Is Being a "Picky Eater" an Eating Disorder?

What I find interesting about all this is that the foods these people eat are all foods a child would prefer to only eat: grilled cheese, french fries, potato chips, etc. It really does make it look like they're mentally stunted at the level of a 5 year old where food is concerned. It probably is some type of behavioural disorder started in childhood and reinforced all these years. If you were never introduced to a variety of foods, you probably aren't willing to try them, even at a later age.

Adults really have no excuse. If you're 18+ and you say "I can't eat vegetables because I'm a picky eater" - well Grow the F*** up already.

I am doing something bad. But hey - it's not my fault, it's just because of my parents / the society / the moon / the climate change / unknown reasons / whatever.
So, even nutrition can have a moral background.

An aside: Do we really need the F word just to talk about food?

On topic: 1. We all have our childish hold-overs from childhood. If you don't know what it is; dig deeper and be objective. You'll find it and never completely be free of it.

2. It's not a "behavioral disorder" to eat kid-foods. It's comfort. We keep the behaviors that comfort us and that extends to eating foods (grandma's cooking, anyone?), to old TV shows (marathon weekend!) from our childhood to favorite oldie songs. It's all there in one form or another.

3. I recognized I was eating "kid food" a lot. A big clue that was shouting at me for years. Now I mostly don't eat that way and I'm 40 lbs lighter. But give me a moment...I think a grilled cheese with mac-n-cheese sounds pretty good right now.

We all have our moments. To be in control of our eating requires being aware of what we're eating and WHY. Especially if we want to lose weight, get heatlhy, get in shape.

I'm picky now despite those moments. I'd rather be a picky eater picking healthy stuff than eating whatever is in sight---that just made me fat. Just depends on what you're being picky about, I guess.

Way to be condescending without even actually looking at the details.

They're talking about people whose eating habits have cost them jobs and relationships for crying out loud. That clearly goes beyond regular "picky eating" - it sounds like it's very likely related to OCD and/or anxiety disorders not to mention EDs.

I'm definitely a picky eater - certain tastes/smells like coffee and alcohol made me physically ill, for example. But it doesn't interfere with my life like these people. I don't think I have a mental disorder, just hypersensitive taste buds. But anyone who avoids social settings because of food clearly has a real problem, and telling them to "grow up" isn't going to fix it. Asshole.

you need a hug Gerry

There, from me

I'm glad my tastes changed in adulthood. Let's put it this way- my favorite food as a kid were those Spaghettios with the fake hot dog pieces in them. Back in the 70's apparently our parents let us eat just about anything.
Now it's all meat and vegetables and skim milk. Cutting out anything fried or with cheese melted on it is a good way to go. Yes I loved McDonalds and all that junk as a kid, was never fat for a day in my life, but I agree that eating that stuff regularly as an adult seems like somebody who never progressed out of that stage. I understand having a treat here and there, but the people who eat like that every day have just got to feel awful.

Foods that are bland and carb/fat rich are highly palatable. It's not difficult to get small children to eat them because the flavors are not that strong. If you introduce kids to strong flavors early (my parents started feeding us broccoli, pickles, tomatoes, onions, etc.) at a young age, they are much more likely to accept them. It takes a few tries, usually, but most kids really do learn to like veggies and fruits if they are exposed to them. People who are fruit/veggie haters either had parents that were extremely lazy and only fed the kids food that they KNEW the kids would eat without a fight or they are people that legitimately can't stand the taste of certain fruits and veggies. I personally love almost every veggie, but I can't stand zucchini/yellow squash or okra--it's a combination of the taste and the texture. But disliking one or two certain foods is a far cry from hating ALL veggies.

If an adult refuses to eat veggies because of the taste of them, I think it's childish of them to keep it up. They need to grow up and try to find veggies they DO like or methods of preparing the veggies so they are palatable to them. Lots of people who swear they hate broccoli actually like it when it's roasted with garlic and a little olive oil.

The Views are absolutely correct

I never got the allure of grilled cheese sandwiches. I've always found them bland and unsatisfying.

Those people should pay more for health insurance, because they are raising our premiums.

"So, if you were raised on a diet of potato chips, snack cakes, fast food, and cola, I guess its not totally you're fault."

If YOU'RE going to tell people their diets are childish, I'm going to tell you that YOUR grammar is childish.

I think the tone of this article is childish, quite frankly. I eat the same things I did as a kid because I was raised on a good, heathful range of foods. My refusal to eat anything beyond that isn't going to kill me.

Who ever wrote this is a complete asshole. If people choose not to eat certain foods for whatever reason doesn't mean they are being childish!

It's not as easy as u make it out to be if people really hate the look or taste of foods how do you expect them to just "grow up" and eat them.

Reading this has really bothered me, You can't judge what other people do because you don't have a f***ing
clue what its like to be them so keep your useless opinions to yourself!

Picky eating is not a medical condition. Agree with the article on that point 100%. These studies are funded by the inflated tuition you and your children pay. Waste of $ in my opinion.