I watched the first episode of Farm of Fussy Eaters last night and I have to say I cried all the way through it.

Having been a fussy eater since the age of 2, I am getting to the point of dispear. It starts to make you feel very isolated when your friends are going for a meal somewhere where you know there will be nothing on the menu that you can eat.

The participants of the show where correct when people believe that being that fussy is a lifestyle choice, when its not. Over the years my mum took me to the G.P to be told she'll grow out of it. Dietians cut out the majority of my diet and was told to replace it with toast and banana sandwices with canderel sprinkled on top for a sweet snack (but I can't eat bananas) I've been to councellors to be asked my feelings about food and where did it start but I can't give them an answer because I have no feelings apart from feeling sick. The counsellor decided I'd got obsesive compulsive disorder, but putting a name like that doesn't make it any easier to live with.

I have felt for many years that I was on my own in coping with this problem as no-one seems to know how to deal this this problem. There are many clinics and articles into other eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, but fussy eating is another story. I don't even know if fussy eating is the right thing to call it as this also implies that there is a choice in the situation.

Please, please, please could anyone tell me where to contact about another series as I would like to participate. and I feel that it is something that could help many more fussy eaters like the shows participants and myself.

Sorry for going on

Elissa

You make me feel normal! I too have had eating problems since a very small child. My mother had to dieticians, pschologists, pshychiatrists etc and they all said "She'll eat when she's ready". When I'm 47 now and I still don't eat properly.

I remember going to one Christmas function and I just ate my roast potatoes and nothing else and someone said "Why aren't you dead?" I eat white bread with no bits. Chips from the chips shop, a limited type of home cooked chips, I'll eat a baked potatoe but only the white bit not the skin and it has to have salt on and nothing else. I eat plain chicken, either roasted or fried on a griddle but there can be no fat on it or sauce or anything else like that. I only put on salt, if there is pepper on it I can't eat it. And then there is the chocolate. Lots of it. I don't buy chocolate in one bar at a time, I buy loads. I always look for 3 for the price of 2 and buy 6. The latest craving is Rolo eggs. My local off licence sells 3 for 99p and I buy 6. I have eaten at least 3 of them by the time I have driven home. I don't even tast the first one it goes down so fast. In my bedroom I have stashed away a box of 48 Cadbury's Creme Eggs and a 36 box of Flyte bars. They are hidden away in my filing cabinet and I eat at least 3 of each a day.

I once went out on a date with a bloke I was really, really keen on. He suggested we go for "a really good curry" and I felt sick. I learned that food was really important to him and I knew it would be a problem. We settled on going to an Italian restaurant because I know you can get plain chicken and chips there. I ate my meal as I always do cutting up the chicken and he said "I've never seen anyone disect a chicken before". Needless to say, he didn't ask me out again.

The silly thing is I love watching food programmes on the television. I love Ready Steady Cook and I adore Masterchef Goes Large. I even fantasise about being on them. I enjoy cooking and I'm told I'm a good cook, I can just never taste anyting as I go along.

If anyone of the producers of Farm of Fussy Eaters reads this forum, I'm begging you to let me come on the next series. I'm desperate to be able to eat normally so that I can go on a diet. I'm really fat with a BMI of about 35 and I just can't diet because of the rubbish food I eat. I really hate my self-image and it is stopping me going out and giving me such self loathing. PLEASE HELP ME.

hi Elissa

I secretly wanted to watch last nights show without my g/f watching coz as soon as i saw the ad i thought to myself "thats me".
Anyway i did catch the show and for the first time in my life i saw that i was not alone in my own world which to me at times has been a nightmare!

so i sat through the first 5mins and then i was joined by my g/f, and it didnt take her long to come out with the "thats you" comments. We both watched and found the programme very interesting and it explained my food fear far better than i ever could to my g/f.

I like yourself have lived with my problem for nearly 30yrs now(i'm 35) i can rember at an early age my teacher refusing to take my mums dinner money at school as i never ate it!

As the years have passed i've dodged trips away, weddings,girlfriends,holidays and even passed up job offers because of my fear of food.

For years i've looked for a label for my problem i.e anorexia, bulimia but to no luck.
I did years ago vist a Dietian and she wasnt much help.

After watching tonights show i felt so much for the fella and his cabbage but at the same time i thought how strong he was to go through it like he did!

One last thing i do agree with is the use of the term "fussy eater", it sounds like people like us choose to go through life and suffer this sad and sometimes lonely problem but this is so very far from the case.

we do just want to be normal.

