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Student Dietitians developing some easy to follow recipes for adults with autism/ASD. Feedback wanted!

NAS39318

Hi, I’m Zoe, a dietitian and lecturer in dietetics at Coventry University, and research officer for the British Dietetic Association Autism group. 

I want to set my students (trainee dietitians) a short project that can help adults with autism spectrum disorder/condition to eat better. 

I’ve noticed that for many adults on the spectrum who live independently, there are many barriers to eating a healthy diet. One of those is the challenge of planning and preparing healthy meals. Some find that at the end of a day at work it is too much effort to cook, follow a recipe, make decisions about what to have. 

The project: 

To help with this in a small way I plan to ask my students to design a week’s meals that are cheap, easy to prepare and cook, and meet the government healthy eating guidelines. I then want them to prepare easy to follow recipes both in a downloadable document and as videos. 

I would love some feedback from adult with autism on: 

- is this a good idea? If so why? If not why not? 

- what would make this a useful resource for you? What should be included? What shouldn’t be included? 

- would you be interested in the meal plan and recipes when they are finished? 

- does this already exist? Which meal plans and recipes do you already find useful (if any) 

Thanks, 

Zoe Connor

if you would prefer to email me directly my email is Zoe.connor@coventry.ac.uk

Parents

  • Welcome, Zoe.

    Just a few thoughts off the top of my head...

    • I often don't eat, or eat poorly, because I barely notice my hunger, and by the time I do, I often don't have the time or energy to cook something there and then. So I prefer recipes for things which can be frozen or chilled for a few days. I can then cook loads while I'm motivated to do it, but can always have something ready after a couple of minutes in the micro-wave.
    • I have very poor multi-tasking, so I avoid recipes where multiple things have to be happening at the same time. Don't ask me to start preparing the sauce when I'm already timing how long my spuds have been boiling and have to turn something in the frying pan every couple of minutes! Ideally, I like each instruction in the recipe to be complete before beginning the next, never something that must be recalled later in the cooking process.
    • Like many of us, I profoundly dislike shopping, and shop as near to home as possible. So I would stick to the most commonly available ingredients, as having to go to a big supermarket, or multiple shops, rather than the local mini-market might not be an easy thing.
    • Covering a good range of preparation methods would probably be useful. For example; some of us might have motor control problems that make fine chopping difficult, whereas others might balk at the noise of an electric blender. Try not to mix too many different preparation skills and tools in the same recipe, as it increases the chances that you're excluding someone.
    • General purpose recipes suit me better than distinctive meals with fancy names. If a recipe will work equally well if I swap a couple of ingredients for favourites (or whatever is to hand), I'm much more inclined to learn it. If you can include hints for alternative ingredients that don't change anything about the preparation and cooking, just the flavour, that would be much appreciated.
    • If washing the pots afterwards is going to take me more than five minutes, you've lost me! Consider how much cleaning up afterwards a recipe will require.
Reply

  • Welcome, Zoe.

    Just a few thoughts off the top of my head...

    • I often don't eat, or eat poorly, because I barely notice my hunger, and by the time I do, I often don't have the time or energy to cook something there and then. So I prefer recipes for things which can be frozen or chilled for a few days. I can then cook loads while I'm motivated to do it, but can always have something ready after a couple of minutes in the micro-wave.
    • I have very poor multi-tasking, so I avoid recipes where multiple things have to be happening at the same time. Don't ask me to start preparing the sauce when I'm already timing how long my spuds have been boiling and have to turn something in the frying pan every couple of minutes! Ideally, I like each instruction in the recipe to be complete before beginning the next, never something that must be recalled later in the cooking process.
    • Like many of us, I profoundly dislike shopping, and shop as near to home as possible. So I would stick to the most commonly available ingredients, as having to go to a big supermarket, or multiple shops, rather than the local mini-market might not be an easy thing.
    • Covering a good range of preparation methods would probably be useful. For example; some of us might have motor control problems that make fine chopping difficult, whereas others might balk at the noise of an electric blender. Try not to mix too many different preparation skills and tools in the same recipe, as it increases the chances that you're excluding someone.
    • General purpose recipes suit me better than distinctive meals with fancy names. If a recipe will work equally well if I swap a couple of ingredients for favourites (or whatever is to hand), I'm much more inclined to learn it. If you can include hints for alternative ingredients that don't change anything about the preparation and cooking, just the flavour, that would be much appreciated.
    • If washing the pots afterwards is going to take me more than five minutes, you've lost me! Consider how much cleaning up afterwards a recipe will require.
Children