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I want to change, but, at the same time, I don't...

Discussion in 'General Support and Advice' started by don29002, Aug 31, 2014.

  1. don29002

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    So I'm 18 now. My birthday was this past Monday, the 25th.
    I have Aspergers, and my eating habits are not good.

    I realise the food I eat is all unhealthy junk, but I'm miserable whenever I eat healthy vegetables or pasta or whatever.

    Here's a list of things I eat or do:
    1) McDonalds:
    I always get 1 or 2 large fries from McD's, and a medium coke.
    2) Wendy's:
    I get maybe 3-4 orders of 4 piece chicken nuggets.
    And, if I feel good, I get Wendy's fries.
    3) KFC:
    The only thing I used to eat at KFC was their DELICIOUS popcorn chicken. Before they introduced Party Packs where you get like 30-50 pieces of popcorn chicken, I would get 4-5 large boxes of popcorn chicken.
    4) I cook frozen fries at home, as well as bacon.
    5) I eat cereal with no milk. My favourite cereals are Honey Nut Cheerios, Fruit Loops and Rice Krispies (they're the only cereals I eat period)
    6) I love Lays Classic and Lays BBQ chips. I can eat a whole bag of Lays in one day.
    7) I eat some popcorn occasionally. I love Act 2 popcorn.

    Drinks:
    1) I'm a teetotaller.
    2) I have a huge love for orange juice.
    3) I drink maybe 2 cans of soda a day.

    I listed everything I eat and drink.

    There was a period in 2010-11 where my abuser forced me to eat "healthy" foods. I had maccaroni and cheese, ribs, grits, spaghetti, etc. I absolutely hate vegetables--I refuse to eat them since they all taste the same: like crap.

    Whenever I eat "healthy" foods, I get miserable and depressed. With my abuser, it took me 55 minutes to eat half of everything on my plate. I would talk so time could go by faster.

    I know the food I eat regularly is bad for me long term, but I love what I eat. I want to eat healthy, but healthy food always tastes horrible to me. Everyone else who isn't like me, loves everything healthy that I despise.
    I want to change and eat healthy, even though healthy food tastes horrible. Just because I have to eat healthy food, that does NOT mean I'll immediately love it all.

    Questions, comments, concerns...?
    Also, are my bad eating habits because of Aspergers?
     
  2. LD579

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    Curious: who is this abuser that you refer to, how have they abused you, and what is your relationship with this person right now?
     
  3. ThePrideInside4

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    I eat the same.

    But my mother is on this diet, where she's a vegetarian. Maybe you could drink less pop and drink more orange juice. French fries are still okay, but maybe cut them down a bit. And the meat. And who is this "abuser"?

    Good luck!
     
  4. Kai LD

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    This may seem insensitive but your health is more important than the flavor of the food you eat. If you give it time, really accept the need to eat better and find the healtheir foods that work for you you might find you both enjoy your food more and feel generally better, physically and mentally.

    I am not eating as healthy as I used to right now (used to fast, vegetarian previously) but I know I need to switch back. It involves a lot of change and it may seem like sacrifice but it is worth it. These are choices you make each time you have to decide what to buy and when to eat. Don't let small slip-ups become excuses to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
     
  5. Monraffe

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    The only thing on your list I would even consider temporarily putting on mine is the honey nut Cheerios lol. You want to eat healthy but you don't really. Personally, I have no room in my life for guilt so if there's some bad thing I know I'm going to do anyway I don't beat myself up over it. Instead I look for ways to trick myself into doing things I don't want to do. So if I were you I wouldn't make it a rule I can't eat fast food, you are going to do that anyway, I would make it a rule I can't go on the property of a fast food resturant. It won't stop you, you can get a friend to go, but it will help you cut down. Another idea, only buy vegetables at the grocery store and thro them out when they rot in your fridge. You don't have to eat them, but if it's them or nothing it beats starving sometimes.
     
  6. BobObob

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    I think one way to get the most 'bang for your effort' is to focus on drinking water over caloric drinks, especially soda. Doing so can greatly reduce your sugar consumption.
     
