https://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2012/03/01/is-pickiness-an-eating-disorder/feed/HotAir is the leading conservative blog for breaking news and commentary covering the Biden administration, politics, media, culture, and current elections.en-usTue, 09 Jun 2026 02:46:04 -0400<![CDATA[According to psychiatrist Angela Guarda, director of the Johns Hopkins Eating Disorder Program, while picky eating is commonly associated with children, a handful don’t outgrow it once they hit adolescence. French fries, PB&#038;J sandwiches and other “kid” foods often make up their primary staples, while fruits and vegetables are almost always seen as inedible. As much as they might want to expand their diets, just the smell of a new food can trigger a gag reflex in extreme cases. Guarda thinks the restriction to comfort foods might be found in our evolutionary history, and for some reason those affected with SED don’t outgrow the preferences given at birth. “It’s possible that we have evolved to prefer high- calorie foods and to avoid bitter foods or sour foods in infancy because it’s protective to do so,” she says, explaining that high-calorie foods are used as a survival method, to prepare for times of famine. Bitter foods, like vegetables, are a taste that’s acquired later on to prevent babies from eating potentially poisonous things&#8230;]]>Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:10:39 -0500<![CDATA[Allahpundit]]>https://hotair.com/headlines/2012/03/01/is-pickiness-an-eating-disorder-n90523