any successful picky eaters/super tasters?

ddky

I am trying to help someone lose weight but the list of foods she will eat is very short. She says she believes she is a "super taster" and can't tolerate the taste of many foods. Basically she only eats bland foods. Unfortunately, those are high calorie carb foods. She eats bread, cheese, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, bananas, apples, etc. She doesn't like berries or citrus fruits. Most veggies are no. She will sometimes eat sweet potatoes. If she has a salad it is only iceberg lettuce and shredded carrots. Do you think will lose weight eating all these carbs as long as she watches the calories? She also doesn't eat any meats. She will eat an egg white omelet with cheese. Is it hopeless? I hope not. She is obese and does want to lose weight. She just can't seem to make herself eat the healthier foods. Thanks for any input.

csplatt

My father is the same. Meat and potatoes, iceburg lettuce, MAYBE mandarin oranges. I disn't understand him until I had a son diagnosed a super-taster / problem eater with severe textural issies with food. Had to go through six months of therapy just to get off baby food.

Will she do smoothies? Vitamix blenders can really get the pulp/seeds grinded up.

csplatt

I think she could succeed on a very strict, preplanned menu with the help of a nutritionist. I think a lot of people like this eat out a lot for SOME kind of variety, which ups the fats/calories a ton. If she had a few pre written menus for the day and did not stray from it, add chips or cookies, etc it could work. Would have to measure out the items, especially things like potato. Trouble can also come in adding butter, etc.

ddky

My father is the same. Meat and potatoes, iceburg lettuce, MAYBE mandarin oranges. I disn't understand him until I had a son diagnosed a super-taster / problem eater with severe textural issies with food. Had to go through six months of therapy just to get off baby food.

Will she do smoothies? Vitamix blenders can really get the pulp/seeds grinded up.

I'm glad you mentioned the texture thing. That is something she says a lot "I don't like the texture". She just got a nutribullet. She said maybe she could drink it fast and get it down. I think she has only done it a couple of times. I hope it will help her get some nutrition. Tonight I fixed her minestrone soup. She did eat that. I don't think she was crazy about it, but she ate it. That was pretty healthy. So today was pretty good. She had cereal and almond milk for breakfast, peanut butter sandwich and an apple for lunch, minestrone soup and crackers for supper and almonds for a snack. So I think that was a pretty good day. I'm just running low on ideas. Thanks for your input.

Warchortle

Send them to a 3rd world country and see how picky they become.

princesspea234

Is she on myfitnesspal? Just have her pre-log her calories.... Nutrition doesn't really make a lot of difference when you are obese. Calories in and calories out are all that matters at this point in her journey. Let her eat mac and cheese and bread with an apple or banana thrown in for good measure! : )

ddky

Is she on myfitnesspal? Just have her pre-log her calories.... Nutrition doesn't really make a lot of difference when you are obese. Calories in and calories out are all that matters at this point in her journey. Let her eat mac and cheese and bread with an apple or banana thrown in for good measure! : )

She doesn't have internet at her house, so I am tracking for her. She is on week two and staying under her calorie target. I love food, just about all food. It's hard for me to understand eating so few foods. I will help her for as long as she is willing.

usmcwifeall4me

Is she on myfitnesspal? Just have her pre-log her calories.... Nutrition doesn't really make a lot of difference when you are obese. Calories in and calories out are all that matters at this point in her journey. Let her eat mac and cheese and bread with an apple or banana thrown in for good measure! : )

I agree...have her watch the portion sizes...it has helped me a lot, instead of having the whole box of mac and cheese follow the portion size...it really does help without depriving yourself

NonnyMary

yeah im kinda picky, but not as severe, so i do understand the sensitivity to taste.

however, she NEEDS some foods because without it her body wont get it. And a vitamin pill does not really ideally replace the real food and getting the nutrients that way.

She might like to pick at food, but she needs to decide that she is going to be more mature and make a choice to eat some foods she may turn her nose up. I dont mean that to insult her, but thats what she needs to do. We all mature and do things which scare us, but we do it because that is what an adult does.

In the meantime, she may have to have food hidden in other food, like when people mash up zucchini and make zucchini bread, it really tastes good and you cant tell zucchini is in there, (i.e. when people say I hate zucchini, but in that bread they love it.

