It’s easy to look at Summer Monro’s diet and assume she’s just a fussy eater.
But the 25-year-old from Cambridge doesn’t live on chicken nuggets and chips just to be difficult.
Summer has an extreme food phobia known as Arfid – avoidant restrictive food intake disorder.
Her version is so intense that she said she turned down £1,000 in cash to eat a single pea.
Summer believes she began struggling with the illness when she was forced to eat mashed potatoes when she was three.
The triggered an immense fear of fruit and vegetables to the point that she can’t look at fruit without gagging.
The project coordinator has tried therapy twice and hypnotherapy in an attempt to banish her restrictive eating but admits she can’t see herself ever getting over her phobia.
Summer, from Cambridge, said: ‘All I eat is Birds Eye chicken nuggets or crisps.
‘I don’t eat fruit or vegetables. I can’t remember the last time I did, I’d say it was when I was about three.
‘I have tried to try fruit and veg, I tried to eat some apple but I physically can’t. It’s not that I don’t want to try.
‘It just makes me feel sick, there’s a part of my brain that physically won’t let me do it.
‘My granddad obviously wants me to eat more. He offered me a grand to eat one garden pea and I couldn’t do it.
‘I’m really bored, I don’t get excited to eat. It’s worse at lunchtime when people are eating sandwiches and I have a packet of crisps.
‘I just can’t see myself changing. I like the smell of food but if I try to eat it, it makes me physically sick.
‘It puts a lot of pressure on me. My heart tells me I want to eat it but my brain says no. As soon as it touches my lips, I can’t do it.’
Up until the age of three, Summer claims she relished her food and that her phobia began when she was forced to eat mashed potato, the one thing she didn’t like.
Now, each day Summer skips breakfast, has a bag of Walkers crisps for lunch, and eats six to eight Birds Eye chicken nuggets for dinner… and that’s it.
She lives with partner Dean McKnight, 26, and they make two separate meals every day.
If the couple go on date night, Summer is only able to eat a bowl of thin chips.
She hasn’t eaten any fruit or veg in 22 years.
‘Someone forced me to eat mashed potato and that’s where it all started,’ she notes. ‘The things I eat now are crispy or crunchy.
‘I can only eat thin fries and they have to be really crispy. Even when I cook chicken nuggets, I have to make them crispy.’
Despite her restrictive eating, Summer insists she’s healthy – and doesn’t take any vitamins or supplements.
She did, however, struggle last year when she spotted a vein in a chicken nugget, which put her off eating them for three months.
‘A lot of people say they’re surprised that I’m never ill,’ she said. ‘I’m also a very upbeat, happy person and people don’t understand how I’ve got so much energy.
‘It doesn’t affect me physically but it does mentally. I don’t feel lethargic or anything and I’ve had blood tests but they’re all fine.
‘Doctors don’t really understand the condition. When I go to the doctors, they say I’m fine because I’m getting protein from the chicken and I’m not overweight or underweight.’
What is ARFID and how can it be treated?
According to Beat, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a condition when a person avoids certain foods or types of food, having restricted intake in terms of overall amount eaten or both.
A person might be very sensitive to the taste, texture, smell, or appearance of certain types of food, or only able to eat foods at a certain temperature. This can lead to sensory-based avoidance or restriction of intake.
They may have had a distressing experience with food, such as choking or vomiting, or experiencing significant abdominal pain.
Treatment for ARFID is usually best tailored to the needs of the individual.
Most often, treatment can be delivered in an outpatient setting. It commonly involves family-based treatment (for young people), cognitive behavioural therapy, behavioural interventions such as exposure work, and anxiety management training.
Sometimes medication may be suggested, most often to help with anxiety. The person’s physical health should also be monitored and managed, for instance by their GP or a physician or paediatrician.
Treatment may also involve nutritional management through support from a dietician, and help with sensory problems.
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