I only ate CHICKEN NUGGETS FOR 15 YEARS!
Rebecca Giddins, 19, ate the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Please just give it a try, love!’ my loving mum, Cheryl, begged. I was 15, and she’d just whipped up dinner. Being in the kitchen, cooking up a storm, was her happy place.
‘It’s sh and chips night!’ she beamed.
Looking down at the golden fries and battered sh, my stomach turned. I felt like I was going to be sick!
‘At least try some sh, darling,’ Mum coaxed, looking at me encouragingly.
But she knew very well I wouldn’t be eating any of it.
‘I’ll pop some nuggets in the oven for you then,’ she sighed.
‘Thanks, Mum,’ I replied, quietly, a wave of guilt washing over me.
Why am I like this? I thought.
For reasons I couldn’t understand, I’d always hated nearly all food.
Lots of kids are fussy, but this was on a different level.
Mum tried everything to get me to eat balanced meals.
She’d cut up bits of meat and vegies but I’d refuse them.
Even simple things such as party pies or jam sandwiches would send me into a spin.
‘I can’t,’ I’d say.
The thought alone made me gag.
In the end, Mum just gave me what I wanted.
To her, it was better than watching her daughter starve.
As a toddler, I lived off
Milky Way chocolate bars, yoghurt and cake.
But when I was four, somehow my parents convinced me to try something different.
‘You’ll like it, sweetie,’ Mum promised. ‘Kids love chicken nuggets!’
And it turned out they were delicious!
So delicious, in fact, that I simply did away with all other food.
From that point on, I ate only chicken nuggets and hot chips – for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I couldn’t face anything else.
‘Better get a few boxes,’ Mum sighed in the freezer aisle at the supermarket.
Her trolley was full of colourful looking fruits and vegetables.
As I got older, I knew I should be eating those and worried about what all those nuggets and chips were doing to me.
But the thought of trying to chomp into an apple or swallowing a bit of broccoli made me want to throw up.
Sadly, this aversion to food really impacted my social life. People thought I was weird, so it was hard to make friends.
If I was invited to a sleepover, I’d have to take my own meal.
This is so humiliating,
I thought, as the other girls ate pizza and lollies.
I even took chicken nuggets and chips to school for lunch, or bought them
For the first time ever, I had to learn how to use a knife
and fork
from the tuckshop.
And I always just ate them with my ngers.
Becoming a teenager, I fretted about dating.
There was no way I could go to restaurants.
What would the poor bloke think if I ordered nugs and chips from the kids menu?
Turning 18, I felt really down about it all. I didn’t even eat any birthday cake.
Seeing me so fed up, Mum, 55, searched online.
‘What do you think about hypnosis, love?’ she said to me soon after.
‘What on earth are you on about?’ I laughed.
But she’d found a clinical hypnotist called Felix Economakis, who specialised in treating people like me.
‘Shall I make an appointment?’
Mum chirped.
I was sceptical, but didn’t see the harm in trying.
The next week, I was regretting my decision, as I lay on the couch in
Felix’s of ce.
This is just like in the movies, I thought, feeling a bit silly and thinking it would never work.
But as our session started, a feeling of calm washed over me and I slipped into a trance. When Felix woke me up, I felt like I’d been in a deep sleep for years but it had only been 30 minutes.
‘See how you go,’ he smiled. On my
way home, I felt annoyed.
I don’t feel any different!
I scowled.
But that night at dinner, something strange happened.
As I was chowing down on my nuggets and chips, Mum was eating sausages with mashed potato.
‘That looks pretty good,’ I said, my mouth salivating. ‘Would you mind if I had a try of some?’
Mum and my dad, John, fell silent. Mum looked like she was going to cry!
Cutting off a piece of snag, she dipped it into the potato and handed it over.
Slowly, I brought the fork to my mouth - I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d used one!
And my life changed!
This is so tasty, I thought. Over the next few days, my tastebuds came alive.
‘I’m so proud of you!’
Mum beamed, as I tackled a plate of snags and mash.
After 15 years – and more than 87,000 nuggets – I was eating new foods!
I was even enjoying fruits and cheese.
For the rst time ever, I had to learn how to use a knife and fork!
I had three more sessions and, now six months on from the treatment, I’m still taking it slowly while my digestive system gets used to new foods.
Some foods, such as green vegies and seafood, still make me feel ill but
I’m more open to tasting new things.
While chicken nuggets will always have a special place in my heart, I’m so glad
I can now stomach a whole lot more! ●