Comment by unfocussed_mike | Hacker News Reader

Comment by unfocussed_mike | Hacker News Reader

unfocussed_mike

Because of what I now consider my "legacy ARFID", I can both see the attraction of consistent foodstuffs like Huel/Soylent and also the horror of them. Personally for me the horror outweighs the attraction.

I would ask the OP if any ARFID-like feelings/emotions are driving his quest.

- If they are, consider talking to someone about this, or joining an online support group. ARFID is pernicious, hidden, often derided, and affects a _lot_ of tech-type people; it seems to ride along with a lot of the traits that can make us a little different. It's time to take the shame out of admitting that it's more than just fussy eating; it's deeper, darker and scarier.

- And if not, I'd really recommend looking at fresh soups, part-baked bread, five minute meal recipes, three-ingredient recipes, and listening to podcasts or music in the kitchen. There are ways to make food less of a chore.

Also, it's an old-fashioned idea, but if you're really uninterested in cooking, look at your options for canned foods. You can buy them and keep them for months or years, and if you can find a thing you really like out of a can you need never be short of at least one ridiculously simple thing to eat. Canning is truly one of humanity's greatest achievements, and it's puzzling to see so many attempts to solve a problem that is in many ways already solved.

(My tip: canned curries are better than they sound.)

Fighting through my distaste for food at every level has made me a happier person, and as much as I can see the benefit of trying to "solve" this problem in one go like this, I'd urge the OP not to do so.

Hey PAWD[1], that's: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.

1. people using acronyms without defining (them).

I genuinely thought that in this case, using it without mansplaining it, and leaving it to be looked up by those interested, was the better way.

Food fears are terrifying and not everyone wants to be confronted with chapter and verse on new ways to feel inferior to people who can eat anything, every single time.

I don’t eat veggies, and I’m definitely not eating the gross parts of my meat like liver, so I have to take a big bowl of supplements. It works out for me.

Liver: I am totally with you! It's something I'd like to be able to eat because it has nutrition, but... yeah it's still on the list of horrors. Many things are.

Veggies: there are still some that give me the horrors, but it's really all in the cooking (and the seasoning). Which is not to say I am a good cook.

I hope over time you find a bit more enjoyment from food but I do fully understand where you are, and very often I am reminded that I could end up back there.

(When I was a kid, early '80s, my mother, exasperated, took me to the doctor and said, he only eats (lists three things). The enlightened doctor said to my mother, in front of me, and I quote: "That sounds lovely. Invite me round for Sunday lunch". And then to my mother when I was not in the room, that worrying about my intake and pushing me to eat things would only make it worse for me.)

Oh I love food - quality food. I don’t eat trash like McDonald’s (at least not very often..).

But I have to consume like 5k calories every day for sports, and that gets tiring.

I am very torn re: McDonald's because like many former food-avoiding kids I was probably kept alive in part by the Filet-o-Fish. White food, bland, precise.

When you look at McDonald's at a distance, what they sell is comfort, consistency, and freedom from disappointment. It's always the same.

Haven't eaten there in years, but decades on I can see that there are people in our high-stress world for whom that provides some value.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com