Eating Disorders

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I was just reading in The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood about how common it is to have an eating disorder.I can vouch that I had one for at least ten years,perhaps even prior if you consider that I was an extremely picky eater.I only ate yogurt,tuna fish,carrots,broccoli,tacos,hamburgers,pickles and fruit as a child and into my early teens.As a teenager I branched out to hummus and crackers,tofu,and I think health store frozen waffles.I always chewed really well and I always swished the fluid I was drinking a lot before swallowing,something I still do out of habit.I did not like the taste of milk and juice,I remember my aunt making freshly squeezed orange juice and nearly gagging on the pulp in it.
In my mid twenties I became broader in what I ate but I also restricted the amount of what I ate.I was about fifteen pounds lighter than I am now and people often suggested I do modeling work,partially because I was so thin.Just this year have I stopped my eating disorder and am healthy.At times of great stress during college I would literally lose my appetite and not eat enough.I remember once becoming so weak I literally couldn't move and I had to wait half an hour to build up the strength to move. It was really scary and something I never forgot.
Now I eat fish and wheat,though not dairy,no sugar or GMO food.I am a little too passionate about organic food but I eat when I need to and am able to prepare healthy meals and satisfy my body's cravings.I am happy to be so healthy.

Me too, but have had it mainly under control for a while now. :)

I haven't experienced this personally (ie, been officially diagnosed as having an eating disorder), but I'm inclined to think that eating disorders are a secondary characteristic of Asperger's--it's that need for control (plus being a woman and body image issues and all of that). I've always been really, really picky, though, about what chemicals go in my body, and I've been obsessed with being thin for years. There could be any number of reasons, really, for why women with AS develop eating problems in particular.

Correct me if I am mistaken, but I thought an eating disorder (associated with AS or not) was not in relation to pickiness in food, but rather dealing with starving oneself or indulging oneself. What you described sounds very common among the autism community in being very particular about what to eat, but it doesn't sound like an eating disorder from what I've learned.

Unless Attwood is using the term eating disorder in another aspect?

Part of eating disorders is also the obsession with numbers: the number showing on the scale, the number of calories, the number size on your clothing tag, the number of times to chew a food, etc. This is not the entire story, but this obsessive quality also lends to eating disordered mentality. There is also hyperawareness of body flaws and sometimes body dysmorphia. Plus the black and white thinking of eating disorders ("all or nothing") that lend to anorexia and bulimia, and even binge eating disorder.

Ah! Okay, that makes more sense to me now. Thank you!

I totally used to count the number of times I chewed.I think I was up to at least 30 at one point. But I've never had a scale.It was like obsession with needing to be thin and controlling what I ate.Now I am so much kinder to myself.

I wouldn't say I've ever had an eating disorder but I feel as though I've come close in the past. I went through a stage where I felt very uncomfortable eating in front of people and tried to avoid it as much as possible and skipped meals.

The fact that I get intensely obsessed with particular topics led to me becoming obsessed with calories. I have suffered from the affects of it for about 7 years and this last year has been quite bad. I lost 30lbs and had to stay inpatient for a while. I definitely think that autism is related to eating disorder because of the intense focus on things and being less social which the eating disorder just intensifies.

I am brand new here, but have clearly had a revelation of sorts regarding 30 years of behaviour. To be honest the world brought me to my knees about 2 weeks ago (it wasn't me; it was them!). At any rate as far as eating and diet goes it has consumed me to one extent or another. I need to be told to eat at times because I don't feel hunger. Thank goodness I have a partner. I found a solution was was sports. I liked the results of being strong and knew I needed to feed my body or I risked passing out because of my physical activity. It became obsessive obviously, but I think it falls in the good category and promotes socialization. I don't need to interact with people after the games and practice, but have still put myself out there. I guess I just needed a concrete reason to eat. Nutritious foods feeding muscles, I needed the science. I am not saying when I am not training that I don't live off of fries...

well, i have an apetite someitmes, and sometimes i don't eat. i am gald wheni have an appetite and then eat. i am thankful i recognize hunger instead of upset, because they cause symptoms in the same place in me

I like food and I don't think I ever had an eating disorder.

