Hi. I'm not actually diagnosed with Avoidant/Restrict Food Intake Disorder (because my problem is probably in response to sensory processing issues) but other than the cause, it does apply to me.

I never heard of ARFID until I was looking through the DSM recently (I'm a dork, I know) and stumbled upon it. It is brand new to the DSM-5 so it didn't exist before 2013, which is probably why almost no one, even doctors, know about it. It's also not that common so doctors are less likely to know about it anyway, they're most likely to dismiss it as being a picky eater.

As I've had food issues for about 30 years and I''ve seen the repercussions of it, I'm begging you to bring your daughter for an official diagnosis and to get help.

I can't speak for others but I can say that in my experience, my food issues have done a lot of damage. The biggest problems are:
- I'm ostrasized at meal times and at family events/holidays since I either don't eat, I have incredibly small portions that I force myself to eat, or I only eat one or two things. Because all holidays and celebrations center around food, I hate them with a passion and actively avoid them.
- I get made fun of a lot by family and friends when it comes time to eat out. They always ask me where to go because I'm "so picky" and then mock me because I order the same exact thing every time... Then there's how I eat things... Like when I finally started eating "sushi" (I only eat California Rolls so there's nothing raw), I wouldn't eat the seaweed so I'd eat the insides then scrape the rice off the seaweed to eat it. It was time-consuming. The amount of ketchup I put on burgers always gets commented on and I've gotten to the point where I have to hide my plate when I add salt to my food because I'm sick of the commentary about the enormous amount I use.
- Longer social interactions (and dates) usually inspire anxiety and dread that they'll end up including sharing a meal together. Yeah, I may be hungry but if there's nothing on the menu I'll eat, I just sit there in misery. And rather than a nice Valentine's Day dinners, I usually end up at Moe's picking bits and pieces to eat out of their veggie burrito or at McDonald's with my usual order.
- Nutritional problems galore. I generally don't eat meat, which is humans' main source of Vitamin B12... B12 is necessary for balance and energy... My levels were so low in college that I had to have weekly injections of liquid B12. And, needless to say, I have almost no balance and my energy runs out very quickly.
- I've come to hate all mealtimes and I always dread them. Imagine having to deal with something you dread, something that makes you miserable, 3 times a day every day. Even when it's just me, it's miserable. I'll often forget about eating (made worse by my inability to tell when I'm hungry) until I get lightheaded. That definitely can't be good for me.

So yeah, it's important to deal with her food issues now before they cause life-long problems because dealing with this stuff as an adult just plain sucks.