My food is problematic.

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Hey there folks! I’d introduce myself in the proper forum first, but it took me months to work up to this post so I figured I’d skip to the chase. I hope you’ll understand.

I figured out on my own (with some accidental help from a friend) that I’m somewhere on the Spectrum less than a year ago. This discovery has led to a lot of realizations, including the one I want to talk about today: I am bad at food.

Please pardon the terrible grammar, but that’s the cleanest way I can describe my complicated relationship with food. Below I plan on describing my particular issues with food. If you have experienced any of these issues and have advice or commiseration, I’d greatly appreciate it.


Issue 1: Getting food (a social exercise in supply failure).

Obtaining food is tricky business. As I lack the land on which to grow food and raise livestock (not to mention the necessary skills), I must venture forth into the world to obtain food. I used to use grocery stores pretty regularly, but between the lights, sounds and social issues of such environments, it’s generally not an energy efficient option for me. Additionally, as I like to eat the same meals repetitively, there’s always a chance that the food that I want isn’t there in sufficient volume (or at all). This often leads to frustratingly unhelpful patterns of thought.

Fortunately I can (barely) afford to eat out regularly. It vacuums up my free cash and constant fast(ish) food is probably terrible for me, but it’s working for me in the short term. There is still the lights/sound/social issues, but they’re all much less pronounced than at grocery stores.

Issue 2: Preparing food (sensory sensitivities meet executive functions).

I have (historically) contained myself to the simplest of cooking interactions. For many years I focused on simple (often frozen) things that could be popped in the oven. I rarely prepared side dishes and when I did it was things that could be baked at the same temperature or were microwavable. Even with the microwave, keeping track of two cooking projects at once (and trying to coordinate them without building a very specific time-table in advance) is difficult for me. Any more than two and things start to break down quickly.

More recently I attempted to learn a bit more about cooking, but unfortunately my experiences were rough. They were, overall, upsetting sensory events. It particular I found it rather difficult to get anything on the stove-top to reach the correct texture consistently.

Issue 3: Eating food (it’s like an alarm, but in your mouth).

Let me say up front that I enjoy eating the food that I like (and there is food that I like). That being said, eating is problematic. I have a pretty strict (and near-arbitrary) sense of what food should and should not be from a sensory standpoint. If something doesn’t look or feel “like it should”, then my appetite vanishes rapidly. Additionally the sounds and sights of others eating around me can be extremely irritating. This has collectively led to me picking eateries that make an extremely consistent product and taking it home.

These habits work, but as I’ve lost trust in various food establishments over the years I’ve found my available food options dwindling. I’m eating at the same places over and over again, which is emotionally comfortable, but the food is not good for me. Even still, I sometimes worry that I’ll lose trust in what few places I still like and be left with nowhere to go.

This same issue with consistency and trust has led me to issues with food that I store in my own home, adding an extra layer to the cooking/grocery shopping dilemma.

Issue 4: Digesting food (internal hypersensitivity; the tastiest foods are made of pain).

It blows my mind when people inhale food (practically) without chewing and then go on about their business as if nothing was wrong. The internal sounds and sensations of digesting well chewed food is uncomfortable enough for me that I generally want to retreat from people for an hour or so after every meal. And that’s assuming it’s not a food that would upset my stomach.

From a young age it was thought I might be lactose intolerant, but even using Lactaid and eating dairy or drinking Lactose free milk brought me pain. It wasn’t until I started researching Austism very recently that I came across the idea of casein intolerance and finally cut dairy out of my diet. Not having an extra source of pain in my life has been great, but my word do I miss dairy. Not to mention that my diet was already pretty restrictive before I cut out dairy.


So, take all these issues and slam ‘em together and sprinkle in some minor issues that I’m doubtless missing. That’s where I’m at. Anyone else here with me? Or have you been here at some point?

If you have any suggestions, comments or similar experiences, please let me know.

CptK, I am in a situation similar to yours altho for different reasons. I have hypoglycemia which means I cannot eat anything with sugar in it (or high fructose corn syrup and the other popular sweeteners). In addition, white flour affects me the same as sugar so I can't eat anything made from it. To finish my list of baddies, I am allergic to eggs; eating them gives me a rash.

So where does that leave me? With probably 75% of what is in a grocery store being on my bad list. No processed foods of any kind, no prepared and frozen meals, no sandwich meats, hardly any bread for a sandwich, not to mention, no soda pop, ice cream, candy and so on. And fast food is out of the question--its all from white flour and sugared down.

What can I eat? Well....I can eat a lot of things but I have to make them myself. I can eat pizza as long as I make it myself using whole wheat flour for the crust, and a topping other than pepperoni (there is no pepperoni without sugar). I use ground pork for a topping, making a sausage pizza. I can eat pasta dishes, such as lasagna or macaroni, as long as I make them with whole wheat noodles. You get the picture.

CptK, anyone who can think through and organize a post as you did above can manage your food situation. Here's some things that help me:

Maintain your recipes I have a good assortment on my computer and the ones I use most are also printed out and put in a 3-ring binder. As I use a recipe from the binder, I keep a log at the bottom of the date, what I changed, how it turned out, etc. Then eventually I update the recipe in the computer and print out a fresh version. Good sources for recipes are allrecipes.com (they let you search excluding certain ingredients) and cookingforengineers.com (written in language we understand).

Buy an Instant Pot And not just any pressure cooker, an Instant Pot. I bought a knock off and was sorely disappointed. THEN I bought an Instant Pot. Its a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, and more I haven't gotten around to yet. Saves a lot of time and replaces several other appliances.

Cook ahead of time Don't wait til you get hungry and say, "Hmmm, I need to cook something..." You will never succeed that way. You mentioned you don't mind eating the same meals repetitively and that is good. I generally prepare a batch of something and then have it for about 4 dinners. Examples are baking fish filets with vegetables, frying pork tenderloins, cooking a pot of vegetable soup or chili, etc. Once prepared, I refrigerate them in single serving containers so when dinner time comes, all I have to do is mic one for two minutes or so and I am ready to eat.

Find a good time to grocery shop I understand not being able to stand the sensory bombardment of a large grocery store (even tho it doesn't bother me), its the checking out that I have problems with. So I have found that between 0900 and 1100 is a good time as the store are largely deserted even tho I go to a large one that has self-check out. I don't know if your work situation will allow that tho. I also understand during the night, say 0100 to 0500, is also a calmer time if that is convenient for you.

Finally, read ingredient lists of everything you buy. As you get more of a handle of what foods are disagreeable to you, this will help you avoid the baddies that show up where you least expect them.

I hope this helps. I'm here for questions as I am sure I missed a thing or two.