I’m going to talk about my food weirdness. I’ve talked about most of my other forms of weirdness, and it’s time to come clean about my interesting relationship with food. Please know that I do so with the utmost faith that somebody, somewhere has had the same kind of experience. Okay? Ya hear?
I’ll begin with my odd food habits of the past few weeks. Since Saturday, February 27, I have eaten bananas mashed up with soy powder and sprinkled with cacao nibs for every meal. I kid you not. Our compost containers are filled with banana peels. Bob has taken to asking me every other day whether we have enough bananas in the house. I must have an intense need for potassium, because I’m eating an average of eight bananas a day. I can’t get enough of them. For snacks, I eat figs, dates, and nuts. I also eat whatever vegetables Bob happens to cook up: potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and squash. I’m particularly interested in the carrots, which taste awesome to me right now. And yes, I’m taking multivitamins so I shouldn’t die of rickets or anemia.
Why did I start in with the banana mush meals? Well, let’s just say that my recreational eating was starting to get a little out of control. I wasn’t gaining weight, but I was eating too much sugar, too much salt, and too much fat. I knew that at some point, I’d have to clean up my act (since I go through these cycles about once a year), and the magic moment came when I greedily gobbled up some dark chocolate and could hardly even taste it. I thought, wow, if chocolate doesn’t taste good to me, I need to clean up my act in a big way.
So that’s how I got started eating banana mush three times a day. And, truth be told, I can’t imagine ever eating anything else again. I assume that I will, but right now, I love the simplicity of making these strange little meals. I love how satisfying they are to my body. I love the consistency of this thrice-daily routine. And I love the fact that I’ve stopped addictively eating sugar, fat, and salt. Of course, now I’m addictively eating bananas, but so what? Autism is a world of extremes, and a banana addiction is small potatoes (sorry) when it comes to addiction.
Now, I know that the nutrition experts out there are shaking their heads and thinking, “This girl is headed for trouble.” But I assure you, I am not. I know that the experts say we’re supposed to eat a variety of foods every day, yadda, yadda, yadda, but that isn’t what my body is asking for. And besides, there are plenty of people on the planet who don’t get a variety of foods flown in from faraway lands on a regular basis, and yet, the human race survives. Go figure.
So what about my previous history of food weirdness? Let’s see. When I was a child, I didn’t have a lot of food weirdness, mainly because my parents were in charge of the food. Of course, there was the food weirdness of always eating my meals very fast, but that was my father’s doing, not mine.
You see, when I was a child, I used to save my favorite food for last. At dinner time, my favorite food was always a baked potato with lots and lots of melted butter. I would mash up the potato and the butter, and then I would let them sit there, at the top of my plate, while I finished the meat and the other vegetables.
One night, my father took it into his silly head to eat the food off my plate. And what did he go for? My potatoes and butter, of course. When I protested loudly, he said, “What? You’d deny food to your own father?” And then he jabbed the back of my hand with a fork. My father was probably autistic, but this bit of drama had nothing to do with autism. It was just a garden-variety abuse of power. (Don’t you love the way I’m sprinkling food idioms into this post?) Anyway, after that, I took to practically inhaling my food. I have two autistic friends who eat faster than I do, but usually, I leave the competition in the dust.
As a young woman, I became obsessed with being skinny, and I started eating cottage cheese with pineapple every day, topped off with a nice espresso and a cigarette. After my gag reflex started kicking in, I switched to eating soybeans and vegetables three times a day. And I don’t mean tofu or tempeh or any of those lower forms of soy nutrition; I mean cooked soybeans, three times a day. God, it was boring (and I was hungry, like, all the time), but I was saving the planet from rapacious meat producers, so it was worth it.
That is, until I couldn’t stand it anymore and ate yogurt like a madwoman. Now I can’t even look at yogurt without getting sick to my stomach.
