A mother-of-three who was ‘repulsed’ by mayonnaise and found feeding her children vegetables ‘traumatic’ due to a lifetime fear of food was cured in just an hour on Extreme Food Phobics.
Jennifer Miller, 38, from Birmingham, lived predominantly on plain chicken breast and bread as a result of a crippling phobia of eating ‘sloppy food’, which began as a child.
The engineer admitted she had issues weaning her three children because she was unable to touch baby food that looked ‘like sick’ and said she relied on feeding them chips or nuggets from the freezer.
Despite over 30 years of battling her food phobia – which saw half of Jennifer’s daily calorie intake come from white bread – the mum appeared to conquer her demons with the help of specialist hypnotherapist Jackie Fraser.
Jennifer Miller, 38, from Birmingham, appeared on Extreme Food Phobics, desperate for help to avoid passing onto her children the same food phobias that have plagued her all her life
The first step in Jennifer’s rehabilitation was aversion therapy with Anthony Tait, a leading food phobia expert, who took her into a room full to the brim with jars of mayonnaise
‘Ever since I can remember I’ve had an issue with food’, said Jennifer. ‘Having a bad relationship with food is not good, you can go down a dark path.
‘I’m constantly thinking how guilty I feel for my kids, they don’t see me touching food or eating it. I’m scared of vegetables and it sounds unusual but I am scared of them, I’m sweating thinking about it.
‘My role as a mother is to teach my children what’s good in the world what’s bad in the world and if I’m teaching them that vegetables are scary and vegetables are bad, what kind of mother am I?’
Jennifer lived predominantly off plain chicken breast and white bread, confessing that her eating habits mean she has ‘constant fatigue’.
Jennifer was ‘absolutely repulsed’ by mayonnaise because it made her ‘think of pus or an abscess or something infected’
Jennifer said she ‘couldn’t even look’ at the jars, and was unable to pick up the lid of a serving platter that contained a bowl of the condiment
‘I’ve been like it all of my life,’ she went on. ‘I’ve always found my hair doesn’t grow, my nails are brittle.
‘If I could conquer this, this would be life changing and it would change my family’s life as well.’
While chatting to the show’s host, Dr Ranj Singh, she revealed her diet ‘impacts every aspect of her life’ and that she can’t remember ever eating normally.
‘I get really embarrassed because I have the diet of a four-year-old and it wasn’t until I started to have kids I realised how bad it is,’ she said.
Jennifer revealed that she has a phobia of ‘sloppy food’ because of her fear of vomiting, and she is particularly terrified of mayonnaise.
‘It makes me think of pus or an abscess or something infected,’ she said. ‘I’m absolutely repulsed by it.’
Dr Ranj warned the mother that her body was not receiving enough iodine – which regulates metabolism and provides energy – as well as other essential nutrients.
The first step in Jennifer’s rehabilitation was aversion therapy with Anthony Tait, a leading food phobia expert, who took her into a room full to the brim with jars of mayonnaise.
Jennifer said she ‘couldn’t even look’ at the jars, and was unable to pick up the lid of a serving platter that contained a bowl of the condiment.
‘My heart is racing and I don’t really know what to say,’ said Jennifer. ‘I don’t want to look at it, it’s just disgusting.
‘I keep thinking of scenarios, that it’s all over me. It makes me feel almost violated, I don’t think it’s helping they’re right behind me, I just want to get out of here.’
Reflecting on the aversion therapy, Jennifer said: ‘If I could just try new foods and not have that feeling of fear before or during, that would change everything, it would only take that much to improve my life.’
The mum then underwent a hypnotherapy session with expert Jackie, and said her primary goal was being able to chop up vegetables for her children to eat.
Ahead of the session the mum said: ‘The people who judge you and say, “Just try it” and you have a panic attack. I’m not just a fussy eater, this is overwhelming fear.’
Jennifer teared up during the session as Jackie asked her to visualise eating a meal with her family, with the mum saying: ‘It would just be my dream to, as a family, be like, “let’s try that, what does it taste like”.’
Shortly afterwards, Jackie convinced Jennifer to try a grape for the first time in over 30 years, and the mum said while she was still ‘bothered by the texture of the skin’, she wasn’t afraid of the fruit.
After her therapy session, Jennifer and one of her friends were presented with a huge table of different foods, where Jennifer tried both hummus and a burger with mayonnaise in it.
‘I can’t stop smiling,’ said Jennifer. ‘I was crying an hour ago, my motivation for this was my kids. I know now that I can use these tools that I couldn’t have done an hour ago.
Jennifer was convinced to try a grape for the first time for over 30 years, and the mum said while she was still ‘bothered by the texture of the skin’, she wasn’t afraid of the fruit
‘It’s been such an emotional day, because it’s not just about me, it’s about the most important people in the world to me.’
A follow-up visit to the mum’s home revealed that Jennifer had come a long way since her therapy session, regularly preparing vegetables for her three children.
‘It’s been going really well,’ she said. ‘I’ve been trying two or three times a week to eat specifically carrots and parsnips.
‘I didn’t realise that food could make you happy, it’s only been a few weeks so I think this is just the start.’
Extreme Food Phobics will air on Wednesday August, 25th at 8pm on W.
Source: Food Recipes and News
