Hi everyone! I wanted to make a part two of my last post! My previous post talked about how to make going to restaurants easier if your loved one has ARFID. Today I wanted to share a few more tips!

The first tip is to share the menu ahead of time with your loved one. This helps them feel more prepared for when they get to the restaurant, since they know what to expect. Speaking of knowing what to expect, it can be helpful to show some photos of the restaurant, because there will be less surprises when they get there, since they’ve seen what the restaurant looks like! 

My final tip is to let your loved one pick a dessert for their meal if none of the entrees appeal to them. If there’s a dessert with high calories, they can have that instead! It’s better than not eating anything! Anyway, I hope these tricks helped you! Have a great day!

​Hi everyone! I hope everyone is having a great summer! Today i wanted to talk to people who’s loved one struggles with arfid to give you some advice on how to make a restaurant meal easier for someone you know who has arfid.

For people with arfid, restaurants can be very scary and stressful places to go to. However, there are some ways to make the dining experience easier. One thing is to go to a restaurant that is familiar and close to where you live. This allows us (people with arfid) to feel more relaxed for some reason, because it feels safer and more comfortable. However, it’s reasonable to not want to always dine out close to home. If that’s the case, there are a few ways to ease anxiety. One way is to allow for your loved one to step away from the table and maybe sit outside for a few minutes. This can help create some space and allow time for your loved one to relax. The final tip I have is to ask for ingredients on the side. Your loved one will feel more comfortable choosing how much or how little toppings/sauce they want to add to their meal, which gives them some control.

I hope this helps you the next time you dine out! Have a great day!

​Hi everyone! So, last time I posted, I talked about what it was like to try new foods at a new restaurant. However, I wanted to talk more about that today. When I was there, I was super nervous. I kept thinking to myself, “it’s okay, it’s okay”, and honestly, just telling myself that helps me relax. Next year, I’m probably going to go to Taiwan on a school trip, and if I get to travel there, I have to be able to eat some foods, so that helped motivate me to try something new. If I was able to try something that’s a traditional food, I’d be able to go! That’s how I was able to get into an open mindset! Thank you for reading this, I hope you all have a great week!

​Hello, or as they say in Taiwan, 你好！I’m currently learning mandarin in school, and last week, our teacher took us to a Taiwanese restaurant. I was really nervous because I had to order in Chinese and then I was going to eat Green onion pancakes, or 葱油饼, and I’ve never tried it! But, I took a bite and I loved it! I even tried a sauce despite not knowing what was in it! So, next time you go to a restaurant, maybe try one new thing! 

​Hi everyone! This is part 2 of my sensory skills series. Today I wanted to talk about smell. Smell can really affect things that are related to food. For example, if I smell a certain food before I try it, it may dissuade me to try the new food. However, smells can help you cope. Aromatherapy works really well for me when I’m feeling stressed, and there are so many different essential oils to use. I like peppermint and lavender the most, and if I use an essential oil roller, it soothes me. As usual, If there are any sound related issues you have, email us and I’ll send you a skill back, and if there are any skills you know that might be of use, feel free to send that to us as well! Have a great day!

​Hi everyone! Welcome to part 3 of my sensory skills post! I recommend you read the first two posts first, but feel free to start with this one! Sight is a sensory skill that I struggle with the least, and it mostly helps me instead of putting me back. For example, when I feel like I can’t study and sit still, I put on a fireplace video, to help me relax and stay focused. When I am stressed about a meal, I watch some tv! I hope this helped you, and if there are any sight related issues you have, email us and I’ll send you a skill back, and if there are any skills you know that might be of use, feel free to send that to us as well! Have a great day!

​Hello everyone! Welcome to part 1 of my 4-part sensory skills blog series! The sense I’m going to be talking about today is sound. As someone with sensory processing disorder, I am very sensitive to sound. It’s part of the reason why large crowds are hard for me to be around. It overwhelms me, but it can also be helpful. For example, if I’m feeling very stressed or sad, I listen to some music to cheer me up. If I need to block out noise, I listen to brown noise. If I’m bored, I may listen to a podcast! If there are any sound related issues you have, email us and I’ll send you a skill back, and if there are any skills you know that might be of use, feel free to send that to us as well! Have a great day!

​Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. Instead of creating one or two posts for the month of March, I am going to be posting weekly! This is because I have a theme that I can’t talk about in just one post, and that is sensory. 

I was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder before I was even diagnosed with ARFID, and it is very common to have this if you have ARFID. If you don’t know what it is, it basically means your body avoids sensory, or seeks it. I avoid sensory, especially when it comes to food. It also makes your senses stronger, meaning that smells, feelings, sounds, sights, and of course, tastes can be overwhelming for you. So, this month, I will be posting once a week about four of the five senses, where I write about how I deal with them, what coping skills involve those senses, and more! I won’t be including taste, because that’s what I almost always write about!

Anyway, I hope you are all excited for the posts during March! Have a great week!

Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well! During my winter break, I tried some foods, and while some of those foods weren’t entirely new, it wasn’t easy for me. This inspired me to write about how to prepare to try something new. One thing I like to do is connect the food to something I already like. For example, my dad made mashed potatoes. I love French fries, so I told myself “It’s not as scary to try this, because it probably tastes similar to French fries!”. So, I was able to try the mashed potatoes, and I liked the taste! I wasn’t a big fan of the texture, but I was proud of myself for trying something new! Hopefully this helps the next time you or your loved one is nervous to try something! Have a great week!

​Hi everyone! If you’re on winter break, I hope you’re having a great one! I am about to head home from a vacation that I’ve had with my entire family on my dad’s side! You may be wondering how that relates to ARFID. Well, before this trip, I never really appreciated meals in a way that I do now. I always knew that meals were a great time to talk, but I realized that it’s a great time to get to know people and form or strengthen bonds. In a way, being forced to be with everyone forces you to push yourself to be more social, and I really enjoyed the meals on this trip. Sure, the food was mostly good, but the thing I loved about the meals is that I spent over half an hour just laughing, smiling, listening and sharing stories. Before this trip, I didn’t have a super close bond with my grandpa, but these meals pulled us together, and I really feel like our relationship improved drastically. I have always been super close to my grandma, and spending time on the balcony, eating ice cream together and talking about her favorite presidents (she loves history) was one of the highlights of my vacation. It was really special. I know it can be hard to enjoy meals if you’re not enjoying what is on your plate, but if you’re okay with what you are eating, I invite you to be more social, if you aren’t as social as you normally are. It can even distract you from a meal you don’t love!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy whatever holidays you do or don’t celebrate! Happy holidays!