Stimming with Food

[Warmheart]

I think I stim with the sensory input from certain foods. I don't eat much in general However, sometimes I will enjoy noshing something that I find both intensely stimulating and that also provides a whoosh of calm.

Examples of enjoyably intense taste for me would be:
ginger (I put a ginormous amount in my green tea-- so much that nobody else can take a sip of it! )
cranberry sauce/juice/raw cranberries
fresh limes
the type of Lorraine swiss cheese that hurts your gums.

Sensory thrill and calm also comes from food textures, too.
I avoid gooshy chewy stuff like clams, calamari, mushrooms.

Examples of textures I find stimulating and calming are usually crunchy, such as
raw carrots (very calming)
celery
apple
thin, snappy rice crackers

What about you? Do you stim with food?

 

[Rayner]

I like ritz crackers, chewy granola bars and chocolate. I think that may be swimming or I just could like those foods. I'm not sure witch?

 

[wanderer03]

I think I stim with the sensory input from certain foods. I don't eat much in general However, sometimes I will enjoy noshing something that I find both intensely stimulating and that also provides a whoosh of calm.

Examples of enjoyably intense taste for me would be:
ginger (I put a ginormous amount in my green tea-- so much that nobody else can take a sip of it! )
cranberry sauce/juice/raw cranberries
fresh limes
the type of Lorraine swiss cheese that hurts your gums.

Sensory thrill and calm also comes from food textures, too.
I avoid gooshy chewy stuff like clams, calamari, mushrooms.

Examples of textures I find stimulating and calming are usually crunchy, such as
raw carrots (very calming)
celery
apple
thin, snappy rice crackers

What about you? Do you stim with food?

You hit on something, Warmheart. This might be a reason that I am so overweight. My food stim would be spicy, boneless buffalo wings. I find the hot peppers very calming. I like the texture of the fried chicken too. Other foods accomplish similar sebsations.

Wow! I feel as if you've given me an epiphany. If I could find something else to replace this, it would be better for my health. I cannot think of anything else that I do that might be considered stimming. I'll have to ask a family member.

Thank you for sharing this! [emoji16]

 

[Warmheart]

Raymer, I used to looove Ritz crackers! Alas, I'm gluten-free now, so I've switched from buttery Ritz to snappy rice crackers, a sensory thrill of the textural rather than taste variety.

Wanderer, here are other ways to meet sensory need:
Deep pressure: Buy a weighted blanket. SensaCalm has good ones! Many ASD adults live alone, so we don't get hugs or other forms of deep pressure. Sleeping under a weighted blanket brings tons of relief from anxiety.
A weighted lap pad is good for when you're watching TV, reading, or online here at the computer.
Kinesthetic sensory input: Get a therapeutic stretchy band, and have a good time enjoying stretching it! I've got a blue one from my old OT. I can stretch it 50 times rapidly. It gives me a whooooosssshhh-calming feel to my brain, and makes executive functioning better, if I do this every day. It takes about 3 minutes to stretch it rapidly 50 times.
Get a doorway chin-up bar, and hang straight-armed down from it to stretch out those elbow and wrist and shoulder joints. The hanging down gives these joints a real pull sensation, very rewarding kinesthetic input for the brain to ease our dysregulation and calm us.
Vestibular sensory input: Swing on a swing at a local playground 3 times per week. This makes a HUGE difference in lowering my sensiory sensitivities, emotional dysregulation, and improving executive functioning.
Proprioceptive sensory input: Carry a backpack when you go grocery shopping or run errands. Put a 5 lb bag of rice in it. This is both alerting and calming for us, as our brains get the proprioceptive input they're craving.
Get a mini-trampoline (some even come with a bar you can hold onto), and JUMP on it at home, 3 times per week, or daily if you like. Relief can be felt soon, if not right away after your jumping session.

As far as food goes, thanks for remembering spicy stuff. I love speckled pain cheese stripes! (Pepperjack cheese sticks) They mix the comfy feeling of cheese with the zingy-zangy-zesty-yowy of the peppers!

