How to eat healthier with aspie food texture issues?

[Kari Suttle]

The title says it all. I'm trying to improve not only myself as a person - i want to be a happier, more independent person in general - but I also want to work on my eating habits. Drink less soda, drink more water. Eat healthier meals. But since infancy i've had food issues. Picky eating and food texture issues. The texture of most cooked raw meat - be it grilled or from the crockpot - bothers me. Only once has dad grilled chicken and i had no issues with it and he grills a lot in the summer time.
I try to get protein through other sources like milk, cheese, and eggs. I have the same texture issue with fruit and vegetables. Fruit i generally only willingly consume in smoothie form, veggies are a hit or miss...when my mom makes chicken and dumpling using progresso's canned chicken noodle soup i'll tolerate it, and possibly if its blended with enough of something i do like such as potatoes. I'm more of a pasta person than a rice person but as a once in a while thing, i dont mind rice.

I can't cook much, either. My cooking abilities is limited to pasta, grilled cheese, pigs in a blanket, and scrambled eggs. I need everything to be cheap, too, cause i'm paying for my own schooling at the moment. And even after i can get student loans, i'd like to only accept the amount i need. And with mom and dad heading for divorce, i might need to help mom with bills which means i really can't be spending more than necessary on food. I love love love Amy's beans rice and cheese burritos but to buy a week's worth is expensive. If anyone has a recipe for them that tastes comparable to Amy's i'd love to try it.

Does anyone have any simple, tolerable ideas? I have a full schedule between school and work and mom has clients over throughout the morning till noon so that really limits it as well, and i work in the afternoons through after my sister goes to bed. I need healthy food ideas that are cheap and don't require much cooking ability or time. I have my mom or dad to help me learn how to cook things, dad's really good at it. I just don't know where to start, which is pretty sad seeing as I work as a cashier. I want to learn how to make a variety of healthy, inexpensive, filling meals that i don't have to force myself to eat. Preferably with some source of protein included, cause i dont eat much meat - eggs, cheese, beans, etc. I'm gonna look on google too i just wanted to post this freakishly long thing here where there's people that will probably understand my odd aversion to a variety of food based on texture alone.

 

[ifiwerewrongidknowit]

I wish I could help, but I'm very lousy at cooking. Ok, scrambled eggs are fine, I can deal with that.
But other than that.
I mean it takes too much time for me to plan everything. I mean to dice the meat, onion and other ingredients. Then in which order to put it in the pot, how long to boil it or cook it...
It's a nightmare.
I do cook occasionally, I just need to find my executive functioning. Because it takes so much out of me.
But smoothies sounds good.
I do some grilling is well, because it's so simple and I have no issues with the texture.

 

[Cosmophylla]

Do you like smooth soups? As in, blended ones? That is a great way of getting high amounts of nutrients into your system in small serves. You can cook up a double or triple batch of a favourite soup - minestrone is my favourite when I'm feeling low, because I can add extra veg and beans and it still tastes great - and after it is cooked, blend it, divide into portions and freeze it. If you're interested in a recipe I can post mine here. Personally I dislike blended soups but that is my food texture thing.

If you like pasta with sauces you can also augment the sauce with vegies, beans, etc., and blend it so you don't notice the veg.

Also look for books on sneaking veg into kids' meals... That could be a good tactic to try. I've got a good one called Sneaky Veggies, by Chris Fisk. It has good tips on how to disguise the taste of the vegetables if that is also an issue for you.

Another idea for getting protein into you is to make your own stock or bone broth. If your parents ever cook or buy whole chickens or you have leftover bones (or if you want to buy some bones or carcasses from the butcher), put them in a big pot with some roughly cut celery, onion, carrot and any other veg you want to get goodness from (mushrooms are great for deepening the flavour) plus fresh herbs if you can get them (thyme and parsley are my faves, plus they are great for or health). One tip: don't ever put cruciferous vegetables (from the brassica family: kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc.) in your stock. Once these vegies get cooked too much they start to stink and will taint the flavour of the stock. Anyway, back to stock. Cover the lot with water, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for at least three hours...but six or more hours is best. The flavour will be much stronger and the collagen from the carcasses will have been released into the stock... It sounds yucky but it is so good for you and homemade stock is a great thing to have on hand to add flavour and nutrients to all kinds of food. Scrambled eggs or omelette with homemade stock instead of milk, for example. One the stock is done, strain it into bottles or containers and freeze it.

Sorry if this is way too long. It's one of my interests.

 

[dragonwolf]

Do you like smooth soups? As in, blended ones? That is a great way of getting high amounts of nutrients into your system in small serves. You can cook up a double or triple batch of a favourite soup - minestrone is my favourite when I'm feeling low, because I can add extra veg and beans and it still tastes great - and after it is cooked, blend it, divide into portions and freeze it. If you're interested in a recipe I can post mine here. Personally I dislike blended soups but that is my food texture thing.

If you like pasta with sauces you can also augment the sauce with vegies, beans, etc., and blend it so you don't notice the veg.

Also look for books on sneaking veg into kids' meals... That could be a good tactic to try. I've got a good one called Sneaky Veggies, by Chris Fisk. It has good tips on how to disguise the taste of the vegetables if that is also an issue for you.