I had a rather strange few months in my late 30s in which I started eating matzoh and almost nothing else. It wasn’t a good time in my life. I was a little stressed out, and somehow, the matzoh helped. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the reminder that my ancestors in Egypt were even more stressed than I was? Or felt equally enslaved to their jobs? I don’t know. I quit the matzoh when I got down to 98 pounds and realized that I wasn’t feeling very well.
Since then, I’ve gotten back to a healthy weight, and now I eat bananas all the live-long day. Yum.
Okay, so come clean, y’all. What’s your food weirdness?
© 2010 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg
Thanks for sharing yours & asking for ours.
Well, food weirdness was pretty much the only thing any-and every-one could put their finger on (point out) as evidence that there was something odd about me (throughout my whole life, from childhood onward). There were other differences, but none so obvious/visible/blatant-and food preferences were considered “fair game” for others to criticize, which they did almost unceasingly.
My major food groups remain salt, sugar, and butter-incl. plain white foods (simple carbs) & chocolate (of the non-dark variety). All those things one is advised to avoid, these are the only items my body & brain deem worth consuming. I find the smells, tastes, textures/mouthfeel of most foods repellent & intolerable-there’s no amount of nutrition scaremongering (even if it’s true & well-intended) that will change my calculus. There are vast swaths of “so-called food” that I will never go near (i.e. vegetables, spices, seafood), despite most other folks considering such things wonderful delights.
I have some health difficulties, but they aren’t necessarily directly related to my impoverished diet-they share an origin in my overreactivity to the sensory features of stimuli (panic & sheer terror in response to medical personnel & having procedures done to me). I’ve been fortunate to recently find gummy vitamins & supplements, so I’m finally getting some Omega-3′s in there (as I can’t swallow pills/capsules beyond a certain size, and something has to taste okay for me to willingly consume it).
I do go through phases of fixating on a small range of foods (or “foodlike substances” as author Michael Pollan might put it) for days, weeks, or months-even within the narrow range (comestible repertoire) I have at any given time. I tend not to combine ingredients together, I just eat one particular thing (or a few separate things) most of the time until I either tire of it-or I have a bad experience with it (disappointment with the food in question, or encountering a poor quality example of the category), which then immediately sours me on the specific item (and I exile it from my “current” shopping list).
As a kid, I read of a recipe for making snacks that mixed peanut butter & honey, which one would roll into balls covered with powdered/dry milk & place in fridge to “firm up”. I could never wait that long, I’d sit in front of TV & stir a large bowl of pb & honey, maybe add some milk powder to dry it out a bit, and then just eat the resulting mixture with a spoon.
Well, it’s not that unusual in people with autism, but I have an intense dislike of most vegetables, except cooked spinach. I hate licorice and anything that tastes similar (fennel), I hate raisins baked or cooked in things, or any kind of dried fruit cooked or baked in stuff.
I did not like to play with my food, and I always saved my favourite item for last. I used to suck on pennies, enjoyed chewing my aspirin and liked sucking lemons, but weirdly enough, cannot stand anything pickled.
I’ve always liked chewy food.
I’m a super taster, and find many foods bitter that most people wouldn’t even register as such. As a result, I’ve never had coffee or grapefruit, though their smells are wonderful to me.
I can identify with some of the things you do. I still eat my foods in a very precise order (worst things first, saving the best for last). Of course, as a kid, I was perfectly capable of living off air and if anyone so much as touched my food – no… even “looked at it” weird, then it didn’t get eaten.
My poor mother and sister still talk about how they had to eat their breakfast with their hands over their eyes so that they wouldn’t look at my food. Eventually it got so difficult that I quit eating breakfast and lunch altogether.
I used to say “the dog only needs one meal a day and so do I”. That lasted for the remainder of my school years until I got a job. Then, I discovered that I could buy food and eat it out of sight.
My main food weirdness these days is that I prefer things that are pre-packaged. I’ll usually prefer a “lean cuisine” frozen meal over almost anything else because I know what it tastes like and I know what to expect. My wife, who likes a bit of variety in her life, does not approve.