Would be great to talk to you more Ellisa and anyone else touched by the show.

Dave

Hi Dave and Sally,

It's nice to hear that there are people out there that have the same problems as me. I have felt very isolated with this as no-one seems to know how to tackle it or ever meeting another person with the same problems (except children about the ages of 2-5years old).

My diet consists of high carbohydrates and fats but not a lot else. White bread (no seeds/nuts), chips, instant mash potato, cheese (mild and lots of it), bagels, curmpets, pitta bread, battered fish (i can now have breaded which for a long time I have not had), garlic bread, marmite, chicken breast, eggs (scrambled or boiled) yorkshire puddings (I can eat these for England and I make the best) crisps and chocolate, I will have pasta occassionally with four cheese sauce and grated cheese on top or I make it with philadelpia and grate cheese on top.

I also don't have any kind of sauces, I love salt as its the only flavouring that I use (yes I know too much salt is bad for you!!). My regular pizza place knows that I don't have tomato base, just cheese (they call it cheese on toast).

I have also avoided going out for meals because of fussy eating. If I get invited out (which is rarely now as friends have stopped asking as they know I will not go) I have to check out the menu beforehand and ask if they can accommodate me, which is really embarrasing.

Whenever I order food I ask for no salad or veg, once a friend asked why I couldn't just leave it on my plate and I replied that I could taste it if it had been touching my food and that it would make me vomit. The difference between myself and her is that it is her choice not to eat salad and veg (we are nearly the same age and both overweight), when she wants to she will eat both salad and veg. I on the otherhand can't.

Sorry I'm going on again

Talk to you soon

Elissa
x x

I have read all these comments and can assure you that you are most definately not alone. I am Ricks Mum, Rick has been to all the experts that you mention also he went to hypnotherapy for almost a year. He was also told by these people that he would grow out of it. Rick has had a limited life in my opinion, no parties, no school trips etc etc. Two or three times a week we would take Rick to varios resturants so he could chose anything he wanted - but his body rejected different styles and textures of food. Rick has come back from the farm no different in his eating habits I have to say. However, his confidence levels have lifted and his awareness of his eating problems. Hopefully he will go forward from this. But believe me all of you - you are most definately not alone. Best Wishes - Vickie Davies - Ricks Mum

Hi Vickie,

Thank you for your encouragement. The chance that Rick has been given may be invaluable for him to at some stage over come his eating problems. As you say it has given him the confidence and knowledge to finding a way forward in his life.

I am 26 years old and had the same problems at school. They refused to take me on any further trips following a camping week in Anglesea as I came home pale as I'd eaten next to nothing for the entire week. I used to take packed lunches to primary school and in secondary school I had chips but if they didn't look nice I would have buttered cobs as the cheese ones always had onion or tomato on them.

Going abroad is the hardest of all. Although I must say that places like spain have got a lot easier to find things now (the chips have got better since i first went aged 8).

Some people often believe that my mum didn't persivire enough as I was growing up and that has contributed to my problems, however I don't think that is the case. I remember my parents sitting with me at the table trying to encourage me just to try things but it always ending with tears (from me) and a lengthy sit at the table. I have been making my own tea since the age of six, mum's attempt not to push the issue but that had no effect either.

I hope Rick can move forward and that the progamme brings forward this issue as many more people are sufferring in isolation with no-where to turn.

Elissa
x x

Hi, I have watched the first two episodes of the farm and read your comments.
I have a 13 year old son who has been diagnosed with OCD and a food phobia.
He lives on marmite, either in sandwiches or on toast, he will eat ready salted crisps and bourbon biscuits.
I worry so much about him because he is a growing teenage lad and i am sure he isn't getting enough vitamins etc to keep him healthy.
I have taken him to doctors pyschologists and counsellors, all have been no help.
One told me top pay him to eat different food!
If only it was that easy!!
I tried to make it into a game with his brothers and the winner got a prize, all they had to do was eat something from a plate (it was fruit!) he ended up sitting on the floor screaming.
I really related to the man with the cabbage (I can't remember his name) my son has to have his food put on a plate a certain way or he can't eat it, nothing must be touching.
He has missed out on so much already, if he is invited to friends he takes a lunch box with his on food, and school camp was just not an option for him.
It isn't a life style choice at all it is a disability.
Thank you for reading, if anyone has any tips or clues please let me know.

