ASD and Eating Disorders?

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Hi, I'm wondering how many of you have problems with eating which are likely tied to ASD?

I have had problems with food since I was little (fussy eating). When I got to be a teenager, I stopped eating throughout the day and would binge at night time, and then as I grew more concerned about body image this morphed into bulimia nervosa, then an addiction to "clean eating", then anorexia nervosa.

I now believe I have ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) which is apparently common with ASD and would explain why I tend to limit food options using dietary labels (veganism, gluten free, sugar free etc). I eat from a very select group of foods prepared in a certain way, and when I try to eat something else I get completely turned off the food (even if it tastes good) and feel physically disgusted as though I am trying to eat rubber or paper. I also hate the feeling of being full so I can't eat anywhere near a normal sized portion.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?

Or do you have ARFID or know anything about it? (New addition in the DSM-5 in 2013)

I've had issues with eating disorders, but I think it has more to do with anxiety and perfectionism than autism. I'm not picky when it comes to food.

I had anorexia as a teenager which morphed into bulimia. Now I have trouble with binge eating. It's a struggle.

I suppose it could be. I don't really have a lot of other trouble with digestive issues.

I just have trouble sensing fullness. I also don't seem to register pain like other people do.

In retrospect I consider it strange (but maybe now knowing I have ASD it makes a cruel sort of sense) that I went through the bulk of my teens with no problems with food whatsoever, until I actually did make some friends and suddenly had the means to socialise. It provoked a whole new breed of anxiety in me, and then of course the controlling behaviours that became bulimia and later anorexia. It was a horrible time, and I think already having had depression since 13 made it easy for them to move in. I'm glad to be healthier in this regard now, but there was a cost. I have a minor issue with chest pains which I didn't have before; I avoid taking Ibuprofen for this reason. Also, mentally, when the anorexia was at it's worst I became so hardwired counting the energy values in foods, it's as though I swallowed an encyclopedia of every value under the sun. These thoughts are really, really compulsive in me, just without the added ugliness of what originally caused them. Going to a restaurant is like going to a mental arithmetic tournament.

I imagine I have some "mild" form of an eating disorder. Out of curiosity, I took an online quiz. It reported: " Your answers suggest that you exhibit behaviors that show an unhealthy relationship with food or poor body image, which could lead to an eating disorder".

I've had eating disorders but I think it came more from about body image and not wanting to be fat so I started to use food for it when I discovered I lost five pounds over the weekend because there wasn't much food to eat there so I kept up the habit and watched the numbers go down on the scale while eating less food and I didn't need to work out to lose weight. Just have less calories. Me and my short cuts. I have always done short cuts. Plus seeing in a Almanac book for kids that if you have more calories than you body needs, you gain and if you have less than your body needs, you lose the pounds. I apparently twisted that fact and took it as if I want to lose weight, just have less calories. Then when I was 18 I would have food and then work out for like an hour to burn off the calories. I had no idea this was all behaviors of an eating disorder and getting comments like "You have good self control" they were unknowingly enabling my eating disorder because they were giving me praises for my behavior and my family being all okay with my working out and burning off my dinner. I wanted to be thin and not fat and I didn't like seeing girls weighing less than me and guys because it would make me feel fat. I sometimes think eating disorders are like OCD because of the compulsion to work out and to withhold food to keep thin or for the need of control. My mother thinks I did this all for control because my life felt chaotic and out of control at home because they weren't following my rules so I went for my body by withholding food from myself. I couldn't be violent and abusive to keep my life under control so I went for my weight so it's like I was doing self harm to myself. But that didn't go away when I moved out.

I have experienced lots of difficulties in this regard over the past eight years. I do have a poor body image, low self-esteem and on occasion, a perfectionist's outlook on life. However, I also like to chew things (sensory understimulation, perhaps?) and struggle to determine when I am full, which has led to obesity in the past.

If I had a social circle, I believe my obsessive thoughts pertaining to food would soon subside. I guess food has become somewhat of an obsession because of boredom, loneliness and trying to control at least one aspect of my life.