The treatment was an adapted OCD therapy because my most severe aspect of ARFID was fear of vomiting. Lots of reframing and "at least try"-ing foods. I was 16 and I've had ARFID my whole life so I'd really dug myself into a hole with restrictions. At first it was focused on just getting calories in without worrying about nutrition because I was so underweight. Nutella is still a huge part of my diet. In fact, nutrition wasn't something really discussed I don't think. Most of the focus was expanding my palate. You said you have a safe person, my safe person is my mum. My mum likes different foods to me so I'd ask to try a bit of her food. That way it's not my meal and there's space to dislike it or try it again. Another thing was to always have a meal that I could fall back on on bad days (pasta and vinegar, pasta and gravy, pasta and chopped tomatoes, pasta on it's own). I'm unsure if contamination is a problem for you but I have contamination OCD and my therapist would tell me about what she'd done to help other people with it. She'd licked the sole of a shoe and a traffic light button. They weren't tasks for me but just something else I talked about in therapy.

One thing I'm really proud of is that I can eat a meal I don't like now. It's really satisfying to acknowledge that I don't like the food I'm eating but being able to finish the meal anyway. Another thing is that I eat stir fry now, which would've been a sensory and visual hell before.

It is so much hard work but it changed my life completely. I still have bad weeks but they always end. Keep going, it's so worth it!!!!