Hi all, Have watched this program and now I feel that i`m not alone now, I have not been able to eat a lot of food since I was very young. I have felt embarrassed about my eating problems but hide it pretty well, to the extent that most of my friends dont even know.
I even missed the meal at my sisters wedding even though she said I could have what I liked, I still couldn`t go as I feel out of place and feel everyone would be looking at me.
bye for now

My son, now 23 years old was diagnosed ADHA at the age of 12 but I had worked out for myself from the age of 5 that he had this.It took the next 7 years to prove to schools and psychologists that this was the case. Having lived with this and the fact that he is also dyslexic and has eating problems has not been easy. He eats only chips every day including Christmas day. His only other food intake consists of crisps, apple pie and toast. I too took him to m any doctors who said he would grow out of it and would try other foods when he was ready. This has never happened. You would probably think he would be so obese and spotty having this kind of diet all his life, but no he is very fit, has good all over muscle and NO spots (or rarely). He would be a good one to study as all the adverts state too much fat is not good for you. He eats salt and vinegar like it is going out of fashion and toast with clover spread every day several times a day. I have had many sleepless nights over the years worrying but have had no help to try to get his eating habits to some kind of normality. HELP!!!!!! Lynne

My son, now 23 years old was diagnosed ADHD at the age of 12 but I had worked out for myself from the age of 5 that he had this.It took the next 7 years to prove to schools and psychologists that this was the case. Having lived with this and the fact that he is also dyslexic and has eating problems has not been easy. He eats only chips every day including Christmas day. His only other food intake consists of crisps, apple pie and toast. I too took him to m any doctors who said he would grow out of it and would try other foods when he was ready. This has never happened. You would probably think he would be so obese and spotty having this kind of diet all his life, but no he is very fit, has good all over muscle and NO spots (or rarely). He would be a good one to study as all the adverts state too much fat is not good for you. He eats salt and vinegar like it is going out of fashion and toast with clover spread every day several times a day. I have had many sleepless nights over the years worrying but have had no help to try to get his eating habits to some kind of normality. HELP!!!!!! Lynne

Hi all I am Dawn from the farm of fussy eaters. I would like to say to you all that you are not alone with your food problems. And to all of the parents reading this its not your fault either I have been reading comments on other sites about the program blaming the parents, My mum tried so hard for me and she even told me i would get ill (as all parents try this one) But it became true for me I ended up in hospital and having my gallbladder removed because of my diet of fatty foods.
So when I entered the farm i was ready to make the change. it was one of the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life but also one of the best. All of you out there with food problems please don't ever give up trying to change.
New foods are frightening but some are quite nice and you would be surprised (I now love spinach) . Its all about getting the right help.
Like Rick i tried hypnotherapy but it didnt help. As a teen i tried going to the doctor and nearly got laughed out of his office. I now at 29 have a great doc who gave me courage to make the first step. So don't be put off. You can change even if its only small things like me. But it won't happen unless you are truely ready.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the series.
Dawn
P.S Hi Ricks mum

Hi Dawn,

It's nice to hear the positive outcomes that the programme has had for you. Your right new foods are very frightening, and trying to do it on your own is the hardest. Professionals believe that talking it through with you is all it needs, they do not realise the barriers put in place that then need to be broken to try new foods. It is something that if left on my own to do I won't do it.

The farm has allowed people to come together and be taken out of their normal routine to try to break down their barriers that they have in place. If only there was somewhere like this for the rest of us.

I graduate in August and I am dreading the ball, it has a three course set meal which I know I will not eat but I want to enjoy the evening. Becoming a nurse is an achievement that I thought would never happen, so to be dreading the meal more than six months before it very frightening and am thinking of pulling out.

I hope things continue to improve for you.

Elissa

Hi everyone,

My name's James and I'm a 22 year-old "fussy eater" (I HATE that term, btw - as has already been said, IT'S NOT A CHOICE). I've been watching the programme with great interest and whilst I think the "pyschologist" (hehe) hasn't been particularly useful, have found it very heartening to see people like me on television. I could emphathise with everyone on the show, and found watching it a very galvanising experience. I've no interest in appearing on television but greatly envied the opportunity they all had. Whilst looking online I discovered the term "sitophobia", or food aversion, which sounds similar to the symptoms we suffer from, though I think it might be designed to apply to mental patients.

My story is basically the same as all of yours - as far back as I can remember, I have had a limited diet that for years revolved mostly around Marmite on toast, as well as junk food (chocolate, crisps, sweets) and a small number of healthier foods, such as apples, bananas and cereal (though nowhere near as much I should). This eventually culminated in me contracting scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) just before my 19th birthday, which vanished almost instantly once I started taking vitamin supplements. It was the most painful, awful experience of my life - worse than any amount of school bullying about my diet - and a huge wake-up call to the health dangers people like us potentially face.

