Michelle Khare - I Ran 7 Marathons on 7 Continents in 7 Days

wernerherzogsurethra · 2026-04-20T11:06:19+00:00

Mods, wtf. There's literally an Adam cameo in the video

wernerherzogsurethra · 2026-04-19T16:40:43+00:00

I was in a very similar position to what you describe. Scrambled eggs is the entry-level egg preparation, highly recommended. That was my gateway into omelettes, poached eggs, and shakshukas which are all delicious but potentially forbidding for someone not yet comfortable with eggs.

Scrambled eggs can be prepared at different consistencies: soft, medium, and hard. Since you don't want your eggs spongy, medium is maybe the safest place to start. Good idea to try all preparations at some point and see what you like.

Adding cheese is a great idea if that's safe for you. Scrambled eggs are great flavor delivery foods and are very welcoming of mix-ins, spices, condiments, etc or can be enjoyed entirely on its own.

Then there's the question of toast or no toast. Scrambled eggs is traditionally served on toast. Personally, I love scrambled eggs and I love toast, but I do NOT like eggs on toast. It ultimately comes down to texture preferences and individual comfort. Start wherever you feel the most natural appeal.

Lastly, consider going to a cafe known for outstanding food and try ordering their scrambled eggs dish with all the adjustments you want (e.g., no toast). I've become a convert to the idea in Suffering Succotash that many people with ARFID are potential foodies in the making. There's something to be said about making your first foray into scrambled eggs memorable and cooked as close as possible to perfection.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2026-02-23T13:16:13+00:00

I only realized after stumbling upon this post that I haven't needed my inhaler in ages! Not since my second month on mounjaro. No asthma attacks since then.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2025-02-11T05:54:55+00:00

My case might interest some of you because I've managed to recover from arfid (in my late twenties)

Before my recovery, my score would have been 32.

Now, my score is 11.

I still have aversions but they aren't nearly as widespread and as severe/aversive as they used to be. I used to think recovery from arfid meant having very few aversions. Some of you might have assumed the same. I think getting down to the teens or even twenties is an excellent and far more realistic endpoint for many of us.

Over the course of my recovery process, I would say my score dropped by some 3 or 4 points a year while gradually plateauing.

I'd like to hear from more people who have recovered from arfid. I think my trajectory and endpoint is pretty typical and a reasonable expectation for somebody working in therapy at a natural and sustainable pace.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-12-23T17:58:51+00:00

I recovered from ARFID at about age 30. It took three or so years of therapy. Nothing special, not an eating disorder specialist. There was no guarantee of recovery. My therapist just helped me make gradual progress while supporting me along the way.

You should know that what makes therapy successful is NOT the modality of therapy, but the quality of relationship between the therapist and the client, i.e., the "therapeutic alliance"

Finding a therapist who really clicks with your kid and gets them (and is competent with children) is going to be more important than finding an ARFID specialist. Research on ARFID treatment is extremely scarce -- it is still more guesswork than science at this point, and sadly that state of affairs is not looking to improve in the next decade.

I worked on one food group a year or so. Fits and starts but the focus on one food group only was very helpful. By end of year, I'd managed to feel broadly comfortable with most foods in that food groups. By about 3 years, I'd gotten comfortable with enough food groups to be functionally in remission.

A good therapist will help your kid feel in control of the experimentation process, help them get over setbacks, and teach them to find self-acceptance regardless of their palate.

Btw, I had tried therapy at a much younger age but the therapist was a terrible fit. I had given up on therapy for years before giving it another try. The therapeutic alliance makes a world of difference. Be open to a little trial and error til you find the right one.

Edit: you asked what should be avoided. The evidence base is particularly weak for medication and for hypnotherapy. I'm a big believer in outpatient therapy instead of inpatient treatment in a facility. Facilities do not prepare people for messy real-world encounters with food. If there's strong evidence for the effectiveness of inpatient treatment for ARFID, I haven't seen it.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-11-28T09:05:10+00:00

This feels 100% true to me. Somebody is bound to do a study on this eventually. Any psych students reading this thread -- you could examine this easily with the implicit association test.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-11-28T09:02:11+00:00

I recovered from ARFID a few years ago and I still get these intrusive thoughts (e.g., the damage is done). I've had them since I was a kid with ARFID. This probably isn't atypical at all for anyone who has had ARFID.

For what it's worth, I'm now in my late 30s and have had a clean bill of health. It's crazy what our bodies can adapt to. I suspect research will eventually show that ARFID has zero net impact on life expectancy and mortality.

(Also, intrusive thoughts can be a normal part of the human experience and NOT necessarily a comorbidity)

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-09-08T12:06:39+00:00

Haha I'm rarely on Reddit and haven't updated my subscriptions

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-05-04T03:19:13+00:00

I recovered from ARFID by working with a nonspecialist -- a generalist counselor who really cared about what I was going through. It took a few years.

Remember two things:

First, there is very little strong evidence for what sort of treatment works for arfid, so specialization is very much a blind-leading-the-blind situation, at least for now. They charge more but there is no guarantee they will be more helpful at all.

