Do any of you still do food jags?

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The way kids eat is often to eat a certain food for long periods of time and not other foods. Do any of you continue that? Is it part of autism? Is that why as an adult with autism, I continue that?

So hard to eat healthy on one because I know that even when this one ends, another will start and I will struggle to eat foods to 'compensate' for whatever particular food jag I am. Smoothies all day for now but I think the next one will be Macaroni and Cheese and pastas with sauces all day. I need a balance so I can eat healthy and not over do it on fats, calories, fiber, etc. Or most often under do it on one thing but eat too much of other things.

If you are on food jags, do you let yourself or try to change them?

I've heard that a lot of people with autism get stuck on certain foods. I've also seen people in some online autistic communities call those foods their "same foods".

The things I eat varies over time, though I am usually stuck on eating mainly one thing for awhile. To combat that I personally try to limit that food to once or so a day, and make the time I eat it a part of my routine.

So usually lunch is reserved for my "same foods", and then I don't eat that food again for the rest of the day and I have to eat other things for other meals. That way it's easier to avoid eating the same things, since if I eat the "same food" any other time I'd be breaking my routine and I don't like doing that.

Have you tried having the same menu every day instead of the same dish at every meal? That way, you can have a larger variety of food (which is more nutritious) but still eat the same foods regularly. I mean that your breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all different, but you have the same breakfast every day, the same lunch every day, etc. This is what I do.

You can also alter your same meal so that it's nutritious enough to eat at every meal. Make sure the meal has veggies and sufficient fat and protein. You add semi-flavorless foods if you're concerned about changing the taste: for example, almond butter if your meal is too low in fat.

Thank you for your ideas.

I've never encountered the term food jag but that seems to be how I get most of my calories. I fixate on a handful of foods like burritos from a specific place, pizza, chicken wraps and Starburst lemon singles-to-go and often struggle to vary my diet much beyond those.

I eat that way for long periods of time but then after a while I can feel my body telling me I need more of a specific thing. Sometimes it is a nutrient. Sometimes it is somehow intuitively knowing and being prompted by the Holy Ghost (yes I do believe God knows what our bodies need.) that I need to change something. Sometimes needing to change it for physical reasons but sometimes because my learning disability makes anything with a recipe difficult.

I try to change when I need to and try to keep my body at the right weight and meet exercise requirements between my doctor and myself.

found as I got older and taste buds are as not sensitivity im able eat more foods but still tend mainly eat same things but in my School years I used drink 2 litres chocolate milk a day and eat very little.

Ah, that sounds familiar.

Yes I have been on them even into adulthood. I will eat other items too (never just one thing for every meal), but there will be a dominant default food that I go back to again and again more days than not. Some top hits (to qualify, it had to last longer than a year):

- Footlong meatball sub at Subway
- one specific type of veggie pizza at Blaze
- chips and queso from this one restaurant near my old workplace (probably my fattest year as an adult XD)
- chalupa supreme at taco bell
- one specific flavor of smoothie at Smootie King
- one specific flavor of frozen yogurt from one restaurant of one store with certain specific toppings
- katsudon (enough said)

Most of these I have never truly shaken, rather I moved and it became difficult to get them. When they did end though, it was often all at once, like "Wow, I never want to eat another meatball sub the rest of my life... huh."

Combination lo mien is my favorite default carryout dish. Comes pretty close to a food jag.

I was on a very long dinner jag that lasted three months, when I ate meat and spatzel every night that I just got out of a month ago. I didn't have much of an appetite at the time and that was the only think I felt like having for dinner.

Good to know I am not the only one with these types of experiences. It just seems strange and sort of like I 'should' want more variety or 'should' like certain other types of foods.

I tend to cook large batches of food, so eating the same dish for a week or two is quite normal for me.
I in fact have no problems eating the same for much longer, up to a year in my 20ies, but as I've developed an interest for cooking over the years I make different dishes.
I try to keep them relatively nutritious, which has become easier over the years as I've learned to eat (if not always enjoy) some vegetables.

/Mats