58. From ARFID to Online Cooking Show: Gia's Story
In this insightful episode of The Nourishing Autism Podcast, Brittyn welcomes Christina Van Ditto, an incredible mom, public speaker, writer, and advocate for neurodiverse families. Christina shares her personal experiences as a mother of two children and her family's journey with ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder).
Her daughter Gia was diagnosed with ARFID and is on the autism spectrum. Join Christina and Brittyn as they discuss the complexities of ARFID beyond extreme picky eating, with roots in severe sensory aversions and anxiety around food. You'll learn how to help your child develop a more positive relationship with food through fun, sensory activities.
Christina and Gia host an amazing baking show called "Baking with the Besties", designed to make food exposure enjoyable and non-threatening for Gia.
You can find Christina on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinavanditto/
Watch Christina and Gia's baking show, Baking with the Besties HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@soulandmindevolution
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TRANSCRIPT
Hi, I'm Brittyn, a Registered Dietitian and autism sibling. I have a passion for helping parents of neurodivergent kids navigate nutrition and wellness for their child, one small step at a time. Here we'll explore practical nutrition tips, learn from top autism experts, break down the newest research, and share inspirational stories that will empower you to utilize nutrition to help your child feel their best and thrive.
Listen in while picking kids up from school, sitting in a therapy waiting room, taking a quick walk or wherever you find yourself, looking for some inspiration and a friend to guide you along this journey. This is Nourishing Autism.
Brittyn: Hey everyone, I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and I'm super excited to dive back into podcast episodes. We took a week off and I just can't wait because this episode I've been waiting for a while to publish and it's going to be a great one. So we're going to go deeper into a diagnosis called ARFID, which stands for Avoidant Restricted Food Intake Disorder.
I covered a little bit about ARFID in a past episode. It was a few episodes back, episode 54. So if you're more interested in ARFID after this episode, and want to go listen [00:02:00] to just what it is, the prevalence of ARFID in autism, that is a great episode to listen to.
Basically, the spark notes are that ARFID is an eating disorder, but it doesn't take into account how you feel about your body. It's more rooted in severe sensory aversions and severe anxiety around food, which can cause kids to really limit their diet to just a few foods.
And we do see a huge uptick of ARFID in autism. Now, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Christina Van Ditto to talk about her family's experience with ARFID. And Christina is a public speaker, a writer, an advocate, leader, and self declared epitome of the modern mom. Christina shares a realistic view of parenting today and models how we can show up regardless of circumstance and live our best lives.
By unapologetically sharing her story as a neurodiverse family, she does her part in normalizing differences. Awareness, acceptance, and support take shape of her S [00:03:00] A M E, SAME Community, a virtual village of folks that respect and celebrate differences and care about everyone's right to participate.
Now, Christina's daughter, Gia, is diagnosed with ARFID, and new foods are very hard for her, but they decided to find a way to introduce new foods in a more fun and non threatening way and that turned into their own online cooking show. I'm excited for you to listen in on this episode and learn more about ARFID and their experience as a family as well as this wholesome story.
Welcome Christina to The Nourishing Autism Podcast.
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the Nourishing Autism Podcast. I'm so excited that you're here. I am sitting here with Christina, and Christina, you are someone that we connected with through Carrie Cariello. And I just love watching your baking show that you put on with your daughter.
And we're going to talk all about that, but I want you to introduce yourself and your family and your connection to [00:04:00] autism.
Christina: Oh, I'd be happy to. My name is Christina and I'm out in the community and I speak publicly. My mission is to bring awareness and acceptance to neurodiversity for families that may have loved ones with medical needs or developmental and neurological differences.
So that takes up a good portion of my time and what I do, but Brittyn, it's what I am that's most important to me, which is a mom.
Brittyn: Absolutely. And you pulled the most supportive mom move this morning. My son's daycare was starting late, and I was emailing you, and you were like, here's my number, it's okay, we're all moms, run late, it's fine. Like, we support each other. And that's, I think, one really special part about being a mom is supporting other moms. But you did that this morning, and we hadn't even met really, yet.
Christina: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really important to not only be flexible [00:05:00] with ourselves, but especially other parents, you know, we're all in this together.
