Breaking Free of Picky Eating

By Yaara Shimshoni, PhD & Eli R. Lebowitz, PhD

Breaking Free of Picky Eating offers parents and caregivers a compassionate, step-by-step approach to supporting children with severe picky eating and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). The book introduces SPACE-ARFID, a parent-based approach that focuses on changes caregivers can make to their own responses rather than requiring or pressuring a child to eat particular foods.

Through practical exercises, worksheets, and real-life examples, parents learn how to identify accommodations that may unintentionally maintain restrictive eating, restore structure to mealtimes, respond supportively to distress, and gradually encourage greater flexibility around food.