I can’t, off the top of my head, think of any food weirdnesses I have…mainly because I’ve never analyzed them….must think on that…..
However, the fast eating to prevent the food being taken away…I do eat quickly….
I know it’s a pretty common autistic belief that if anyone finds out you like something they will do their darnedest to take it away from you….. so either eat it in a hurry, hide it from view, pretend it doesn’t matter to you, or….teach yourself not to become attached to anyone or anything cuz it’s gonna be taken away, or “they” will try to diminish the joy of it for you…..
I loved reading this post about all your foodness
My daughter is 6 and has Aspergers. She is really picky and super skinny. I have a hard time getting her to eat enough. But oh my goodness she LOVES bananas!!! I cracked up when I read how many you were eating a day because if I had enough of them she probably would too!
I love food in general, and have few dislikes, except for spongy egg dishes like omlettes and quiches–eww! I have some intolerances, but that is different. I too, save my favourite for last.
My natural tendancy, especially living on my own, is to focus on a few foods for a period of time. The worst example of this was last year for a couple of months when I was existing on Diet Pepsi and marshmellows (If these even qualify as food). Recently, my special interest in cooking has resurfaced, and my digestive system is really, really thanking me, haha.
i love spicy/intense. as a child, i could suck on lemons and be content. i’ve gone through periods of living on posole every night for dinner. (i love it! white corn, chicken or pork and lots and lots of red chili.)
i went through the obsessiveness with being thin too as a teenager. i hear it’s pretty common among autistic girls. another quirk explained.
I am a very picky eater. I don’t like most vegetables. I like to eat one category at a time; example all my rice, then all my meat, etc. NP’s for some reason find this offputting. I love sweet things, especially chocolate. I also like spicy food. It’s good to know I’m not alone with food quirks.
I’m beginning to think that I am an Aspie and have been looking for bloggers and commenters to whom I can relate. This post really struck home. In grade school I was sent to the nurse once with an itchy redness on my arms. She asked if I had been eating citrus lately and I confessed that I had eaten a ten pound bag of grapefruits in two days. Seems that I had developed a citrus rash as a result.
My mom still teases me about my Rice-a-Roni phase. I ate the stuff every day for months and even made it into stuffing for our Thanksgiving turkey. (Thanks, Mom.) She says I went through lots of eating phases where I would eat the same thing day after day after day. Thanks for helping me see what may have been behind that behavior.
I eat really fast too, and talk fast as well, but I don’t know when it started or why. I have learned to cook food that my husband likes because he expects it, but I would eat a much narrower selection of food if I couldn’t eat ketchup on it. Sometimes I can’t remember what I’ve eaten, and at times eating seems like an ordeal (especially figuring out what to cook). But I could (and do occasionally) live on potatoes (fried, mashed, baked, with/without skins) and butter and ketchup. Most of the improvements to my diet as an adult have been in the “setting a good example for the children” area, particularly since the youngest is home again and she has rigid food rules and has exhibited signs of anorexia at times. Most of what I cook is to tempt her, but it has to be pretty near perfect (I have to ask a lot of questions to make it like she likes it) to keep her interested. I consider not having to cook like a mini-vacation, but only if I don’t have to eat out. When there’s noone but myself to cook for (a rare event), it’s potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes. I have some allergies that I acquired in adulthood, maybe from eating too much of one type of food. Now that I have to restrict foods because of allergies, I pay more attention to getting a variety of foods.
I can be pretty weird around food too. I eat too much of the stuff
and honestly prefer the stuff that isn’t the best for me (chips, baked goods, chocolate, pop etc). I hate dark chocolate, and get quite irritated that they say it’s only the dark choc that is healthy etc.
I also save the best for last, occasionally ppl have cleared stuff away before I got to it, which is very irksome. I also go through phases where I’ll eat almost anything so long as it has a certain sauce or condiment or pickle with it. It was Tabasco for the longest time, then Thai sweet chili sauce, and now it is Patak’s Mango Pickle (has to be Patak’s no other brand will do!)
