Picky eating

I'm 18 and a terribly picky eater. Have been my whole life. This topic is one of the few that google doesn't help me much. Almost all results are for children, of course. One site, pickyeatingadults.com is helpful, but doesn't have much info.

Anyway, I should explain. Getting the required nutrition isn't that difficult, I like SOME vegetables, LOVE most meat and LOVE dairy and plain wheat products (white bread, buns. As well as pasta served with plain sauce such as alfredo).

On the top list of hates (I actually find these food disgusting and repulsive, much the way most other people find dog barf disgusting and repulsive)

Tomatoes, onions, peppers (green, red, yellow, all the same), nuts (ANY type, almond, nut, pistacio, and those other ones usually put in brownies or cakes).
Those are the major things, but any new or mushy vegetable I very likely will find disgusting just from looking at it.
I also hate foods that are complex or too difficult to see what ingredients are in them, mostly because I can't tell the tomatoe or onion chunks apart, so I can't pick them out.

Like I said, I don't worry much about the nutrition aspect, I do worry about the social aspect. People look down at me when I say, at 18 years old, that I don't like tomatoes (or onions, peppers, nuts etc). Not only that, but even if something looks good (cake, cookie, brownie) I HAVE to look and pick it apart to be sure it doesn't have anything in it. The SMALLEST speck of onion or nut makes me gag. Whenever I hear "I don't think it has onion in it" I always KNOW it does, they just hope I won't notice. I ALWAYS notice and always gag.
So i'm already a really shy guy, it doesn't help that I find most food repulsive and have to make up lame excuses for not eating it. I always get so embaressed when I have to pick the gross %#@&#! out. By now I avoid eating at a friend's house at all costs. I'm already avoiding social gatherings at work. Not only because of picky eating, but because i'm so shy.
Besides those REAL problems, I also spend way too much time on the internet, feeling better by discussing things on forums with an online identity, since my real identity is shy and socially inept.

Just wondering if anyone else finds picky eating annoying. If anyone here knows someone like me, be REALLY nice to them. I've tried many times to eat tomatoes, but it's hard to eat something when you feel like gagging just picturing the food. Like I said, over the past years, I have not become MORE tolerant to these foods, if anything i'm less open to try them than I once was.

I'm a pretty picky eater myself, and there are almost no vegetables that I can get down. When I'm out or with people, I just eat what I can. I never ask for a replacement--that just irritates people. Besides it's not their problem that I'm a picky eater you know? I don't find that people really care much for the lame excuses. If I have to pick stuff out, I just tell them that I don't eat vegetables and that's usually the extent of the conversation.

Ok! I have good news for you!

I WAS the MOST picky eater ever alive. When I was 2 years old, my brother was born, and I was apparently very jealous. Out of rebellion, I refused to eat anything except jelly sandwiches (not pbj -- just jelly). The only vegetables were corn (in junk food format) and potatoes (french fry format only). NO OTHER VEGETABLES. NO MEAT. NO CHEESE. Seriously.

I kept this up for the next 18 years.

However, when I was in college, it was getting to be harder and harder to keep up the picky eating habits, and it was also getting embarrassing. My friends made fun of me in a light-hearted way, but I was getting too much attention for something I really didn't want attention to. The last straw was when I started dating a guy who got along really well with his parents, and we ate dinner with them often. It was just too embarrassing. I vowed to expand my repetoire. I started slowly, but built up from there. Now, at 36, I eat JUST ABOUT everything, but I still have some food rules that I stick to. Some things just make me sick to my stomach to imagine putting in my mouth, but those foods are few and far between (condiments are the main barf-inducers).

I should add that I was a stepmom for 6 years, when my ex's son was between the ages of 9-15. Naturally, he had his picky moments as well. From my experience, I was very sympathetic, but also knew that letting something like picky eating become a habit is a huge disservice to a child. My compromise is that I kept a list of foods he didn't like in the kitchen. He was responsible for keeping the list up to date. I did my best to pay attention to the list, and he was not required to eat anything that he had added to the list. However, if it wasn't on the list, he had to at least try it. Seemed fair to me.

Thanks for the advice. When I do have to eat with other people and the food has things I don't like, I would never ask for something ELSE (i'de rather go hungry than make a person make something else special for me). What I usually do is pick it out or force it down. Often I say i'm not hungry and won't finish the food. In any case, I just feel so embaressed and that's what makes me annoyed with it. I hate when someone asks "Do you want pizza?" and I say "well what kind/what's on it?"
And by the look, I always know they know. Most times they make fun too "Oh now don't get picky on me". I'm 18 years old, I would love to not be picky
I do try. Someone I know always makes hamburgers with onions IN the patties, picking the chunks out is obviously impossible, so I usually force it down with the gag here and there when I bite into onion. I will try onions and nuts, but I WILL NOT try tomatoes or peppers, simply because I come so close to puking every time I do try.
Anyhow, I do have some time to get better, thanks again.

This reminds me of a guy that I went on a few dates with. Our first phone conversation was about food likes and dislikes, and he teased me and said that he ate his food in alphabetical order. I was so impressed with his wit that I really looked forward to our date (he doesn't eat that way, though!)

Hi All,

I was a picky eater until I moved away from home at age 18.

Now at a greatly advanced age, I wish I could get back to picky eating.

Any hints?

Jane - Oz

Me too. I am shocking. I'm 25 and a terribly picky eater. Have been my whole life. I like SOME vegetables, LOVE most meat and LOVE dairy and plain wheat products. I hate onions and many other foods.
I would spew if forced to eat mayonaise or any kind of salad dressing and sauces like bbq or mustard. I don't like many things and people get so annoyed with me. They think i'm just being stupid and why shouldn't I just eat the food. But the truth is that I would throw up if i tried. Some of the things that people love eating are just plain repulsive to me. Going out for tea is painful when there are not alot of things on the menu. I annoy people. But I never expect people to make something different for me to eat. I just eat less if I don't like the food offered. Just last night I was out at a friends house and they offered me tea because I hadn't had any yet(wasn't planning to eat either, my appetite is almost non existent). It was a few different salads wth all of those horrible dressings on them. Oh grose. So I just told them that I didn't like it. They know me well now and they know if I'm pretending to like something or making up some other excuse. But I feel bad when I don't like stuff. People get angry with me. As if it's my fault. But would I be angry with them if they didn't want to eat dog poop? N,o of course not. But them trying to make me eat foods I don't like is like me trying to make them eat dog poop. That's my take on it. Lol. hope this isn't bad taste. Lol. I was just trying to be funny.

Yay! Another condiment hater! That's EXACTLY how I am, Estee!

Ha ha ha. Condiments are from hell. I think we should join forces to rid the earth of them. Lol

I'm with ya, sister!