And if we can't support one another, then we all lose. Right? So we need to do that. It's important. It's community building. Right?
Brittyn: Absolutely. Absolutely. So tell me about your kiddos.
Christina: I would love to. I could spend all day, but we won't do that. At home, there's myself and my husband, Fred, and my two kiddos, Anthony.
He is the oldest and he's 13. He made me a mom, and he prepped me for my second kiddo, which is Gia. And she is our little girly who is on the spectrum and she actually turns eight in less than two weeks. So yeah, we are in party planning process, which is huge for us. Birthday parties have been difficult, but We're busy the past month getting ready for basically our first one for her and we have two dogs, two rescue dogs at home.
I always mention them because I work from home and they give me so [00:06:00] much company and they're a huge stress reducer, I swear. But you know, I really, always say I'm a nurturer by nature. So, I never leave out our two dogs, Jambo and Opie.
Brittyn: Oh, cute. Yeah, we have a dog named Charlie and he is totally a huge part of our family.
So I totally, totally get that. That's awesome. Well, so do you have a theme for Gia's party? I'm just curious.
Christina: Yeah, we do. So full disclosure, we did throw her a birthday party when she was three. And at that time, I had a sensory center. So we threw her an arty party because she loves to paint the whole nine yards.
It was not a good experience for her. It was really, really difficult. And that was the last one. We just realized, hey, this isn't for her right now. So we've just kind of let her lead the way. And then this year, she is nearly fully integrated in school. You know, so it's been a big win there.
And she did, she wanted a birthday party. So I actually reached out to her favorite store and they have [00:07:00] been a fantastic partner as far as being, you know, a special needs family just in general. It's Five Below. And I asked them, I said, would you be willing to have Gia's birthday party?
It'd be a shopping party. And of course they open their doors, like literally to me. So we are having a shopping birthday party. All of her guests come, they'll receive a little gift card and we will spend our time shopping together. Very low stress. You know, people can come and go as they wish. We are not singing birthday part, you know, a happy birthday.
That's not for her. We don't need to do any of that. We're going to have a nice little table set up. People can grab their gluten free cupcakes. There won't be a big, you know, birthday cake, all that stuff. We're just really tailoring it to fit her needs. But the theme is shopping. And like I said, I can only do that because we've had a great relationship with our local Five Below store.
Brittyn: That's incredible. And I love [00:08:00] exactly what you're saying. It's so easy as a parent to also have certain expectations for birthday parties and it's like, this is what it is, this is what I wanted as a kid, but then also shifting and be like, no, what is Gia need? What's going to support her? This might look completely different to me, but it's going to be absolutely perfect for her.
So I love you saying that because this is not what the podcast episode is about, but I think a lot of parents will resonate with that. And the changing expectations for birthday parties and other events and how to set that up in a sensory friendly way and it makes everyone just have
so much of a better experience, but maybe it's not the way you would have planned it originally.
Christina: And it changes and it shifts, right? So, you know, your little guy is one and a half and what he would like at two for a birthday party, or if he would like a birthday party, it's going to be so much different as he, you know, grows and kind of, you know, gets a sense of autonomy and so forth.
So I think being flexible there is important, but I always say, if you're stressed as a [00:09:00] caregiver, your kiddos are going to pick up on that, other invitees are going to, you, you can't enjoy yourself and what's the point. So yeah.
Brittyn: Yes, totally. I agree. I think there's something to be said about that with eating too, and we may even get there just naturally with our conversation, but I want to go into that conversation.
You say, you know, Gia's on the autism spectrum, but you also talk a lot about ARFID, and I'm happy to explain ARFID for maybe some listeners who aren't familiar with ARFID, but ARFID stands for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, and a lot of people will just look at ARFID and they're all just like, oh, that's extreme picky eating.
But it's a shame because it's actually so much more than that. And I think that that oversimplifies what it is. And so a lot of times ARFID, yes, it is extreme picky eating. However, there's a lot rooted in anxiety, there can be a lot rooted in sensory issues, even with past trauma with food. There's so many pieces that come together for ARFID.
There's also this adjacent diagnosis [00:10:00] called Pediatric Feeding Disorder, which then also takes into like our ability to physically eat food and other medical conditions and developmental conditions that may affect our ability to eat. So, I wanted to explain that. You're welcome to chime in on that, but I would love for you to share more on your experience with ARFID and Gia's experience.
