Published on 12, July, 2020
I've had several food related discussions recently with a few autistic friends of mine, both on and off the forum and I can't help but be intrigued by how autism affects our taste in food. I have a couple of friends who are very hypersensitive to a lot of different tastes and textures and can only eat very bland tasting food of certain specific consistencies and yet there are other friends and also myself that seem to like lots of strong tastes; spices, etc. Food seems to be important to autistic people in one way or another! So I wondered where everyone else is with food. Do you prefer strong tastes and flavours or do you have a lot of food sensitivities that limit what you can eat? I'd like to know other people's opinions and thoughts on this?
I'm really sensitive to what I eat.
At the moment I feel a lot better when I eat no carbs such as potatoes and wheat. I eat mostly vegetables and organic meats and also have a probiotic food like yogurt or kefir, quite a bit of it every day. Just started mixing a bit of raw honey in with the yogurt or kefir too, so yummy! I drink sauerkraut juice too. I eat fruit quite regularly too, mostly apples and grapes. I like to juice my own oranges too using an old-fashioned hand-operated orange press where you squeeze the chopped-in-half fruit onto the press and the liquid gathers in the tray around it.
The probiotics seem to make it easier to digest everything else.
I almost never eat out at the moment though hopefully I'll be able to one day not too far away without getting great digestive upsets.
I mostly drink water.
I tend to avoid sugar at the moment as in the past I noticed things like Coca Cola or ice cream made me very sleepy and feeling overwhelming urges to have more sugar. I do have maple syrup though, for example in a sauce mixed with cider vinegar and thyme with pork steak.
I'm trying to re-introduce carbs but am convinced potatoes are not much good for me. They give my body the shakes, even when cooked super healthily like boiled. I'm going to try some boiled white rice soon.
It must be difficult having food sensitivities?
I'm glad that not eating carbs is making you feel better though! Honey in yoghurt sounds tasty! I've never had sauerkraut juice! Fruit is good, I'm really into pineapple and pink lady apples at the moment. I still use a hand operated press for squeezing oranges/lemons/limes when I need to use their juice in cooking.
It's good that the probiotics are helping you to digest everything else, do you become dependant on the probiotics?
I don't eat out often but I've been out, a couple of times for a meal at a relatively new Afro-caribbean restaurant, their food is really good! What type of restaurant would you eat at if you did eat out? There's a Hungry Horse near here which is good too :-)
Water is good, I'm trying to replace some of my drinks of coffee with water instead!
I swear that sugar is addictive! I haven't eaten chocolate or anything sugary since last year (apart from a few bits around Christmas time) and since not eating it, I don't crave it, I really couldn't care less for chocolate or sweet food at the moment. However, I used to be so addicted to chocolate and sweet things like cakes and biscuits, if you eat them regularly then your body gets used to it and craves them every day.
I always make sure that I eat enough 'good' carbohydrates such as potatoes/rice/pasta/ otherwise my energy levels drop, I can't have a meal that doesn't include carbohydrates otherwise I get faint. Be careful though if you are sensitive to carbohydrates.
I do eat the pineapple raw and on it's own, I like that the taste of it is both sweet and sharp at the same time.
I guess if you have gut health problems then probiotics would help with that?
The vegan cafe seems interesting! I made a vegan orange cake a couple of years ago as there was a few recipes from 'Deliciously Ella' in Sainsbury's magazine that month and as we had guests due that weekend, I thought I'd give one of the recipes a go. It tasted different but still good and very nutty! Because ground almonds were used in place of another ingredient, I can't remember what now, a lot of things were substituted for something else. I'll have to dig that recipe out again! The French chain restaurant with a Parisian vibe seems nice!
I mostly drink Nescafe but every so often Aldi has Beanies flavoured coffee in stock (for cheaper than in Sainsbury's) and I get that when they have it. At the moment I've got Cinder Toffee flavour which is good and Caramel popcorn flavour which disappointed me as I could only taste the popcorn and not the caramel :-( I think that coffee wakes me up a bit and stops me from being as mentally foggy as I would be without it. If you don't already drink it though, it's probably best not to start as caffeine is addictive, I get caffeine withdrawal headaches when I cut down on the amount of coffee that I drink!
Do you eat the pineapple raw on its own? I haven't had it in years, I can't remember if I like it or not now.
I might be dependent on the probiotics, it depends how you look at it. I would say it's more that they should be an integral part of most people's diets, or at least people who have gut health problems anyway. They may not need to be taken forever though.
That Afro-Caribbean restaurant sounds tempting. Where I live there's a vegan cafe that I like. I've only eaten there once but they make their own biscuits and cakes, salads, soups and one main dish. There's a French chain restaurant on a corner called Bistrot Pierre that's quite nice too, with a diverse menu and very airy and bright, and has a bit of a Parisian kind of vibe.
I agree, sugar is addictive. As you say it's your habits, whether or not you crave them.
What kind of coffee do you drink? Does that give you energy?