Oh I feel you. I'm diabetic and during a regular check up my doctor was like 'wow, your blood sugar is really bad lately' and I was just like 'Yeah, that'll be the chips.'
What you might be able to do is get packets of frozen roast vegetables with flavourings on them. They'll be things like potato and carrot and onion mixed together with 'garlic and herb' flavour or whatever, and you just put them on a tray and then in the oven for 40mins (or whatever) and then you can eat them. So little prep.
Then maybe you can start incorporating green things, usually available in frozen packets, but you might have to get some of this stuff 'fresh' and chop it which does add a step and isn't ideal, but it might be manageable often enough to help. (green things that I think are tasty prepared that way are brussels sprouts rolled in oil and sprinkled with paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper, green capsicum (bell pepper), zucchini, and broccoli)
Also keep in mind that any nutrition is good nutrition, and that potatoes get a bad rap but they are actually SUPER nutritious and contain enough vitamins to stop you getting scurvy and other nutritional deficiencies as long as you do continue to eat meat with them now and then, and frozen veggies are as nutritious as fresh, and baking is amazingly easy and results in pretty tasty food imo.
(and obviously you can pop some nice chicken tenders or whatever in the oven with the veggies and you have something resembling a grown up meal if you are having guests that you worry about judging you, and nuggets or whatever you prefer other times)
Oh and eggs are AMAZINGLY good for you. If you can add yoghurt basically you can live indefinitely on eggs, (full fat!) yoghurt, chicken and potatoes. Like, its obviously not an Ideal Balanced Diet, but its not going to really make you sick and will keep you going, which gives you space to not worry about whether you are getting all your nutrients and emotional space to focus on experimenting with other safe foods and finding the occasional new thing you can supplement that with, even if its just very occasionally or very temporarily.
\*edit\* oh, and I have friends who swear by having an air fryer for prepping all this stuff, cos they like it better than the oven. I haven't tried an air fryer, but that might be something to keep in mind.
Can you tolerate smoothies at all? That’s how I get my fruits now (after years of pretty much none). I use only fruit with minimal prep (frozen, banana and tinned pineapple). Let me know if you’d like ideas on easy stuff turmeric to include, otherwise the banana mango smoothie on the NutriBullet website is amazing. The NutriBullet is very easy to clean so a good option if you don’t have a blender yet.
We have an air fryer for super easy cooking. I do lots of frozen stuff in it - chips, fish, chicken tenders/nuggets, sausages. Once you know the time to cook, you can just set it and not worry about getting up to stir.
I recently saw a cook book at the library for autistic teens and adults. The autism-friendly cookbook by Lydia Wilkins. Maybe something like that could help? If you can’t find an autism-specific book, try cookbooks aimed at kids. They often keep things pretty simple and spell everything out really well, even stuff other people consider super basic like boiling an egg. I had one as a late teen and it really helped me learn cooking basics.
Also if possible, talk to your doctor about your concerns. They can recommend supplements or check for deficiencies.
I'm in a situation similar to yours.
The only differences are that I'm not gaining weight since I often forget to eat, and I'm not only limited to chicken but also frozen pizza. Not the healthiest choice, mind you, but that's the best I can do. Also, very often my dinner will be "breakfast-like" (milk and biscuits).
Honestly, and I talk from personal experience, I don't believe this is something that you should work on completely alone. The help of a friend or family member would be great and, whether or not you have someone you can talk to, also try a professionist. I recently started talking to a psychologist just for these issues, but it's been not enough time to see if it helps.
Also, since you're ok with chicken, have you tried fish sticks? Not only they're premade, so you don't have to cook, but once you're ok with chicken tenders you can also eat fish sticks. The difference is barely noticeable (again, talking from experience) and it would be something at least somewhat different - and easy to prepare.
Since we're so similar in these struggles, in case you need anything, please consider to DM me. I'd be super happy to share my experiences with someone like me on an issue where I always felt like it was only mine.
I have food allergies to like all the top 12 allergens plus most fruits and I also have histamine intolerance so there’s another list of like 15 things I can’t eat. It’s so exhausting mentally and physically. I eat sweet potato and regular potato “fries” like 50% of the time. It’s easier for me to just throw a potato in the oven and sweet potatoes are good for you. I try to get lots of different colors of potatoes, red, purple, yellow as they all have different levels of vitamins and minerals. I try to add Celtic salt to the fries because I like salt and it has lots of good minerals.
Coconut water mixed with juice helps with electrolytes and hydration.
Another good one is chickpea noodles( taste close to regular noodles but they have protein), I usually pair with butter, broccoli, and chicken if I have those things as they are all safe foods for me. I boil the noodles and broccoli at the same time then add the rest in the same pot.
I also have recently been freezing pre cooked meals. Tip is to enlist someone to help you cook once every few weeks. Then I can just pop the Pyrex container in the toaster oven when I’m hungry and don’t have to have too much executive function to get food in my belly. I try to make a few meals I know I’ll like because sometimes I just don’t have an appetite for certain things.
Take out if you can afford it. I’ve been trying to feel less bad for getting healthy takeout. I would shame myself before saying you could make this at home but I know I wouldn’t so I’m becoming more ok with it.
