What kind of therapy do I need - food aversions

[Anonymous]

Would love suggestions. Due to a lot of digestive issues over the last 6 years, I have needed up with quite a few food aversions. Some understandable - gall bladder issues and removal - don’t love fatty stuff. Two other hospitalizations due to GI issues (not gallbladder). The thought of so many foods, especially meat, makes me gag. Two major problems are that this makes it hard to want to select and cook food (or even get takeout) and my family wants to eat dinner every day . Secondly, I’m midlife and being told how much protein I need and I’m really struggling with most protein sources. Ugh. My PCP sent me to a dietician, and she just talked to me for three sessions about increasing my step count. What kind of therapist or counselor could help? (I do not have any history of eating disorder.)

[Anonymous]

Look up ARFID - this sounds similar to that. Basically the treatment is similar for OCD - exposure therapy is the the gold standard. You should work with an Eating Disorder therapist who works with ARFID. They can help you use things like food-chaining to broaden your "safe" foods.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, OP, it sounds stressful. Are you sure you didn't pick up a Texas tick bite and aren't allergic to read meat?

[Anonymous]

I'm not clear on what the issue is - you have an aversion to the healthy foods you're supposed to be eating? Or an aversion to the fatty foods that made you sick that you are now cleared to eat? The latter sounds pretty normal to me.

[Anonymous]

OP back - funny enough red meat is not the issue, that's the one thing I can eat fairly consistently, as long as it's not too fatty. And I don't generally get sick from things, it's more a gross out factor thinking about eating them (I think I get grossed out thinking of eating stuff even more than preparing it....). But chicken, eggs, ugh, and honestly a lot of other foods, too - pasta doesn't hold the same allure as it used to. I'm just not enjoying food at all. But maybe this is one of those situations where I realize it's a luxury to have food preferences and a wide variety of food available to me and I just need to get over it. I have a friend whose daughter does have ARFID and we were just talking about exposure therapy. Maybe I'll join her daughter in her cooking experiences...

[Anonymous]

Sounds a lot like my GLP experience honestly, and sometimes I just have to suck it up and eat but I do think you're smart to pursue therapy or at least do some research on the best way to handle this. I'm sorry you're dealing with this OP.