 

[watersprite]

Favorite stim foods
1. Very hot tea,
2. also love lots of ginger in tea and in foods,
3. hot chili pepper in food and hot chili or cayenne in thick, Belgian or Spanish style hot chocolate,
4. cold very fresh crunchy salads

Warmheart That is interesting you mentioned putting the heavy rice in the backpack. On dayhikes instead of carrying a minimum - I prefer having a small pack with 10 or so pounds in there, it absolutely calms me down and imparts a smooth peaceful sensation while walking.

 

[Astroganga]

Coke, the drink. Unfortunately. I have a serious addiction and always have done. The caffeine in it doesn't really have an effect either way, but the drink always calms me down. There have been times where I have drunk 4-6 litres a day, at the moment I am having about a litre a day. Surprisingly my teeth are fine but my gums are not in great shape. The longest I have managed to quit for is three months, but as soon as some kind of crisis pops up, I start again.

The other one I have is I have to have Mexican or Colombian hot sauce on pretty much anything savoury. If I don't, eating feels like an ordeal to me as the food just tastes boring.

 

[Datura]

• Peas: I like to take them one by one and pop them in my mouth.
• Chick Peas: I will take one and carefully peel off the skin with my tongue, then I split it in half before chewing
• Cheeze: Before I put it in my mouth I like to role cheeze into little balls. This gives it a creamy texture and releases more of the flavor. I then press it against my pallet and let it melt in my mouth.
• Malt Balls: I role them around in my mouth, disolving the outer chocolate coating. Then I press it against the roof of my mouth and feel as all of the little air bubble collapse while it disolves.
• Spice: The spice is life! I love hot food and will even put hot sause on my mashed potatoes. I also grew some hot peppers that nobody else in my house will eat. I would prefer to cook with them, but I just crush them up and sprinkle them on my food instead.
• Dill Pickles: 1. Bite off the end. 2. Eat the soft flesh at the end of the pickle. 3. Nibble off the skin at the hollowed out end of the pickle. 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 untill pickle is gone.
• Apples: I eat a parimeter around the equator of the apple, clockwise. Then I bite off chunks along the bottom of the apple, counterclockwise. I then flip the apple upside down and bite off chunks counterclockwise. Finally I eat any remaing flesh around the core, clockwise.

 

[Robin Winter]

I realize this post is several years old, but a google search is what led me to find this forum, because of this post. I was curious if some of my foodie favorites, the ones I really react to in an almost emotional way, would be considered stimming. I'm sure I have an exhaustive list, food is a big thing for me, but for sure extremely spicy food, it does something for me that I can't explain, and cheesecake. Really good cheesecake makes my whole body tingle, it's such an experience for me.

 

[Full Steam]

Food is one of my main stims, and the hardest to control.

For me its mostly crunchy stuff, so I guess it's a jaw pressure thing, plus maybe the sound.

Nuts are my favourite, but they are high in free glutamate which causes worsening adhd.
Crackers with cheese, and maybe pickle on top.
Crunchy, gluten free toast.

Food like that has a very fast, meditative effect on me, but I can lose control and eat a large amount, past the point .feeling queasy

I think wine and beer might as well, especially very strong tastes, like big reds and happy beers, but that's hard to say for sure due to the alcohol effect, which also calms adhd. It boosts dopamine, and blocks glutamate at the receptor.

I wish it were ginger tea instead.

 

[Full Steam]

I realize this post is several years old, but a google search is what led me to find this forum, because of this post. I was curious if some of my foodie favorites, the ones I really react to in an almost emotional way, would be considered stimming. I'm sure I have an exhaustive list, food is a big thing for me, but for sure extremely spicy food, it does something for me that I can't explain, and cheesecake. Really good cheesecake makes my whole body tingle, it's such an experience for me.

There's another thread kicking about that I started I think.

 

[baer]

New to this. I enjoy food that has one singular taste - it cannot be mixed with other flavours. For example, marmite, sushi with soy, plain casava chips

 

[tlc]

I like the feeling of eating a bunch of blue container Altoids at once. I keep them on hand because they settle my stomach, but I just like eating them anyway. I will eat 1, 2, 3, or 4 at a time depending on how strong I want them. But I also have to look at the date on the package when I buy them, and learn where those are carried. The freshest ones are dated a year or two in advance. It seems they get weaker the longer they sit on the shelf, and I've got some dated maybe 6 months ahead that were really weak and unsatisfying.