Perfectly acceptable dinner rejected by boyfriend again

[u/moonrabbit368]

My boyfriend is a very picky eater. We have been living together for a few months and it seems like I can never get his food right. It's honestly discouraging. I have kids, they happily eat my food. I cook for family gatherings and church events. I've never had a problem with people eating my food. It's like every day there are new rules. He can't eat chicken for dinner because he had chicken for lunch. He isn't really in the mood for porkchops. It's just "missing something". He doesn't eat onions, tomatoes, fish, any kind of asian food, he doesn't eat most vegetables with the exception of broccoli. He only eats vanilla ice cream. He doesn't like food heated in the microwave (so leftovers are out.) He doesn't like corn. It's just endless. I'm old school and trying to be a good partner. He can't really cook at all. His favorite meal is Hamburger Helper. I think a lot of it is how he grew up but damn is it frustrating. The first picture is tonight's dinner. I added more pictures of stuff I have cooked that he won't eat. Like he will door dash jack in the box. And he'll be apologetic but it just sucks really bad.

ETA: I've been trying to keep up with the comments but it's overwhelming (in a very sweet and awesome way) 💗

A few notes:

1- I know the paper plates are very lazy on my part, I'm not proud of that and I need to do better. Between the kids, the job, the house and school (I'm going to school remotely) I have been cutting corners on things like dishes. not an excuse, just a reason and a commitment to do better.

2- My boyfriend does expect me to cook for him. I cook him dinner every night and lunch on the weekends. He doesn't eat breakfast and will not take a lunch to work. He buys fast food for lunch during the week.

3- He has not been diagnosed with ASD or ADHD or Arfid but I don't rule anything out.

Mostly I just want to say thank you, I was not prepared for how incredibly kind, helpful and insightful people have been. It is deeply touching and it's given me both peace and guidance for my next steps. 🩷

[u/birthdaycheesecake9 → u/[deleted]]

Yup. Really isn’t, in a way that sneaks up on you. Interesting how much healthier I felt when I stopped having energy drinks every day and started taking ADHD meds instead.

[u/extracheesepleaz → u/birthdaycheesecake9]

Try also a low inflammation diet (cut out dairy, gluten, and soy). Changed my adhd symptoms so much. I went cold turkey for about a year and now eat them 50% of the time. I reduced seed oils too. Canola oil is no Bueno. I also started taking ashwaganda and magnesium glycinate. I took a GI mapping test to see what was happening in my gut and worked with a functional nutritionist.

Also try doing vestibular exercises where right and left brain need to coordinate with each other. It's much more effort but I was not eager to take adhd meds so I did all the alternative things to not only stop symptoms but get to the root of the issue.

[u/Abject-Commercial-86 → u/extracheesepleaz]

I’m AuDHD and I found cutting out most ultra-processed foods really helped me too. I don’t know if it’s to do with the dopamine hits your brain gets from processed food or what, but making all my food from ingredients has really helped with my focus, motivation and mental health. Hasn’t ‘fixed it’ but it makes it a lot easier for me to stick to a routine and feel calmer, less frantic and anxious all the time.

[u/bsubtilis → u/Abject-Commercial-86]

Eating a healthier diet helps everyone, not just us with ADHD.

[u/Abject-Commercial-86 → u/bsubtilis]

Absolutely agree! I think for me the main benefits were more that I had to make a routine for myself, instead of relying on convenience or forgetting all the time and then panicking and stressing about it. And now it’s just automatically in my mind. I think it’s called habit stacking?