If your teen has started to show a lack of interest in food, reduce the amount of food they are eating, or make fear-based food choices, they may be suffering from avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).
ARFID, which can affect both children and adults, is an eating disorder marked by the inability for an individual to fulfill their nutritional and/or energy needs through food.
There are multiple different types of ARFID that your teen may be experiencing:
Avoidant: This form of ARFID occurs when individuals avoid certain foods. This can be for a variety of reasons including feeling uncomfortable with the smell, texture, appearance, or taste of the food.
Aversive: With this form of ARFID, individuals experience or fear experiencing adverse reactions to certain foods including (but not limited to) pain, vomiting, gagging, or choking.
Restrictive: Individuals with this form of ARFID tend to show minimal interest in food, sometimes even forgetting to eat meals throughout the day.
ARFID “Plus”: As its name suggests, ARFID “Plus” occurs when teens experience more than one type of ARFID concurrently.
Like any other eating disorder, ARFID is serious, and it is more than just being moody or being a picky eater. Teens who experience at least one form of ARFID are at risk for developing health issues due to a lack of the nutrients and energy that the body needs to function properly.
Causes of ARFID
Many parents think that because ARFID is an eating disorder, it is caused by unrealistic beauty standards and societal expectations.
Unlike more commonly known eating disorders like anorexia, which teens can have in addition to ARFID, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder does not stem from a desire to be thin. Teens can develop ARFID due to genetic predispositions, environmental influences, negative feelings toward certain foods, societal pressure, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), or anxiety among other factors.
While researchers are still studying the root causes of ARFID, it is common for one or more of these factors to be at play.
Signs your teen is experiencing ARFID
Just because your teen refuses to eat hamburgers or has worked through a meal time once or twice does not necessarily mean that your teen has ARFID.
Here are a few signs and symptoms of ARFID you should look out for instead:
Rigid eating habits
While it is perfectly normal for your teen to have certain food preferences, if these preferences become overwhelming or they inhibit your teen’s ability to get enough food to eat each day, it is a sign that your teen has ARFID. Complete inflexibility around eating certain types of foods, experiencing extreme sensitivity to the taste, texture, or smell of different foods, and ultra specific food preparation requests are warning signs that you should consider.
Food-related fears
Another sign of ARFID is the refusal to eat certain foods out of fear that they will cause adverse reactions. If your teen is afraid of experiencing vomiting, choking, or an allergic reaction as a result of eating a particular food, they may have ARFID.
Minimal interest in food
Everyone has had a time when they have been so engaged in another activity that they have forgotten to eat a meal. However, when this becomes a pattern, there is often a more serious issue to consider. If you notice that your teen is regularly skipping meals or seems to lack interest in eating, it can be a sign that they may have ARFID. Whether this is because they do not care about eating, or they are feeling fear about eating, this symptom is important to weigh if you are wondering if your teen has ARFID.
Helping your teen with ARFID
When your teen has ARFID, it can be easy to accommodate them by only cooking foods that they like, following stringent food preparation requests, or allowing them to miss a meal or two when they refuse to eat.
However, this can have detrimental effects on your teen’s mental and physical health.
If your teen shows signs of ARFID, there are steps you can take to help.
One of the most effective ways to help your teen is to help them receive professional help from therapists trained to help treat ARFID.
Our team can help you stop accommodating and enabling your teen’s ARFID by making multiple meals or allowing them to skip meals, and they can help your teen start seeing success with trying new foods and receiving proper nutrition.