No more real food for me?

I don't know your background. Are you overweight or underweight? You say you're always hungry but hate how all food tastes so are you overeating or undereating?

Your mental health is yours to take care of, so I'll just talk about food-ish options.

There are lots of people who subsist on food I wouldn't consider "real" food...ramen noodles and canned or frozen meals and such...there are also a lot of people who have meal replacements like shakes or bars because they either aren't hungry enough for "real" food (which is common in elderly people) or because they are trying to lose weight and the replacements are low calorie while being good nutrition bombs (like slim fast)...really as long as you are getting the nutrition you need it shouldn't matter where that nutrition comes from...some processed foods might be lacking in nutrients, but many are also packed with nutrients, vegetarian options typically need a B12 supplement, or to have other foods that are B12 heavy.

What do you want to consume? Are you looking for liquid nutrition? Are you looking for solid things that are vegetarian? Are you looking for dense bars that taste like candy?

Your diary is open, and it looks like you are aiming for 2K calories per day, which I assume is appropriate for your stats...you aren't logging anything, so it's impossible to offer any specific advice. I like the Premier Protein pre-made shakes, coffee and chocolate are my favorite flavors, they are 160 cals and 30g protein, I have trouble eating enough protein because while I'm ok with meat, it's just not something I eat a ton of, so they help fill the protein gap. You wouldn't want to live on JUST those because they are too low in calories, but there are lots of other package "fake food" options that are higher in calories.

Really, what do you like to consume in terms of the fake foods - liquid only, bars, vegetarian, etc...you need to start with what you want to consume and then you can plan around how to hit your calories, protein, fat needs for any given day.

From your last post, I'd suggest you keep searching for the RIGHT doctor, one who takes you seriously and doesn't sound anything like your former(a.k.a. idiot) doctors. Good doctors are out there and sometimes you have to go through several to find one that will actually listen and have a clue. IMP you need testing done because it does sound as if your body is "screwed up" in some way. A doctor needs to suggest a specialist that'd be geared to help you. And given your issues, who knows what kind of specialist that might be?

One thing I've learned about the medical field is that anybody who finds the right answers straight out of the chute, is one lucky soul. Seek, search, question, ask, and don't take what they tell you as gospel. Try a different hospital, area, doctor, check into teaching hospitals, travel to a larger area if you need to. You will find an answer but given your unique issues, it sounds like it will take some searching.

Some of my past experiences with doctors and PCP's:
ER dr. told my dad to go back to the nursing home and pinch some nurses' a$$e$ when we brought him in to address his rapidly decreasing heart failure. When we insisted(thankfully due to the nursing home nurses refusing to take him back!!)they took him to a VA hospital who did pacemaker surgery and he was right back home within days.
Another ER dr. sent my mom back home after she fell at home, breaking vertebrae and being pumped with morphine because she said it didn't hurt anymore.
A PA, when I practically begged her to help me lose weight, told me to eat carrots instead of cookies.
My niece is married to a neurologist who believes depression/anxiety is all in a person's head.

Those are simply the first 4 that came to me but you get the idea.

Wishing you good luck and hope you get the help you need because clearly something within your individual make-up isn't working as it should.

Also, if you haven't been there already, it seems like https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFID/ might be a more clued-in source of support and information from people who share your situation, maybe worth a look anyhow.

Tiptoetherat wrote: »

So...some of you know this, but yea I'm still very much struggling with food, and I REALLY don't want to eat food ever again. I know that's not an option, so I'm looking for other ones. An idea that keeps popping into my head is trying to get away from eating whole/real food. Why would I do this? A number of reasons. I hate how (all) food tastes, I don't have time to cook, when I look at meat I see dead animals in my mind, I feel guilty about eating, etc...

I'm wondering if its possible to live and be healthy only eating powders/ soylent/pills/fiber supps/ etc??

Have any of you done this?? Or heard of anyone that has??

The other thing I struggle with is hunger, I'm always hungry weather I eat or not, I REALLY wish there was something to get rid of that as well.


Now, not to be dismissive but I know some of you are going to tell me to see a shrink, well I have and they gave me happy pills and sent me on my way, and said pills only made me feel worse.

Some of you are going to say I should see my Doctor, again I have he also gave me happy pills, laughed at me, and sent me on my way...again didn't help.

After 10 years of this I figure I'm on my own, but I'm lost, I fix cars, not people.

OK this is probably going to seem "out there" but I would suggest hypnosis/hypnotherapy.

