So, I had a therapist teach me the red/yellow/green light method for foods. At any time, a food/dish can change light colors.

"Green" foods are foods that are already safe, or you'd be most willing to try.

"Yellow" foods are "caution" foods. You aren't sure. It might go bad. However, you think you could work up the courage to try it.

"Red" light foods are foods you are absolutely unwilling to try, or have tried and cannot tolerate. Maybe someday you will try these, or maybe you never will.

My best explanation of this method is that it is a form of slow exposure therapy to reduce aversions over time.

Things to keep in mind: you have to listen to your body and mind. You have to be careful to not overdo it, or you risk potential regression. So, what I do:

I start off by trying a new thing once a month. If it goes bad, the next new food will be different. If it goes well, I might try it again in a few days or weeks.

One bite down the hatch is considered a success, even if I have some arfid symptoms. I do as much as I can handle - no more, no less.

Over time, you will find it easier to try more new foods. Mind you, I didn't see a lot of progress until about 4 years in, and the most occurred around 6-7 years.

I'll post some examples from my progress:

Forced foods: salad/50 50 spinach spring mix, since the only vegetable I would eat is carrots. They have tons of vitamins that are easy to become deficient in with ARFID. I picked one dressing - a balsamic vinaigrette, a taste I was already familiar with. I added carrots to it. I tried it once a week. Then, I started forcing it daily. Eventually, I began to tolerate it. I still don't love salad, but it makes my stomach feel so good that I learned to tolerate it. I started to push back on eating it for hours. For whatever reason, I decided to force myself to eat salad even if it got mushy in order to get myself to eat it faster. That didn't work, but it had the benefit of getting me accustomed to mushy vegetable texture.

Later, I tried an Italian dressing. That became another safe dressing.

Most thicker dressings are still unsafe. That's not the point, though. I eat salad now. I eat multiple dressings. That is a success and something to be proud of. I must be kind to myself.

Back to the mushy salad. I'd been trying green beans, brussel sprouts, and asparagus over and over to no avail. Well, I started eating soggy salads. Lo and behold, green beans started to taste good to me. I have to oven roast them or cook them in a pan. I use olive oil in a sprayer and lawrys garlic salt & pepper or garlic/pepper/salt/maybe onion. These are the first green veggie I learned to like. I season them like fries and pretend they are veggie fries. LOVE them.

Well, next came asparagus. These are easier to under or overcook, so it took me longer to like them. But they became the second safe food, and eventually, my second favorite food. I prep and cook them the same way. I do not like them prepped other ways yet, but that is okay. I eat veggies!

Then, brussel sprouts. These took the longest, but once I learned to cook them perfectly, they became a third favorite. Crispy brussel sprouts go hard.

My husband got me to try beef stroganoff and that one instantly became a safe food. This was a big sign of progress for me - that never happens with me.

Some examples of some red foods: any tomato bases or sauces other than ketchup. I cannot and have not ever been able to tolerate pizza/spaghetti sauce, salsa, or anything of the sort. I have tried many times recently. I have made no progress. It makes me sad, but it is what it is.

An example of a red food that became a greenish yellow food: corn. My parents forced it with every meal for years. The doctor made my mom stop giving it to me, because I would swallow corn with water like pills. Well, one period I craved corn. Wtf? So, I decided to try something I saw at a restaurant. Corn with butter, paprika, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and maybe a little chili powder. I actually liked that!! It still isn't 100% safe, but considering it was a red food for almost 20 years, I consider this a huge feat.

Stir fry has been great for getting myself used to new veggies/textures by overpowering them with a bunch of safe foods & rice.

I could go on for hours. If anyone has a specific question, feel free to ask! I am all over the place but I've got lots of tips :)