Super picky eater? How do you not get bored?

VictorSmashes
VictorSmashes Posts: 173 Member
in Food and Nutrition
One thing I struggle with is avoidance and repetitive boredom. I love eating healthy and can go months if not years on the right path. It’s a huge struggle though, since I’m a very picky eater with binge tendencies. To remedy this, I often go to polar ends of the spectrum or stick to safe foods and end up with nutritional deficiencies. What are some tips for incorporating healthy snacks and meals into your day, without feeling overwhelmed, disgusted, or discouraged?

It doesn’t help that I’m disabled and therefore have less energy/time and some special nutritional needs.

I always feel like hitting all the marks is impossible.

Also I feel like it needs to be said, I go to therapy, the gym, a nutritionist, and I’m addressing the whole depression thing.

All advice is welcome. TIA! :)

Replies

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,223 Member
    edited September 2023
    VictorSmashes wrote: »
    One thing I struggle with is avoidance and repetitive boredom. I love eating healthy and can go months if not years on the right path. It’s a huge struggle though, since I’m a very picky eater with binge tendencies. To remedy this, I often go to polar ends of the spectrum or stick to safe foods and end up with nutritional deficiencies. What are some tips for incorporating healthy snacks and meals into your day, without feeling overwhelmed, disgusted, or discouraged?

    It doesn’t help that I’m disabled and therefore have less energy/time and some special nutritional needs.

    I always feel like hitting all the marks is impossible.

    Also I feel like it needs to be said, I go to therapy, the gym, a nutritionist, and I’m addressing the whole depression thing.

    All advice is welcome. TIA! :)

    Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is medically very serious and results in deficiencies like you've mentioned which is at the extreme end of the phycological reasons why someone may have an eversion or a fear of a particular look, taste, texture, smell, thought, and it's hard to almost impossible to evaluate simply because it's so individual and imo you should be trying to get that worked out with your Doctor.

    The big problem I see is that none of the answers to why people feel the way they do about a particular food ever makes any sense and sometimes some people just need to be encouraged more with repeated asks, simple as that, with others, that's a totally hopeless conversation. I hope you find some help and get over some of this trauma, I suspect it isn't easy. Cognitive behavioral therapy can apparently be very effective, maybe look into that. Cheers
  • MacLowCarbing
    MacLowCarbing Posts: 350 Member
    I sometimes get bored of what I eat since I'm on a fairly restrictive diet (it's actually quite freeing to me, free from food addictions, but technically people would see it as restrictive). I'm not a picky eater at all, unfortunately. I used to eat a big variety of foods, mostly those that were bad for me. I gave up most sugars, artificial sweeteners, and carbohydrates so I get bored sometimes now because I want the variety more.

    Then I remind myself that food isn't supposed to be entertaining, just eat what's healthy for me and if I want entertainment go read a book or watch a movie or play a game or something lol.

    Once I take a bite of my meal on plan though, if I'm hungry, I enjoy it and feel satiate. That kills the cravings for the things I don't eat anymore.
  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,758 Member
    VictorSmashes wrote: »
    One thing I struggle with is avoidance and repetitive boredom. I love eating healthy and can go months if not years on the right path. It’s a huge struggle though, since I’m a very picky eater with binge tendencies. To remedy this, I often go to polar ends of the spectrum or stick to safe foods and end up with nutritional deficiencies. What are some tips for incorporating healthy snacks and meals into your day, without feeling overwhelmed, disgusted, or discouraged?

    It doesn’t help that I’m disabled and therefore have less energy/time and some special nutritional needs.

    I always feel like hitting all the marks is impossible.

    Also I feel like it needs to be said, I go to therapy, the gym, a nutritionist, and I’m addressing the whole depression thing.

    All advice is welcome. TIA! :)

    My recommendation is to see someone who specializes in eating disorders. Having "safe" foods and cycles of binging and restricting are, as neanderthin said, complicated issues. And not ones that can be easily remedied.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    If you're in the US, a "nutritionist" likely does not have the education needed to address your issues. I imagine you're not fully satisfied with them, hence asking here. Do see someone who specializes in this.
  • VictorSmashes
    VictorSmashes Posts: 173 Member
    Hey all. I appreciate the feedback. My doctors don’t think I have arfid or a severe eating disorder. I do agree that my situation is complex! A lot of my avoidant behavior is due to stomach problems. Eg when I was growing up, apples and other raw produce would make me sick.
    I can have these in moderation, I just tend to have trouble with schedules and repetition because of ADHD (not yet official).

    I did say all advice so I appreciate the input.

    I do think maybe my biggest difficulty is in time/project management and cutting corners because of that. It’s hard for me to create a solid plan and be able to stick to it.
  • kidiki
    kidiki Posts: 22 Member
    edited September 2023
    I have no educated advice to share. I do find the FitnessPal app extremely helpful in helping me meet nutritional goals. If I become bored with food, it’s usually from lack of crunch or texture. Carrots, celery, homemade kale chips help my situation. All the best to you. This is a very supportive and informative community.
  • pink_pixie_weed
    pink_pixie_weed Posts: 1 Member
    For the last month I have been using Hello Fresh and mostly sticking to thier low calorie options. Each week I have something different and I don't have to worry about food going bad in the fridge. I live alone so each night what ever I had is lunch the next day. I also don't like eating the same thing more that 2 days in a row, so this has been working for me.

    Breakfast and weekends are the only time I shop or prepare my own foods. I do measure all the ingredients in my Hello Fresh boxes and enter them in my recipes manually for further accuracy.

    Every other weekend I have a day where I eat maintenance calories. So far it's been working really well for me.

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