Picky eating can be disorder

Re: “Psychiatry is an art,” by Edward S. Redshaw, Letters, Jan. 30.

I would have to assume that Edward S. Redshaw has never had the experience of living with a person who has a food or other psychiatric disorder.

It has been proven that everyone has a different number of tastebuds. Those who have more are very taste-sensitive. Those who have an average number are not taste-sensitive. Those who have fewer are taste-insensitive. These would be the people who add lots of salt, spices, etc. to their food to add flavour.

There is a true difference between a “picky eater” and a person with a food disorder, whether it is in the taste, texture or colour of the food.

When a toddler repeatedly vomits while trying to eat a new foods, this could be a sign of a food disorder. Toddlers do not have the ability, nor would they choose, to regurgitate just because they did not like a food.

Something like that happens beyond their mental or bodily control.

Redshaw should walk a mile in the shoes of someone who has a food disorder and this would change his perspective.

Education is the key to understanding psychiatric disorders, which should never be called quirks. This shows a lack of compassion and understanding for anyone with a disorder or mental illness.

C. L. Roberts, Spruce Grove