Christina: I would love to. I love to speak to this because I think there's so many people that don't know about it. And when we don't know about something, you know, then it's hard to accept it and it's hard to normalize it. So I think of Arfid, I'm not sure if you've watched, I relate everything back to children's movies because I'm a mom.
That's what I do all the time. Shrek always says he's layered like an onion. I don't know if you've ever seen Shrek...
Brittyn: I love Shrek. Shrek is one of my favorite movies. My husband and I probably quote it every day. We live in Boulder, so we always say, you know, that's a nice Boulder.
I like that Boulder. You know, donkey. We [00:11:00] say it all the time. Anyway, keep going. I might cut that out.
Christina: Yeah, no, I love it. We're cut from the same cloth. So yeah, I think of ARFID, it's layered like Shrek, like an onion, you know, and it's complex, right? I think eating does, I don't think, I know, eating disorders in general are complex, feeding disorders in general are complex.
I always say ARFID is baffling, right? You really have to deconstruct when you have someone that you love, that is experiencing ARFID, you have to deconstruct it layer by layer by layer, and really the last piece is the ingestion, right? The first layer is redefining that relationship and that experience with food.
So, for Gia, you know, this shows up, ARFID shows up with the fact that she experiences food, she relates to food, different than, you know, many folks. Many [00:12:00] kiddos. And what we might see as enjoyable due to many reasons is not enjoyable. So she manages this by eating one safe food by mouth.
And it has to be brand specific and it has to be presented in a certain way. And she does not use the utensils. And she only drinks water. And again, you know, very specific in the way that it's presented again, this is how she manages her anxiety. And this is how she experiences a part of her autism.
And the rest of her nutrition, thankfully, we received through tube feeding. And that has been the greatest blessing. It has literally saved her life.
Brittyn: Absolutely. And, you know, I talk about this in my podcast, picky eating and autism definitely go hand in hand because we see so many sensory issues and sensory aversions.
But there's increased risk of ARFID, a co diagnosis of ARFID and autism. And so I love [00:13:00] that you're sharing this. I actually don't think I've had anyone come on this show and talk from a personal perspective about ARFID and what that looks like. And I think that I have a lot of people who reach out and they don't know where to go, what to do, and they're feeling really worried about putting in a tube.
And oftentimes that is like, THE best thing that you can do for them while you're working on also increasing their comfort around food, which I want to talk more about with you because you do this in a really cool way. But I think that a lot of people get really worried about that.
I mean, I didn't send this question to you to answer, but would you mind sharing your experience about what that decision looked like for you all?
Christina: It was a moment that it sadly became like an emergent moment. You know, as a mom, I was concerned and I spoke to my pediatrician. I mean, this is kind of like a story that Brittyn, I'm sure you hear over and over again.
So we came to a moment [00:14:00] when it was really crucial and you know, we were sent up to the ED to have an NG placed. We knew it was the right moment because she had, when you're becoming malnutritioned, I always think of this like, think of like when you're really sick, you know, when you have the flu or something, you don't want to eat even the foods that you do like.
You don't want to drink even what you do like, right? You're just so sick. And Gia's body had gotten to that point. So she had only had two or three safe foods at this point. We were already seeing a specialist for it. But, she became so malnutritioned that eating in general became something that she wasn't as interested in.
And she wasn't meeting her needs as far as fluid intake. So our GI doctor said it to me like this, I think this really made sense to me was that we were prepping and priming her body to be able to eat. And that made a lot of sense Brittyn, because if you're sick and you're unwell, you're not going to [00:15:00] be motivated to try something new, let alone motivated to eat what does feel good to you.
And of course it reduced the anxieties of, oh my gosh, we have to hurry up and get her to eat. We don't have to worry about that now. Now we can really focus on pulling back those layers, right, those onion layers, so that we can look at her life and the long scope of building a good relationship and skills and experiences around eating.
Brittyn: And one thing that you said earlier is kids also feel our anxiety around food, and of course you feel anxious because you want her to eat food, you want her to get those nutrients, and when you're in that kind of situation where she has to eat something, she has to eat something. That anxiety also, and it's not something we can control because we want that for our kids.
