I love P.E.A.S.!!!!

Okay, for any of you who REALLY know me you’re going to think I’m crazy, but it’s true…..I love P.E.A.S. OR as they are also known….Picky Eating Adult Support!!

Go ahead, laugh if you want to. Yes, there’s a support group for people like me. What do I mean, people like me?? Well, imagine a world where there are only a handful of things you can eat. Not because everything else is poison (though it might as well be), but because you’re allergic to it all….it makes you break out….in tears!!

You see, I am a picky eater. Oh, I know, there’s something you don’t like, too. You think I’m exaggerating….Nope. You name it, I probably won’t eat it. No, I’m not stubborn, I don’t have a phobia, and I’m not just pulling some long drawn out power trip. I hate food. Well, most of it. (Here’s my story:)

It started for me as a baby. Ate baby food just fine. Parents tried to switch me to table food and I stopped eating, they tried to switch me back to baby food & it was too late. I was done eating for the rest of my life. Seriously. They took me to the doctor and let him know I ate 5 things total. He assured them I was getting my vitamins and would grow out of it eventually. As time went on that proved to be untrue. So then came the horrible meal times. Trying at least one bite of everything on the table, holding my nose, gagging, downing a drink. Fun times. Visiting family, friends, or going ANYWHERE for Thanksgiving was a nightmare. Wouldn’t you know, I’m an adult now and I still eat the same. So much for growing out of it. There are some differences now though. I’m not worried about public eating events anymore. I just tell people the truth. Sometimes it leads to a long, weird conversation but I’m used to that, too. When it’s time for dinner out, I eat before I come, assure everyone that they couldn’t cook for me if they tried, and then I sit and enjoy the conversation. Works great for me! I’m not upset that no one made anything for me, really, I’d rather hang out and enjoy the company than worry everyone about my eating habits.

So, what do I eat?? Well, here’s the list:

Foods I’ll Eat (italics are foods I eat most often)

MEATS (all boneless)

Pepperoni, Chicken nuggets, Grilled chicken breast (marinated), Grilled pork (marinated) – sometimes, Grilled steak (marinated) – sometimes (must be well done), Ham (if I have to but not usually by choice), Bacon, Hot dogs (beef), Beef Jerky, Slim Jims

DAIRY

Milk 1%, Chocolate Milk, Hot Chocolate

Cheese: Mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Cheddar, American, Colby

Pudding (vanilla & choc)

VEGETABLES

Raw carrots, Raw baby carrots, Raw celery (w/salt &/or PB) – sometimes, Raw cut broccoli stems – rarely, Onion rings from Burger King, tomato sauces (with no chunks – such as for pizza or fried cheese sticks – NOT on spaghetti)

FRUITS

Grape Jam, Oranges (seedless), Granny Smith Green apples, Bananas – sometimes (can’t be squishy & I hate it as a flavoring), Fig Newtons, Pineapple (canned & cold), Strawberry puree (for flavoring) no seeds

SOUPS

Tomato Soup, Cheddar cheese soup (mixed w/tomato), Chicken noodle soup (with out the chicken), Ramen (Chicken flavor)

GRAINS

Multi-grain bread (Autumn Grain, etc.), Lite bread, Rolls (any kind of plain), Garlic bread, Garlic bread w/cheese, Biscuits, French bread, Pasta (plain w/butter & garlic/onion seasoning), Mac & cheese (Kraft), Pretzels (thin ones), Potato Chips (plain, ranch, sour cream & onion, barbeque, chedder/sour cream), Tortillas, Corn bread, English Muffins, Pumpkin Bread (with NO nuts or other things in it.)

