22: What Parents Need to Know About Kids and ARFID with Kevin Jarvis

In this episode of the Can I Have Another Snack? pod, I’m speaking to Kevin Jarvis about Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, or ARFID - a feeding difference that presents differently for different folks but might be characterised by a relatively limited number of preferred foods, sensory processing differences, and fear of eating. It also often intersects with OCD, Autism and other divergent neurotypes. Today we’re discussing the things Kevin wished more caregivers knew about ARFID. Feeding differences are so often framed as ‘picky’ or ‘fussy’ eating and we are handed strategies to ‘fix’ the so-called problems. These feeding therapies — rooted in the medical model of health — can often be traumatic and lead to masking. But what if we viewed feeding differences through the lens of acceptance? How might we be able to better support and accomadate feeding differences? Kevin shares some insight based on their own lived experience - I hope it helps parents and carers of kids with ARFID better understand their experiences. Can I Have Another Snack? is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.We touch on some distressing experiences around ED treatment and trauma in this episode, so please look after yourself and skip this episode if you’re not feeling up to it.Follow Kevin’s work on Instagram here.Join Kevin’s ARFID Peer Support Space on Facebook here.Follow Laura on Instagram here.Subscribe to my newsletter here.Here’s the transcript in full:Kevin Jarvis: And I got a dietician and within 20 minutes of talking to her, she's like, have you ever heard of ARFID? I was like, no. So we like went on a deep dive about that, what that was. I was like, holy shit, like there's a name for something i've been experiencing my whole fucking life. What?INTROLaura Thomas: Hey, and welcome to the Can I Have Another Snack? podcast, where we talk about food, bodies, and identity, especially through the lens of parenting. I'm Laura Thomas, I'm an anti-diet registered nutritionist, and I also write the Can I Have Another Snack newsletter. Today I'm talking to Kevin Jarvis. Kevin, who uses they/them pronouns, is a mad, disabled, and queer artist from so-called Western Massachusetts, located on the Pocomtuc People's Land.Kevin's art and activism speaks to their lived experience with mental health in an unfiltered way. They exhibit a passionate effort towards making the world a more accessible place for everyone, and their lifelong struggle with things like ARFID, chronic illness, and mental illness fuels this passion. When they're not painting, sculpting, making, or building something, they enjoy being at the Nubble Lighthouse, hanging with their cats, Tucker and Potato, which is potentially the best name I've ever heard for a cat, cooking, and getting lost in the woods. So I asked Kevin to come onto the podcast to speak about Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, or ARFID. A lot of you have been asking me for more content around feeding neurodivergent kids, and there's a huge overlap between ARFID and various sensory sensitivities and divergent neurotypes. So I wanted to speak to someone who had some lived experience to talk about the things that they wished more caregivers knew about this feeding difference. We touch on some distressing experiences around eating disorder treatment and trauma so please look after yourself and skip this episode if you're not feeling up to it. Before we get to Kevin, I want to remind you that the Can I Have Another Snack? universe is entirely listener and reader supported. If you get something out of the work we do here, please consider supporting us by becoming a paid subscriber.It's £5 a month or £50 for the year, and as well as getting you loads of cool perks, you help guarantee the sustainability of the newsletter and the podcast. You have a say in the work that we do here, and you help ensure I can keep delivering deeply researched pieces that provide a diet culture-free take on hot nutrition topics like ultra processed foods, the Zoe app and a deep dive on helping kids have a good relationship with sugar. All of those you can find at laurathomas.substack.com and I'll link to them in the show transcript as well so you can find them. And if you're not totally sold yet, then maybe this lovely little review that I got recently will help convince you. So this reader wrote, “I feel so lucky that I found your work around the same time I started feeding my kid real, in inverted commas, food. They mean solid foods! It saved me so much angst and has allowed me to relax and really enjoy seeing him explore eating. Your essay on sugar especially was a game changer. I'm sure it won't always be plain sailing, but I feel much more prepared to ride the waves of his changing appetite and taste as he grows, accepting them as a feature and not a bug. So hopefully he can have a much more relaxed relationship to food than I had ...