Are food sensitivities real?

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Or are they just considered as foods we hate to eat? D:

I know I have a hate for tomatoes because of the taste and texture. I also can't eat meatloaf because it makes me gag.

Anyway, I was wondering what other people thought of this. I know it's common for us to have more food sensitivities than the average NT does though. Also, I don't mean like lactose intolerance or other allergies. While, those ARE considered food sensitivities, it's not what I am talking about right now.

Tomatoes are my most hated food and I dislike a lot of different food.

I think they are real. One of my children has a severe aversion to almost all food. In addition to being a very picky eater, despite not having dyspraxia or any physical issues, he also eats extraordinarily slowly otherwise he gags.

Before he was diagnosed with autism, I was told that "children will not starve themselves" and to just basically not offer anything to him except what I served for everyone else. But he did starve himself. He had to be hospitalised at one point when he was 3 having not eaten anything in over a week. He wasn't dying, but that's only because I decided that was ENOUGH and something needed to be done. He goes through phases where he only eats one food for over a month, and then suddenly he won't touch it. There's no way that's just "I don't like it and I'm a brat". No way.

My husband (possibly AS, possibly not AS, but definitely not NT), has an aversion to onions- he can't swallow them, makes him gag. But then he also hates pears, turnips, beef, etc. and those are just "dislikes". He'd prefer not to eat them, but if that was all there was, he'd eat them. So I think there clearly is a difference between the two.

I have sensitivities to food textures. Some textures of foods cam make me feel physically ill. They can also loop which is really horrible.

Yes, mine are mostly to certain acids in foods, and neurotoxins.
I have always loved very bland food, and I water most things down as well like milk, juice, etc..

I find carrots and celery to be too strong or "hot" for me to tolerate unless they have been overcooked, which neutralizes the acids. Green pepper is the same way, and of course all of the peppers, unless they are cooked to death.

I can't enjoy most alcoholic drinks either because they are too strong.

I can't handle the acidity of tomatoes. I'll have indigestion all night if I eat anything heavily laced with them (catsup, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, etc.)

I have the same problems with Garlic and onions (I like them, but they don't like me)

I don't like the taste or smell of sauerkraut (I was always force fed it as a child). Ditto with liver, tripe, and pork ( except for ham, bacon, sausage (if it's not too spicy), pork chops, etc)

Don't even get me started on alcohol...

I wish I were a bit *more* sensitive to foods, because then I might not be so overweight. Seems the only foods I'm mostly sensitive too are the ones that's supposed to be like 90% of what you eat every day. I find many fruits too sour, mushy, mealy, and things like being overripe or covered in bruises repulsive. I hardly ever touch fresh fruit any more and the fact that I drink fruit juice is probably the only thing that's keeping me from getting scurvy or whatever, although juice is supposed to be really bad for you know even if it's unsweetened it's no better than pop except for the vitamins. Fish is, for the most part, repulsive. The taste, the smell, the bones, the scaly skin. But it's good for you unless it's been fried and covered in a batter, which is the only way I can tolerate it. The only tomatoes I like are the little cherry ones because they're much sweeter and firmer and I know a lot of people hate it but I like the way they pop inside your mouth. I only eat one complete meal a day, at suppertime and if I didn't care about how unhealthy it is I would practically live on cookies and chips. I can cook nutritious meals but I'm very sick of washing dishes every day (no dishwasher) and cleaning up all the mess after cooking (no one to give me a hand).

As a kid I was an extremely picky eater, eating almost nothing but very select things. Most vegetables I simply could not swallow and I hated all types of meat because their texture is inconsistent and unpredictable. Not to mention I love animals so I felt guilty every time I tried it. The picky eating has gotten a bit better but I still really cannot stand the texture of some foods and bitterness in food makes me want to gag.

This is why I have started learning cooking high quality and delicious food for myself, it not only introduces you to new types of food but also to new types of cuisines. For one I really cannot stand my local cuisine, but I have started to love Thai, Chinese and Indian cuisine. I like how each piece of food is ordered and how different textures are not mixed together in most dishes. And once you are good at cooking as a picky eater healthy food becomes a joy rather than a torment.

I am a slightly picky eater, but not extremely so. I don't want to blame such things on autism, it's just a little too much. Being sensitive of things means just that: you are sensitive of A, or B. Not because you are on the spectrum, but just because you are. Can't argue taste.

I ate whatever my mother fed into my mouth when I was little.
The younger I was, the less discriminating I was about food.
The older I got, the more I developed some sense of taste and texture and started hating certain food.
But I am not a picky eater.
But I don't eat weird special things that other people seem to enjoy eating at restaurants.

You and me both with the meatloaf.
I absolutely DESPISE it and the texture is probably about half of it if not more. I hate meatballs for the same reason. I love burgers and sausage, though. They have a much more acceptable texture and taste better, too.

I think the kind of food sensitivity you are talking about is different than just disliking something. Some things I like to eat, but they have to be prepared a certain way (and usually have to be organic) or else I just can't stand the taste or the texture. To someone else the different might be imperceptible, but to me it's a world of difference.

And some foods I like, but I can only eat them in very small portions, then my gag reflex starts kicking in. And sometimes I will eat something over and over again for days, or weeks or months, and then suddenly without warning I just won't be able to eat it anymore.

I love tomatoes and peppers, but only if they are cooked and mixed in to something else, like pasta or rice. And they have to be organic.

Sadly, food sensitivity is very real. I can't tolerate practically any fruits or vegetables, and the ones I can eat (like blueberries for example) I have to eat slowly, one at a time, otherwise the texture overload will make me gag (I tried eating five blueberries at once the other day and felt sick after swallowing them. I was fed up with torturing myself by eating them so slowly, but I know now that there's no other way for me to do it.)

I can't eat things with mixed textures (like yogurt with fruit in it), or stringy textures (like oranges or green beans), and everything has to be at the correct temperature (nothing directly out of the refrigerator except things that are meant to be cold, like cheeses and yogurts; even then, I still prefer my yogurts at room temperature). Nothing too warm either. Ice cream is a serious balancing act for me, because I have to melt it to liquid in the microwave, but if I overdo it, it becomes warm and inedible; it has to be runny but cold!

Even my meat preference is limited. I don't like white chicken or turkey breast because I find it dry and flavourless. No steaks, pork chops, lamb chops, hamburgers etc. because they're too tough and chewy, and again, flavourless. Fish is entirely out of the question unless it's battered; even the smell repulses me. Basically, if it's not bacon or sausage, it has to be covered in sauce or battered for me to enjoy it (the one exception to this is duck, but it still tastes better covered in orange sauce!)

I really hate my food sensitivities; they're my second biggest problem after my sound intolerance. I'd give anything to be rid of them.

Last edited by StarTrekker on 13 Sep 2014, 11:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

/\ There have been fruits I couldn't stand because of the texture. Bananas and peaches really bothered me. With peaches it was the hair on them. It was only because I liked the flavor well enough that I got to where I could eat either without issues. It wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if they came up with a hybrid hairless peach but until then I can at least live with the hairy ones.

I'd debate the terminology.

A food "sensitivity" is more along the line of a mild allergic reaction.

If you are sensitive to nuts, you will feel ill but not be in danger of any serious distress if you consume them.

If you don't like the texture of nuts, it's a matter of like or dislike, and not so much one of preference, but it's NOT an allergic type of reaction.

I have hypersensitivity to taste. I typically only enjoy very bland foods, and my parents even insist I used to love every kind of food until I was three, at which point I suddenly became very different.