EATEN UP BY PHOBIA

Most of us associate fussy eating with children. But there are adults whose lives, careers, families – not to mention health – are affected by food issues.

In his new show, Extreme Food Phobics, Dr Ranj meets people at crisis point, many whose problems were made worse by isolation in lockdown.

“Their disordered eating patterns tend to stem from psychological issues that often start in childhood but have become ingrained in adult behaviour,” he says.

“My job is to learn their stories, unpick what their issues are and give them a bit of a reality check on what damage their diet could be doing to their bodies.

“We had everything from people who were addicted to Yorkshire puddings and ate nothing else to people who hadn’t touched fruit and vegetables in 30 years.

“There was a guy who literally just ate meat, somebody else who ate 80 packets of crisps a week and a young 18-year-old chap who somehow survived on chicken nuggets.

“The vast majority of these phobias occur because someone has had a bad experience with a specific food. So they’ve learned to fear that particular food, and then that fear has spilled over.

“It’s usually a psychological issue so psychology-based therapy works well.

“They go to an aversion therapist to find out how bad the issue with that food is and what kind of reaction they have.

“Then a psychological therapist – often a hypnotherapist – helps change their thoughts around trigger foods. Often within four or five hours they’ll go for a final meal with a trusted friend to see if they have beaten their phobia.”

■■Dr Ranj’s Extreme Food Phobics starts August 25 at 8pm on W Channel.