A lot of fruit has an unpleasant texture for me, especially pears, fresh figs and persimmons, and some types of fresh dates. I also can’t stand offal (liver, kidneys etc) – that’s a texture/smell issue too.
It’s really hard to be the chief cook and bottle washer at times. Coming up with decent food that everyone will eat is not easy. Add to that my possible ADHD (fam doc thinks it possible) and the idea of living on matzos or mashed spuds for a month looks pretty appealing!
My big bro lived on fries for most of his adolescence and he turned out o.k…!
My #1 food issue is textures. The majority of foods I will not eat are because I don’t like the way they feel in my mouth. I’ve learned not to say this to anyone because they all think I’m crazy. Instead I lie and tell them I don’t like the taste. Taste they understand and accept but food textures seem to be an unknown concept to almost everyone.
For those foods that I truly don’t like the taste, I used to be believe that I was unable to taste what everyone else could. Now I believe the problem is that my taste is hypersensitive and those foods have too much taste for me.
Most people would think my diet is bland but it’s fine for me. I’ve eaten essentially the same things for breakfast and lunch my entire life with some variety for dinner.
Wow, it’s so great to hear about all these food quirks. Elizabeth’s mention of potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes has made me remember how great potatoes are. My husband is making a bunch tonight, at my request. Perhaps they will supplant bananas at some point–though that’s hard to imagine.
And speaking of textures, I forgot to mention that I love almond butter, peanut butter, and tahini. I eat them right out of the jar with a spoon. Smooth or crunchy, it doesn’t matter. The texture is immensely comforting to me. As far as these foods are concerned, I’m a sensory seeker.
I once went for a period of several weeks where I had to fry up to 6 giant sweet onions throughout the day (total) in curry paste and BBQ sauce. I could not stop. Eventually it went away, but I always wondered…
But I would eat nothing but popcorn and nachos(w/all the fixing’s) if I could. Those are all that I want to eat. It was after reading about the fat and calorie content in a plate of nachos that I cut back. Gotta ease up on the heart stopper special…
Toasted onion bagels w/crunchy peanut butter is good, too; and baked potatoes w/steak sauce, pepper, and a little sour cream…
My diet is very limited, but–to me–extremely satisfying. I eat cereal with soy milk for breakfast every day, though I know that’s not unusual. My staples for dinner, which get combined in a few different ways are: jasmine rice, red-skinned potatoes, macaroni-and-cheese (from a box), pre-packaged “Indian meals” (Tasty Bite or Trader Joe’s Indian Fare), frozen chopped broccoli, pre-washed spinach leaves (sold in a bag), shredded mozzarella, mayonnaise, and hot sauce.
At least three times a week, I’ll cook some rice, then mix in a bag of the Indian stuff from a pouch, plus broccoli or spinach, and some hot sauce. I make a potato dish that is kind of like your banana mash: I boil red-skinned potatoes until they’re soft, then mash in mayonnaise, mozzarella, spinach, and hot sauce. Yum. I have only one skillet, and eat every meal straight from the skillet. I get plenty of vegetables in my diet, but hardly any fruit! I hate peeling things, and I hate things with seeds in them. Luckily, I love fruit juice.
(By the way, thank you so much for replying to my email! I meant to reply in turn, but work has been hard on me the last couple of weeks.)
I’d love to tell you all about my food weirdnesses, but I’m too damn busy cooking up all those potatoes and carrots for Rachel…not to mention figuring out some way to compost all those banana peels…and, of course, scouring the food coop for locally-grown vegies (which, at the end of this New England winter, are getting harder to find…I’m down to the last few pounds of local potatoes, although the local carrots are plentiful…) but I digress: I tend to stay away from dairy and white flour, but sometimes, just sometimes, I find myself yearning for pizza. There. I’ve told you!
Meghan love chicken with melted peanut butter (looks as bad as it sounds on the plate!!!!!!)
Chicken with melted peanut butter? Sounds delicious! I’ll have to try that when my banana obsession comes to an end.