Though there have been a few breakthroughs since (particularly the introduction of margherita pizza last summer), and I have an absolutely amazing girlfriend who has been extremely patient and very very helpful, it is still a terrifying problem and there is a long way to go. Like everyone else here, I am deathly afraid of unfamiliar tastes and textures, going to the lengths of lying non-stop to avoid it, and am unable to swallow strange foods when tried. (You should have seen me try to eat a brussel sprout Christmas before last!)

The thing that angers me most about all this - aside from the terribly ignorant responses of some, who call us "ungrateful" etc. and assume we have a choice in this - is just how obscure the condition is. The fact that doctors have never heard of it (it was months before my family discovered on our own that I had scurvy), that there isn't even a major website we could be referred to for information (www.fussyeaters.com?), and most importantly, that it's taken us all so long to realise we're not alone. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has applied to an eating disorder clinic only to be rejected because it's not a more "common" problem like anorexia or bulimia.

But I am confident that solving it is possible - in fact, more than ever since watching the programme. I am working on a program with my girlfriend to gradually introduce unfamiliar foods to my repertoire. I have been seeing a therapist for about six months, and whilst it hasn't helped directly diet-wise, it has assisted in me understanding the problem and my responses to food. One theory we came up was that this was an accidental outgrowth of the normal "picky eating" phase a child goes through, where they focus on certain foods until they are ready to see the big picture, and that by accident we latched onto a routine that grew and grew until we could not control it. I've no idea whether there's any psychological worth in it, but I found it an interesting idea.

Thanks for reading my little essay guys, and have hope - we've all got a difficult journey ahead of us, but not an impossible one. We can beat this!!!

P.S. This is to connie40 - interesting to hear that your son has developed a similar fixation on Marmite to the one I had/have. I remember reading a story in a tabloid newspaper many years ago about another young boy who was a "Marmite addict", if you will. I wonder what it is in it that makes it so "friendly" to us as opposed to everything else?

Well I'm not sure if this will be of any help to anybody. Before I went on to the farm I had already started to make a small change. ihad been given an appointment with a very kind and understanding dietitan. She asked me a simple question "Have you ever tried melon?" and of course i said no. So after this comment it got me thinking its nothing like anything i have ever tried before. And after a disscussion with my best friend she said I should pop to my local sainsbury because they have fresh fruit already cut and prepared. So off i went to the supermarket feeling quite green around the gills all by myself (which was a big step)to the salad and fruit bar got myself the smallest bowl and in it i put a piece of melon a piece of mango a grape a piece of pineapple and a strawberry ifelt rather nervous and very red face my pulse was racing but i did i paid for it and took it back to work with me. And i shut down my mind and preconceptions of the fruit and put them one byone in my mouth. it was strange but it felt safe cos ive never tried these things before. I wouldn't say i like the fruits but i wasnt sick like i would normally be trying new foods. Im glad i took that first step. It was the success of the fruit that me apply for the farm and the rest is history. i cant believe I have live most of my life without fresh pineapple i love it now!!

Hi everyone,
I left a long reply here earlier discussing my similar problems with food, but it seems to have gone missing. It's pretty disheartening as I took a long time over it and hope it hasn't been deleted for some reason. Could a mod tell me why it isn't showing up?
Thanks,
James

Dawn - how did you get on the programme.
I really need to go to that farm even though I'm finding it hard just watching it. I really do want to be normal and I think this is the way I can do it. I've done the hypnotherapy and I've got a GP who doesn't understand. I even worked as a temp at the local Eating Disorder Clinic and they just laughed at me and said I didn't have an eating disorder, I was just a fussy cow!

I can't tell you how much I hate being the way I am. I'm 48 next week. I'd really like to be able to go out for my 49th next year and have a really nice meal with my friends. I love the ambience of a restaurant but I won't go for the obvious reasons. Maybe if I go to the farm my dreams will come true........

i have read all the comments and for the first time i feel that im not alone. I have had a fear of food for about 4 years my diet consists of potato, broccoli, carrots, plain crisps, and one type of plain biscuits, i will occasionally eat a small piece of chicken. I only drink bottled water and diet coke. I have battled with doctors to get help and have had some really good support from the dietition i am currently seeing without her support i wouldn't beable to eat any of the things that i have listed, i am 31, married and have 3 children and i hate having this problem with food it totally restricts what you do, my husband is brilliant he really helps and supports me and tries to encourage and reassure me. I would love to beable to eat the same things as my family but i am so afraid, i can cook anything they want but i cant eat it. I really want to get better and i am really trying to pluck up the courage to eat something different.

