Autism and Food
Food is an essential part of all our lives and we all have a very specific relationship to food. Some of
us tend to love certain foods and not others and still others prefer to eat if they need comfort. Food
can be a source of gratification and mortification depending on our mindset at the point of
consumption.
When you are an autistic person however, you may experience challenges with food that are quite
unique to being neurodivergent. Certain foods can be very off-putting , whilst others may be very
pleasant to consume and this pattern may have been that way since you were a child. For instance
you may find that eating a specific type of meal for all your meals for a prolonged period to be quite
comforting. In addition, many autistic persons have often been described and labelled as a “picky
eater” by there family and freinds as they were growing up. The term “picky eater” is an unfortunate
one as it assumes the person has full control over what they enjoy eating and what they don’t. You
may have found this type of labelling difficult to deal with and many battles may have ensued in
your family over the dinner table. The simple truth is that autistic individual process internal stimuli
very differently to neurotypicals. Neurotypicals may be able to learn to like foods they initially
cannot stand. Autistic individuals on the other hand cannot increase their tolerance for foods or food
combinations that they find off putting.
The message for this week is to be compassionate to those that are on the spectrum as they are not
actively trying to be difficult around there food choices. Secondly to the autistic individuals, it is
important that you be compassionate to yourself when it comes to food preferences and to give
yourself permission to eat foods that you find pleasurable in whatever combination you find them
pleasurable and to avoid those foods that you find unpleasant as much as you can. Make your
friends and family aware of your preferences and do not be ashamed of them.
By: Kevin Naidu; Clinical Psychologist (South Africa)