She should try a new item maybe once a week, but try it a few times, because that is how long it will take to enjoy a new food. And not give up the first time she tries it, but keep on till she loves it. And who knows, she may discover a good food that she previously rejected.

if she is in the mindframe that she is a picky eater, then she needs to change that and not put herself in an eating wheelchair for example. (she has handicapped herself by her attitude); she has to now change that and describe herself with a new label, or else she is like aperson stuck in a wheelchair instead of learning to walk. the person learning to walk might feel discomfort, but each time he/she tries, she gets one more step closer to freedom.

same thing with your friend.

Oh i forgot to say, that as long as she eats what she likes, she is in a comfort zone. Rejecting some new foods is an excuse to stay in that comfort zone. She needs to know that staying in there is just an excuse. She has fooled herself into thinking she wont like new foods. Its a way for her to stay fat, because its less painful to be fatg and eating whatever than to go thru a little bit of discomfort of changing her eating. Like a bird in a cage who cant fly,, not very much fun and enjoyment of life in that cage, though the bird is safe.

LiftAllThePizzas

I am trying to help someone lose weight but the list of foods she will eat is very short. She says she believes she is a "super taster" and can't tolerate the taste of many foods. Basically she only eats bland foods. Unfortunately, those are high calorie carb foods. She eats bread, cheese, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, bananas, apples, etc. She doesn't like berries or citrus fruits. Most veggies are no. She will sometimes eat sweet potatoes. If she has a salad it is only iceberg lettuce and shredded carrots. Do you think will lose weight eating all these carbs as long as she watches the calories? She also doesn't eat any meats. She will eat an egg white omelet with cheese. Is it hopeless? I hope not. She is obese and does want to lose weight. She just can't seem to make herself eat the healthier foods. Thanks for any input.

I'm very similar. My list of edible vegetables consists of broccoli and carrots. I love citrus and some berries but they don't like me so I can't eat them so I'm basically left with apples and bananas and an occasional strawberry. I do however eat meat and fish. It sounds like she'd want to count calories (of course) and also I'd say try to hit daily macro (fat/protein) targets because it will help her find a set of foods that aren't all carbs.

The first thing to do though is count calories. If she's willing to do that she can lose weight. Start counting first, log everything for a week or two, before trying to restrict foods at all. That will give her an idea where her calories are coming from and some places she can work on improving her intake whether it's portion sizes or some specific thing (for example drinking tons of high calorie pop) that's putting her over.

SoozeE512

I used to be an extremely picky eater, and people were always pushing me to try new things, and I would try things on occasion but I'd usually end up spitting them back out in disgust. When I finally got serious about my health, I pushed myself to try things I never liked before whether because of taste or texture. I still didn't like them at first, but there are so many things I used to think were totally disgusting, and after pushing myself to keep trying those healthy things, now I love a lot of them and don't know how I ever went without! It's not everything, there are still things I'm certain I'll never like, but there's a much greater variety to my diet now than ever before.

So, I think there's hope for your friend when it comes to eating healthier, but you pushing her to do so isn't going to help. She has to push herself. In the meantime, I would suggest just helping her to cut down on portions to eat a healthier amount of calories and to exercise more. If she's really serious about change, she'll eventually take matters into her own hands.

AnaCoffee

Your friend can eat a lot more foods than my son can. He has EPE/SED (Extreme Picky Eating/Selective Eating Disorder) of which being a super taster and having a heightened sense of smell is just a part. All a person like that can do is track calories, macros, etc. (We track to make sure our son continues to gain weight and get enough nutrients in.)

As for the asshats (not the OP) who think this kind of REAL eating disorder can be solved simply by forcing the person to eat whatever you think they should, stop judging others and get educated. These people WILL STARVE if not given foods their brains say are safe. Our son's growth slowed down to practically nothing for two years before he was diagnosed and it took months to get him growing again. (Long story that I've shared here before.)

NonnyMary

As for the asshats (not the OP) who think this kind of REAL eating disorder can be solved simply by forcing the person to eat whatever you think they should, stop judging others and get educated. These people WILL STARVE if not given foods their brains say are safe. Our son's growth slowed down to practically nothing for two years before he was diagnosed and it took months to get him growing again. (Long story that I've shared here before.)