Hi everyone,

I contacted UKTV using the "contact us" link at the top left hand side of this page. I had a really nice relpy from Chantal Rutherford Browne, Commissioning Executive, who has passed on my commets to the executives of the show.

For there to be another series more people need to send their comments in, just so they can get an ideea of how many people need their help.

Elissa

Hi
To jflower, I don't know what it is about marmite, one of my other son's hates it! At Christmas instead of a selection box my son gets a gaint jar of marmite! All my children were bought up the same with the same kinds of foods.
Dawn you are a legend, I have cried watching you and cheered for you!
I am going to contact the programme and see if they could do anything for my son maybe they could do a farm for teenagers??

Hi All - Ricks Mum again,

Regarding the marmite 'thing'. I have been led to understand that this is the body crying out for vitamin B, Marmite is full of this. Rick has binges on Marmite and has done since being about 5 years old. Whilst at the farm his vitamin levels were checked and he was not lacking in any - this leads me to believe that he binges on Marmite when his B levels get low. Also, I agree with the comments made regarding the Psycologist, listening to what he says about Rick and some of the others, I dont feel that this is a power thing at all, Rick is the most laid back person I know and would never want 'power' of someone else. I genuinly believe that this is a eating disorder. The fussiness comes out of having such a limited diet that one wants to eat only the things that most appeal to them. But if just one of you 'fussy eaters' gain help and confidence then the show is definately worthwhile.

Good luck all
Vickie Davies - Ricks Mum

Hello fellow fussy eaters. I've just watched the programme for the first time and also felt an overwhelming happiness that there are people like me. I am 30,have not eaten a single piece of veg since i was 2. My diet consists of crisps,chocolate,white bread,meat,potatoes and yorkshire puddings. I have recently added curry (but only Korma and only if it doesn't have onions in it). I eat pizza but only if the tomato sauce isn't too chunky. I eat tomato ketchup and tomato soup, but would be sick if i had to eat a tomato. I have in the past been ill from watching someone else eat a tomato.If i go out for a meal and manage to get through the embarassment of asking for my meal without veg,for it then to come with veg on the plate, i suffer another embarassing conversation with the waitress and then the wait while they go back and take the veg off.It's very rare for them to put it on another plate,so i can always taste the veg that was there before. I end up leaving most of my food.My parents get the blame,but they always tried to get me to eat other foods. I too have seen doctors and they told me that a dietician wouldn't deal with me because i didn't have a regular eating disorder. I have been to a hypnotherapist but that only helped me to not sieve dolmio sauce before i put it on pasta. I still left the big chunks to the side anyway!I have been known to sieve soup,pasta sauce anything really with bits. My friend used to invite me round for a "no bits" tea. It's sad, because i would love to eat bright colourful food and love the smell of onions cooking and things like that but i couldn't bring myself to do it. My boyfriend has always found it quite ridiculous and treated me a bit like a child but having watched the programme with me,he told me something he's never said before which was that he would try and help me in anyway and that he kind of understood now. I cried..lots. Sorry to write so much,but i've never felt as good as i do now,and that's only because i know i'm not on my own. I would love to participate in a programme such as the one now, and know that it would change my life..even if it made me sick to start with! What i've written is only a small part of it, i waited all my adult life for this programme. (By the way, my addiction is to bovril on toast rather than marmite,i think i need professional help just because of that!!)
Sarah. x

Thank Heavens I am not alone! I have not actually seen the programme, but a friend has told me all about it and so I logged in to read the message board. I have a thing about eating cooked food, the only cooked food I can eat is cheese on toast, garlic bread, or cheesy pizza (no tomato topping) and a very occasional bacon sandwich where the bacon is so crispy as to be almost black. I exist on an awful lot of cheese sandwiches/rolls/baguettes etc, salad, fruit, crisps, and cakes. I am quite a bit overweight although I wasn't as a child, I actually blame the weight on lager and wine, but of course, dieting is particlulaly difficult. I cannot count the amount of times I have sat in an Indian restaurant with friends nibbling on a plain naan and wishing that the lager didn't taste of curry, paying for a three course meal at a Christmas do (I love the party bit, just not the eating) and eating just the roll that comes witht the starter and the ice cream around the edges of the pudding. I remember as a child eating tomato soup and spaghetti hoops, but I think I dropped these from my diet at about 4 years old. Occasionally I will try something new, last year it was mince pies, but the fear of a disgusting texture in my mouth is normally too great. (UUURGHH warm and soft.) I could echo so many of the comments on these pages about the embarrasment, the 'fussy' label that implies a choice, and the blaming of parents, the list goes on. I have a tried a hypnotherapist but to little avail, she got me back on bacon after a 14 year break but that was about it. I would have reservations about being on television, but the other people around me would be a real help, so if there is going to be a new series, ask me plaese!!!!!!