Another idea for getting protein into you is to make your own stock or bone broth. If your parents ever cook or buy whole chickens or you have leftover bones (or if you want to buy some bones or carcasses from the butcher), put them in a big pot with some roughly cut celery, onion, carrot and any other veg you want to get goodness from (mushrooms are great for deepening the flavour) plus fresh herbs if you can get them (thyme and parsley are my faves, plus they are great for or health). One tip: don't ever put cruciferous vegetables (from the brassica family: kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc.) in your stock. Once these vegies get cooked too much they start to stink and will taint the flavour of the stock. Anyway, back to stock. Cover the lot with water, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for at least three hours...but six or more hours is best. The flavour will be much stronger and the collagen from the carcasses will have been released into the stock... It sounds yucky but it is so good for you and homemade stock is a great thing to have on hand to add flavour and nutrients to all kinds of food. Scrambled eggs or omelette with homemade stock instead of milk, for example. One the stock is done, strain it into bottles or containers and freeze it.

Sorry if this is way too long. It's one of my interests.

What I do with stock is to divide it into ice cube trays and freezing it that way. Once they're frozen, they can be popped out and put in a sealed container. Doing it this way keeps you from having to deal with gelatinous soup (as fun as meat jello is...) and keeps it from separating. It also makes portions a snap, because each cube in a standard tray is about an ounce.

 

[dragonwolf]

Consider investing in a really good blender, like a Vitamix or Ninja. They're a bit pricey, but they can make meals a ton easier. The Vitamix I have has a soup setting. Just toss the ingredients in, set to soup, and turn it on. A few minutes later, you have a hot, blended soup. It also has a smoothie setting. You can add even fibrous veggies to it and they'll be broken down to nothingness.

To increase the nutrient density of your meals, check out spaghetti squash. It's really easy to cook, and shreds up into stands like spaghetti that you can then top with your favorite sauce.

 

[Kari Suttle]

I've always had really bad food texture issues, which limits the variety that i eat. Problem is, now i'm overweight so i want to lose weight and eat healthier...which feels next to impossible with the food texture issues. The go-to advice of 'eat more fruits and veg' seems impossible when i just can't stand the texture most of the time. When i do eat them, its forced and in small amounts. I take an adult multivitamin to help balance everything out hopefully.

Anyone have any advice? I posted this on general so hopefully more people can/will reply. I want to watch sodium, carbs, and limit dairy. Which is why i need to find a way to somehow like and be able to eat healthy side dishes. I'm allergic to dairy so i should cut it out but i'm just not capable i love it too much. I have meat texture issues, too, so its one of my regular protein sources anyhow.

I realized it might help if i listed the foods i eat! Or maybe it'll just complicate things idk.
Breakfast - sugary cereal, yogurt, scrambled eggs with toast with jam, orange juice, donuts (when someone brings them home), hot chocolate, frozen pancakes
Lunch/dinner at home - nachos, pizza, turkey or chicken delimeat sandwiches (with either barbeque sauce or a slice of cheese), ramen, leftovers from dad's home cooked food, macaroni and cheese, pasta, red beans and rice (leftovers, i don't cook)
Packed dinner at work is almost exclusively a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips and oreo thins.

 

[unperson]

2 minute noodles, with added chicken (or any meat, mince, whatever texture you can cope with) and spinach/greens/capsicum/chilli.

 

[dragonfire42]

I too am one with texture and taste issues so bad that I literally cannot force myself to swallow many things, my body just will not do it. And I am also trying to eat more healthily. Unfortunately, one of the things I have issues with is things like blended soups, and also eggs (no matter how they’re cooked).

 

[Magna]

I agree with the suggestion that you buy a good blender for making smoothies. The great thing about smoothies is that you can add ingredients you'd never consider eating in any other form but in smoothies depending on what the other ingredients are, some things are not detectable.

Cut out the soda for sure. If you drink caffeinated soda and you don't want to give up the caffeine, brew green tea and put that in the fridge if you prefer cold rather than hot drinks. There are natural sweeteners like monk fruit powder or stevia that are low on the glycemic index (won't spike your insulin levels like sugar) but still taste sweet if you crave the sweet drinks.

What about exercise? Are you able to take a walk regularly?

I've known people who have had a longtime habit of drinking sugared soda (we say "pop" from where I'm from), have gotten little exercise and have been overweight. When they stopped the soda and started exercise they lost a good deal of weight just making those two changes.

You're allergic to dairy, but there are so many dairy alternatives out there now such as: oat milk, almond milk, coconut milk, flax milk, etc. Some of them are easy to make with a high powered blender. For example, oat milk is extremely inexpensive to make at home with a high powered blender. You do need a high powered blender as previously mentioned like a Ninja, Vitamix or Blendtec rather than a typical inexpensive blender which are worthless for making smoothies, etc. A good blender is a worthy investment and a great asset for good nutrition. We use ours daily and have for many years.

You don't like the texture of fruits and veg, what fruits or veg do you like or at least tolerate the taste of?

A smoothie made with the "milk" base of your choice (dairy or non-dairy) a banana, a dash of vanilla and some fresh spinach leaves tastes nothing like spinach unless you'd add a huge amount of it. You don't even taste the spinach. This would be a very nutritious drink.

You mention you eat peanut butter. Good peanut butter (not the kind with sugar and hydrogenated oils) is excellent in smoothies!

Do you like other nuts? Although they are high in calories if you ate a lot of them, they're satisfying and nutritious.

A healthy smoothie and a piece of whole grain bread with peanut butter is a good meal in and of itself.

I hope that helps.