Hi - I hope you didn't mean me as an "asshat" because I am encouraging the friend of the OP to make an effort to change.

i agree with you that the person with an eating disorder has to him/herself make the choice to change, but gentle encouragement is not being an asshat, instead, feeling sorry for them and keeping them handicapped is doing them a harm. The OP is trying to gently encourage her friend, so that is good.

jdm_taco

Tell them tough. Time to get over it. I would love to eat nothing but ice cream and pop tarts smeared with nutella, but I'm an adult and I realize you can't always do what you want in life.

sarahertzberger

My husband started out eating no fruit and absolutely no vegetables other than beans or potatoes and he had an issue with the textures of foods, and then he just realized that he was going to just have to eat it or nothing was going to change now, he will eat pretty much any vegetable I put in front of him as far as fruits, he now loves mangos, kiwi, pineapple, pears, he will eat blueberries in a smoothie and we still have a ton more new fruits and vegetables to try honestly she really is just going to have to make herself try and push herself to like them if you eat foods enough for the most part you will eventually start to like them I love fruits and vegetables but there were still some things I had a hard time with and now some of those foods are my favorites

crubinetti

I have this exact same problem (but I eat meat). For me, 99% percent of this is less tast and more texture. For example, I like the way green pepers taste and smell but the texture is dang near impossible to choke down. The best advice I can give is to mince and puree to bulk the food she is already eating. In almost any recipe you can substitue some of the water for puree vegetables that have a high water content. I totally agree witht the iceburg lettace thing. What you said is exactly my salad with some cheese. I switched to 2% sharp cheddar because you get more flavor with less and the fat content is lower. I basically eat all my old foods but with portion control. I am hungry sometimes but I drink water to get through it. Also, I try a new thing a week. I usually don't like it but at least then I know. Last week was Hummas and I can't figure out for the life of me how that caught on....:sick: So that's my story... open to questions if you have any OP.

mcjmommy

Please be careful. It sounds like you are investing a lot of energy and time into her weight loss. To a certain extent, if she is an adult, she needs to take the responsibility for herself or this cannot work.
It sounds like you are going above and beyond the call of duty as her friend and I wish you both huge success!

ddky

Thanks to everyone who responded. I don't think that a lot of people know what a supertaster is. It is actually a physical thing. They have A LOT more taste buds than the average person so a lot of tastes are overwhelming to them. Some people have suggested that she just needs to decide to eat better. In a way, that would be like telling a normal person they are just going to have to learn to eat raw jalapenos. Although, I do think some of it is a mental thing there is a real physical component. We actually did this test we found on the internet where you use food dye to dye the tongue so you can count the taste buds. She had way more than I did. She is doing good about measuring her foods and staying within her calorie goal. It just seems hard for me to believe she can actually lose weight while eating pizza and macaroni and cheese, but as long as she keeps watching her portions I am hopeful. Thanks again.

ddky

Please be careful. It sounds like you are investing a lot of energy and time into her weight loss. To a certain extent, if she is an adult, she needs to take the responsibility for herself or this cannot work.
It sounds like you are going above and beyond the call of duty as her friend and I wish you both huge success!

This is the south. There is no such thing as "above and beyond" for family or friend who ask for your help. It is in our DNA. But she is making a real effort. Thanks for your good wishes.

ddky

I have this exact same problem (but I eat meat). For me, 99% percent of this is less tast and more texture. For example, I like the way green pepers taste and smell but the texture is dang near impossible to choke down. The best advice I can give is to mince and puree to bulk the food she is already eating. In almost any recipe you can substitue some of the water for puree vegetables that have a high water content. I totally agree witht the iceburg lettace thing. What you said is exactly my salad with some cheese. I switched to 2% sharp cheddar because you get more flavor with less and the fat content is lower. I basically eat all my old foods but with portion control. I am hungry sometimes but I drink water to get through it. Also, I try a new thing a week. I usually don't like it but at least then I know. Last week was Hummas and I can't figure out for the life of me how that caught on....:sick: So that's my story... open to questions if you have any OP.

Thanks so much. I see that you have lost almost 60 pounds. That's what I was looking for. People who have been successful at weight loss while eating foods that are less than ideal.

Alluminati

Send them to a 3rd world country and see how picky they become.

