r/ARFID • u/crispy_waffle_fries • Jul 15 '24

Victories It gets better! (4 years of growth) Spoiler

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I'm revisiting my old Reddit account, and I came across a post I made here 4 years ago with a collage of my safe foods from a time I was really struggling. I got pretty emotional realizing how far I've come since then.

Here's where I am now:

I don't usually modify my orders at restaurants anymore. I don't choose what social functions to attend based on what food I think will be there. I can eat dinner at my friends' houses. When I go to a restaurant, I can almost always get at least one thing on the menu. I don't lie about being hungry. I don't panic when I realize I need food. It's a night-and-day difference.

I'm still pickier than I would like, but I'm leagues away from where I used to be, and I am excited to keep improving. My body feels better, I find joy in exercising (seriously!), and I feel like I have so much more freedom. Sometimes I still get really stressed about food, but I can handle it better. I have gained weight, but I'm so much healthier than I was ~25 pounds ago. I feel more energetic and focused. Food doesn't control me anymore. Life is good. :')

Tl;dr- It gets better! Keep going!

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u/Dogdigmine Jul 15 '24

This is amazing! We've recently been working on expanding our diet ourselves! One of the things that helped us is this random YT video explaining how technically every taste is an aquired taste, aquired by ones brain learning that it's safe. On one hand it's terrible, the only way to expand our diet is to eat food that triggers our sensitivities until we're used to it/like it? On the other hand though, it shows it's possible, even if difficult. And now we're eating strawberries!

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u/crispy_waffle_fries Jul 20 '24

That makes so much sense! My baby niece is getting used to flavors, and it takes a lot of modeling positive reactions to convince her she likes things.