What is ARFID?
ARFID stands for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. ARFID is characterized by highly selective eating habits, altered feeding patterns or both. Individuals with ARFID are unable to meet their nutritional needs, which can result in low weight, difficulty maintaining appropriate growth and development, nutritional deficiency, dependence on supplements, and/or difficulty functioning in social settings involving food. Individuals with ARFID may have a difficult time meeting their needs because of sensory sensitivity, lack of interest in eating, or fear of aversive consequences with eating.
What is Our Treatment Philosophy?
We believe that we are most effective as just one part of a collaborative, communicative, multidisciplinary team in your comprehensive treatment. We work alongside your primary care physician, therapist and sometimes occupational therapist to ensure that the barriers to eating are clearly understood, any health consequences due to lack of nutrition are avoided, and the plan to ensure that overall needs are met is concisely coordinated with team members.
How a RD can help
- Assess anthropometric data (height / weight) to ensure maintaining appropriate growth and development
- Assess nutrition intake vs nutrition need
- Identify nutritional priority in the introduction of new foods
- Guided food exposures to aid with increasing variety and tolerance of new foods
- Create a balanced meal plan utilizing preferred foods in structure and timing of meals and snacks
- Education regarding the right balance of macro/micronutrients and the role they play in the body
- Dietary supplement recommendations