Food OCD?

Hello! I’m new here, so I apologize if a post similar to this one has already been written. I did search the forum, but I could have missed it.

Anyway, a little bit of background about me. I first had (troubling) signs of OCD when I was around 11 years old. It started with Harm OCD (directed toward myself). At 11 years old I didn’t really have the ability to distinguish wanting to kill myself from the fear of wanting to kill myself, so I just thought I was suicidal. At some point (I think around the time I turned twelve) my OCD went into “remission.”

About 18 months later it came back full force with scrupulosity, which eventually led back to Harm OCD (directed toward others). I had many of the classic symptoms of both of these types of OCD that I don’t need to divulge here. This was in the late ‘90s and I didn’t really have access to the Webernet, so I never even had an idea that it was OCD. Anyway, you all know where this is leading-endless misery and self-hatred, etc. And that did happen for a while. But I got incredibly lucky. Despite the fact that my OCD was really, really bad at one point I managed to overcome it.

By the time I discovered that all this suffering was a real thing and I was not a psychopath, I had been OCD free for several years. Or so I thought. Because I still have some weird food issues, which is the real thing that I want to ask about. It’s actually really hard to explain. Basically there are certain foods that I will NOT eat, and I don’t really know why. They just really gross me out. But it’s pretty nonsensical.

Some of the main ones include:

Chicken (except boneless/skinless breast and sometimes strips or nuggets)

Any meat that has a bone in it, even if it is removed from the bone. Yes, I realize that this doesn’t make any sense. But if it is bought with a bone, I can’t eat it. Even if someone else removes it for me.

Shrimp

Crustaceans

Bean sprouts (beans are fine though)

Alfredo/white sauces

Tomatoes (unless every bit of seed/gel is removed, preferably by someone else. Although cherry tomatoes are okay sometimes)

Eggs any way besides scrambled or in an omelette

Ranch dressing

Cucumbers/pickles/kiwi/anything with visible seeds (although I can sometimes force them down)

Pretty much anything with green or black seasonings prominent, so like Mrs Grass Soups/Ramen noodles. In a pinch when I "have" to eat something like this so as not to offend someone, I will literally find a way to pick out every single bit, which is very time consuming and embarrassing if I am caught! For some reason this does not include pepper. I LOVE pepper and it doesn’t bother me at all. The more the better!

Sausage that includes fennel seeds.

And the big ones… pizza and spaghetti…because of what I call “the black things” by which I mean the spices.

The weird thing about this is I do not know WHY these things bother me. I don’t think they are dirty, I don’t think they are secretly bugs or anything like that. I don’t think they are contaminated. And I know that they will not make me sick (although the thought of eating them makes me feel sick).
I also am not just finding excuses to avoid foods I don’t like. Without exception I used to like each one of those foods (except maybe crustaceans because I never tried them as a kid). In fact, pizza and spaghetti were two of my most favorite foods. And I WOULD still like them if eating them didn’t gross me out. It’s hard to remember when this all began, but it was right around my first Harm OCD episode.

Anyway, I realize that in comparison with what most of you are dealing with, this is sort of silly. I can (and do) just avoid these foods. And though I occasionally worry that I may no longer be able to eat anything one day, I don’t think that will really happen. However, I have not been able to find anything like this on any of the websites I’ve been on. It is really hard to explain to people why you can’t just order a pizza because no one really gets it. I don’t even get it! And my therapist who I recently started seeing (for much more “normal” unscary types of anxiety) isn’t someone I can ask either. She’s great for the reasons I am seeing her, but she doesn’t really know about OCD. One time I asked her about my long ago harm obsessions and she said it was repressed rage! (Good thing I wasn’t seeing her when I was in that part of my life!)

I apologize for making this so long, but I really would appreciate other’s perspectives. Do you do these things? Or do you know someone who does? Do you think that –given my history- this is actually OCD? Thanks! And take care of yourselves.

I don't know if it is a form of OCD, but I suffer from similar food 'phobias'.
For example:
I cannot eat fruit if it has a produce sticker on it
(I will only eat the bananas from the bunch that don't have stickers)
and I too avoid ranch dressing.

It is really hard to explain, because I love bananas... yet I can't bring myself to eat the ones with stickers, even if somebody else takes them off. Even harder to explain is the panic I feel around Ranch Dressing. I work at a restaurant busing tables, and about a week ago, a server accidentally got ranch dressing on my arm from a dirty plate. I miraculously made it back to the bathroom before going into a state of hysteria. I had to wash off my arm at least 10 times, and even used cleaning chemicals to get it off. For the rest of the night all I could think of was that the stupid salad dressing was still on my arm, and I couldn't calm down until after I got home. I was brought to tears from simply getting the stuff on my lower arm, and I can't even be in the same room when other people eat it. No one seems to understand, and I am so glad to find another person with a similar problem.

There is also a girl from the documentary "Extreme OCD Camp" who can't eat chocolate, or some of her other favorite foods.

I'm glad to know that I'm not alone.