A WOMAN with a fear of fruits who made her “heart pound” overcomes her phobia after appearing on TV.
Charlie, 33, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, had an apple and banana phobia so bad that she became “really anxious” and says her restricted diet could be especially embarrassing at social occasions like weddings.
She took part in a new show presented by Dr. Ranj Singh moderated and aimed to help people overcome eating anxiety and eat normally.
The nanny told the camera that she was on a “safe” diet of macaroni cheese and chips and hid her aversion to fruits and vegetables so her seven-year-old son would not inherit her fears.
Charlie said, “When I was presented with something new, my heart would pound earlier, I felt a little nauseous, and my throat closed up.
“I just started feeling really, really afraid.
“I used to always find that I ate side dishes or things from the children’s menu. One of the worst things about it was a best friend’s wedding.
“Everyone had this seated meal and enjoyed a beautifully prepared steak dish. I had a baked potato and cheese. It was a little embarrassing.”
Charlie has suffered from food phobia her entire life and was recently diagnosed with preventable restrictive eating disorder (ARFID), a condition in which people eat within a very narrow repertoire of foods.
“Knowing it was a fear of food made it a little easier to deal with,” she says.
“But it was really hard to have the confidence to change – I’ve been like that all my life.”
With the help of expert therapy in the program, Charlie was able to try her greatest fear – bananas – and she has made progress since the cameras stopped rolling.
She has developed a taste for tuna and enjoys meat, including chicken, much to the delight of her husband Alex.
“We went out the other day for my husband’s birthday and there was a buffet,” she said. “I tried a beef dish that I would never have tried before.
“I cooked him a full English breakfast that morning too. I tried bacon, black pudding, and mushrooms.
“My son said he doesn’t like mushrooms, but I told him I was going to try them, so he did too. It was great to be able to lead by example.
“The show completely changed my attitude towards food.”