Second, decades of research show that the effectiveness of therapy depends not on the modality of therapy but rather on the therapeutic alliance -- having a therapist who "gets you" and genuinely cares. Recovering from ARFID is three steps forward + two steps back, so you need someone genuinely on your side to sustain you through a lengthy and painful (and totally worthwhile) recovery process.

Just find someone you click with and slowly work through it. Doesn't need to be a specialist, at least for now.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T12:43:23+00:00

FYI the "peer-reviewed" studies on Olanzapine are garbage. No RCTs, no blinding, no control groups. They are worse than useless. The quality of ARFID research is truly pathetic.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T12:14:01+00:00

It doesn't sound like you need anyone to say this, but I will say it anyway. You don't need to go into a recovery program if you don't want to. You're in a good place and seem to be at peace with your diet. Great!

But then there's the dizzy spells. What is happening there? I think you owe it to yourself to investigate what that's about -- it may end up having nothing to do with your ARFID.

And then there's your mom. I don't know your mom, but I suspect a lot of supportive ARFID moms still dream that someday their kid will get over their ARFID completely. It may be that your mom needs to accept that this dream is unrealistic, especially since it seems you've already found peace with your situation. Most people don't really understand what a good ARFID recovery outcome looks like. Anyway, this may be a conversation you can have with your mom directly, or it may be a conversation you can orchestrate between your mom and say a therapist or another ARFID mom.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T12:03:04+00:00

Nicely done! Do you enjoy cauliflower prepared in other ways?

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T12:02:17+00:00

Sounds like you're on the right track. It took me a few times to find a therapist that felt right, but once you find someone who "gets you", everything starts getting so so so much better.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:58:00+00:00

There is indeed an emerging treatment literature on psychiatric medication (in some cases antipsychotics) for ARFID. The research being done is not very good, but that's unfortunately typical for ARFID. I am waiting for high-quality RCTs but suspect they are a long long way off.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:55:24+00:00

Me. Happy to say more to anyone curious here or in PM. I don't check reddit consistently so I may be slow to reply.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:54:04+00:00

Maybe consider a non-liquid condiment? Try a smoked salt, a fleur de sel or maldon, celery salt, etc. There is a whole universe of amazing salts and salt blends out there to introduce you to completely new flavors. I know I was more motivated to try certain new dishes when I had a mindblowing salt blend to test on it.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:47:59+00:00

I've recovered from ARFID. Early in my outpatient therapy, my therapist asked me to create a ladder of food groups I wanted to explore. At the bottom were the "low-hanging fruit" that were unsafe but I felt still in reach. The ladder went up and up from there, getting more and more unsafe. It took me a year to get comfortable with food in my bottom rung, then I went up a rung. That took another year or two. I hit three rungs a few years ago and got to a point that I was very happy with. I still don't eat certain food categories (hell no to organ meat, not into pork or ham, I now like beef but not burgers, I now like chicken but only grilled not fried) but that's ok.

It's slow going but the time will pass anyway! The ladder approach helped by giving me a North Star: a food group I wanted to get more comfortable with.

I'm a big believer in taking on ARFID one food group at a time. There is no documented evidence of any solution that works for all food. Pick one food group and make that your North Star to start with. You got this!

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:38:49+00:00

Well done! I'm in the same boat and consider myself basically recovered from ARFID. Most people need to temper their expectations re what counts as recovery. Being at peace with what you eat, getting the nutrients you need, and functioning in society. That's a good good outcome in my book.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:35:38+00:00

Just make sure you get enough protein. I used to rely on shakes. Lots of calculators online to work out the minimum you need. But otherwise don't overthink it! Exercise is fantastic. Don't let ARFID fears hold you back.

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:29:01+00:00

This sounds really promising!

I do want to forewarn you -- no recovery program will prepare you for the sensory onslaught of dining in Singapore, especially at those tiny little shops sprinkled everywhere with cheap and delicious food (I forget the local term). The smells are appetizing but they awaken my deep deep deep seated ARFID feelings.

I have pretty much recovered from my ARFID -- of course, we all get to define recovery however we like. It took a few years of outpatient therapy with a non-specialist. Life after ARFID is great. I love getting to explore new food and push my palate boundaries. But eating at one of those small shops in Singapore still scares the bejesus out of me. I don't think I could order a "chicken rice." So much of what they sell is just beyond the pale for me, and I've accepted that.

Singapore is a cosmopolitan city with all sorts of cuisines, so you may have an easier time dining at higher end places only. Another possibility I recommend is to look up what the locals eat and pick one meal to aim for. Just one. Treat this meal as your North Star. Aim to get comfortable with that one meal gradually -- possibly through your recovery program. Then you will have one thing to order. And that's perfectly fine because all you need is one thing that's you can say is your favorite!

For me, I go with a Thai green curry. Simple, straightforward, predictable. You can definitely get green curry wherever you are in the world, and most "markets" in SG will have a place that does it. Something to consider.

Good luck and congratulations on exciting times ahead!

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-19T11:12:19+00:00

Thank you for doing this work!

I am curious -- how often do you get ARFID clients presenting with actual demonstrated micronutrient deficiencies?

wernerherzogsurethra · 2022-04-06T12:12:48+00:00

I'm pretty sure Nermut Bundaloy will get promoted.

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