can you have executive dysfunction related to food?

[tielan]

I am hungry. I want lunch. But I have sat here for an hour skimming the internet. The prospect of actually making/cooking something feels like too much at this precise moment.

Comments

[raine]

Yes. Do you have anything that doesn't require more effort than say, peeling a lid off or unwrapping a wrapper, like yogurt or a protein bar?

[tielan]

I ended up hauling myself up and making tomato salad.

[alexseanchai]

yes, you absolutely can

the painful irony here is that sometimes the source of the executive dysfunction is not having eaten…

[tielan]

Hm. But I ate this morning. I just didn't feel like prepping anything to eat recently. (I mean, I did in the end, but I just wasn't feeling like doing anything.)

[wpadmirer]

Absolutely. when I freelanced, it happened all the time. I wouldn't cook. I ate a lot of canned soup, because when I finally stopped keeping things in the house I could eat without cooking (trying to make me cook), I found I would finally warm up soup.

[havocthecat]

I'm pretty sure that's why I ordered pizza last night? Totally feel you.

[beatrice_otter]

Oh, sure, food-related stuff is the main place my executive dysfunction kicks in. Cooking takes a SHITTON of decisions and mental effort.

1) what do you want?
2) do you have all the ingredients?
3) if not, do you go to the store (which takes huge amounts of energy and decisions) or do you loop back to step 1 until you find something that sounds good that you have the stuff to make?

That's a lot right there and you haven't even started getting the food yet.

This is why I cook very little and eat a lot of sandwiches, granola bars, fruit, trail mix, yoghurt, canned soup, and frozen dinners.