I Just Realized I Have An Eating Disorder!!
Why in the world did I not know this before now?
I cannot believe I am 56 and just now realizing I have an ‘eating disorder’. Sure, I have known all my life that my aversion to food is not normal, after all, almost everyone around me eats salads, fruits, vegetables and seafood. I’m just different. But an eating disorder? Wow!!! My self-diagnosed disorder is Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
The American Psychiatric Society calls what I have Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) Extreme food avoidance based on sensory characteristics of foods e.g. texture, appearance, color, smell. Anxiety or concern about consequences of eating, such as fear of choking, nausea, vomiting, constipation, an allergic reaction, etc.
I’m finding it quite interesting to read about. I actually consider myself quite the expert already, having lived with this for about 55 years.
Just in case you haven’t had a chance to read about this new food journey of mine, here are links to my first two posts about my journey to healthy eating:
This realization actually gives me hope. There are so many organizations out there willing to help those of us with eating disorders. Even someone my age that has learned how to go through life avoiding all kinds of amazing looking food.
I do think food is beautiful. I take pictures of food all of the time. The vibrant colors, the amazing intricacies of some foods, the uniqueness, how a chef prepares the dish; I love it, but I never think about what it might taste like if I took a bite, because if I did…the first thought that would come to my mind would be….eeeeewwwww, yuck!!!!!
When my husband, Rick, and I decided to move to Portugal a little bit more than a year ago, one of the reasons I wanted to go was because I thought I could finally address my eating challenges and change my eating habits. I was more than excited to try foods I’d never seen before and I was a little disappointed when I got here only to see that most of the fruits and vegetables available are the very same ones we have in the USA. There are a few new ones, but not grocery isles full of new looking fruit like I had imagined.
I was also pretty sick for a couple of months when we first arrived, so I had a hard time eating the food I liked, let alone the food that scared me.
Then, as God does His God things, while we were home for a visit in Oklahoma this past summer, He put in my path a lovely woman who is helping me as she goes through her functional nutrition counseling training. She has been the catalyst for me finally diving into this issue. We are about 4,708 miles apart, but that hasn’t stopped us from connecting, professionally and personally, and I am truly thankful God arranged our chance…coincidental…meeting.
Our groundwork has been laid and we are starting to make progress. Just last week I tried a Sweet Potato Quiche recipe and found it to be quite delicious. The only problem that arose was that I had put some Italian seasoning in the quiche and the seasoning had rosemary in it. I am allergic to rosemary, so I ended up with what felt like my stomach lining being inflamed. I was so bummed, because I thought the quiche was so good that I had it for both lunch and dinner, before I realized my stomach was not that thrilled about it.
But, I now know this is something…a vegetable…that I can eat, and I’m actually looking forward to having it again. Next time, however, I will be making it without the rosemary and I will probably slice the sweet potato to be thicker than a piece of paper.
This Sweet Potato Quiche Recipe link will take you to my post about Sweet Potatoes where you will find, at the end of the post, the recipe for sweet potato quiche.
Enjoy.
On a side note, when I’m not traveling or writing I’m designing notebooks. You can check them out on Amazon with the link below.
