My strange eating habits

Hi there...

I know a lot of autistic people have certain eating habits such as liking certain foods and things, but I wondered if anyone else had similar habits to me. At the moment I feel a bit strange to say the least!

These are some of my habits:

  • I can't eat from plates or bowls that I have just washed up
  • If I don't wash something straight away, and leave it on the side for a day, I can't eat from it until the memory of it being dirty is gone
  • If executive dysfunction (or my chronic illness) leads me to not wash it up for a while, I just throw it out because I know I won't be able to eat from it :( I've lost some of my favourite bowls that way
  • I have certain cutlery and crockery for different things, I can't eat pasta from my cereal bowl for example

But if I go to someone else's house, none of these things apply. It's only if it is my house that I have these habits. I wonder if its linked to OCD?

Parents
  • I have no idea if it's linked to OCD, do you have OCD? I have strange eating habits that are less centred around the food itself and have more to do with:

    A) remembering to eat,

    B) knowing the difference between feeling hungry and feeling full (because they both feel the same to me),

    C) often having to force myself to eat purely because it's been too many hours / days since I ate last but then feeling sick as I try to swallow every mouthful, and

    D) even when I do look forward to eating a meal I've spent ages preparing, being put off suddenly by things that don't seem to affect other people - such as seeing a fly (even if it's nowhere near the food), someone saying a gross word or making a disgusting noise such as burping, not being able to stop thinking about the food (red meat in particular) in it's pre-cooked / prepared state, and other things that everyone else seems not to notice.  

    I almost never eat in someone else's house but, weirdly, I don't mind eating in some restaurants or cafes if they look alright. I've no idea why these things are worse at home especially as it's nearly always me who prepares the food here. As I said though, it's less about the food itself and more about what else is going on around it. I don't have OCD  or an identifiable eating disorder and these things (A to D) seem to fluctuate in severity but I've no idea why.    

  • A) remembering to eat,

    B) knowing the difference between feeling hungry and feeling full (because they both feel the same to me),

    I get a bit of those, probably because of poor 'interoception' (the sense of one's body). However, I manage to maintain a normal weight, know I need to spend some time on bodily needs, and I think part of me must know when I need food. So these are minor eccentricities for me rather than problems. Yesterday in the middle of something else, I unexpectedly had the following conversation aloud with myself:

    'Food.'

    'Really?' (I'm hungry?)

    'Apparently so.'

    That told me. It's also hard to distinguish hunger from emotional needs. Unlike your D, I don't have a very strong sense of disgust. If at home though, I can allow myself some oddities - I want cutlery that is all of one piece: no plastic handles, no places for bacteria to hide. I don't have OCD either. (I do have a kind of compulsive curiosity).

Reply
  • A) remembering to eat,

    B) knowing the difference between feeling hungry and feeling full (because they both feel the same to me),

    I get a bit of those, probably because of poor 'interoception' (the sense of one's body). However, I manage to maintain a normal weight, know I need to spend some time on bodily needs, and I think part of me must know when I need food. So these are minor eccentricities for me rather than problems. Yesterday in the middle of something else, I unexpectedly had the following conversation aloud with myself:

    'Food.'

    'Really?' (I'm hungry?)

    'Apparently so.'

    That told me. It's also hard to distinguish hunger from emotional needs. Unlike your D, I don't have a very strong sense of disgust. If at home though, I can allow myself some oddities - I want cutlery that is all of one piece: no plastic handles, no places for bacteria to hide. I don't have OCD either. (I do have a kind of compulsive curiosity).

Children
  • I've had those 'conversations' with myself!!! (Although not aloud unless I can pretend to be talking to the dog.) I try to eat when I notice on the clock that it's lunchtime etc because my own body doesn't seem to have a fuel gauge.

    I don't think my emotions come into being hungry (or not) but I do eat more when I'm alone rather than than with other people - I just put that down to being able to enjoy it without danger of them doing something to put me off.   

    I couldn't use cutlery with plastic handles for the same reason.