The fact that what you're explaining right now is that you're able to relax in it. You're able to really take intentional movements with her. And also as a [00:16:00] parent, being able to have your stress go down. Is a huge thing because when we're running on that high drive of high stress all the time, we can't be our best self.
We can't be our best parent. And so, just wanted to bring it back to what you had said, because I can tell the shift that that made for you all now, the way that you can approach food is completely different.
Christina: It is, and it's important, you know, because when you're trying to reduce her anxieties around food, you know, you need to model that, right?
And there's a lot of sentiment around parents and their role and that they are enabling maybe some of these, like ARFID or other selective eating and that is something that is particularly frustrating for me as a parent and I think that that's really dangerous and damaging kind of information to put out there, but it doesn't help.
I think that's why because it doesn't help move us forward. So I would say that the tube feeding has been a wonderful, wonderful [00:17:00] blessing. She has cognitively and developmentally made all the gains that she needs so that's been a great reward as well. But yeah, you know, anxieties are down all across, all across the table, pun intended.
Brittyn: Right, exactly. I want you to share what you do to expose Gia to food in a fun way that's going to decrease anxiety around food, increase comfort, because it is so unique and so cool. So tell us about it.
Christina: I would love to. I'd love to. So, Gia did do her best with feeding therapy and we had a wonderful feeding therapist and it wasn't just one, it was a total comprehensive kind of team. But with ARFID, you know, it can be super complex and it just, it didn't help. It actually did the opposite, right? So we decided that wasn't going to be our route, but I do prefer or refuse to be disempowered. And that's why I tell all caregivers, do not be disempowered, lean into instinctive parenting.
And [00:18:00] for me, with a background as a dancer and a performer that meant putting on a show. So that's what we do. And we share that publicly. So we have our own baking show. It's called Baking with the Besties. And we put on a performance and we have a lot of fun around food. If you were to watch our earlier videos versus now, flour was difficult for Gia.
Olfactory senses are super, super sensitive. So even flour was just actually overstimulating. And now you see us, we're getting wet and you see all the strategies that I use. We have our custom designed baking hats. They're over the top, but I paint them and decorate them and we just have a blast.
And we put on wings and we put on costumes and we put on a baking show. And Gia has really embraced it. And it's a beautiful way to spread acceptance as well, because you will also notice that in these shows, I don't edit all of [00:19:00] the bad. I think it's really important sometimes to see her grapple and how I deal with that.
And I hope that that gives a strategy. You see her stimming, you hear vocal utterances, you hear it all. But she's made a lot of gains. And, so what I'm doing feels good to both me and it feels good to her. And it's doing everything that I could have asked for and more.
Brittyn: That's so cool. I mean, I talk to families about food play and trying to keep food the least threatening as possible and I think one thing that really helps do that is almost just take the focus off of eating the food or anything that you have to do with the food.
Just let it be fun. Let it be silly. And oftentimes that's the thing that kind of moves the needle is when we make it fun, but also follow their lead. And so I think it's really cool that you're able to do this because it's, yes, it's a baking show, but it's not about eating the food. It's about [00:20:00] experience to get there.
And there are so many sensory wins along the way that you get to celebrate because you're not just focused on her eating the food.
Christina: I'm not at all focused on it. You know, sometimes I might invite her to take a taste if she is showing that she might be able to put it up next to her mouth. And the invitation has to be there.
I think that's kind of my role is to invite in a non threatening way, in a super supportive way where she knows that there's not going to be a consequence to not, you know, no thanks. You'll hear her say all the time, no, thanks. And that's okay. To the, you know, food play part, sometimes in some of the episodes Gia has had a hard time or she's disinterested and I've used her toys to build interest into it, we stick them in the food items and she builds on it.
So the last part, I always say is the ingestion part.
Brittyn: Yeah. And I think it's so easy to want to focus on eating because we're taught that's the [00:21:00] ultimate win is eating. But we can't get there if we don't work kind of backwards. We have to work on seeing it and being able to look at it and then touching it, which is a whole other sensory experience, smelling it, tasting it.
All of these steps have to come first, and we use them as building blocks. And so when we can take our focus off that final product of eating it, then we get to see all of these other wins. And I think, oftentimes, parents are missing out on all these little wins because we have our full focus on eating.