I love this post!
My husband’s view of food is complicated at best. He is obsessed with texture and whether or not the food is too pungent. I do have to suggest that since he has hightened senses, the flavor of food could be overwhelming. Overall he appears to be a picky eater however I have learned he is just VERY particular. Foods can not touch each other on the plate and one never should suggest a casserole for dinner. His obsessions include chocolate (dark variety), chocolate chips cookies (I have to hide them or he will eat the whole lot), chocolate soy milk, oreo cookies, raisins and peanut butter. I wouldn’t call him a fast eater as his pedantic speeches continue through dinner. He will pause, eat a bite, and continue with the topic of “conversation”. It took me awhile to figure out that there is a pattern and his desires ebb & flow. Right now, he is in the raisin phase . . . .
Re: foods not touching each other on the plate and no casseroles…I’ve begun to realize that the only foods that work for me are the ones in which I can taste or see each individual ingredient. My body seems to have a difficult time with anything more complex. Chicken, tofu, individual vegetables or fruit, even banana mush will work; casseroles, bread, or anything with a long ingredient list will not work. However, I don’t mind my food touching if I can still see the individual portions.
I have never been able to tolerate fat especially on meat or mushy foods. I will not eat beef or pork. I hate any form of cooked fruit (pies, jams etc ). They don’t know if I’m allergic or sensitive to eggs since the smell makes me violently ill.
I also will eat a few discrete food items for weeks at a time. My usual is a steamed vegetable such as green beans or lima beans (any vegetable will do) and 1/2 a chicken breast or a turkey burger sans bun with honey mustard. My favorites are citrus and sour candy, and chewy starches. I love lemons and oranges. I drink a lot of homemade lemonade because no matter how much water i drink i still feel thirsty but put a little lemon juice in it and one glass is great. Fresh made bread or biscuits just make me so happy.
Hah, the order of consumption mentioned by Gavin matches mine exactly. Anything I don’t particularly enjoy goes first, leaving the good stuff for last. Shame I’m not able to match that behaviour when it comes to other things in life (chronic procrastinator).
I usually also portion each bite out so I end up with a properly balanced bite as the last piece on my platter – just enough of each ingredient to make up a nice, enjoyable mouthful. Getting stuck with something less tasty as the last bite of the meal can ruin it for me.
I’m no longer especially picky about what I eat though. I used to be, but gaining food-preparation (and eating) as a special-interest cured that for be quite nicely.
Just no mushrooms. I cannot stand the spongy texture of mushrooms. Sends shivers down my spine.
I’m not sure wether i’ve asperger or not, that’s why i’ve started reading about it since last year, and guess what??!! Today ,I’ve found your blog. It’s so much comforting reading your articles than all those medical facts although i’m a medical student myself. This topic about food really caught my attention. When I was a child I used to eat margerine with a plastic spoon. It tasted better with plastic spoon. After a period of time, I started eating ketchup and moved on to chocholate powder, but other kids did this as well. When I was 9, I drank cola every day but eventually I stop drinking it for no reason. However, one thing would most probably stick with me until I die. I would never eat fruits and vegetables throughout my life. I could tolerate vege a bit (touch or swallow on force) but not fruits. I would never touch them, what more put them inside my mouth. Its just that I cannot stand the smell, the sound produced when someone take a bite, the feel on my skin and most probably the taste, though I never dare tasted it. My parents still tease me about it though, pretending to throw any fruit at me while eating or touch me after they touched the fruits. The smell would stick to my skin and I would’ve to wash with soap and water. Luckily I’ve decided not to take a bath just to remove the smell. It’ll be troublesome. I think because of the teasing people assume I’ve phobia on fruits. This is not the truth (maybe yes when I was a child) but not now, I just find them intolerable to my senses. It’s a nightmare going to the market what with all those raw food,fruits and vege. I’ve had to hold my breath. Lastly, I also enjoy saving the best food last maybe because of the pleasure and also because I want the taste to stay longer. But wait, normal people do this as well.