The Woodlands Eating Disorders Center, PLLC**adapted from Michel, 2005
Selective eating is a disorder in which an individual will eat only a narrow range of preferred foods (i.e., 10 or less). Other foods are refused and avoided. Attempts to eat new food items are characterized by phobic-like anxiety. There are, however, a group of affected persons with neurodevelopmental problems who do not report or display food-related anxiety. Less severe versions of the illness are more commonly known as food pickiness, choosiness, and faddiness. In experimental studies, the term food neophobia has been used to describe the fear of trying new foods that are unfamiliar.
* *Michel, D. M. (2005). From food neophobia to selective eating: Resistance to trying new foods in children and adults, In P. Swain (Ed.) Eating Disorders: New Research. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science