Is a physical dietary restriction an eating disorder?

yes, yes it is!

There's this thing called Selective Eating Disorder (Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_eating_disorder ) that sounds a bit like what you're describing.

Of course, it could be a physical problem such as intolerance or allergies to certain foods, but only a physician can tell for sure if that's the case.

I only eat a very small number of things, too. If there's only food I don't like in the house, like pork (eww), I'd rather starve or order something online. The one time I went to a gastroenterology clinic, the doctor there found nothing wrong with me. She did tell me about Selective Eating Disorder, though, so at least it has a name attached to it now - although I prefer to think of it as being picky.

It stems primarily from my body's natural "putrid" response. My senses are all stronger (Sensory Processing Disorder), and my sense of smell gets overwhelmed by the strength of many foods, so my throat closes itself, or I get real nauseous, etc...

30 years of this & I just hate the entire concept of food now. There was a developed fear, but that's been greatly reduced with my girl's help.

Very slowly I can add things on the edge of my comfort level & have been doing so, with my girl's help. My tolerance is very slowly increasing. Today, I managed to sit in a restaurant despite a table nearby ordering seafood. I could smell it a little, but only got a little nauseous. Seafood is one of the worst things out there to me. I was able to keep myself from panicking and eat my pancakes.

So yeah, it's physical, but also specific to the nervous system.

There are plus sides to SPD too. 10/20 vision is great. 35/-5 hearing is excellent. It does plenty for me. When my tolerance is high enough to eat better and be around many other foods, it will be all benefit and almost no drawbacks. (There are a few types of cloth that hurt me to touch, but it's not a lot of pain.)

Selective eating disorder is something that is related to being picky in foods. I would suggest you to try different types of recipes of food you like to eat, this should help you in getting some more options in food.

leonamccauley wrote:Selective eating disorder is something that is related to being picky in foods. I would suggest you to try different types of recipes of food you like to eat, this should help you in getting some more options in food.

Selective eating disorder implies I'm being selective. I'm not. My throat is. It'll burn or close itself up or I'll get real nauseous... I'm working on slowly expanding what it can handle by getting it used to things closer to the edge of what it will let me eat.

An example: I'm making macaroni & cheese right now. I'm going to add more medium cheddar, the same amount of mild cheddar & less Velveeta than last time. I still don't think I'd be able to swallow sharp cheddar, but I'm slowly working my way up.

I'm using yogurt to get used to the idea of a food having more than one texture (the smooth creamy yogurt and the bits of fruit). I can eat a few of them without a problem now (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry), but many of them still cause me to convulse a little as I eat (cherry, strawberry, especially peach). The yogurt has also decreased my need for plungers...

It's basically my reaction to things that are putrid being too sensitive & reacting at a much lower threshold. It's 100% physical.