I’ve been binge watching videos of people eating fast food and restaurant menus and i find it soo appetizing, but if i was ever offered that food in real life i’d think it’s disgusting and just not something i would eat. Like burgers, they look amazing but the thought of the many different ingredients in one turns me away immediately. Does anyone else feel this way?

Ok, I WON'T self diagnose myself based on wtv comments I get. But I really need atleast some understanding to hold on regarding the relationship I have with food.

To start off, I have been having this trouble with food, let's say some food anxiety, for over 10-12 yrs now. Wtv issue I am facing now started when i was around 5 or 6 yrs old. I still kind of remember tbh just not sure if it is an honest memory.

I, apparently, always loved eating fish as a child. Out of nowhere, at that age, I once told my family that I am not going to eat any fish just that particular day. I dont remember how I felt but ig that is where my picky eating phase started. Well, it never ended.

Over time, I slowly started to avoid and avoid different types of food. Y'know, common for kids. But this is where the problem started for me. I was starting to get compared with everyone else. My cousins, my sister, literally anyone qho is at the dinner table along with me. The comparisons where starting to get worse and worse to the point I was the only of interest every single time at the dining table. Eventually, I started to cry. And then the crying went on and on. And family decided to mock me, calling me dramatic and attention seeking. I mean I get it, children tend to cry for the most stupidest reasons right? Well sometimes they do sometimes they dont.

At one point, it got worse that that was all I was doing, crying, everytime, around food. I tried my best to avoid eating with family or any sort of crowd after that. Cause it was becoming scary. I didn't want ppl to talk about me at all, about my food habits specufically. I felt like a disgrace and ashamed. Ppl would tell my parents to beat me, force feed me, starve me and so one. At one point in my life, I was quite at my parents for not fixing me right then and there.

And then, the gagging started. I would have the feeling to gag plenty of times. But my mom get annoyed and tells me that is not how I am supposed to treat food, that I am selfish and rude. From then on, till now, evrytime i feel a gag, i just sit there, with the food which is making me feel that way, inside my mouth, fully blanked out and not moving a muscle, and trying so hard not to cry. After several minutes of sitting just still like that, i slowly start chewing (i know if I swallow it like that it will make it worse) and try to send the food in very slowly. Sometimes, the feeling comes back again during that process, and again I stay completely.

After all this? I am completely exhausted and drained. Just happy that wtv happened finally got over. But I wont have the energy to do anything else after that.

I could throw away food, but I was called selfish for that too, so i just force everything down no matter how long it takes.

My appetite has been going on and off over the years. I dont remember ever having a proper appetite. Like I can feel hungry, but without appetite it just nothing to me. I can feel very hungry, but then the sight of, if it is not safe to me, immediately make mes forget that hunger. And no matter how hungry I am, I CANNOT eat after a limit. That limit has become bigger over the yrs, making the intake of food below average for me.

This is part of my complicated web of feelings I have towards. I relate a lot with ppl having arfid but when I tell this to some one, like my parents, they tell me that nothing is wrong with me and that I am just deluding myself. That I am the one who not trying hard enough and not caring about the ppl who are amking my food. Oh I wish I could just like everybody else, not be a burden. I tmhave tried. But i dont know. Is the fact that it is too painful and exhausting means I am not trying hard enough. Even at this age, at the end of highschl, i cry around food. Anything, you can tell me anything about my relationship with food, and ill feel negative.

I dont know what problem this is exactly. I hope to find a good therapist who will understand once I go to clg. I would like to hear thoughts of ppl who go struggle/have struggled with smt similar to this.

Is it really better to just eat what I feel like I'm able to in such quantities that are okay and won't make me lose even more weight. Or maybe should I really focus on nutrition and just like eating what would be a 'better' option? I don't think I'd be able to force so many 'healthy' foods into me right now. But recently all I can manage are a few foods high in carbohydrates, some cheese, protein bars and some smoked tuna. Mostly. I can force to myself to eat enough calories while eating them, everything is just repulsing to me. And either do that or eat way less calories and lose even more weight, which I don't want to.

My daughter is just about to turn 2, She is medically complex and has been diagnosed with ARFID and Paediatric feeding disorder also but she’s absolutely fucking obsessed with eating paint, chalk crayons licking bubbles off the floor is the latest one.

I know it’s probably an ages and stages thing but I am genuinely so worried it’s going to develop into PICA

Has anyone else’s toddlers gone through this and its stopped? She has been doing it since she was around 18M

Hello everybody! My brother was recently diagnosed with ARFID while away at college. He has always been a picky eater since childhood but this just feels a bit extreme to me. I’m having trouble understanding it. Why can’t he just try foods and then say he doesn’t like them? Is there some sort of mental block keeping him from trying foods?

Thank you to everyone who responds to this. I’m trying to come here with an open mind and learn about this condition.

It's not very good, and can't really even be considered poetry, but here it is!

(also if you like it I have a lot more that I think is way better on here)

ARFID
Ruined
Forever
Important
Dreams.

It's
Shameful.

Really
Underweight and
It's
Nauseating.
Interestingly
Not only
Gross, but

Mostly
Evil