Picky adult eaters: 'I can’t be the only ‘freak’ out there'

Most people grow out of 'fussy eating' as children. But some adults struggle with debilitating aversions to food.

Some with extremely restrictive eating habits only eat a specific colour of food (tugceozturk/iStock)

A dietician has given an insight into a community of adults with extreme picky eating habits, including a client who only eats red and orange food.

By the age of five, most children stop being “fussy” about what the eat and try a great range of foods, British Dietetic Association spokesperson Priya Tew told The Independent.

“Many people will grow out of fussy eating as they approach teenage years as food becomes more of a social issue with eating out with friends.”

But so-called picky eating can stretch past teenage years and even into adulthood, she says.

“While most people have a few different foods they avoid, picky eaters only eat a tiny range of foods.”

This behaviour, diagnosed as selective eating disorder, can be debilitating as it can make it hard for a sufferer to nourish themselves, but also makes socialises hard and can put a strain on relationships. Freaky Eaters

Tew describes a clients who “only ate a specific colour,” including the highly restrictive red and orange, meaning they cut out food groups including carbohydrates and proteins and endangered their health. Others carried behaviours often associated with children into adulthood, including refusing to eat foods that are touching other things on the plate.

In 2010, selective eating disorder was classified as a condition for adults who are highly restrictive of food following a study at Duke University.There are a huge variety of reasons why people have fussy eating habits, explains Tew.

For some it can be psychological, for some it is due to trauma or abuse linked in the mind to specific foods. For others, the texture of food is an issue, or “being more sensitive to tastes and smells.” That includes “supertasters”, who experience flavours more intensely than others.

A 33-year-old owner of a computer firm identified as Paul on the Picyk Adult Eating Support group website described how he was continually ill between the ages of six and seven as he suffered from whooping cough, meningitits and tuberculosis. During this time it was very difficult for him to keep food down, meaning that he associated food with negative thoughts.

“I can’t be the only ‘freak’ out there,” he wrote in an emotional post.

“I have read numerous times that EDs are a symptom of another problem. What if food is the problem?”

“Many people suffer to one degree or another from irrational phobias, often relating to a traumatic experience. What if that phobia is food? Many people dislike a particular food due to its association with an experience. Now take that to its extreme.”

“Overtime, bearing in mind my age, this created an association food cause me harm, this included any form of meat, veg, cheese or anything with any real taste. I won’t go into what my daily diet usually consists, but suffice to say that their is nothing really that you could term as a socially expectable meal.

As with any phobia, there is a tendency to avoid situations where you are going to have to confront it, such as eating socially. My parent’s attempts at solving the problem only made matters worse, first were attempts at force feeding which only served to reinforce the problem. Probably the cruelest thing was trying to ‘shame’ me into eating normally, effectively making me feel like an abnormal freak only serving to make me more self-conscious of a problem that I felt was outside of my control.”

Now, he says he is very secretive about his problems and most of his friends are unaware of his issues with food.

“I avoid any event where I could be ‘outed’ like the plague and those that I can’t get out of such as invites to relatives weddings will cause anxiety attacks similar to those many of you may experience.”

“I do suffer from low self-esteem, lack of confidence and depression, mainly though not feeling like a normally fully participating member of the human race and as I get older becoming a very lonely social leper.”

He adds that social stigma towards his condition makes matters worse.

“I have had comments like why don’t you just try. What people don’t realise is that my body reacts to what they consider as a normal diet in the same way as heir’s would is asked to eat something they wouldn’t consider as food or if they were eating something, then found out they were eating their pet cat for example. You can’t swallow, if you do your throat goes into spasm and you start reaching. This is compounded by the fact that my taste buds/palette are uneducated and trigger this reaction to ‘non-food’. This reaction then goes someway to reinforcing the original phobia and you end up going round in circles.”

Tew stresses that those concerned about loved ones who are “fussy eaters” should encourage them to take a gradual approach to incorporating new foods into their diets.

“It is key to encourage a person with fussy eating tendencies to try small amounts of new foods in a calm environment. This could be literally one mouthful. It can take 10 or more attempts of trying a food to know if you like it or not, many people will try a food once and decide they do not like it and not try it again.

“The key is to find a person’s motivation. For some people, the realisation that their diet is unhealthy and could cause health issues can be the motivation, eating the same limited range of foods will only provide limited nutrients, running the risk of a person being deficient in some things. If someone has children and want their children to eat a good range of foods this can be another good motivator. “

In general, Tew suggest the Mediterranean diet as the ideal.

“Generally we just want people to have a balance of wholegrain carbohydrates, fruit and veggies, protein and dairy over their day with small amounts of healthy fats. So at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables with a range of colours, wholegrains carbohydrates at each meal, 3 portions of dairy foods a day plus lean protein.”