There are certain things I won't eat since I was an infant though. In my case it's dairy products. There is nothing that disgusts me more than porridge, yogurt, pudding or a glass of milk for instance. Even thinking about it makes me want to gag and I seem to have some sort of an intolerance for it, especially for cowmilk. I have also developed a liking for spicy to very spice food instead of neutral or sweet stuff.

I've had an eating disorder since I was 11 and every time I think it has gone away it comes back without me realising.

I don't feel hunger so I forget to eat. I also have Coeliac Disease so my previously limited diet is now ultra limited. Even though I have a BMI of 23 I keep getting malnourished, who knew that could be possible at such a high weight?! ! I'm actually a lot worse off health wise than when my BMI was 16. I almost ended up in hospital at Christmas, because my mouth couldn't heal after I had a tooth removed and I got an infection in the bone in my face. Since then I've managed to remember to eat, but I've got ill because even though I remembered to eat I forgot to drink and I'm really dehydrated! It sounds ridiculous I know, how hard is it to remember to have a drink? I'm not even sure how I managed to do it.

It seems like the biggest effort in the world to me to remember to eat 3 times a day, nevermind eat a varied diet AND remember to drink too. I feel like such an idiot, I'm nearly 30, manage to have a full time well paid job (I work from home 4 days a week), but I can barely look after myself or do anything outside of getting my job done

I've had an eating disorder since I was 12. I remember stepping on the scale at age twelve and because my weight was over that magically number of 100 lbs I thought I was fat. Years later in the depths of my struggle with anorexia I got under that magical number when I was around 18, but even then I wasn't satisfied because I now wanted to be 90 lbs. I found that with my weight I like round numbers and get made if they aren't the other day weighed myself and in ended in 0.5 and I was mad because of the .5 Not that I can control my weight but for some reason number that end in 0 or 5 are acceptable but anything else is not. I was the same way with grades in school.

My disorder later turned to bulimia, because my body got sick and tired of starving itself and went out of control eating, I hated, and still do the feeling of being too full, probably related to sensory issues so purging was a way for me to get rid of that feeling. Sometimes I still purge and usually it is not to try to lose weight but to just get rid of that uncomfortable feeling, because my hygiene skills are non existent throwing up didn't bother me and unfortunately I probably smelt gross a lot but I didn't notice. I remember one day I was on a trip and I threw up not on purpose, and they were like go brush your teeth and in my head I was like no brushing your teeth takes the enamel off your teeth. Most people would want to brush there teeth to get rid of the smell but I was more worried about my enamel then the smell. I would throw up and not rinse out my mouth, gross I know, and the trip leaders would talk to me about how I need to take care of myself. I also would spill food on my clothes and not notice at all. My response was it didn't bother me but I didn't realize it bothered other people.

Sometimes my special interests and obsessions get in the way of me eating because well I will forget to eat. There are also certain foods I will refuse to eat, got into little trouble in Eating disorder treatment for that. Big ones are eggs and cottage cheese and that has nothing to do with calories but the texture.

Obsession with numbers on the scale, calories, clothing size were definitely part of my eating disorder issues.

I had an eating disorder since high school and I think it was unrelated to autism. Mine was about weight and control and low self esteem about my body. I am still conscious about my weight. I also feared getting fat and still do. I also hated my clothing sizes and the bigger the size was, more fat I felt and getting comments about how skinny I am made me feel like I should be thinner because I didn't think I was skinny. I didn't even weigh less than 130 lbs and I was not a twig. I also used to work out for an hour to burn off my dinner or to burn off a high calorie dessert.

I am sure I had one in 6th grade since over eating also counts as one. I was on Depakote to calm my body down from having seizures and it made me hungry all the time so I always ate and it made me gain like 20 lbs in one month and I got all these ugly stretch marks.

I am not sure when my ED started but I think I was heading there long before I got one.

An ED can also mean someone has a high metabolism and they can't keep their weight on because they lose it if they don't eat enough. I do envy those people because I would love to have a high metabolism so I wouldn't have to worry bout my weight or food ever again and I could eat all I want. That was the way it was with breast feeding and then it slowed down when my son started solids and then my ED was back. I wish there was some pill to give me high metabolism. Wait, there is. It's diet pills but I hear they're not good for your body so I never used them. People with ED may use them because it speeds it up and they lose weight. If they were safe to take, I would be taking them so I wouldn't have one and not worry about my weight. It would be like my breast feeding days again.