ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is a condition that affects appetite, food variety, and sensitivity to textures – and I only discovered it in my 40s after years of thinking I was simply a picky eater.
For most of my life, I thought that was the explanation. I assumed I didn’t like many foods, that I just wasn’t that into food itself, and that this was just part of who I was.
It wasn’t until my early 40s that I came across something that reframed all of that: ARFID, or Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.
Hearing that term for the first time didn’t feel dramatic or alarming. It felt oddly familiar. Like someone had finally put language to something I had been living with my entire life, but never had the framework to understand.
For the first time, my experiences with food didn’t feel like isolated quirks or personal failings. They started to look like a pattern.
Watch: I Thought I Was Just a Picky Eater
Hit play below as I chat about my experience with realising my “food weirdness” has a name – Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. 👇
If You’re Wondering Whether This Might Be ARFID
Many people discover ARFID later in life after years of thinking they are simply “picky eaters.” It can show up as lifelong low appetite, a very limited range of safe foods, or strong reactions to certain textures without an obvious medical explanation.
If you’ve ever felt like eating takes more effort for you than it seems to for other people, or that your food world is smaller and more restrictive than you can explain, this may resonate with you.
What is ARFID?
ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is an eating disorder that affects how people engage with food, often involving a very limited range of foods, low appetite, or strong sensitivity to certain textures, smells, or sensations.
Unlike other eating disorders, ARFID is not driven by body image concerns.
Instead, ARFID is often linked to:
- Low or inconsistent appetite
- Sensory sensitivity to food (especially texture)
- Avoidance of certain foods due to discomfort or distress
- Difficulty meeting nutritional needs over time
In adults, ARFID is often misunderstood or missed entirely, and many people spend years thinking they are simply “picky eaters” or “fussy with food.”
That was my experience exactly.
A Lifelong Assumption: “I’m Just a Picky Eater”
Growing up, I never had a particularly varied diet. I simply assumed that was normal for me. I would often be described as a “fussy eater,” and I accepted that as the full explanation.
There wasn’t much questioning beyond that. Food was just something I managed, and to be honest… food has been really hard for me, especially during stressful times in my life.
But looking back now, I can see that it was never just about preference or being hard to please.
It was about consistency, appetite, and how my body responded to food in a way I didn’t yet understand.
Low Appetite and the Pattern I Didn’t Recognise
Eating in Small Cycles
One of the most consistent patterns in my life has been a very low or unreliable appetite.
I rarely feel naturally hungry in a way that leads to proper meals. Instead, I tend to eat small amounts and then find myself needing to eat again a few hours later.
It creates a kind of cycle where I’m constantly “topping up” just enough to get through the next part of the day.
Misunderstanding My Energy Levels
For years, I thought I had an underlying low blood sugar issue because I would often feel faint or shaky if I didn’t eat frequently.
But every medical test came back normal.
Now I understand it differently. It wasn’t that something was medically wrong in a traditional sense – it was that my intake pattern wasn’t sustaining me for long stretches of time.
This pattern of low appetite and frequent “just enough” eating is something many adults with ARFID describe, even if they don’t have the language for it at the time.
Texture Sensitivities and Physical Food Reactions
When Food Feels Physically Uncomfortable
Another major piece of my experience has been texture sensitivity, which I’d never consciously connected the dots on until recently.
Certain foods can make me feel physically nauseous for hours after eating them. The strangest part is, I might even enjoy the taste of the food, but I’ve figured out now that the textures are what leave my nervous system in tatters.
Soft, spongy textures in particular are a definite no-go for me now.
Some of my no-go foods:
- Mushrooms
- Pasta & noodles
- Bananas
- Thick eggs
- Tofu
- Pancakes
Searching for the Wrong Explanation
For a long time, I assumed this meant I had specific food intolerances. I experimented with removing entire food groups, including gluten, trying to find a clear cause.
Nothing ever fully explained it.
What I’ve realised now is that it isn’t about individual ingredients. It’s about how certain textures interact with my sensory system and how my body responds to them.
That shift in understanding changed how I view food entirely.
Safe Foods and Restricted Eating in ARFID
The Role of “Safe Foods”
Over time, I’ve come to rely heavily on a small group of foods that feel predictable and easy to eat.
These aren’t choices made from restriction or dieting. They are the foods that consistently feel manageable.
In ARFID, these are often referred to as “safe foods” – foods that feel familiar, predictable, and low-risk to eat.
