A teenager who only ate chicken nuggets and chips for years has finally been able to develop her diet after seeing a hypnotist.
Rebecca Giddins, 19, spent the past 15 years eating nothing but nuggets and chips, having been living off the beige meal since she was four years old.
She reckons she's scoffed more than 87,000 chicken nuggets in her life so far - her favourite brand being Birds Eye.
But now Rebecca, from Kettering in Northamptonshire, has been able to eat fruit, vegetables, sausage and even cheese for the first time after seeing a hypnotist, having also just started using a knife and fork.
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When she was a toddler, Rebecca lived off Milky Ways, yoghurt and cake before she became hooked on the chicken nuggets.
She said: "For as long as I can remember, I have gagged at the sight of other food - I couldn't even pick it up or pass it to people."
The gymnastic coach has now been able to open up her limited diet after seeing hypnotherapist Felix Economakis.
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She continued: "I was sceptical about hypnosis but so far, it seems to have helped. Since going to my first session last Monday, I have been able to try at least two new foods every day and my goal is to be able to eat a roast dinner.
"The gagging has totally stopped since going which was one of the main reasons I was unable to eat food in the first place.
"It has affected me my whole life; I never went out for meals with my friends and a lot of people don't understand why I can't eat normal food.
"I physically can't pick it up and put it in my mouth without gagging, so I just stuck with finger food and chicken nuggets and chips.
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"My parents would try and feed me other food but I would get extremely upset and refuse to eat."
Rebecca's mum Cheryl, 55, has been trying to encourage her daughter to try new foods her whole life, but has never managed.
Cheryl said: "It has been very difficult over the years; she's always the one that can't eat at any event.
"If she went to a friend's house, we would have to pack her own dinner or ask that they make her chicken nuggets and chips.
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"She couldn't go to a restaurant and if she did, she would only ever eat off the kid's menu.
"When she was younger, we really did try but she just wouldn't eat it. If we tried to force her, she simply wouldn't eat for hours and there was nothing we could do to make her.
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"We now need to train her brain and mouth for all the different textures and tastes she's going to come across; it can take you eating something 20 times before you like the taste."
Cheryl added: "I thought she would grow out of it but people don't understand how intense the situation is.
"If I tried to feed her the same food we were eating, she would refuse to eat for hours and we didn't want her to starve so we ended up giving in and that's how it all came about.
"She would happily not eat for days if we didn't give her what she wanted as she couldn't physically pick the food up; if I asked her to pass me an apple or a bag of potatoes she couldn't do it.
"This has been a long time coming and I hope that she will eventually be able to eat the same kind of food as us."
Featured Image Credit: Caters
Topics: Food, UK News, News, Chicken Nuggets