From Chicken Nuggets to Snails: How I Improved my Picky-Eating Habits

Food is a significant staple in all of our lives. Whether we’re at the movies, dinner parties, or ballpark, the food options are exponential and immensely surround us. No matter where we go, food goes along with our senses in the right and wrong ways. For instance, taste is one of the huge forces for whether we like certain items. French fries are delicious with the right amount of salt, and brownies extraordinarily taste well with enough sugar, but putting in too much salt or sugar would make anyone’s taste buds have a meltdown. Smell is another sense that goes along with food, and the biggest one for me when I’m trying new things. I don’t mind a bakery with freshly-baked cookies, or a pizza parlor with a powerful garlic and oregano aroma, but if a place is working with cruciferous vegetables or bizarre types of cheese (particularly Limberger), I’ll be buying a ticket for the next plane to Timbuktu. All of us have different tastes with food (no pun intended) that make up our personalities and quirks, and no one should be viewed differently for disliking food or having any food impact his or her senses.

Growing up, I was the world’s pickiest eater. From an early age, the only food I would eat was chicken nuggets and french fries, as well as any and all sweet treats. If you gave me anything else, I would refuse it, especially fruits and vegetables. During preschool snack time, if there was a type of food or drink that I wasn’t sure of trying, one of my paraprofessionals would encourage me to try it by taking a “mouse bite.” I vividly remember trying juice and crackers from her kind words, and I ate and drank them all. She was very supportive of my food habits, and to this day, I still use the mouse-bite technique when I try certain foods and drinks for the first time.

One food I wasn’t much of a fan of when I was little was pizza. I also wasn’t big on cheese, either, and that’s still the case today. However, I did find my way to enjoy pizza and other products with cheese. When I was eight, I was at a pool party at the apartment complex my family and I lived at in Westborough, Massachusetts, and the hosts of the party brought Domino’s pizza for everyone. I saw everyone else enjoying it, so I took it upon myself to participate and not miss out. I took a mouse bite of a slice of cheese pizza, which turned out to bode well with my taste buds. Later on, I was at a pizza parlor with a social group in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and we got pepperoni and sausage for the pizza we shared. Knowing that rewarding experience from the pool, I didn’t need to do a mouse bite, I dove right in. That experience also made me appreciate the various meats that go excellent on pizza. As far as other foods with cheese go, I became fond of mozzarella sticks at lunch in fourth grade. The ones my school made had the same breading as chicken nuggets, so I did my mouse bite, and I fell in love with them. Despite my love for pizza and mozzarella sticks, I’m not crazy for other cheese products, or regular cheese as is. The smell doesn’t go well with my senses, and the taste, while smooth, is too bland for my liking. I have done my mouse bites with it, and my taste buds currently are not in a good relationship with it. I don’t have any plans to try cheese products anytime soon, unless I hear that cheese can guarantee immortality. Moreover, another food that’s associated with cheese that I’m not crazy about is pasta. Like cheese, the smell can be too potent on my senses, and I’m not fond of its texture. When you pair the two together, whether in the form of parmesan shavings on spaghetti or various cheeses melted into lasagna, I’m ready to leave town. Again, I’ve done my mouse bites and the unusual smell, taste, and texture aren’t too kind to my senses.

Despite those limitations, I have made significant progress with adding variety to my diet. I have been eating more fruits, especially bananas, oranges, and apples. I’m also eating more vegetables, especially ones that can be steamed for better texture (less crunchy) and taste. I’ve become more fond of carrots, broccoli, and, yes, Brussels sprouts. I don’t know why TV shows and movies put such a damper on vegetables, especially since they are tastier than people realize. I’m also a bigger seafood fan than I was when I was younger. Any preparation of scallops, shrimp, cod, haddock, and the like, whether fried or broiled, I’ll chow it down. When I was little, I didn’t like many sauces, but now I enjoy ketchup, ranch, and barbecue sauce. I’m not 100% about mustard or mayonnaise, but like pasta and cheese, it might not come to me directly. In the last decade and a half, I’ve expanded my diet to other cuisines. Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican are among the types of food I have grown to love. General Tso’s chicken, sushi, and burrito bowls (especially those from Chipotle) have made me appreciate the various types of international food products, and my taste buds crave all of them regularly. But the most exotic food of them came at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Two years ago, my mom and I were in New York, and we chose Lupa, a restaurant that we never tried before. I saw the menu and I thought of trying escargot. Doing so was a daring move on my part since I had no clue how it tasted. As I went in for a taste and did a mouse bite, I found it reminded me of clams, but with a more buttery taste. The snails passed my food test! I would try escargot again at any restaurant, and I won’t be afraid if the snails are prepared in a different approach because I know what taste to expect.

