add dried cranberries).

As a whole I'd suggest legumes. They're easy to eat healthy vegetarian with them as your primary foods. And cheap.

Redacted

I had a very similar problem to yours when I first started cooking for myself. It sounds like most of your issues are a fear of food poisoning. I used to be that way when I first started cooking too (sometimes I'd cook things like twice as long as needed just to make absolutely sure they were done lol). The more experienced I became at cooking though, the less I worry as I am now more experienced at knowing exactly how long things need to be cooked, when they are done, etc. I saw that you are a vegetarian, so you really shouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing much at all. With most vegetables/fruits/grains, you aren't going to have any problem so long as you store the food properly, use it by its expiration date, and wash it before use (in the case of veggies/fruits). I don't know how much you know about culinary prep. and/or microbiology, but perhaps learning some proper sanitation techniques will help you feel more at ease. As for your worry about microwaving...I have been using microwaves for 20-something years now and they haven't blown up on me yet . As long as you don't put metal in there you'll be fine (and even then, they won't actually explode lol)

Something that I usually do is I will cook 3-4 chicken breasts at the beginning of the week, then eat one each night with a different marinade and different vegetables. Doing it this way makes things really easy to prepare but also still gives variety and nutrition! I know you said you don't like using freezer food, but there are some frozen vegetable medleys that you can buy that are really good and super-easy to prepare, those are a lifesaver for me haha. Sometimes I will buy fresh zucchini and slice it into thin strips/bake/season it, it tastes amazing and is really cheap/easy to make (and perfect for 1 person!). Also I don't know if your stores will sell this, but I love these things called "Fresh Express: Salad Kits". Its basically a bagged salad with dressing and toppings already inside, they have alot of different flavors like strawberry almond, pear gorgonzola, caesar, etc. I love to use these either to make a wrap or eat by themselves.

I hope that my suggestions were able to help out a bit! There are plenty of great foods out there that are easy to prepare AND have actual nutritional content, you just have to search a little bit or get creative sometimes to find them