Picky eating............to the extreme

[Cordellia Amethyste Rose]

This goes along with sensory sensitivity, but out of curiosity, how many of you are picky eaters? To what degree?

For me, it's pretty extreme. There's a very limited list of things I'll eat. If anything has anything I don't like in it, that food is completely off limits. I have to know what's in anything before I'll even try it. Most things I won't try. It's to varying degrees. If I even smell or taste butter, I will absolutely get sick to my stomach. I'm not allergic. I just REALLY can't stand it. I find that people judge me a lot for this. They always ask "Are you allergic?" & don't understand why I won't eat it if I'm not. I'm not allergic. I just REALLY REALLY hate it. I can't stand cheese & most vegetables. I scan ingredients for anything I won't eat & reject most food because it almost always has cheese or some vegetable I won't eat. There are only a few canned soups I can eat since most have either cream, green beans, or some other food I won't eat. I don't buy packaged sandwiches as they all have cheese or some vegetable. I can tolerate pizza, but only because the specific mix of meat & sauces drowns out the cheese enough. That's the ONLY food with cheese I'll go near.

It's not just a preference. To have a taste I don't like in my mouth aggravates me to no end & some foods really make me sick just at the thought. Whenever I order a sausage & egg at Subway, they have to blot both for me because there's a buttery taste one one of them (never figured out which).

People look like you're crazy or immature for this, but I can't understand why. If something bothers me this much then why would you look at me like I'm the problem?

The list of what I'll eat is very limited & highly fattening. Example dinners are: dried pepperoni sandwich, crackers, one of a few soups I'll eat, pepperoni pizza, very simple sandwich, and a few others that I rotate. It's very tough.

I try to be as specific as possible at restaurants, but if they bring it out wrong (which for some reason, they almost always do), I won't touch it. People expect you to just eat it anyway, but there's no way. My meat has to be really well-cooked, almost burned is about perfect. If there's a hint of pink anywhere the meal is ruined. No scraping off the cheese, either. The flavor still remains, and you can never get it all off. Redo, or I won't pay for it.

Anyway, that's just a snippet of what I go through. I recently read an interesting article about this, which made me feel a little bit like less of a freak.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodResourceCenter/picky-eating-me...

Anyone else go through this?

[Cordellia Amethyste Rose]

I've since cut out dairy completely.  

[Cordellia Amethyste Rose]

Apparently, contrary to popular belief, you don't drop down dead right away if you eat Triscuits for dinner.  ;)  

[The1andonlyAbber]

How do you get enough nutrition without vegetables and without a lot of dairy?

[Cordellia Amethyste Rose]

Exactly! Me, too! People act like I'm a nutball, but I don't know how you can just wipe off cheese. It's gooey & the taste permeates everything. I stopped putting up with it. The food I want is so simple, and my instructions are so clear. If a person messes it up, then they had better make it again. I avoid eating out at new places just because I have to interrogate them about how it's prepared. Does it come with butter, cheese, any type of cream or cream substitutes (as it's about the flavor and texture, not the lactose). Does it have mushrooms? What about vegetables? I mean why would they put these things in there if they didn't have flavor? You can't just wipe the flavor off, or there'd be no point in making it that way.

As for your mom, why not just ask her if you can make your own food? Lots of people are like this. There's nothing wrong with you. You're not defective. You're just different than HER.

[Christa]

Im an extremely picky eater, my mom calls me the plain food lover. I dont like a lot of foods, smelling or thinking about spaghetti makes me sick to my stomach. I usually get a lot of anger from my mother because of it since every time she makes something she "has" to make it my way or I wont eat it. It also irritating when I order fast food and they get it wrong and no one understands why I cant simply remove/wipe the items i dont like and eat it, its strange but i can still taste it. I also have a strong dislike for soups except chicken noodle, even that I would easily give up for something more pleasing to my palette. I have the same problem with ingredients , even if it doesnt look like it has tomatoes or some other vegetable its magically in there, and after many times trying to conquer it i cant get past that bit of flavor i detect in the meal, so i end up throwing it away.

[snail INFP]

I'm picky too, but now that I'm a vegetarian, it's not so much of an issue. Most of the foods that had textures that grossed me out were meat products. People tolerate vegetarianism much more respectfully than they tolerate sensory sensitivity to flavors and textures, which is often viewed as a form of being spoiled or irritating.

[Cordellia Amethyste Rose]

I can't order in pizza every night. Finding things to eat is so challenging.
Tonight's dinner: Turkey Kielabasa (plain), Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits, Arrowhead sparkling lemon water.

[Cordellia Amethyste Rose]

That's not the point.

[Feng]

I think you can get pizzas without cheese.