Some of my ‘safe foods’ include:
- Crackers & toast
- Avocado
- Yoghurt
- Cheese
- Hommus
- Meat: chicken, beef mince, ham, bacon
- Spreads: Vegemite, peanut butter & jam
- Fruit & Salad: apple (thinly sliced), mango, avocado, garden salad (without dressing)
- Vegetables: potato, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot (diced), peas & corn (in a stir fry), onion
This isn’t my complete diet, but these are often my go-to foods.
Restricted eating in ARFID doesn’t usually come from control or dieting, but from comfort, predictability, and sensory safety.
What My Everyday Eating Looks Like
My diet tends to revolve around simple, familiar foods such as potatoes in various forms, yoghurt, avocado, and certain cooked meat and vegetables prepared in predictable ways.
Fruit and vegetables are present, but often in limited or specific forms that feel easier to tolerate.
Some of my go-to meals:
- Stir-fries
- Veggie bakes
- Homemade burgers/pizza
- Shepherd’s pie
- Tacos/wraps
- Zucchini slice
- Bangers & mash
- Roasted veggies
- Fried rice
The key factor is predictability. If I can anticipate the texture and outcome of a food, it is far easier for me to eat it. Along with that, it needs to be easy for me to prepare, because cooking is very overwhelming for me as well.
Living With Energy Fluctuations
Eating for Short-Term Stability
Because I tend to eat smaller amounts throughout the day, my energy often follows a similar pattern.
I eat, I feel okay for a few hours, and then I need to eat again.
If I don’t, I can experience fatigue, shakiness, or feeling faint… and yes, I have fainted many times in my life due to blood sugar crashes.
This type of “short-cycle eating pattern” is commonly reported in adults with ARFID who struggle with appetite regulation.
The Impact of Stress and Illness
This pattern becomes more pronounced during times of stress or illness. My appetite can drop even further, making it harder to maintain consistent energy.
If something is going on in my life that’s creating anxiety, my appetite will completely disappear. This really forces me to battle with myself to make sure I’m getting some food down.
As a result, I can lose weight very quickly from having a naturally suppressed appetite, whether it is caused by anxiety or illness.
It’s not something I’ve ever been able to “solve” completely. It’s something I manage in cycles.
This is my experience, not a diagnosis
I’m not sharing this as a medical diagnosis, but as a lived experience that only made sense once I learned about ARFID.
For many adults, this is a pattern that goes unrecognised for years. It can take a long time to find language that actually fits what you’ve been experiencing.
Food in Everyday Life and Family Routines
The Challenge of Cooking at the End of the Day
Cooking has often been one of the most difficult parts of daily life for me, especially at the end of the day when energy is low.
And when you don’t love food, having to come up with a family meal every night is extremely overwhelming. I’ve never been that interested in learning how to cook beyond the realms of what has been necessary for me, and honestly, that feels like enough.
Finding a Lower-Stress System
Years ago, when the kids were very young, I naturally started to prepare dinner during the day as much as I could – purely out of necessity.
Over time, I’ve realised that getting dinner sorted early is actually the best way for me to function, even as the kids grew older and I left my husband (one less hungry belly to consider 🙌).
I also batch cook at the beginning of the week so we at least have a few nights prepared ahead of time. This means food is already available later, without the pressure of starting from scratch when I’m depleted.
Cooking this way also allows for everyone’s different likes and dislikes around food to be honoured. We don’t have to all eat the same thing or at the same time – which has released so much “dinner time” pressure.
Understanding My Relationship With Food
Discovering ARFID as an adult didn’t change everything overnight, but it gave me language for something I had experienced my entire life without understanding it.
It helped me see that my relationship with food wasn’t simply about being “picky” or inconsistent. It was a long-term pattern involving appetite regulation, texture sensitivity, and energy management.
More importantly, it shifted the goal.
Instead of trying to force my eating habits into something they’re not, the focus has become making food as simple, predictable, and low-pressure as possible so that I can actually eat enough to function well.
Full bellies are more important to me than food ‘perfection.’
One of the biggest shifts has been removing pressure around food. The more I focus on simple, predictable meals and reduce decision fatigue, the easier it becomes to actually eat consistently.
Final Thoughts
There are still challenges, and I don’t think this is something that simply disappears.
ARFID in adults is still widely misunderstood, and many people go years without having the right words for their experiences with food, appetite, and texture sensitivity.
And if there is one thing I’ve learned through sharing this, it’s that I’m not alone in it. Many people experience food in ways that don’t always get talked about openly.
If this resonates with you, you’re not alone either.
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