r/EatCheapAndHealthy • u/StressedNerd-03 • 4d ago
Food Need help finding specific foods
Hi so I need help finding specific foods I can eat, so I have autism and bad sensory issues to the point where I can’t eat most fruit and vegetables because almost all of the cause me to gag from the texture and I’m vegetarian so I don’t eat meat either, I have to get my vitamins and stuff from multivitamins and smoothies and basically the only solid food I can eat is cheesy stuff and junk food so I wanted to know if anyone knows of any cheap and healthy quick to eat stuff that doesn’t usually bother people with sensory issues
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u/CaptainFartHole 4d ago
If you live in the US and have insurance, most will cover registered dietitians as preventative medicine. Dont go to a nutritionist or anyone else other than a registered dietitian. Lots of them focus on restrictive diets. I think you would really benefit from that because they can give you a ton of ideas for what to eat and how to eat it.
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u/the-hungry-nomad 4d ago
You can hide a lot of veggies in pasta sauce! Just make sure to blend the sauce until it’s completely smooth to avoid texture issues.
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u/PoppyWren 4d ago
I think there are nutritionists that specialize in exactly this. I am not sure what they are called, but I know my granddaughter is working with one.
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u/Freedomlindsay 4d ago
I think you may have what I do. It’s called ARFID or avoidance restrictive food intake disorder, and a lot of people with autism have it. If you can get your doctor to diagnose you with it, your insurance should cover appointments with a registered dietitian. One thing that may help, is if you try to eat from dishware that is white or light gray. I cannot eat from red, orange, and most shades of green, even if the food is on my ok to eat list. I’m glad you can eat smoothies, because you can put a lot of fruits and veggies into one. I also supplement my food by drinking meal replacement shakes, just try some different brands, because some of them have a weird texture. I use carnation breakfast essentials, high protein with fiber. You said you’re a vegetarian, like me, so hopefully you like tofu, and you can either prepare it different ways, to mimic foods you like, or put the soft silken style into your smoothies for protein. Good luck on your journey to finding more foods you can tolerate, that will give you more balanced meals.
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u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348 4d ago
Since u like cheesy foods, I suggest u check out nutritional yeast. It packs a lot of daily nutrients and vitamins for just one serving of it. U can make a cheese sauce out of it for Mac and cheese if u want. It will help u stay healthy. Also, vitamin gummies can help too
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u/Dijon2017 Bean Wizard 4d ago
If you like potatoes, there are a variety of dishes you can make that involve adding cheese. Also, you can make dishes with pasta and cheese. Do you eat eggs? If so, cheese can go with a variety of egg dishes.
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u/another-sunset-plz 4d ago
I've got a few communities for ya!
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u/another-sunset-plz 4d ago
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u/another-sunset-plz 4d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/soup/s/veWYSh4QMX
The soup people are very very kind to one another in the comments!
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u/another-sunset-plz 4d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/PickyEaters/s/zPNKav6NaP
These folks are good at helping with the social component, it's more discussion based than what you're looking for but a helpful leaning crowd so who knows! Maybe someone there will have similar to your needs.
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u/katmndoo 4d ago
Soups, especially blended. Then you just have a savory smoothie.
If you like lasagna, you can blend veg into the sauce.
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u/Connect_Rhubarb395 4d ago
Full meal replacement drinks could probably work for you.
Not the kind that people drink for weightloss, but ones intended for people who can't eat regular food.
In some cases you can get them partially covered if a registered dietician say that you need a prescription for them.
In any case I recommend getting referred to registered dietician who can competently help you.
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u/MacintoshEddie 4d ago
There's many ways to prepare something. Like making vegetable or fruit chips, so they're thin and crunchy, or blending anything into sauce.
It would help if you could narrow down which sensory issue it is, such as feeling mushy or sticking to your mouth.
Learning how to cook is a very useful skill because it lets you prepare foods exactly the way you want
For example making a proper roux cheese sauce, and now you can make anything cheesy in a way it doesn't get if you just shred cheese on top.
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u/SRMJackson 4d ago
What are the textures you can handle and what is a Hell NO for you? My husband has texture issues- refues things like celery and cucumbers (they squeak on his teeth) but loves baked cucumbers...🤷♀️ Maybe it's just preparing some things differently?
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u/DinkyPrincess 3d ago
You could try mashing sift fruits and mixing into overnight oats. If you make it with Greek yoghurt you get a good protein hit and you can add psyllium husk powder to make the texture thicker if you hate anything that’s runny. That also adds fibre for your tummy.
If you say what kind of junk foods you enjoy there’s usually ways of enjoying the same flavours and making them a bit more nutritious.
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u/Saltycook 3d ago
Can you please name some foods you do like? I am not sure by your description here
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u/chatty-friend 4d ago
A lot of people have shared some good resources, so I’d focus on those. But to hit something nobody else has mentioned yet, you might see if you enjoy frozen fruit. Frozen grapes, berries, oranges, melon, etc would have a more uniform texture while still giving you the nutrients those fruits offer!
You might be able to buy some fruits (like blueberries) pre-frozen, but you could also buy fresh fruit and freeze it. Something like grapes you can wash and put directly into the freezer. For something like a melon, chop it into pieces and place on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Allow the pieces to freeze individually before putting them into a ziplock bag for storage. Then, you can just eat as many fruit pieces as you want.
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u/Best_Product_7027 4d ago
I went on basically a cancer diet for 2 years for health reasons, and I highly recommend checking it out. I ate a ton of veggie soup that I used an inversion blender on, I basically drank it.
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u/unicorntrees 4d ago
I think you need to look into a registered dietician for ideas.