:laugh: yup

Girlrose

I'm a supertaster, too (I found out my sophomore year of high school when we put strips of paper on our tongues in chemistry class). For the longest time, my diet was EXACTLY like your friend's (I called it the bad vegetarian diet because it was basically just a combination of bread and cheese with the occasional fruit thrown in). Now, I eat a much more diverse diet, including fish. I still really can't tolerate eating many vegetables raw (like spinach, kale, and broccoli), but I have found ways around it by either changing or masking the bitter tastes by preparing food differently. I bake broccoli in the oven and I cover the taste of spinach and kale in smoothies.

I'm sure every supertaster is different, so I wouldn't be surprised if these methods don't work for your friend, but they're certainly worth trying! That being said, if she is obese, I agree with what the other posters said. Focus now on reducing calorie intake and she can be pickier about nutrients of what she eats after she gets closer to a healthier weight.

Edited to add: I lost about 15-20 pounds by eating unhealthy food like the above in smaller quantities, so it is possible!

JanMarie2BHealthy

Perhaps she would be comfortable with low fat cheese, breads, and whole wheat pastas...also if your friends can increase activities even just walking around or stretching exercises. Little changes can add up and make her a bit healthier day by day.

maybeazure

I am really picky. I don't know if I am a super taster, but I do know that there are tons of foods that I won't eat. I hate most vegetables, and the ones that I do like I only eat raw. Cooked vegetables are slimy and gross. I only like smooth tomato sauce. If there are chunks of tomato they gag me. I prefer bland food. I don't want seasoning on my meat, not even salt. I don't like bread with "sand" in it (whole grain). I like pastas, potatoes, white bread and most things with sugar. I don't like mayonnaise or mustard. I do like ketchup. I like most fruits, as long as they are ripe enough. I don't eat any kind of fish, shrimp, muscles, etc. I could go on forever.

It gets horribly annoying when people either make fun of me for it, or try to "fix" me. I'm 43-years-old. Part of the benefits of being a grown-up is that I get to choose what I want to eat.

I'm losing just fine eating what I want to eat, but watching calories. I am trying to eat healthy too, partly because it's a good idea, and partly because a lot of healthy foods have fewer calories than unhealthy ones, and so they fill me up. I do eat salad (but I don't like most dressings so I eat it plain or with cottage cheese). I used to eat only iceberg lettuce, but I discovered that romaine lettuce is not too horrible, as long as the crunchy parts are there, not just the ends of the leaves...baby romaine is bitter as is spinach and lots of other lettuces. I have discovered that protein fills me up better than white carbs, so I do try to get in some of that. I also try to eat some fruit every day and sometimes I have one of the four vegetables I sort of like...salad, carrots, sugar snap peas, and celery. Whole grain white bread isn't as good as real white bread, but it's better than wheat or rye bread.

I take a multivitamin. I think that's one of the most important things since I don't probably eat enough of them. I've been thinking about a fiber supplement too, but they look so gross that I haven't done it yet.

Lizajayne23

Being a supertaster isn't something you just "grow up" and "get over". It's not just about being "picky". I'm "picky" when it comes to things I perceive as gross like bologna or hot dogs because of what they are. I'm not picky because I'm incapable of eating foods that taste very, very, very bad to me. I've been living it my entire life and no one ever understands just how horrible things like broccoli, greens, cabbage, grapefruit, artificial sweeteners, plain tea, black coffee, dark chocolate, and even plain water will taste to us. Spices are extremely painful while everyone around me says "oh, this isn't hot at all!" I also have MAJOR textural issues to deal with, as well, and there are many foods that I love the flavor of, but can't eat without gagging... pumpkin, sweet potatoes, fatty meats, any type of cooked fruit and some cooked vegetables. Bananas can be a problem. Mushy and slimy are repulsive to me. My reaction to many things isn't just "oh, these taste bad" but violent gagging and heaving if I manage to swallow which my body often does not allow.

While the friend should make an honest effort to try new things, it's not like you can suddenly stop reacting to bad tastes. And if you have to resort to masking in an unhealthy way with condiments, sweeteners or sauces, it kind of defeats the purpose of trying to eat them in the first place. Even masking doesn't work for me in most cases, but I will occasionally try to choke down things like broccoli when my family wants something that contains it. My husband has convinced me to try most everything over the past 20 years and most of them are just as intolerable today as they were 20 years ago. I am willing to keep trying, though, and recently discovered kale chips and someone suggested roasting broccoli in a similar manner to reduce the strong flavor which I'm willing to give a go.