Hi
I am so glad there are other people like me.
I am 20 and have been a fussy eater since I was 6 months old. Its completely limiting my life and prevents me from truely connecting with people as I lie about it.

I have seen hynotherapists and doctors but none have worked.

My diet consist of bread, spreading cheese or melted cheese, ready salted crisps, milk chocolate, natural yoghurt, fruit juice (no bits), vanilla ice cream.

I have recently managed to add tomato soup, margharita pizza with a few mushrooms, pasta but only in small quantities, cheese and onion pasties and garlic bread, milk, eggs. This has taken me about 3 years. However I seem to have reached a plateau and can not get any further.

The way I got this far was to try to introduce foods with similar tastes ie pasta with tomato sauce after learning to eat pizza.

My problem is really with texture as I will try nearly any drink as it is a liquid and I can swallow it.

The show has helped motivate me to keep working at this. I would love the opportunity to deal with it quickly and intensely like the participants got.

I hate the label fussy eaters as this as definitely not been a life choice I have made. I wish there was greater support networks available.

I want to wish every one good luck and hopefully one day I will be able to sit down with my family for a proper meal.

Hida x

Hi again all,

I can fully understand the binge thing. For as far back as I can remember I have binges that have lasted for months where I have only eaten one type of food e.g. marmite sandwiches, scrambled eggs and yorkshire puddings are just a few of the ones I can remember. At the moment it's New York Plain Bagels, toasted with lots of butter and sometimes with cheese.

I have got better over the years with my eating habbits, however although my list may have changed slightly the number on it remains roughly the same. I used to eat speghetti (any kind of shape in tomato sauce) but it is now one of the last things I would touch.

I can now have different dry foods on the same plate which I was not able to do as a child, everything was on separate plates either washed or a clean plate with each food. I still struggle with 'wet' foods, scrambled eggs go in a dish and toast on a plate, I cannot have them touch but I am working on that. I can now dip bread or toast into tomato soup and I can dip chips into gravey (both of which I have only been able to do in the last 6 months).

I too struggle with textures, yoghurts have to be smooth and with the chocolate corners I eat the sections sepearatly. Juices have to be smooth no bits, I also struggle with the smoothies as they are have too many bits (Innocent have now started to do big smoothies for kids which have no bits, but they are expensive).

It's nice to hear that I have not been alone in a quest for answers to my problems. I also agree that there needs to be some kind of support network and clinics where people can come together to address their problems. This is as much an eating disorder as anorxia, bulimia or compulsive overeating. These problems have their own support newtworks and clinics.

I believe that "fussy eating" is as much a medical condition as those mentioned above and it deserves the right to be taken seriously by professionals.

Sorry for my rant

Elissa

Hi Elissa
You say that some of your foods can't touch, my son is the same his sandwiches have to be cut into quarters but toast in half. His biscuits can't be broken and he takes them apart to eat them.
I agree with everything you say and wish there was some kind of support, I hate the term fussy eater it sounds like you all are choosing the food where I have seen through my son that the food chooses him........does that make sense??
He will come into the kitchen when I am cooking and say that the dinner smells nice but if he looks at it he feels sick and goes pale.
If we have a take away he can never join in and I feel for him as he is so isolated as me and his brothers are tucking in and enjoying ourselves and he can't come into the room sometimes.
I agree with Rick's Mum, this isn't about control, what is he gaining from it? My son is also laid back and so chilled and nicknamed the gentle giant.
I am tired of hearing that he will eat when he is hungry and grow out of it. I was told when he went to secondary school he would change when he saw what everyone else was eating, I asked why? He can't eat there food!
Cookery at school is a joke, making pizza and eating it!! He sold his at break time ( that's my boy!!)
To be fair the school has been really good and put him on washing up duty if it gets too much for him.