Food Chaining For ARFID
Food Chaining For ARFID
Food Chaining For ARFID
©2018 Boston Children’s Hospital | Center for Young Women’s Health | Written by Katelyn Castro, MS, RD 1
Steps To Creating Your Own Food Chains
Everyone has different food preferences, so food chains are going to look different for every
person. By working through the steps below with your nutritionist, you can come up a few of
your own food chains to help your body get the nutrients it needs with more food variety.
STEP 1: List 10 foods that you really enjoy eating. If possible, try to choose at least one food
that you like from each food group: grains (ex. bread, pasta, cereal, crackers), proteins (ex.
eggs, chicken, fish, beef, beans), dairy (ex. milk, yogurt, cheese, soy milk), fruits (ex. apple,
strawberries), vegetables (ex. carrots, tomato), and fats (ex. peanut butter, nuts, avocado,
butter)
1. _________________________ 6. _________________________
2. _________________________ 7. _________________________
3. _________________________ 8. _________________________
4. _________________________ 9. _________________________
5. _________________________ 10. ________________________
STEP 2: Based on the foods you listed above, circle your answers to questions below:
What textures do you like? Crunchy – Soft – Hard – Chewy – Lumpy – Smooth
What flavors do you like? Salty – Sweet – Spicy – Tart or Sour
How do you like your favorite foods prepared? Baked – Grilled – Fried – Sautéed
What do you like to eat with your favorite foods? _______________________________
(Examples: butter, cheese, mustard, ketchup, mayo, barbeque sauce, hot sauce, soy sauce,
ranch, hummus, peanut butter, Nutella, honey, jam)
STEP 3: What foods, if any, would you or your family like to try in the future? These could
be foods that you used to like the taste of, foods that your family and friends commonly eat,
or foods that you just are curious about.
__________________________________ __________________________________
__________________________________ __________________________________
__________________________________ __________________________________
What are two new foods you would like to try first?
1. ______________________________ 2. ______________________________
Based on your flavor and texture preferences and favorite condiments, work with your
nutritionist to brainstorm how you can gradually introduce this new food:
©2018 Boston Children’s Hospital | Center for Young Women’s Health | Written by Katelyn Castro, MS, RD 2
Strategies to Help You Along the Way
1. Only introduce one or two new foods at a time: Trying more than that can make
the experience overwhelming and stressful. Always pair new foods with familiar foods.
2. Try new foods during the time of day that you’re most hungry: You’ll be more
open and willing to taste new foods if you have an appetite.
3. Keep track and rate the taste of new foods on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = Don’t like it
yet, 5 = Okay, 10 = Delicious!): Be sure to write down how it was prepared so that you
can experiment with different preparation methods next time if you disliked a food.
4. Try and try again: It can take someone 10 to 20 times to try a food before deciding if
they like the taste of it because taste buds take time to get used to new flavors.
Based on research from a pediatric psychologist, the step-by-step approach outlined below
can help you try new foods by allowing your senses to slowly adapt.
Adapted from Toomey, K. (2002). Preventing and Treating "Food Jags.” The Journal of Pediatric
Nutrition and Development, 100, 2-6.
©2018 Boston Children’s Hospital | Center for Young Women’s Health | Written by Katelyn Castro, MS, RD 3
What Does This Mean For Me?
Take a few minutes to think through the information shared in this handout and answer the
questions listed below:
2. What are one or two new foods that are you interested in experimenting with?
3. When, where, and how will you experiment with this new food?
To Learn More:
Fraker C, Fishbein M, Cox S, Walbert L. Food Chaining: The proven 6-step plan to stop picky
eating, solve feeding problems, and expand your child's diet (2007).
Rowell K, McGlothlin J. Helping Your Child Through Extreme Picky Eating (2015).
©2018 Boston Children’s Hospital | Center for Young Women’s Health | Written by Katelyn Castro, MS, RD 4