Eating the Same Meal each day

I love chicken and i don't think of this much.

Roy said:

I’ve been asked how I can eat spaghetti hoops but will vomit baked beans up, easy spaghetti doesn’t change texture, all beans become mushy.

Thanks for stating this. I have always wondered why I can eat some foods prepared some way but not others, and now I have an answer. 

To be honest I am quite happy to eat the same food everyday, I often think of eating as just a function to survive not an experience to enjoy. When my wife is away I often buy a large pack of sausages and tins of spaghetti hoops, 3 sausages, hoops plus bread and butter every day. I know how it will taste and what the texture will be. I’ve been asked how I can eat spaghetti hoops but will vomit baked beans up, easy spaghetti doesn’t change texture, all beans become mushy.

This below explains a lot of my childhood.

Hii

Yes I've started to :) 

Yeah this is how I ended up eating same thing for ages too- once I found something I tolerated well I just stuck to it 

I can relate to this- i used to be so so inflexible- even portion sizes, brands and everything had to be the same - i got super anxious otherwise but this need for sameness was also causing more issues as actually sometimes i want different things or am more or less hungry 

Yep, similar. I often find myself thinking so much about what to do with food, and then typically opting for the same. 

Have family members who would eat the same thing at the same time each day. 

Goosey, do you make the soup yourself? 

Ben

I love chicken! I currently also really love chocolate digestives and Bahlsen biscuits!

Thank you Tris, you are right to create balance, not everyone's experience will be the same.

I'm glad to read that you're finding ARFID is helping you, and I wish you well for the future.

Ben

To give some balance, I am currently involved with the eating disorder services (for ARFID) and I've found it pretty helpful. I don't know if it will be the permanent life-changing thing I really want, but I've made some real progress. Some people do have bad experiences, but please don't dismiss anything out of hand.

Obviously if you're relatively healthy and happy you don't need fixing, but sometimes people need help (as I certainly did, having stopped eating) and they should consider all the options available. 

Ann, thank you for your post, I clearly am not alone in my dietary habits; there are now about ten of us on this thread.

I’m sorry to read what a time you’ve had with digestive issues, and I’m glad to see that you’re making good progress. ‘Routine makes me feel safe’, you say. Well, I think all of us here understand you there.

I don’t think I actually have a problem, my meals are usually healthy, just rather similar.  

I note your warning regarding the eating disorder services.

Ben

Yep - it’s an autism thing And comfort through repetition - i have gone through phases like that too- only rice and fish, cucumber and strawberries for a year. Then I had a pizza and tiramisu phase . I spent 6 months eating same meals in same order each day (toast with prawns and crackers) and the most recent phase was only eggs 1 brand of whole meal rolls, apples and carrots… i was misdiagnosed with anorexia nervosa despite being desperate to gain weight. It was quite damaging and things only started to make sense when i got the autism diagnosis. I have IBS and lots of digestive issues, made worse by stress, routine makes me feel safe, changes are scary so before I know it I get more and more stuck on same food pattern. Being bad at distinguishing hunger nausea and overfullness doesn’t help.

But thanks to now knowing I am autistic and my dietitian I have quite a varied diet now and am in much much better health.

You could also look into ARFID though at least in my area there is no support for people with ARFID and I personally would recommend staying away from eating disorder services when it comes to autism related eating challenges- i had very bad experiences- it cost me years.

Yes very much so Ben

You aren't alone!

I mostly eat soup sometimes for weeks and weeks with nothing else.

Drink is more less just tea and cola at the moment :-/ 

hahahaha that was my problem = too expensive to buy individually, so I bought the multipacks and it seems a waste to just have 3 in a packet...they'll get lonely missing one of their friends = reunite them in my tummy!

Ah ha!... the truth is coming out now.

Ben

Oh Bimmer Lady,  I'm with you on the mint aeros... ooh yes..... they come in four packs! 

How can one only eat one?

Ben

Having said this now I think about it I went through a period of a couple of months when I was basically living off pasta with a tomato and chilli sauce (or maybe it was Thai red curry paste but same idea) I’m back to a more varied diet now -   I only have pasta once a day instead of two or more times a day.

So i have certain foods that literally make me want to scream or projectile on sight - extreme response i know. i too go through phases and can normally say "its too much to work out WHAT to cook...easier to skip the meal". then i turn to my food of the moment and just indulge in that - at the moment its jam tarts. previously lists of my faves = cheese and tuna toasted sandwiches, cold meatballs, beligan buns, mint aero...i could go on...mine tends to be in cycles and once i dont like it, i almost go off it completely and find something new and stick to that, until im 'bored' of it again. 

I found three meals that don't give me stomach ache and now I eat them every day. I don't think it's a bad dietary habit, I think it's an efficient and sensible way of fueling myself.