When Is A Food Not a Food? August 16, 2007

Thoughts on Reading Jane Kauer’s PhD 

A feeling common to many picky eaters is that whole swathes of items considered by the rest of the population to be foods just don’t seem like food to us.  I know that almost everyone else in the world would count an apple as a food, but to me, you might as well ask me to eat a brick, or a blanket, or a plank of wood.  This is what I’m up against.

Being omnivores, humans need to learn a great deal about what is a) edible, b) safe and c) socio-culturally acceptable.  This learning process begins at the point of switching from a milk-based diet to solid foods.  Apparently, young children first being weaned are fairly accepting of new foods.  As they mature, however (around the age of 2 years) they become more conservative in their food selections (Satter, 1990).  In the USA (for that is where the research has been done), children under the age of two will put virtually anything in their mouths.  Over the age of two however, children apparently start to distinguish between food and non-food categories, though they don’t assign the value of “inappropriate” until over the age of five years (Rozin et al., 1986b).

So is it appropriate to say that picky eaters have an over-extended “non-food” category, and an underextended “food” category?  Over- and underextension are very common patterns in the development of children’s categories (check Stephen Pinker’s Blank Slate if you’re interested).  In ordinary circumstances, however, children’s assignment of items to the food/non-food categories is informed by sensory information, observed behaviour of others and explicit learning, and will generally develop into something approximating the patterns of assignment of their cultural environment.  Why did this not happen for us?

An additional factor in making distinctions between food and non-food items, according to Jane Kauer, is “beliefs about the food itself”.  There does exist research on how children categorise objects according to their edibility – Rozin et al. (1984, 1986a, 1986b) – but I have yet to ascertain what these “beliefs” might be, or how they might be influenced and applied.

In terms of socio-cultural influences on children’s food selection, it appears that while adult demonstrating behaviour may be effective, it is peer behaviour that has the stronger influence (Hendy et al., 2000).  If most of us had “normal” peers, why then was their influence not effective?

Another point to note is that picky eating in childhood, while perfectly common, is of concern to medical professionals because of the stress it may place on the parent-child relationship (Satter, 1990).  Could it be that it was this stress that diverted us from growing out of this fairly normal developmental phase? 

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Hendy, H.M., & Raudenbush, B. (2000).  Effectiveness of teacher modelling to encourage food acceptance in pre-school children.  Appetite 34, 61-76.

Rozin, P., Fallon, A., & Augustoni-Ziskind, M. (1986a). The child’s conception of food: The development of categories of acceptable and rejected substance.  Journal of Nutrition, 18, 75-81.

Rozin, P., Hammer, L., Oster, H., Horowitz, T., & Marmora, V. (1986b).  The child’s conception of food: Differentiation of categories of rejected substances in the 16 months to 5 year range.  Appetite, 7, 141-151.

Satter, E. (1990).  The feeding relationship: problems and interventions.  Journal of Paediatrics, 117, S181-S189.

Picky Eaters Gone By August 15, 2007

It has been postulated anecdotally that Selective Eating may have a genetic component.  To my amazement, it turns out that an uncle of mine (who has lived abroad all my life) also has a degree of pickiness, and a great uncle too, who died before I was born.  Which proves nothing of course, but got me thinking.

If Adult Picky Eating is not a new phenomenon (and some of you are in your 50s and 60s, I know), however did picky eaters from earlier generations manage?  Could it be that they were simply not expected, pre-globalisation, to eat or try anything like the variety of foods we are exposed to in the 21st century? 

Was it easier for them to have to turn down fruits and vegetables only in season, instead of all-year round?  Or was it harder in those days to maintain a diet of mainly bread and potatoes, when there were fewer available alternatives to supplement one’s diet with?  

Did anyone even have to know that these people didn’t like curry, before it had migrated out of its native land?  I wonder if they could have even passed unnoticed. 

Light Relief August 14, 2007

This is a tale that is dear to my heart.  As a child I really identified with it.  The ending was very disappointing to me though.  To find out in the end that no, there wasn’t someone like me out there after all, it just confirmed my outcast status.

But then again, perhaps we can take heart from the moral of this tale.  If the relentless Sam-I-Am represents the twin realities of nutritional requirement and social pressure, we see how these factors combine over time to make the character try the eggs and ham.  Of course, we know that trying is only the first step, but even though it’s a big step, and a difficult one, I know from my experience where it can lead.  As in the story, it can lead to liking, and to confidence with the food in question.  Which I guess is where we’d all like to be, more or less…

What do you say?

What Would Constitute a “Cure”? August 14, 2007

Following on from the previous post, I also think it’s worth considering what would constitute a “cure”. 

I can live with not wanting to eat haggis, squid, black pudding or jellied eels, quite frankly.  Plenty of “normal” people don’t really fancy offal,  brussels sprouts or sushi.  I could live with that. 

What I’d view as a cure would be to get to a place where I can try things with abandon, without the gagging thing.  I don’t have to love everything, but loving a few more things would be great.  I’d like to be at a point where the notion of Five A Day didn’t make me feel excluded from the human race.  At present, one a day constitutes a triumphant rarity for me.