So we don't get to see, oh my gosh, my child just smelled a new food for the first time, or they just touched something they would have never touched a month or two ago and we lose out on that when we have our eyes just set on eating and so whether a child has ARFID or not and they are limited in the foods that they'll eat, I still think that we shouldn't be so focused on pushing eating food, and so much more about what is that food, like the sensory experience of it, what [00:22:00] purpose does it serve, does it make us feel good at the end of the day, is something we could eventually talk about, but, I think the sensory experience is really, really important for kids, and if we miss that, we miss a lot.
Christina: Yeah, and we can't omit the sensory piece at all. We are sensory beings, right? And it looks different for each one of us. I think that's important to know, what is your kiddo's sensory profile? And chances are, often that sensory profile might be something relatable to another sibling or to mom and dad.
And you might be like, oh, that's funny because I feel that same way sometimes, or I remember feeling that way as a child. So it is relatable in that sense. But yeah, the sensory piece is important. I think it's important also that school of thought, you know, the "we have to eat it", you know, and that's something that caregivers are kind of told as well.
Like, well, what's the final goal here? And I think if we can switch that thought around and to what you said, celebrate those small wins, then we are setting up for a positive neuro association with food [00:23:00] that's going to be lifelong.
Brittyn: Yes. That's the key. That's the really important part, for sure, is being able to build that positive relationship with food, because we could make a child eat a food.
I never, never will. That's going to work in the moment, and it's going to backfire majorly long term, but when we can build those small associations, or those positive experiences with food, and, you know, continually build that, you're setting them up for success, and when they're teenagers, when they're adults, like being able to experience foods that maybe don't align with their sensory needs and they're able to kind of say, you know, this doesn't suit my sensory needs.
Like also kind of teaching them to advocate for themselves in the moment. So there's a lot that you're doing helping her identify those and follow an approach that works for her. So it really ends up being so much more than just a baking show, which is cool as is. But you're doing a lot of work to also set her up for success in the future too.[00:24:00]
Christina: Mm-Hmm. And a big piece of Gia's ARFID, and as far as how she experiences her autism is through her cognitive inflexibility and that directly impacts her experience with food, right? I think I just mentioned everything has to be brand specific and presented in a specific way.
So if you have a kiddo that will only drink out of a certain cup, so forth, that's how she manages her anxiety, but it goes beyond food, right? It's part of her everyday experience. It's what she wears and the way that she gets in the car and so forth. One time she was in a shirt for three months and this was when I was new and I've reached out for help, you know, like, how do I get past this for her, with her and there was no help to be found.
So, the fashion is a huge part of the baking show because that is another way to encourage her to be flexible in a very fun way.
Brittyn: Totally. You know, recently I actually interviewed, her name's Julia DeNey, and she [00:25:00] created this line and it's called Sensational You, it's literally a sensory friendly line for kids with sensory processing disorder and autism and she talks about all that.
It's really interesting but I love that you bring that into your show because I also talk about a sensory bucket oftentimes. It's like food is so sensory oriented, but also what's going on in the background? Do we have tags in our shirt and things that are bothering us? Noise blaring in the background, that's all going to influence our ability to expose ourselves to new sensory characteristics of food.
And so I love that you're kind of thinking through that as well. So you were just talking about when you first got started here. Do you have any advice for parents who are navigating ARFID and are maybe at an earlier stage than you? What is some advice that you would give to a parent who is trying to figure it out right now?
Christina: I will give the advice that I wish someone had given me, which is do [00:26:00] not be disempowered, right? Lean into instinctual parenting. So that's what speaks to you and what works for you. You know, when Gia was very young and we were early in our diagnosis and in our way of being a neurodivergent family,
I put on many hats. I think a lot of caregivers do. You know, you're going to be a therapist and all these things, right? Advocate and so forth. And finally, one day it just dawned on me. I was miserable. She was miserable. The whole deal. I had to take off those hats and I had to just be mom, not that I couldn't carry over, but the carryover at home had to be natural and it had to be instinctual to me.