The only good parts to being a supertaster are an aversion to soft drinks or anything carbonated and an aversion to alcohol.

Back to the original question, sure the friend can lose weight eating less of the same foods, but you'd do her a great service by encouraging her to at least try alternatives to see if something can be substituted, prepared or combined in a tolerable way.

NonnyMary

Ok I understand that people feel they have very bad reactions to food that is repulsive to them. I dont know what causes this, for me I just say "thats how Im wired" when i have a strange habit or choice that makes sense to me, but not to others. It really makes sense to me how I have some picky food ways. they really cannot get over how I feel about some food.

But when someone has an aversion to something, one type of way of conquering that is to actually go and face what is feared. Little by little. Like people being afraid to leave their house (agoraphobia).

so maybe some people have a food-aphobia.

If a food gives one an allergic reaction or makes them sick physically then they should stay away from it. but if someone WANTS to get over a food pickyness, and the food really doesn't cause them any harm, except that its disgusting, then the person would have to try the new food a few times until they can handle it.

People have gotten off worse fears than disliking food with this method.

But who knows why we are wired the way we are, it could be something going back to childhood, where that food was forced into the child, and something now forgotten really turned them off to the food because its triggering some crap from the past. or maybe when the child was eating a certain kind of food, some trauma happened, maybe someone died, and now the adult associates that food with the trauma, but has totally forgotten about it. this is when you have to get an expert to help. it does not mean someone is crazy, it just means they have some kind of bad food experience in the past.

Lizajayne23

I don't have an eating disorder. I'm not afraid of any food. I haven't been traumatized by events that led me to abhor the long list of things I have noted. I try new and unusual things. There is no magic number of times to try something to make my taste buds change their tune. If that was the case, my hubby's little country heart would be in heaven because he'd get his cabbage, broccoli, spices and myriad other foods that I've been trying to tolerate for 40 years with little change. I grew up exposed to all of these foods and more after marrying into a family of "country cooks" so it isn't a result of not having them as a child or a learned aversion because those around me didn't like them.

Being a supertaster is a physiological condition, not psychological (like my aversion to bologna). It can't be cured or treated. Interestingly, I have other sensory processing issues that go along with food textures. It also extends to tactile reactions to fabrics and papers and overstimulation from certain sounds. Supertasting and sensory disorders relating to food texture are two separate issues, but seem to go hand in hand for a lot of folks.

All of that said, I'll repeat, I don't believe anyone should use this as an excuse to eat nothing but mac n cheese, bread and potatoes without ever trying new things or working on ways to make them tolerable. I never would have imagined that I'd eat kale chips when I first heard of them! It takes a little work to find veggies, in particular, since most ways of masking are not so healthy and I have a long way to go in that area, but every little change is a step in the right direction!

kazsjourney

I am picky altho maybe not to the degree of your friend. When I started out I didnt eat vegetables, fruit, seafood, only limited meat, beans etc

These days...I am better...I found new foods I had never tried before like avocado, feta cheese, tahini, semi dried tomatos etc. In relation to vegetables I will now eat things like capsicum, spinach, mushrooms, tomatos, onions, eggpplant....I really had to look outside the box. I will eat barramundi or whiting but no other seafood...i eat bananas and any type of berry (i now love berries) and I will eat chicken, duck and turkey.

For me my issue really is about texture,,,so I made a point to try different fruits and vegetables I had no preconcieved opinion of....and thats how i figured out things....I have lost over 180 pounds and it hasnt stopped me

NonnyMary

Spalissa - Ok there goes my theories..

But can you help me understand what is happening with you? I think i kind of understand now that you explained it.

but what happens (or what would happen) if you ate something that is totally nasty to you because of the taste or texture being nasty? do you get physically ill, like if someone ate poison ivy?

I'm thinking if you did try something and it did not physically harm you like a toxic plant, if you tried to bear the uncomfortable feelings, could you overcome? I mean is the stumblingblock getting in your way a real physical threat to your body or is it still your mind tricking you?

I know that sometimes we can get sick from stressful things which do start in our mind, and they really affect our body and we can get sick from stress, so i can understand the mind/body connection, but I'm hoping to hear from you to understand this.