  7. don29002

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    Guys, the abuser was my mom's ex boyfriend. He hit me twice and threatened to kill me 6 times.
    The only good thing he did was having me eat different foods--although he did force me to.

    ---------- Post added 31st Aug 2014 at 03:56 PM ----------

    One thing you said stuck out to me. You said if I try to eat healthier, that I might feel better. Funny thing you mentioned that, because I actually was eating healthy foods for 3 months. Once my mom's ex got arrested/left the picture, I gradually went back to my old ways.
     
  8. anann

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    I am a picky eater (not nearly to the extent you are) and what I've been trying to do is hide some healthier food in with the foods I like. I have a lot more variety than you, but some of the things I do is to put a little spinach into lasagne or pureeing the carrots, onions, and celery in a soup. This way I am getting at least a little of these things in my diet, but I can't actually taste them. It's a little harder starting with fast food, but maybe you could sneak something in. Or maybe you could try making fries with sweat potatoes or zucchini or something? If would be similar but it has more vitamins. Small changes so you get used to the change and after a while you like these things.

    You do seem to like sweat with the soda and orange juice, do you like any fruits? I find them more palatable than vegetables but of course that's just me.

    Good luck - I commiserate with you about how hard it is to want to eat healthier but not liking a lot of healthy foods.
     
  9. don29002

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    Hi there! What you wrote was very interesting--daring and bold, yet interesting.
    I love oranges and sometimes apples.
    My cousin told me I was picky, and a family friend of mine chimed in and said I'm "not picky," that I "have a selection of food" that I like.
    Is that necessarily 'picky'?

    2 years ago, I was with my mom, my mom's colleague, and her colleague's sister and 3 children in New York City. We went to a restaurant on the Upper West Side. They sold produce as well as some sweet treats.
    What I did is I took a chocolate chip cookie (I love them to death!) and put 2 pieces of lettuce under the cookie in order to hide the lettuce.
    It only half worked. It took me 2 bites to eat the lettuce completely, so my plan wasn't a major success--but it was successful to a limit.
     
  10. PatrickUK

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    All of the things you eat now, you should continue to eat, but in greater moderation. If you like fries, KFC, McD's, fizzy drinks etc. continue to eat/drink them from time to time, but don't cut them completely. When you cut food out altogether, you get stronger cravings.

    At present your diet is rather limited - you seem to rely on what you know you like, don't you think? How open minded are you prepared to be with food? Try lots of different things. Some foods you will really hate, but you might also surprise yourself.

    Steamed and boiled vegetables are rather bland, but what if you spice them up a little so you get a taste kick when you eat them? Roast them in the oven with some good spices and you may feel differently about them. It's all about experimentation and being willing to try different things.

    What do you think?
     
  11. anann

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    That's exactly the idea. Next time maybe you could try pureeing the lettuce or baking little pieces into the cookie. I have trouble with textures as well as taste so that usually works better for me.

    One of my housemates can't eat dairy and uses bananas as part of the butter substitute in some baked goods (sorry I don't know exactly how that works). While I can't stand bananas, I can't taste it when there is chocolate or other strong flavors involved.

    And I like your idea of a "selection of food you like" instead of being picky. It is a healthier way to think about it. :slight_smile:
     
  12. Queer NOS

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    Many people with Asperger's and autistic spectrum disorders are very picky in their diets, both due to a cognitive need for things in our lives to stay relatively constant (though the severity of this varies from person to person) and due to enhanced taste and texture hypersensitivities that make eating certain foods to be physically difficult for us [allow me to stress for those who are not on the autistic spectrum that this physical discomfort is more than just "not liking" a certain food; certain tastes or textures can overwhelm and sicken us in a way that, say, riding on a very quick-moving and rapidly-spinning roller-coaster sickens and overwhelms many people].