Crackers: Saltines, Oyster, Wheat thins (Ranch), Club, Cheese or plain w/peanut butter

NUTS

Peanut Butter (crunchy or creamy), Cashews (alone), Pecans (alone), Dry roasted peanuts (alone), Macadamia nuts (only in cookies)

BREAKFAST

Cereals (sugar & also chex, plain/honey nut cheerios), Pancakes, Waffles, French toast, Granola bars, Pop tarts (brown sugar/cinnamon), Cinnamon rolls (no raisins or nuts), Muffins (cinnamon), Peanut butter toast, Cheese toast

DRINKS

Juice: Grape, White grape, Cran-grape, Apple (Mott’s), Orange (No pulp) – rarely

Water, Caffeine free diet soda, Lemonade, Hot chocolate, Chocolate milk

BAKED GOODS

Cookies: Chocolate chip, Snicker doodles, Sugar, White choc macadamia nut

Cake (vanilla/chocolate), Brownies, Fudge (chocolate or peanut butter), Peanut brittle, Donuts, Chocolate Éclairs

SNACKS

Fruit roll ups, Fruit snacks (made from fruit juice), Popcorn (salted & buttered), Jell-O (red)

ICE CREAM

Sugar free fudgesicles, Klondike bars

Ice cream: Plain, Choc, Cookies & cream, Reese’s cup, Cookie dough, Orange sherbet

OTHER

Pizza (pepperoni or cheese), Plain rice – rarely, Rice a Roni (chicken), French fries (crispy, thin, & salted), Bacon/cheese sandwich

CONDIMENTS/Spices

Ketchup, A-1, Barbeque sauce, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Season Salt, Butter/Margarine (calorie free stuff is okay), Splenda, Onions (minced, powdered)

CANDY

Chocolate, Gum, Fruit flavored chews/hard candy, Candy bars (no dark choc or coconut), White choc. Chips, Reese's chips, Caramel, Taffy

I know, it’s not much. Don’t worry, I eat a multivitamin every day and am perfectly healthy. Weird, I know.

Every few years I take another round at finding an answer to my bizarre and seemingly rare condition. Even dietitians & nutritionists have stared at me blankly and told me there was nothing they could do.

A few years ago I came upon an article about Super Tasters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

Seemed that that was probably my diagnosis! YEAH! You see, it’s not that every food I taste just tastes bad. Sometimes it’s just that the taste is SO overwhelming I can’t take it. Biting into a burger is like biting into a lemon. Often foods that should be sweet are very bitter to me. I can’t imagine how you people eat Watermelon! Then, there’s the whole texture thing. I love the taste of potatoes but ask me to put mashed ones into my mouth and you’re going to see a reaction that will make us all queasy!

The next time I went online I found this link:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5259075_survive-restaurants-adult-picky-eater.html

How to survive eating at a restaurant when you’re a picky eater. Now I don’t agree with lying, but this was still pretty funny to me.

Finally, a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon

www.PickyEatingAdults.com!!!

FINALLY!! People just like me!!

(from the site’s home page)

If you are a picky eating adult, you may have felt like you were the only person in the world who was like this. Perhaps you felt like you were the pickiest eater in the world. Well, believe it or not, neither one of those is true. We have accumulated over 1000 members over the past few years since pickyeatingadults.com went live. We have a range of people, from people who only eat one or two things to people who like less than the average person and feel ostracized for it. We also have a large and growing group of concerned parents and loved ones who want to help their picky eater.

Our group is working diligently to pool together research, commonalities, and experiences, and hope to gain the attention of the medical community so this disorder can be researched and perhaps a successful method of treatment can be created. As our members grow, so does the attention our group has gotten. We have had several newspaper articles written about us, a few evening news stories run, and now there is a Food Network show. With a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, we'll have the medical community studying this disorder in no time. And hopefully along the way we'll gain some common respect from our friends, family, and the unfriendly of the public who belittle or tease us because of what we can't eat.

We would love to have you join our growing group of "picky" eaters who are tired of living in shame and fear of the next social event that involves food.

So, I joined the message board group and I now have a loving group of picky friends who understand my life!

My favorite reply to my first post:

“Welcome! You are just in time to share our Thanksgiving with us better known as Black Thursday.”

See, these are just my kind of people!! LOL