It’s been mentioned elsewhere that a very common feeling amongst picky eaters is that most of our excluded foods simply don’t seem like food to us.  I’d like to get to a point where I can feel in my heart (and my mouth) that apples are food, regardless of whether they’re a food that I like or not.

That’s what I’d like, how about you?

How Do You “Cure” Picky Eating? August 12, 2007

This is a question I suspect a lot of people would like an answer to.  Unfortunately, I don’t know of any proven “cure”, though there are lots of things a person could try.  A lot of us haven’t tried any form of formal treatment beyond our own efforts, which I imagine is partly because the medical profession doesn’t even acknowledge our problem.  If you have been to a doctor, they might have suggested a nutritionist – as if the problem stems from nutritional ignorance – whose best advice is probably “eat fruit and vegetables”.  Doh! Like we hadn’t thought of that!  Like if it was that easy we’d still be having a problem!  On top of this, thinking we were the only one, and being met with little sympathy or advice from doctors, probably discouraged us from hoping that there was anything that could be done, or that the medical profession really gave two hoots about it.

There are a couple of things though that I have heard people talk about in relation to this – I haven’t personally tried any, and I know that the rate of success is very variable.  I think this is because we are a diverse group, and selective eating is not a unitary phenomenon – one’s level of success with a given treatment will depend on the cause and nature of one’s problem, which is not the same for all of us.

So here are some suggestions – you will probably have thought of them already, but just in case:

• Hypnotherapy
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
• Behaviour Modification
• Food Chaining
• Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP)*

* My personal view, as a psychologist of sorts, is that NLP is a dangerous, disingenuous, charlatanistic thing and I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole.  Makes me think of Scientology, to be quite frank.  Your mileage may vary, so don’t let my view influence you.  I just can’t bring myself in all conscience to recommend it.

Ramblings on Terminology August 11, 2007

I’m not exactly fond of the term “picky eating”.  The word “picky” is a bit too close in meaning to the word “choosy”.  And I don’t know about you, but there’s very little about my eating that would constitute choice.  “Picky” seems to be the American version of what I was always labelled as: a “fussy eater”.  But ”fussy eating” doesn’t seem quite right either, even if we all know what it means.  I mean, I never made a fuss about not eating stuff. I just quietly refused.  I would only cry if people would be mean to me about it.  And even then, I didn’t want to make a fuss, I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.

So what other options are there?  Well, there is “food neophobia” – being phobic of new foods.  In a sense this is quite good, although I’d query the phobia aspect in what I would think of as the true sense:  I don’t feel afraid of fruits and vegetables.  I don’t start shaking, sweating, or feeling sick at the sight of them.  My heart doesn’t start racing, my breathing doesn’t get rapid and shallow.  I can have fruit and veg on my plate quite happily as long as I’m not expected to eat them.  I can even eat a dish that’s had them picked out of.  I can imagine them quite happily too, the idea of them really doesn’t bother me.  I just have a big problem with putting them in my mouth, with having them in my mouth, with chewing or swallowing them.  Maybe some of you feel differently.

The one I like the best is Selective Eating Disorder (SED).  Granted, it still has a connotation that choice is somehow involved, but it’s better than “picky”, it’s more formal, more adult, more official-seeming, and somehow feels less judgemental.

What do other people think?

On Being Men, Women, & Children August 10, 2007

I’ve touched on this elsewhere, but thought I’d post on it again.

In childhood, being a picky eater is hard because even if one isn’t actively punished for not eating stuff, even if people are tolerant and accepting, one does still come away feeling….inadequate, different, bad, not understood.  And even though I’d say my experiences weren’t as bad as many, I still spent a fair amount of time, both at home and at school, sitting at the table in front of a plate of food I knew I couldn’t eat if my life depended on it, long after everyone else had finished and left the table. Ironically, unlike for normal people, it made no difference to me that it had gone cold and congealed.   It was inedible to start with, so it was not possible for it to be any less edible cold.  I got the distinct impression that adults did not grasp this fact, but I lacked the ability to explain it to them.  I wanted to be good, I wanted to be like other children, but I just couldn’t.  And no-one seemed to get this either.  People just think you’re stubborn, obstinate, spoiled.  But you’re really not. 

It’s hard as an adult to explain it to non-picky people, let alone as a child.  Part of the reason it’s hard is because most other people haven’t heard of it as an actual condition – if we think we are the only one, so it seems do our families, friends and doctors.  No wonder they don’t understand.  No wonder we felt like freaks.  No wonder most of us received zero help or understanding.

But as an adult, being picky is hard for a whole other set of reasons too.  Most people have heard of pickiness in children, but never in adults.  As such, pickiness is seen as….childish.  It also can make you somewhat vulnerable in the context of social eating.  There’s a whole set of anxieties that can surround it.  None of this feels terribly….adult.  It doesn’t really fit with being competent, secure, or in control, or many of the other things that we associate with adulthood. 