It can do two things: (1) take you back to where your "issues" started in order to help (2) reframe your beliefs about food.

(ETA: I'm sorry that I didn't answer the question you asked, I hate it when I see people suggest things to the OP that don't respond to the specific question asked, and yet here I am doing it anyway. It's just something that not a lot of people are aware of as an option so I thought I would throw it out there.)

Tiptoetherat wrote: »

OK folks, first and foremost thanks for reading, even if you didn't comment, I do appreciate it. That said let me reply to some of the questions/ideas posted here.

Ive seen 2 doctors about this, 2 shrinks, and 5 different nutritionalists.

Now, I don't want to throw shade at everyone in those professions, but yes they have all been terrible. Ive been told its all in my head and I need to just get over it, Ive been called a whiner, etc. It honestly sounds like they are all reading from a script. The FIRST thing they always ask when I tell them I hate food and want to stop eating is always "well why don't you tell me what you do like to eat and we can work from there??"

Long story short, I don't trust them to even TRY to help me out at this point.


I have always had these issues ever since I was a kid, its just been getting worse over the years, things I used to tolerate are now gross to me, the only way I can eat most days is to shovel it in fast and swallow hard. Ive been eating the same 3 meals for years now, most of which is liquids. Egg whites, protein drinks, etc.

I'm overweight and need to loose more weight. How is that possible? I have no idea, I can (and do) go days without eating and don't loose a single pound. My guess is that something is screwed up in my body this way, Id also think its why I'm always hungry.

What do I want to eat?? In a perfect world I would not eat anything, I out and out resent that I have to at food. But since that's not an option I guess liquids are the most easy for me, big thing is it can't taste or look like food. I'm not sure why that is, but that seems to be less offensive to my brain then anything else.

Pot is illegal here...AND I race cars on the weekends, so that's a no no for me on a few levels. Thanks but I'll pass.

Yes, it's quite common for kids (or adults) with feeding disorders to get sick of the few foods they would eat (called a food jag). Eventually, if not treated, some may end up on feeding tubes or just drinking something like Ensure. I wish you could have had some intervention when you were younger, but feeding therapy for sensory-based differences/disorders is relatively new. Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is an even newer diagnosis.

I hope you can find specialized help who will take you seriously and get to the root of the issue. In the meantime--what about just drinking protein shakes with unflavored protein, or something like Ensure?

FWIW--asking what you like to eat and expanding your palate from those foods is a strategy/technique that is quite common. However, it seems to completely ignore the fact that you say you hate food and wish you didn't have to eat.

I'm not one to lecture others, or go into your underlying motivations or background or care plan/etc., so I won't. And I'm no physician nor a professional in this area.

I was intrigued by Soylent's claims ("no food needed" was a founding driver for the inventor of the stuff). The pandemic quarantine gave me impetus to try it. I got a tub of the unflavored powder version. I used it for 2 meals/day, usually, and found that it did have a certain satiety factor, and, over a period of a few weeks, I didn't seem to suffer any negative effects. My assessment, for me, was, yes, it did feed me, and no, there wasn't anything in particular to recommend it beyond that. I didn't bother to repeat the experiment.

Note that I am male, 67yo, a big guy, my share of age-related health issues, here on MFP for weight loss and health improvement, and in non-quarantine times, active by bicycle riding most of the year, summer season pool and ocean swimming, basic gym work in the cool season. I am not sure that Soylent would support an active lifestyle all by itself, which was not so much an issue in quarantine. My 3rd daily meal was more or less "normal" for my moderated glycemic index/home cooking/healthy eating program.

I am not convinced that Soylent is a complete food replacement without supplementation. Sure, the label seems to check most of the boxes for macros and certain micro nutrients, but I am always mindful of the old Star Trek episode where extragalactic aliens commandeer the Enterprise, and claim that little pills "supply everything." Well, the principal crew members soon prove that incorrect, LOL. We evolved in a complex ecosystem, and at my age now, I am more and more convinced than ever that it's better to eat your nutrients from a wide variety of foods than to pop pills. But that's me.

You say you have continual hunger. I won't delve into any potential psychological drivers for hunger/munchies, etc., but will remind you that physiological "hunger" and "cravings" can be body signals that something is lacking/needed.

Whatever your path, good luck.



(You'll note in the picture I use whey as a supplement, including in my home-baked bread, and also in quarantine, found opportunity to experiment/try growing some hydroponic items).