Fear Foods: How to Identify and Reintroduce Them
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
Do you have a list of foods you avoid not because of intolerances or allergies? If these are foods that are mentally or emotionally challenging for you to eat, they may be fear foods.
Fear foods are often associated with eating disorders, but people who aren’t officially diagnosed with an eating disorder can also have fear foods.
You may sit somewhere on the disordered eating spectrum and/or have a history of chronic dieting, even if you don’t have an eating disorder. This could also lead to the development of fear foods. We see this with a lot of our clients, actually.
While having a list of fear foods is somewhat common in our diet culture-ridden society, it’s not normal or healthy to be afraid of food, so it’s worth challenging these fear foods. Keep reading to learn what fear foods are, how to identify your fear foods, and how to reintroduce them to your diet.
What Are Fear Foods?
Fear foods are ones that have become emotionally distressing and mentally challenging to eat. In turn, you usually end up avoiding them entirely.
The avoidance of these foods is often tied to a fear of gaining weight or harming your health.
In the case of avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), fear foods may be tied to a fear of getting ill or choking.
They aren’t foods that you are allergic to or have a medical reason not to eat; they’re ones that you avoid due to emotional or mental distress.
In our experience, the most common fear foods are:
Fried foods like tostones or french fries
Fast food like pizza or hamburgers
Sweets like cake or cookies
Refined carbs like white bread or white rice
Cultural foods not typically included in mainstream depictions of “healthy food” like tortillas, plantains, pollo guisado, white rice and beans, etc.
How To Identify Your Fear Foods
Thinking about eating your fear foods usually evokes a profound feeling of, well, fear.
You probably know what your fear foods are, even if you don’t typically label them as “fear foods”.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to brainstorm what your fear foods may be:
Are there foods you loved when you were younger that you now avoid?
Do you associate certain foods with weight gain or loss?
Do you get nervous that certain foods will be present at social events?
Do you avoid certain grocery aisles to avoid buying those foods?
Are there foods you don’t let yourself keep at home?
Are there foods you label as “bad” and avoid eating?
Do you get intrusive thoughts while eating certain foods?
Do you feel guilty after eating certain foods?
Do you get more anxious being around certain foods?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, reflect on what foods fit the bill. Those may be fear foods.
Remember, they aren’t foods that you’re allergic to or intolerant of; they’re ones your body can tolerate but you are afraid of eating for other reasons.
How to Reintroduce Fear Foods
Show Compassion for the Underlying Fears
If you have the capacity, consider what’s underlying your fear of eating these foods.
It may be a fear of weight gain, but dig even deeper. Maybe the fear of weight gain is related to a desire for safety, acceptance, adoration, love, and relief from oppression. These are all valid wants and needs.
Related: The 10 Best Anti-Diet and Wellness Books by BIPOC Authors
We suggest working with a trusted therapist and weight-inclusive dietitian for support navigating these underlying fears and still meeting your nutritional needs. The books in the blog linked above may also help you further explore these underlying fears.
Rate The Fear Foods
If you’re ready to start challenging your fear foods, we suggest starting by listing them out. So, pull out an old-fashioned pen and paper or open up a Google doc.
List them all out, even ones that aren’t extremely scary. If you still find yourself feeling anxious around them, add them to the list.
After you list all of your fear foods, rate them on a scale of 1–10, with 1 indicating that the food is fully stress-free and 10 indicating that it’s hard to even be around this food. It’s okay if multiple foods have the same number rating.
This can help you to understand how they rank in comparison to one another in preparation for the next step.
Progressively Reintroduce Them
Now refer to the list you made and start adding back the fear foods, progressing from the least stressful to the most anxiety-inducing ones.
Again, this process can benefit from support from a registered dietitian and therapist well-versed in eating disorders and disordered eating.
Depending on how many foods you have on your list and where you are in your recovery journey, this process may take at least a few months.
If eating a full portion of a fear food is too challenging right now, it may help to start by adding one of the fear foods as a part of your meal and making the rest of your meal foods that are easier for you to eat.
Once you add one fear food back into your diet, work on adding another one back. If possible, try reintroducing 1–2 fear foods per week.
Remember to continue incorporating these foods into your meals and snacks. It isn’t meant to be a one-and-done situation. Continually incorporating these foods can help reduce your anxiety around them and make them a normal part of your eating pattern.
Seek Professional Support
As we mentioned above, seeking support from a dietitian and therapist who specialize in eating disorders and disordered eating is often very beneficial for reintroducing fear foods.
This can be a super challenging process that may trigger other behaviors or heighten anxiety in the short-term.
A registered dietitian and therapist can assess your eating behaviors and nutritional needs and guide you through the fear food reintroduction process.
Final Thoughts
Fear foods are common amongst those with eating disorders and disordered eating, but reintroducing them is important for improving your relationship with food.
We generally suggest reintroducing fear foods gradually from the easier to harder ones. However, this process can bring up a lot of anxiety and it’s hard to do it on your own, so it’s often helpful to work with a registered dietitian and therapist.
For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month.
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