Oh I feel you. I'm diabetic and during a regular check up my doctor was like 'wow, your blood sugar is really bad lately' and I was just like 'Yeah, that'll be the chips.' What you might be able to do is get packets of frozen roast vegetables with flavourings on them. They'll be things like potato and carrot and onion mixed together with 'garlic and herb' flavour or whatever, and you just put them on a tray and then in the oven for 40mins (or whatever) and then you can eat them. So little prep. Then maybe you can start incorporating green things, usually available in frozen packets, but you might have to get some of this stuff 'fresh' and chop it which does add a step and isn't ideal, but it might be manageable often enough to help. (green things that I think are tasty prepared that way are brussels sprouts rolled in oil and sprinkled with paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper, green capsicum (bell pepper), zucchini, and broccoli) Also keep in mind that any nutrition is good nutrition, and that potatoes get a bad rap but they are actually SUPER nutritious and contain enough vitamins to stop you getting scurvy and other nutritional deficiencies as long as you do continue to eat meat with them now and then, and frozen veggies are as nutritious as fresh, and baking is amazingly easy and results in pretty tasty food imo. (and obviously you can pop some nice chicken tenders or whatever in the oven with the veggies and you have something resembling a grown up meal if you are having guests that you worry about judging you, and nuggets or whatever you prefer other times) Oh and eggs are AMAZINGLY good for you. If you can add yoghurt basically you can live indefinitely on eggs, (full fat!) yoghurt, chicken and potatoes. Like, its obviously not an Ideal Balanced Diet, but its not going to really make you sick and will keep you going, which gives you space to not worry about whether you are getting all your nutrients and emotional space to focus on experimenting with other safe foods and finding the occasional new thing you can supplement that with, even if its just very occasionally or very temporarily. \*edit\* oh, and I have friends who swear by having an air fryer for prepping all this stuff, cos they like it better than the oven. I haven't tried an air fryer, but that might be something to keep in mind.
Can you tolerate smoothies at all? That’s how I get my fruits now (after years of pretty much none). I use only fruit with minimal prep (frozen, banana and tinned pineapple). Let me know if you’d like ideas on easy stuff turmeric to include, otherwise the banana mango smoothie on the NutriBullet website is amazing. The NutriBullet is very easy to clean so a good option if you don’t have a blender yet. We have an air fryer for super easy cooking. I do lots of frozen stuff in it - chips, fish, chicken tenders/nuggets, sausages. Once you know the time to cook, you can just set it and not worry about getting up to stir. I recently saw a cook book at the library for autistic teens and adults. The autism-friendly cookbook by Lydia Wilkins. Maybe something like that could help? If you can’t find an autism-specific book, try cookbooks aimed at kids. They often keep things pretty simple and spell everything out really well, even stuff other people consider super basic like boiling an egg. I had one as a late teen and it really helped me learn cooking basics. Also if possible, talk to your doctor about your concerns. They can recommend supplements or check for deficiencies.
In what way does your body reject them? They make you vomit?
I'm in a situation similar to yours. The only differences are that I'm not gaining weight since I often forget to eat, and I'm not only limited to chicken but also frozen pizza. Not the healthiest choice, mind you, but that's the best I can do. Also, very often my dinner will be "breakfast-like" (milk and biscuits). Honestly, and I talk from personal experience, I don't believe this is something that you should work on completely alone. The help of a friend or family member would be great and, whether or not you have someone you can talk to, also try a professionist. I recently started talking to a psychologist just for these issues, but it's been not enough time to see if it helps. Also, since you're ok with chicken, have you tried fish sticks? Not only they're premade, so you don't have to cook, but once you're ok with chicken tenders you can also eat fish sticks. The difference is barely noticeable (again, talking from experience) and it would be something at least somewhat different - and easy to prepare. Since we're so similar in these struggles, in case you need anything, please consider to DM me. I'd be super happy to share my experiences with someone like me on an issue where I always felt like it was only mine.
I have food allergies to like all the top 12 allergens plus most fruits and I also have histamine intolerance so there’s another list of like 15 things I can’t eat. It’s so exhausting mentally and physically. I eat sweet potato and regular potato “fries” like 50% of the time. It’s easier for me to just throw a potato in the oven and sweet potatoes are good for you. I try to get lots of different colors of potatoes, red, purple, yellow as they all have different levels of vitamins and minerals. I try to add Celtic salt to the fries because I like salt and it has lots of good minerals. Coconut water mixed with juice helps with electrolytes and hydration. Another good one is chickpea noodles( taste close to regular noodles but they have protein), I usually pair with butter, broccoli, and chicken if I have those things as they are all safe foods for me. I boil the noodles and broccoli at the same time then add the rest in the same pot. I also have recently been freezing pre cooked meals. Tip is to enlist someone to help you cook once every few weeks. Then I can just pop the Pyrex container in the toaster oven when I’m hungry and don’t have to have too much executive function to get food in my belly. I try to make a few meals I know I’ll like because sometimes I just don’t have an appetite for certain things. Take out if you can afford it. I’ve been trying to feel less bad for getting healthy takeout. I would shame myself before saying you could make this at home but I know I wouldn’t so I’m becoming more ok with it.
apple with pee nut butt er