If I’m in a situation where I’m at someone’s house and he or she is serving a dish that features pasta and cheese, I will kindly request not to have any, and load on sides or salad. My parents have told me that I should keep comments to myself at other people's houses about the smell and dislike of food that could lead to hurt feelings. Instead, they said that I can say that I’m not that hungry, without making any rude comments or facial expressions. Furthermore, after I leave where I’m at, without saying anything to the hosts, I might go to a fast-food place for a snack if I’m still hungry. In the event the hosts offer an alternative method of desire, such as pizza or another favorable dish, I would take them up on the offer. Never dictate what the host should make unless he or she asks for any requests. Going with the flow keeps the fabric of a friendship intact, and does not cause tension for both parties. Everyone is allowed to like and dislike certain things, but mentioning dislikes or making sarcastic remarks to someone who put in the effort to make a meal must be avoided to prevent any disrespect and tensions.

Children with autism are five times more likely to have mealtime challenges such as narrow food selections, ritualistic eating behaviors (i.e., foods can’t touch on the plate), and meal-related tantrums. I struggle a lot less with these challenges, but I know lots of kids and adults, too, have struggles when it comes to what foods they eat and how they eat them. Psychologist Emily Kuschner recommends the following strategies to gently expand the diet of picky eaters with autism:

1. Rule out medical problems —> If a child is clamping his or her lips shut when offered a certain food, it may be that she knows it will make her stomach hurt. Gastrointestinal distress is common among children with autism, many of whom can’t easily describe their distress.

2. Stay calm —> Many children need to taste a food more than a dozen times before they’re willing to eat it without a fuss. Children with autism-related sensitivities can take longer.

3. Take steps toward tasting —> Many individuals with autism are afraid to try new things. Children should have their parents help them explore new food by looking at it, touching it, and smelling it. When he or she’s ready for a taste, he or she can try giving the food “a kiss” or licking it before putting a whole bite into his mouth.

4. Tune into textures —> Autism often comes with hypersensitivity to textures. So remember that it may be how a food feels in the mouth, rather than its flavor, that produces a food aversion.

5. Play with new food —> Playing with a new food is another way to build familiarity and decrease mealtime anxiety. Together, try painting with pasta sauce. Use veggies to make faces on pizza. Use cookie cutters to cut sandwiches into fun shapes.

6. Offer choices and control —> Try to offer a broad variety and allow choices within the categories you care about. For example, one might decide that his or her child needs to have one serving of vegetables and one of protein for dinner. So put five types of these foods on the table and allow a child to choose at least one vegetable and one protein.

7. Be careful with rewards —> In the long-run, it’s important to reward and reinforce any child’s flexibility with food and willingness to try new foods. But blatant bribes can backfire. Children may eat the food, but won’t learn to enjoy it or understand why it’s important to eat a well-rounded diet — and that’s the goal. Let dessert and treats be part of meals and snacks, but don’t use them as carrots to get a child to eat … carrots.

Working with autistic children to create an effective diet for their needs can be challenging. I didn’t have a smooth food intake growing up, but my parents were helpful with me in developing a diet that goes along with my desires, and what healthy items I need to make me healthy and strong. They were patient and calm and weren’t demanding about what I need to eat, which is a strategy that should be avoided. Placing children in timeout for not eating certain foods does not provide insight to the child, and might make him or her not want to try them even more. Instead, taking it slow with going through the benefits of eating nutritious foods can help children understand the benefits of consuming them. Children should have experience with all of the senses with any food or drink, where they can make a decision about if they like them or not afterward. Once a child makes a decision about his or her feelings regarding foods and drinks he or she likes, parents should respect the choices he or she makes. If the food or drink in question is nutritious, then parents should help their children find an alternative they will enjoy. We all love food, but the types of food we enjoy makeup are characteristics of who we are us human beings. Everything tastes different to everyone, so no one should be judged or ridiculed for what he or she likes or doesn’t like.

Source used

- https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/seven-ways-help-picky-eater