One Thursday morning, while I was sitting down with my family for breakfast, a plate of protein pancakes lay before us.

I’m not the biggest fan of food like oats, nuts and peanut butter, so I was a bit hesitant to eat the meal. But after 22 minutes, I built up the courage to gulp it down without puking.

This scenario got me thinking: How do sensitivities affect the food choices of neurodivergent people? 

Well, after doing some research, I found that the hypersensitivities of those with autism can impact their food choices. For example, an autistic individual might avoid a tomato due to its squishy texture. 

In my case, I was hesitant to try oats, and I still despise nuts and peanut butter due to their respective textures. But these sensitivities aren’t just limited to texture. Taste, smell and sight can also be factors in the food choices of those with autism.

This is called food aversion. 

Food aversion isn’t just limited to textures, taste or sight of the food. Some aspects of food aversion can include needing to have specific eating routines at meal times. For example, a person may prefer to eat at a certain time, have the food on a certain plate, eat the food with certain silverware or have a certain brand of food in order to have their meal.

For me, I like to go out to eat once a week, and I strongly prefer homemade macaroni and cheese over the Kraft brand and anything similar to it, mostly due to the taste and texture, which fall hand-in-hand with the routine I like to have.

But this leads to the question of how can we approach food aversions without stressing out neurodivergent individuals?

My suggestion is to be patient with the individual when it comes to approaching food aversions, and urge them to try a new food at least once a week at the dinner table.

If they don’t like it, just let it go. In life, it’s always better to choose your battles. 

However, some may argue that having food aversions means that older neurodivergent individuals might not get a nutritionally balanced diet. So how should we approach that?
A person can still have a balanced diet without having to shove foods they dislike down their throat, both figuratively and literally. For me, while I don’t like tree nuts, peanuts or oats, I’ve been working on having more vegetables, kicking some caffeinated beverages and limiting how much I eat in a single sitting.

The point is you can eat what you want without compromising your sensitivities to certain foods, as long as you’re eating healthy.

So, the next time you see a food that you might be sensitive to, just remember that you don’t have to put it in your body if you don’t want to. It’s all about being healthy in the end.

Kadin McElwain is a junior communications theory major at Kent State. Contact him at [email protected].