And, as many picky guys have said, if you’re a man, it’s not just that it feels childish, but it feels unmanly too.  Which must be doubly hard.  So here’s a big salute to all you picky men out there.  I hope this can be a place where you can support eachother.  There is strength in numbers for definite.

Welcome, Newcomers August 9, 2007

Hi there and hello, and a great big welcome if you’ve just found this site for the first time. 

I’ve had a lot of comments today from people, who, like me, had never heard picky eating being talked about or acknowledged as an actual thing before.  People who consequently have spent their whole lives thinking they were the only one out there like this.  I have to say, for me, it would never have occurred to me to google “adult picky eating” – I wouldn’t have known what to call it, and since I thought I must be the only one, it never occurred to me that there might be other people out there just like me.  But the day I stumbled across a reference to it, I knew it meant me, and the feeling, to finally know that I’m not a total freak or loser was just such an amazing revelation, I can’t even explain it.

Some of you will know what I mean.  So if you have had your own revelation today as a result of this site, then here’s to you.  And to any of you who are not picky eaters yourselves, but maybe know someone who is, I hope this site can give you something too, in the way of awareness and understanding. 

You will notice that this site is in fact a blog – the reason for this is to promote discussion, communication, and sharing of experiences.  This way I hope it can be a resource of support and information from more people than just me, something more organic and interactive.  You will also notice that the site has been a bit quiet in recent months.  This is because I’m in the middle of finishing a doctoral thesis, so it’s been a bit on the back-burner lately.  If the interest is there though (which it seems like it might be), I’m happy to re-invigorate it, so do feel free to comment as much as you like – any thoughts/suggestions gratefully received, and if anyone would like to contribute posts, I’d be more than happy to set that up  (I just need an email address).

In the meantime, enjoy what’s here, introduce yourself if you’d like to, and come back soon, ok?

Watch this space.

What Is Going On? August 9, 2007

I know I let this site go very quiet for most of this year.  But today something strange is happening.  It’s had 12 comments in one day, which is practically unheard of, and it’s only 3pm. 

Most of the time, the stats go along somewhere between 5 and 50 hits per day.  And then today, it’s 1200!  Where are you people all coming from?  My camefrom stats don’t help.

I’d love to know how people are finding their way here today – do tell.

Tomatoes August 2, 2007

Firstly, may I apologise for the radio silence on the site of late, and especially to all those of you who have commented without response. 

And secondly, by way of redressing the balance, I’d like to talk about tomatoes.

Up until my twenties, tomatoes were in my category of inedibles.  In all forms.  That included pizza, ketchup, bloody mary, the lot.  But then, as I think I’ve described, I developed a tolerance, and even a liking for ketchup on burgers.  These days, I actually choose to have ketchup on certain things.  And from that, I developed a tolerance, and even a liking for pizza.  Then later, when I learned to cope with pasta, I learned to cope with Dolmio and Ragu-type sauces (bits picked out of course).

In fact, if I haven’t had something tomato-based for a while, I find I start to crave it.

The other day, I found myself having to eat out at a new Italian restaurant nearby, because their pizza sauce is so tomatoey, I knew nothing else I could make myself would come close.  I thought about that for a minute, and so it dawned on me, that I live right by Portobello Market, with fresh fruit and veg sold daily.  What would be stopping me from buying some actual real tomatoes myself?

So I bought two tomatoes, took them home, and lovingly skinned them, the way we were taught in Home Economics at school, back in the days when they were a non-food.  You hold them over heat until the skin pops.  And then I cut them up small, taking care to remove all the pippy bit in the middle, and popped them in a blender, which I bought several years ago for just such a purpose, but haven’t had the courage for before. 

I have to say, I was rather disappointed with the result, which was good and runny, but smelled like the inside of a pumpkin, and didn’t taste much better.  It made the sides of my mouth want to get away from it, or get ready to gag.  So I phoned around a few people, and discovered that you have to cook the stuff.

I put a little olive oil in a pan, and poured in the tomato mush, together with a little salt and pepper and sugar and tomato puree, and two basil leaves (which I later fished out, of course), and let it all cook for a while.  After some time, it began to smell delicious, and to take on the texture of a lovely pizza sauce.

And so it was that I discovered a way to eat actual tomatoes.  I wonder if I’ll ever be able to eat them fresh.  You know those little cherry tomatoes that people say are so delicious?  Maybe by the time I’m 40, who knows.

So I grant you, it’s rather a lot of effort to go to, but I’m putting it down as a success story.  I’ve tried it a few times since with variations (do NOT put oregano in it, whatever you do), and correspondingly varying degrees of success.

What I’m thinking though, is that it’s taken me 34 years to get to this point with one food item.  I’m a little bit daunted by the number of remaining food items outstanding.  It doesn’t feel like I’m going to have time in my lifetime really.  So it’s with a mixed feeling that I post this, but on the whole I think it’s a positive.

Has anyone else got any tips or tricks or success stories, I wonder?  I’d love to hear them.