So if you're early in the diagnosis or not, you know, maybe you're just kind of at a standstill with it. I would say, this is just a hiccup. Right? Think of the long term. You're not in a race. This is the long [00:27:00] term of your loved one's life. And just lean into what works for you.
If it's getting in the kitchen, if it's getting messy. Do that. If it's play, do that. If it's, maybe it doesn't have to do with food, maybe it has to do with different sensory experiences that you feel like you can support your loved one with, then do that. But I always advocate, get your kiddos in the kitchen.
Right. And it doesn't have to look perfect. Right. We make messes. And it doesn't have to be dinner, and it doesn't have to be dessert. It could be anytime. I invite you to slap butter on my bread. You know what I mean? It doesn't have to be a big show. It can just be part of your everyday life and having fun and modeling that food is nice.
You know, food is enjoyable. This tastes so good. Be sure to model that and make mealtime, not just mealtime, just time around food, stress free, so that's something that you want to think about too. But again, just lean into what works for you. Don't be disempowered and just remember, [00:28:00] food is positive and just model that for your loved ones.
Brittyn: Yeah, that's amazing. I think another really important thing is being able to connect with like minded people like you online. I think it probably gives parents a lot of hope to be able to see, oh, she's doing it. This is what I can physically see what she's doing and I can do that too at home.
So I think that you provide a really powerful experience for parents, but I mean, this is for Gia too. So it's just really cool that you're able to do that because I think that it helps parents be like, this can be silly. It can be fun. It doesn't have to be like sit in a room and do feeding therapy.
It can look different for our family and I can do that too. So, a big thanks to you for making it look doable for a lot of parents.
Christina: Thank you.
Brittyn: Well, where can people watch the baking show? Where can they find you? Where can they connect with you? Tell us all the things.
Christina: So you can find me [00:29:00] on all the socials.
You can find me on Facebook. You can find me on Insta and you can find me on YouTube. Facebook, Gia and I go live once a month. So if you want to bake with us live, we invite families to do that. That's fairly new. So we typically do that on like a Saturday morning. I'll post it out there. I also share a lot of posts and blogs on Facebook and so forth. Insta you find some, you know, behind the scenes kind of snapshots of our life. And then YouTube is where you will find our Baking with the Besties episode. So we actually have one that will be dropping this Friday. So you want to subscribe if you want to catch that. And we invite folks to bake with us all the time and have just as much fun.
So if you are an ARFID family, feel free to go ahead and bake with us. And always, I'm available email. If you have any questions, I consider myself to be a resource as well.
Brittyn: Absolutely. Well, I will be sure to drop [00:30:00] all of those links in the show notes so people can easily find you. And I'm excited to see your future episodes as well.
That's so cool that you go live. I really love that.
Christina: Yeah. Yeah, we do that once a month. Like I said, it's fairly new and it's unedited, so, that is a big part of it. But that's a big part of awareness and acceptance is putting neurodiversity out there in a way that no one needs to be ashamed of.
Brittyn: Absolutely. Oh, man. This is such a great episode. I've never had someone come on here and talk about this and have such a unique approach to it. So thank you so much for being here. I mean, this is so neat. And I think that you're a really cool resource for parents too to be able, like I said, to see that this is doable.
And to be able to look forward in the journey a little bit and say, okay, we're going to be okay.
Christina: Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for having me on. And it's, it's a wonderful opportunity [00:31:00] to hopefully help some other families out. So I appreciate it and I appreciate you.
Brittyn: Of course. Thank you so much, Christina, for being here.
I appreciate it.
Christina: Thank you.
[00:32:00]
Transcribed by Descript
About Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD
Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD, is a distinguished Registered Dietitian and Autism Nutrition Expert, known for her innovative, sensory-friendly feeding approach to nutrition for children on the autism spectrum. As the founder of the Nourishing Autism Collective, and as an autism sibling herself, Brittyn brings both professional expertise and personal understanding to her work. She empowers families with her expert guidance, helping children receive essential nutrients for optimal health and development. Her strategies are tailored to the unique dietary needs and sensory preferences of each child.
Brittyn's influence extends beyond her membership site through her active social media presence and her popular podcast, 'Nourishing Autism'. Her educational content on Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms has established her as a leading voice in autism nutrition, providing valuable resources, practical advice, and a supportive community for parents and professionals.
