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> Picky eaters universally love junk foods. They won’t touch veggies and sometimes refuse to eat the food their moms prepare. Out of desperation, parents give i

> Picky eaters universally love junk foods. They won’t touch veggies and sometimes refuse to eat the food their moms prepare. Out of desperation, parents give in and purchase the food their picky eaters will eat…junk food. I've definitely seen this in action hundreds of times. I wonder why this? People who won't eat grilled fresh asparagus in olive oil and garlic salt and pepper, or Beef Bourguignon, or Korean grilled ribs. Even a few who don't even like their food to touch on the same plate, will scarf down a stack of fast food bacon cheeseburgers like the place is going out of business.

brandnewlow 17y ago
I'm a picky eater along these lines though I've gotten better. It's not a good life. Here's how it's been for me in the past. Picky eaters are people who use food the way an alcoholic uses booze. For the picky eater, food's purpose is to help regulate one's emotional state. Picky eaters choose food based on utility, not taste. You can't get a food high off of broccoli, spinach, or asparagus. You can however get high off potato chips, french fries, pizza, macaroni and cheese, cheeseburgers, and chicken fingers. Therefore these foods are useful. Asparagus and friends are not useful. They don't ping your pleasure sensors. They do not address the picky eater's problem: some mild to major emotional distress. Many picky eaters don't like their food to touch, and don't like odd ingredients in their dishes because it creates a risk that the food won't deliver the sought after high. Once when visiting my cousins, their mom made macaroni and cheese for lunch. I got pretty excited when I heard that. However, when I heaved the first spoonful into my mouth and bit down on a piece of onion, my whole body tensed up, my eyes started to water, and I felt myself getting angry. What had she DONE to my reliable drug? Basically, I freaked out. I was 7-8 at the time I think, and yes, I am embarrassed by this story. A picky eater doesn't want carrots to touch his/her mashed potatoes. The contact might ruin the potential potato high, like mixing baking soda in with your cocaine. When the picky eater puts something on his plate, he puts it there because he knows how it will affect his brain chemistry. If it touches something else, who knows if it'll still get the job done? When a picky eater goes to a restaurant, they look for things they recognize on the menu and order those. They do this because their relationship to food is different from the average person. The picky eater is dependent on specific foods that create the food high. A new dish might fail to create the food high, leaving the picky eater with a serious problem on his/her hands. As a kid I learned that junk food made me feel good while vegetables and stuff like it tasted funny and didn't. To my kid brain, it seemed logical and efficient to not waste time eating stuff that didn't make me feel good. So I embarked on a life of "picky eating," aka, not eating vegetables. This continued through college, where I began experiencing negative social consequences. I've gotten a lot better in the last 4-5 years. I still can't stand Caesar salad's and anything with iceberg lettuce in it, but quite like leafier, greener ones that aren't so crunchy. I no longer detest broccoli but appreciate that it kind of tastes like beef if grilled properly. There are still a lot of vegetables I have a strong aversion to, but I manage to hide it well in social settings.

brandnewlow 17y ago

I'm a picky eater along these lines though I've gotten better. It's not a good life. Here's how it's been for me in the past. Picky eaters are people who use food the way an alcoholic uses booze. For the picky eater, food's purpose is to help regulate one's emotional state. Picky eaters choose food based on utility, not taste. You can't get a food high off of broccoli, spinach, or asparagus. You can however get high off potato chips, french fries, pizza, macaroni and cheese, cheeseburgers, and chicken fingers. Therefore these foods are useful. Asparagus and friends are not useful. They don't ping your pleasure sensors. They do not address the picky eater's problem: some mild to major emotional distress. Many picky eaters don't like their food to touch, and don't like odd ingredients in their dishes because it creates a risk that the food won't deliver the sought after high. Once when visiting my cousins, their mom made macaroni and cheese for lunch. I got pretty excited when I heard that. However, when I heaved the first spoonful into my mouth and bit down on a piece of onion, my whole body tensed up, my eyes started to water, and I felt myself getting angry. What had she DONE to my reliable drug? Basically, I freaked out. I was 7-8 at the time I think, and yes, I am embarrassed by this story. A picky eater doesn't want carrots to touch his/her mashed potatoes. The contact might ruin the potential potato high, like mixing baking soda in with your cocaine. When the picky eater puts something on his plate, he puts it there because he knows how it will affect his brain chemistry. If it touches something else, who knows if it'll still get the job done? When a picky eater goes to a restaurant, they look for things they recognize on the menu and order those. They do this because their relationship to food is different from the average person. The picky eater is dependent on specific foods that create the food high. A new dish might fail to create the food high, leaving the picky eater with a serious problem on his/her hands. As a kid I learned that junk food made me feel good while vegetables and stuff like it tasted funny and didn't. To my kid brain, it seemed logical and efficient to not waste time eating stuff that didn't make me feel good. So I embarked on a life of "picky eating," aka, not eating vegetables. This continued through college, where I began experiencing negative social consequences. I've gotten a lot better in the last 4-5 years. I still can't stand Caesar salad's and anything with iceberg lettuce in it, but quite like leafier, greener ones that aren't so crunchy. I no longer detest broccoli but appreciate that it kind of tastes like beef if grilled properly. There are still a lot of vegetables I have a strong aversion to, but I manage to hide it well in social settings.