    I have Asperger's-like PDD-NOS: as a toddler, I all bit didn't eat and occasionally had to be fed Pedasure or baby food; as an older child, I ate primarily Chef Boyardee's Ravioli and fast food; now, I eat primarily "healthy" things, though I got the luck-of-the-draw in that I genuinely like the "bitter" taste that most vegetables have; to this day, though, I will gag and nearly throw up if exposed to the "beady" texture of tapioca or the taste of uncooked, raw tomatoes [funny, though, since I loved stewed tomatoes and any sauce with a tomato base].

    Going from an unhealthy diet to a healthy diet, I can say that your taste buds change according to your diet. I used to find rice to be too "bland" to stomach: now, I find a lot of processed or restaurant-cooked food to be too seasoned. :lol: I used to drink a Dr. Pepper pretty much every day; now, carbonated drinks make my stomach hurt (to be fair, they probably did back then, too, as I have an easily discontented stomach, but I was less aware of cause-and-effect back then).

    Linco has very good advice, both on eating unhealthy foods in moderation and on experimenting with different textures and tastes. Would it be helpful for you to draft out a weekly meal plan of sorts in a way that incorporates the things you like while forcing you to try something new/healthy at least once a day/week/however often you are comfortable with it? Also, it may to venture out slowly, perhaps trying baked or steamed potatoes instead of french fries one day and granola/oatmeal instead of cereal another day (basically, find something that is similar in texture/taste/composition to what you already like to eat but that is healthier).

    Best of luck in your quest for better health!
     
  13. don29002

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    Hmmm... Interesting response. My cousin gave me a piece of celery and I tried it--very nasty. My cousin goes (to my other cousin) "Put some sauce on it!"
    They gave it back with the "sauce", and it still tasted so nasty to me.
    As much as I would love to be open minded about vegetables, I simply can't.

    ---------- Post added 2nd Sep 2014 at 02:32 AM ----------

    Very very clever response. Years ago, I had a nutritionist who had me fill out a list each week of what I ate that was healthy. I actually tried new foods at first, then I got sick of it. I ended up lying on the meal plan though, which is something I'm not proud of, but I'm glad I at least filled it out and did what I was supposed to do.
     
  14. CuriousArticles

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    I have always been an extraordinarily unhealthy eater. I literally lived on chips (fries) from the age of say....7 to 18. I hated vegetables and didn't really like fruit, didn't eat any meat, occasionally had packaged macaroni cheese. I'd eat bread on it's own sometimes, but not often.

    Since then I've gradually increased what I eat. I didn't like it to start with, but I would suggest having one piece of veg a week - not a lot, just have it once a week. Give in months of this, just one thing once a week. then gradually increase, and try different things. it won't work with everything, and it's a process over years not months. Even now, I eat things because they are good for me, not because i like them, but it's easier, and for the past year of so I've started craving vegetables - i don't like the taste, but it has made me feel better, so my body wants it sometimes. As for it making you feel worse, well, i once put too much brocolli in my mouth and was sick. So don't go overboard in one go. build up to it and cut down the pop and stuff, drink more water instead.

    Also, disguising foods is the best thing ever. I do this a lot. Remember, it will take years to readjust your tastes. But I did it, so you can too. But you have to want to, that's why I left it so long, I made a decision to change. I'm still nowhere near perfect, but I'm improving :slight_smile:
     
  15. Quem

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    I don't like fast food at all, there are so many flavours lacking, it's almost unbelievable. So, when I eat my food, I use many different spices and see how things work out. It's experimental cooking really. I think you should give it a try. It could give you so much joy. :icon_bigg
     
  16. NDark

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    I used to love white bread. It tasted amazing and wonderful and it was like a white, pasty slice of heaven. But my parents forced me to eat whole wheat bread which was, as far as I was concerned, the most horrendous thing known to man. On top of that, I was banned from eating white bread.

    Fast forward eight or so years, and now I can't even look at white bread without feeling sick. I hadn't even realized the change happened, but after not eating it for a while, I just began to hate the taste. The same happened when I banned myself from eating candy other than chocolate and chips. Now I hate both. Just force yourself to eat the healthy food, and you'll begin to hate junk food. It may be unpleasant and difficult at first, but it does work and the sooner you start doing it, the better.