Food Phobia

Do you suffer from a general or specific food phobia? I did! I only ate a few food items for more than 35 years. Is your phobia causing you to have health issues? It might. Is it causing you social and psychological issues? Almost certainly! Food phobias are serious and can really diminish life satisfaction tremendously.

What exactly is a phobia of food? Well, that depends on who you ask… Phobias come in many varieties, ranging from mild and specific to highly disruptive and general. Typically, the wider-ranging a phobia is, the worse its potential effects will be.

If you are suffering from any type of food fear, then this is the right place for you. I created this online community to raise awareness about the condition now known as ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder and formerly known as selective eating disorder). I assure you, there is help available to you if you WANT to change your limited eating habits.

Degrees of Food Phobia

Almost everyone has preferences when it comes to food. This is normal. Most people even have some food items that are unappealing to them and are therefore avoided. This is also normal.

There are finicky eaters, also commonly known as picky eaters. These people take preferences to a completely different level, avoiding many foods in favor of specific types of foods. While these people are limited in some aspects of life, they usually manage to fare ok in terms of providing themselves with adequate nutrition and dietary diversity.

However, people who have ARFID have tremendous dietary limitations that are self imposed. A diversity of food is available, but this variety is not desirable to these people. Instead, they suffer under many compulsions and imperatives about what they can eat, what they can’t eat and even how they eat. These people might suffer an assortment of physical, psychological and social consequences due to their restricted dietary intake. These people often have significant food phobias. I know that I surely did!

Types of Food Phobia

People with highly specific food fears are usually much better off then people with general food phobias. A person might be incredibly stressed by the very idea of eating a particular food or type of food, like seafood, for example. As long as they avoid this food (which is not difficult), they are ok. Additionally, treatment for these highly specific fears is much easier than in people with general food fears.

More significant examples of phobia include people who narrow down what they WILL eat to only a small selection of very specific foods. These dietary imperatives are often arbitrary and the person usually has no idea why they are so preferential to some foods and prejudiced against ALL others. Treating these general food fears is difficult, since the person tends to avoid far more foods than they actually eat, making the process exponentially more challenging for both the care provider and the care recipient! I unfortunately, fit into the extreme end of this category for most of my life. From the age of 2 (possibly before) to the age of about 37, I only ate a handful of (not very nutritious) foods… every meal, every day, year in and year out. Fortunately, a cure eventually found me!

Food Phobias are Valid

I know that most people do not understand you. They think you are weird and might even put lots of pressure on you to eat, usually out of very good intentions. I know that you also probably agree with these people that you are indeed weird! I certainly did. You know that eating only a small selection of foods is not normal and is certainly not healthy. At least I hope that you know… If not, you probably will eventually come around to this conclusion eventually. I did!

However, feeling like you want to eat more will not make you change. I hated my diet and was so bored of the few foods I ate. I hated the social awkwardness and having to explain my weird habits to every new person I ever met in my life. I know that my eating caused stress for my mother when I was a child. She even brought me to 2 doctors for the problem… (You can read the entire short form version of my food phobia experience in the My Story section.)

If you do not want help and just want to hang out and feel at home with other people just like you, then welcome. No one will put any pressure on you here. I understand how virtually impossible it is to break restrictive eating habits. Almost everyone in my life tried to “fix” me and failed miserably. I never wanted to change either. My cure came about quite by accident and this is why I consider myself so incredibly lucky!

I can actually eat now. I love to eat in fact. I have purposefully held on to some of my dietary restrictions, because I believe in them due to conscience (being a vegetarian). However, I have given up my fears in favor of the joy that food can and does bring, if only given a chance. Do you want to change? If so, I will do my best to help you! If not, that’s fine too!