{"id":12819,"date":"2018-10-18T23:20:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T15:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/?p=12819"},"modified":"2021-06-13T01:34:37","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T17:34:37","slug":"picky-eater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I saw somebody make fun of picky eaters on Twitter, and I felt compelled to write about my own experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was like this myself (picky eater) until I enlisted in the army and had no choice but to eat unfamiliar food or starve. Then I decided to teach myself how to food, and it was a very intimate and personal journey. I have a lot of sympathy for picky eaters. It isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Real talk, I was skinny as hell until I taught myself how to eat, and it wasn\u2019t easy. 60kg\/130lbs in the first pic, 85kg\/190lbs now. Wow I used to look almost like I might\u2019ve had an eating disorder. Maybe you could call it an eating\u2026 dysfunction\u2026? It was sad, on retrospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"529\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/visa-weight-gain.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/visa-weight-gain.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/visa-weight-gain-300x132.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/visa-weight-gain-768x339.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/visa-weight-gain-1024x451.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I can\u2019t speak for everyone, but \u201cgrow the fuck up\u201d is kinda rough. I didn\u2019t <em>want<\/em> to be a picky eater. I was just <em>scared<\/em> by food at a subconscious level. Feeling of physical disgust. Would be kinder to invite your friend to help prep food in a non-judgemental environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a picky eater I had no experience in the kitchen. I didn\u2019t know how to crack an egg \ud83d\ude02 I steeled myself by watching lots of beginner cooking vids on YouTube. Those strangers changed my life. It\u2019s the little things. What do you do with your hands\u2026? How do you hold a knife\u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I started by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1034172440610451456\">helping my wife cut vegetables<\/a>. Then I made eggs. Then chicken, and spaghetti, and salmon. I have some \u201ccook\u2019s intuition\u201d now, and can experiment and improvise. Cooking and feeding people is fun! And intimate! And sexy! But I was scared as fuck for 25 years<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My shitty relationship with food was also tied up with my anxiety-induced loss of appetite (which was a problem I didn\u2019t even realize had) &#8211; and I self-medicated my low blood sugar symptoms with cigarettes (many smokers do this unknowingly) and all of this took YEARS to fix<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This thread makes me realize that AGAIN I owe something important in my life to the kindness of Internet strangers, and it only strengthens my conviction that I am going to share all of the things that I wish someone had shared with me<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re a picky eater I recommend watching vids about the history of food, about different cultures, about even say individual spices, coffee, tea, etc. I also recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1022508497362071552\">Somebody Feed Phil<\/a> for a sense of the wholesome promise of good food and friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I saw somebody make fun of picky eaters on Twitter, and I felt compelled to write about my own experiences. I was like this myself (picky eater) until I enlisted in the army and had no choice but to eat unfamiliar food or starve. Then I decided to teach myself how to food, and it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1143],"class_list":["post-12819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unsorted","tag-bestof"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater - @visakanv&#039;s blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater - @visakanv&#039;s blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I saw somebody make fun of picky eaters on Twitter, and I felt compelled to write about my own experiences. I was like this myself (picky eater) until I enlisted in the army and had no choice but to eat unfamiliar food or starve. Then I decided to teach myself how to food, and it [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"@visakanv&#039;s blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-18T15:20:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-12T17:34:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"331\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Visakan Veerasamy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@visakanv\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Visakan Veerasamy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Visakan Veerasamy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b165830fd1623c501696e0c9efc0f\"},\"headline\":\"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-18T15:20:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-12T17:34:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png\",\"keywords\":[\"bestof\"],\"articleSection\":[\"unsorted\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/\",\"name\":\"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater - @visakanv&#039;s blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-18T15:20:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-12T17:34:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b165830fd1623c501696e0c9efc0f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":331},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"@visakanv&#039;s blog\",\"description\":\"Buy my first book FRIENDLY AMBITIOUS NERD today! gum.co\/FANbook\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b165830fd1623c501696e0c9efc0f\",\"name\":\"Visakan Veerasamy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0258044c14d754c4ec19351286486b5cb4b0dbed3927a8e318a3da693d7ea3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0258044c14d754c4ec19351286486b5cb4b0dbed3927a8e318a3da693d7ea3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0258044c14d754c4ec19351286486b5cb4b0dbed3927a8e318a3da693d7ea3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Visakan Veerasamy\"},\"description\":\"@visakanv\",\"sameAs\":[\"instagram.com\/visakanv\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/visakanv\",\"youtube.com\/visakanv\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/author\/visakanv\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater - @visakanv&#039;s blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater - @visakanv&#039;s blog","og_description":"I saw somebody make fun of picky eaters on Twitter, and I felt compelled to write about my own experiences. I was like this myself (picky eater) until I enlisted in the army and had no choice but to eat unfamiliar food or starve. Then I decided to teach myself how to food, and it [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/","og_site_name":"@visakanv&#039;s blog","article_published_time":"2018-10-18T15:20:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-12T17:34:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":331,"url":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Visakan Veerasamy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@visakanv","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Visakan Veerasamy","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/"},"author":{"name":"Visakan Veerasamy","@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b165830fd1623c501696e0c9efc0f"},"headline":"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater","datePublished":"2018-10-18T15:20:32+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-12T17:34:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/"},"wordCount":429,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png","keywords":["bestof"],"articleSection":["unsorted"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/","url":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/","name":"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater - @visakanv&#039;s blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png","datePublished":"2018-10-18T15:20:32+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-12T17:34:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b165830fd1623c501696e0c9efc0f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cooking-e1623519270961.png","width":600,"height":331},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/picky-eater\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\ud83c\udf71 I used to be a picky eater"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/","name":"@visakanv&#039;s blog","description":"Buy my first book FRIENDLY AMBITIOUS NERD today! gum.co\/FANbook","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b165830fd1623c501696e0c9efc0f","name":"Visakan Veerasamy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0258044c14d754c4ec19351286486b5cb4b0dbed3927a8e318a3da693d7ea3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0258044c14d754c4ec19351286486b5cb4b0dbed3927a8e318a3da693d7ea3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb0258044c14d754c4ec19351286486b5cb4b0dbed3927a8e318a3da693d7ea3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Visakan Veerasamy"},"description":"@visakanv","sameAs":["instagram.com\/visakanv","https:\/\/x.com\/visakanv","youtube.com\/visakanv"],"url":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/author\/visakanv\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12819"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13635,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12819\/revisions\/13635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}