Can anyone help me with my Food neophobia?!


Question: Can anyone help me with my Food neophobia?
I am an 18 year old male and have dealt with it for the majority of my life. I live in the UK and i am a fraternal twin, he however does not have any problems with food. It is mainly anything to do with hot meals or anything that would be suitable for "dinner". i have survived on cheese and tomato pizza, chicken nuggets and chips and i am now at the point of desperation, now i have a partner. i would like to point out that i am NOT a fussy eater i feel actual fear when i have to try and eat a new food for instance pasta, it is similar to the fear of someone whom is scared of heights on a glass floor very high up. this fear does not seem to even lessen when i can force myself to try a new food. i know it wont kill me and it is an "irrational fear" that i have tried to conquer many times before. I feel all alone and i am desperate can anyone help?

Answers:

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

You are definately not a fussy eater, so ignore it when people say that.
Food neophobia is an eating disorder just the same as over-eating or anorexia.
Th best thing you can do, which you probably have already, is to look back as to when it started, in your case it seems when you was a child.

Sometimes for children especially around the age of two-three it can be a distressing time because you are just learning about who your are, sometimes if there are disruptions in a childs life it can cause them to take control over what they eat.
Disruptions such as the birth of a brother or sister or moving home anything new really.

i would advise that you spoke to your parents about anything that could have caused you to have neophobia, no matter how little or petty it might seem, when your a child those tiny things can be a big deal.
other causes can be if a child wasnt breast fed as a baby apparently or if a peice of food made them ill it makes them think that certain food is bad.

Or if a child has been ill for a long period of time they could see all the foods they ate over that period of time as bad.

some individuals can expect how an 'acceptable'' food should look or smell and obviously any food that is different they dont want.

some people have Cognitive Behavioural Therapy if they cannot get themselves over the disorder, this way you can talk about it and maybe find the food of the problem.

Some people even have hypnotherapy, which is a very good option, it helps you to banish bad thoughts and fears.

good luck and i hope you find a solution.
x



I feel for you because while some may come at you for being irrational, you recognize it as such and that's the first step to getting help.
I suggest you seek out a group or a professional that will help you deal with this irrational fear. Food is my love and you will have many many great experiences with food and the good times that often surround it.
I wish you luck - don't go it alone, seek out a support group or a professional that's dealt with this type of phobia.



Try hypnosis or accupuncture



Try watching a programme called "Freaky Eaters" on Youtube. It was on UK TV a few years ago, and it was fascinating, maybe you saw it.
THey have a food phobic person each episode- one man ate NOTHING but biscuits. Literally he was terrified and cried when faced with fruit, veg, anything else. He was a chef too!.

HE really could not eat anything else, you wouldn't believ he was still alive, but that's all he'd eaten since he was 8 or so.
Another woman, literally only ate cheese and crackers. She started panicking, freaking out, crying, shaking, whenever she cam enear fruit, bread vegetables.
The programme used counsellors to get the the reason why this was, with each person. Then tried techniques and physical aversion therapies to help the person.
Each person took about one month using the psychology and techniques, and then the end of each programme the person would eat a meal with their family or friends, and there was a follow up too, and each person was ow eating normallly.

If you are for real, I would REALLY recommend watching this programme and seeing what you can get from it because it sounds like you have a really deep psychological issue with certain food.
It is nothing to be ashamed of, and you could feel glad about taking steps to help yourself.

http://sharetv.org/shows/freaky_eaters_u…

Looks like it's been taken off Youtube, but try finding it at UK NOVA.



Theres this guy that ate nothing but pizza and it was making him sick. It was on a show called freaky eaters.

I found this.

Food neophobia is an eating disturbance defined as the fear of trying new foods. In its extreme, the disorder can lead to malnutrition, limited social functioning, and psychological difficulties. Successful treatment of food neophobia in children has been reported, but if those children are not provided with treatment, it stands to reason that the disorder may follow them into adulthood. To date, adult cases have not been described in the literature and the prevalence in adults is unknown. Our paper will review the methods used to treat children with the disorder, then delineate how the procedures were modified for an adult population, giving two case examples.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob…




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