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Picky Eating Adults acting like 3 year olds.

by Liv | Published on July 6th, 2010, 12:31 pm | Food
picky_adult_eaters.jpg


This is what Heather Hill eats: French fries, pasta with butter or marinara sauce, vegetarian pizza, cooked broccoli, corn on the cob and cakes and cookies without nuts.

And what she doesn't eat? Pretty much anything else.

Ms. Hill is what you might call a picky eater. But she isn't a child. She's a 39-year-old mother of three who runs her own business in Raleigh, N.C. She says she is unable to eat other foods. "When I was younger it was cute," Ms. Hill says. "Now it's embarrassing."

Amber Scott, of Enon, Ohio, has eaten only about 10 different foods since she was 3 years old. She describes foods that don't appeal to her as if they are inedible objects. "You wouldn't put a handful of grass in your mouth and chew it up," says the 29-year-old. "I feel the same way about spaghetti." cite


I find food being one of life's wonderful joys. (Sometimes too much.) The ability to be able to eat French, Welsh, Japanese, or whatever food, when I can't afford to jump a plane and fly there is a glorious thing to me. I can experience culture, not with my eyes or ears, but my mouth.

The idea to not have tried some of the things I've tried in the last few years (or even a lifetime) seems mind-boggling, yet Shannon and I know people who haven't even eaten cheddar cheese, or Taco Bell. Friends who think Mexican food is nothing but fajitas and are way too spicy. God forbid you suggest Hungarian cabbage rolls, Haggis, laverbread and cockles, or Moroccan tajine. I can honestly say if you're only eating 10 different foods then you're definately missing out on probably the greatest joys of the human experience: food.
 
 
I'm just curious in these cases is there is a link to how they were raised. Were they exposed to a variety of foods as children or were their parents just as picky? You would think that at some age for fear of malnutrition parents of individuals as these would have been concerned much earlier on in life and forced them to eat differently. Perhaps they did and just eventually gave up. Liv and I are always battling the picky eater club with our kids but honestly, compared to most kids around us their age they do pretty well. Sometimes the things I expect to hear a fuss about they end up loving and vice versa. I have noticed a large difference out here in the south and Cali. I think people in Cali are quirkier when it comes to eating but generally pickier as far as a lack of range of foods out here. If extreme adult pickiness is an actual eating disorder it would be interesting to see if it's one that can be stopped at a very young age.
"Are you disrespecting me and my family?"
July 6th, 2010, 1:55 pm
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shannon
Try My Cupcakes.
 
I expect Shannon's right. There are a lot of things that get set pretty much for life in the first few years. For some, it's eating habits. Makes me glad I sat down with my son at an early age and nipped that whole "I don't like new food" thing in the bud. All I had to do was make a deal: Any new food would be tasted and judged. If it wasn't liked, it would not return. Worked like a charm.
July 7th, 2010, 7:31 am
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SouthernFriedInfidel
 
Location: 5th circle of hell -- actually not very crowded at the moment.
My first thought, when reading the entire cited article was OCD and then I saw, at the end, where they speculated that might be the issue. I suspect they are correct. I have OCD and when I was younger was terribly fixated on certain foods. My parents used to tell me stories about how I'd go months and only eat one certain food. One year they couldn't get me to eat anything but peanut butter and molasses sandwiches. I'm not sure how I got myself out of that but I know it lasted well into my 20s. But now, the only thing I won't eat is seafood (because I absolutely cannot abide the smell of it), liver (again, a smell thing), and meat on the bone because it just grosses me out beyond all reason. I love all kinds of foods now though...especially foreign and exotic foods, so I don't think it's necessarily an "un-fixable" condition.

PS: My parents presented me with a huge variety of foods as a child. My mom is actually one of the healthiest eaters I know. I'm pretty sure this wasn't a result of them not exposing me to healthy or new foods.
July 7th, 2010, 8:21 am
Jamy
 
Jamy wrote: I love all kinds of foods now though...especially foreign and exotic foods, so I don't think it's necessarily an "un-fixable" condition.


Which would make the whole thing a bit more scary in my opinion.
July 7th, 2010, 9:05 am
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Liv
I show you something fantastic and you find fault.
 
Location: Greensboro, NC

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