Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder – Hypnotherapy Ely & Newmarket

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) has been in the press recently after one charity reported a large spike in people seeking help for this type of food problem.

People who struggle with this form of eating disorder will avoid certain foods and so have a limited range of things they eat. I’ve helped many people over the years with this sort of eating disorder. They will usually have a pretty restricted range of foods that they can currently cope with eating. In various combinations these ‘safe’ foods are repeated over and over.

When it comes to trying to eat anything new, there can be an overwhelming sense of fear, stress and anxiety. It’s pretty common for someone to gag if they try to eat something new. It is such an unpleasant experience, and so stress inducing, that most people just continue with their same restricted range of foods. It can cause problems eating around others or going out to eat. You can feel frustrated and even annoyed with yourself for being unable to eat the things other people seem to cope with eating. Often, it means a fairly unhealthy and restricted diet and eating can lack any sense of joy or fun.

Although there can be some variations between people, there is a heightened sensitivity to certain food tastes, textures or smells. Even the thought of eating something outside the ordinary can lead to tension and anxiety.

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

It’s not always clear why someone first starts to struggle around certain foods. Often there will be some unpleasant experiences that you remember quite clearly around certain types of food or eating. There may have been a choking incident when you were younger. Or it may have been that you were made to eat something you did not like, or that had a texture you didn’t like, when you were a child. As the disorder is often associated with healthier type foods, sometimes being made to sit and eat these foods, or being watched to make sure you do, all contributed to the stress linked to that problematic texture, taste or smell.

For whatever reason your avoidant/restrictive food disorder started, there are now a whole host of negative thoughts and feelings around those problem foods, textures, smells or tastes.

And you’ve probably tried before to expand your range of foods, only to get frustrated when the anxiety, stress, gagging or inability to swallow repeats itself. You may feel that you are different or weird in some way and that can impact upon your self-esteem and confidence. You may worry about going to new places because of what you will (or won’t) be able to eat. You may feel embarrassed about having this issue (or telling others about it) when you know, logically, that many other foods should be okay for you. And you probably don’t like the thought of trying to eat something new around certain people who know about your eating issue and who may comment on how well you do or do not get on.

Of course, you don’t have to like every texture, taste, smell and food combination. Yet, as you don’t eat other things, you may not really know whether you like other foods and what other foods you may or may not like. Right now, as far as eating goes, it’s the same old things each and every time.

Whether you want to be healthier, feel more ‘normal’ or just be free of the worry, fear and stress you currently experience around eating, it is certainly possible to make progressive, positive changes. As you feel calmer and change you current negative associations to more positive ones, you will be able to build some positive momentum. Starting slowly and with small steps, you can begin to experiment with different foods and types of foods. You can start to confidently expand the range of textures, tastes and smells that are part of your usual diet. And from there, you can continue to make progressive, positive change and to start feeling relaxed as you enjoy the whole eating experience more and more.

To your health and happiness, 

Dan Regan

Award Winning Hypnotherapy for Anxiety Ely & Newmarket

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