I have memories of a child of being surprised and upset at an unexpected flavour or texture. I still remember biting into a gristly piece of meat and nearly throwing up.
Mum loves to remind me that I ate every single thing on my plate until I was either 2 or 4, then refused to eat anything other than vegiemite sandwiches and pumpkin soup. Actually she still says it with a little wail in her voice .
I also remember it being such a freakin topic of discussion that I ended up getting really self conscious about it. "oh give her to me, I'll have her eating everything" or all eyes being on me when a plate was presented.... You know its not like I wasn't hungry, or the food didn't smell delicious..but the scrutiny was all too much.
Now my husband learnt about how I was and made a great effort to help me. He is a BBQ maestro and would prepare meat (never got anywhere with vegies though!) and I could relax because he would explain what it was, how he prepared it and how it should taste. I really miss that. In fact we were at a wedding recently and I found myself looking to him to check the food was ok
There was a TV show on about this recently Lulu shot in the UK. There was a woman who would only eat chips and a few other things. They figured out it was because she was ill as a toddler, went off her food and one of her earliest memories was of being force fed. So not surprisingly she became kind of food phobic. I think as with most phobias, they recommended that she confronted her fears but in small doses. So they asked her to commit to trying tiny, tiny bites of three new foods a day.
So I think if you look at it as a kind of phobia, maybe it would be good to seek out some counselling along those lines.
You sound exactly like a firend of mine, especially the 'things touching' part.
She is the same, can make anything for her family even if she cant eat it herself.
I dont have any answers for you as shes quite happy to not do anything about it, but I do agree with the talking to someone about it part - you bviously dont htink its trivial so noone else would either.
Oh, Lulu, this sounds almost debilitating
I never force food with DS, but DP does and it gives me the willies when he puts him on a chair far away from the table and says "you can come back if you finish your dinner"... food iss-ewes is exactly what I'm envisaging when he does that!
I would definitely recommend a counsellor who does hypnotherapy. I know a good one up the mountain You can google her and she's in the complementary therapies directory - her name is Amanda Pippos. She can do Time Line Therapy and she's a great chick, to boot. Have I led you astray with a recommendation before??
By the way, did you knock everyone dead at the wedding, so that they didn't notice you not eating? Tell me so I can tell Lisa!
I'd try to talk to someone too. I've only recently started eating sausages again, because we had them so much when I was a kid! Our childhood eating certainly does have a big impact on us!
Do you think the tiny bites, not aiming to eat a whole anything, but just aiming for some tiny bites every day...would that work for you?
OMG i am soooooooooooooooooooo glad to hear I am not alone!!
Dh always hounds me about not eating vegies, i eat peas, corn, potaoe, caspsium (if chopped small) and onion.
Fruit i will eat green apples, oranges, green grapes.
I also dont like the texture and feeling. I will pick things out of dishes.
I will eat vegi soup if i liquidise it, will eat grated carrot in noodle box. I hate salad
I am sick of people saying well you will have to eat it so your kids do (i have a cousin who eats potatoe and salad and thats all and her youngest daughter now 20 is a vegetarian!!)
BellyBelly Life Member - Love all your MCN friends
Jun 2004
The Festival State
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Jerry Seinfield's wife came out with a book in last year or so, was on Oprah prmoting it, DECEPTIVELY DELICIOUS, the concept was, vitamise or puree vegies/fruit, adn put them in "normal" food recipes, kids will never know there are vegies/fruit in there.
maybe if you did that idea, you wouldn't have to deal with the food textures?
what do you normally eat?
after reading what it is hard for you to eat, i'm surprised you're not anorexic or something. THis must be really hard for you. Food is such a basic part of life, and often very enjoyable. My MIL has reflux and cannot get many foods down her, is now dangerously thin due to that, inability to eat is really serious.
i agree with getting help/hypnotherapy about the anxiety.
good luck Lulu2, this is a tough one, i hope you can beat it
Yep - fussy eater here too.. but much improved in the last 10 years or so!
No veg except potato, absolutely no salad, only fruit. Mine is about texture too.. I have to cut up onion really really small so that it cooks up into practically nothing so I don't have to pick around it in a dish. But I would never leave it out, as I love the flavour. Same with mushroom.. if I make beef strog or something, I dodge the mushroom when it comes time to eat. But now I eat basic veggies and a basic salad, and I'm much much more adventurous with new things.
I too remember people saying saying to my mum that you can get a child to eat anything.. and they absolutely FORCED pumpkin down my throat. They wouldn't let me wash it down with water or anything. I was gagging and crying and they just MADE me eat it. My bro laughed the whole time too. Needless to say, I can't touch pumpkin now, and I agree it's probably more an anxiety thing with pumpkin coz of that one time. Think I was about 4 or 5 when they did that. My mum was probably laughing inside at these people that thought they could force me to eat it too.. guess they had a lesson to learn that you can't force food on people!!
hmm.. not really sure where I'm going with my post. Just that I understand to a degree how you feel, and COMPLETELY agree not to hassle kids about food. That's one battleground I'm determined not to fight. DH was raised to eat whatever was on his plate, and he had issues as a teenager too.. but now he eats anything and everything, so it was probably anxiety related there too, then he moved out of home and was his own person and decided he liked food after all! hehe.
*hugs* I'll be interested to know if you can overcome it at all.
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You can google her and she's in the complementary therapies directory - her name is Amanda Pippos. She can do Time Line Therapy and she's a great chick, to boot. Have I led you astray with a recommendation before??
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