*MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*
Most people struggle to use a box of corn starch in a month, but one woman's bizarre addiction sees her eat up to 2lb of the thickening agent every day.
Nikki Myles who is profiled in the latest series of TLC's Freaky Eaters, loves corn starch so much, she eats it from the box with a spoon.
The 34-year-old, who consumes up to 3,300 calories a day, reveals in a clip from the show how the addiction first started when she was pregnant 16 years ago. Before long she was eating three boxes a day.
She said: 'Mostly people when they're pregnant will crave pickles and ice cream, things like that, but my craving was corn starch.'
She continued: 'Corn starch is typically used for thickening, baking, but for me, when I buy it, it's strictly for eating it. My mouth always waters for it. it's the best.
'Corn starch is soft, it's very fine. It is so so good, I can't stop eating it.'
She told how she had managed to keep the problem under control, but when her youngest son died four years ago, the addiction spiralled out of control.
'It became an escape for me,' she said, admitting that she even hid the extent of her addiction from her husband, Charles, by hiding stashes of corn starch in sealed plastic bags around her house.
But it appears there was a scientific reason for Mrs Myles bizarre habit, as Freaky Eaters' nutritionist JJ Virgin explains.
She told the Today show: 'She started eating dirt when she was young. She has pica, which is a zinc and iron deficiency. And then it got triggered by her pregnancy.'
Thanks to the help of Ms Virgin and psychotherapist Mike Dow, who also tackled the emotional reasons behind the problem, Mrs Myles life has been transformed since the show.
Ms Virgin revealed: 'She does maybe two spoonfuls of corn starch a day but sometimes none, because she’s filled her life up with other activities. That’s not where she’s going for her comfort anymore.'
But Mrs Myles is just one of a number of case studies in the Freaky Eaters series. Among them is a divorcee hooked on sugar, and a young man who is addicted to pizza.
One of the most compelling is probably the story of Kelly, also 34, who has eaten nothing but cheese-covered potatoes for 30 years.
Her monotonous diet sees her consume around eight potatoes and four cups of cheese each day, amounting to a staggering daily intake of 8,000 calories and 176g of fat.
She admits: 'It's definitely more than food, it's like crack to me. I've got to have it.'
She admits she is embarrassed about the extent of her addiction.
'I won't eat at work, I'll go through a drive thru at lunchtim,' she said. 'I don't really eat in front of other people. I don't really want people to know how much I'm consuming.'
She revealed that she ate other foods as a child, but when she was four, she was forced to eat foods that disagreed with her while staying with relatives.
'Since then,' she said, 'my diet has consisted of cheese and potatoes for probably 30 years.'
So extreme is her habit that she can't stand the smell or even touch most other foods, and has to leave the kitchen when her husband of seven years is cooking for himself.
In one scene he tries to make her eat a vegetable - but she begins gagging before it even touches her lips, and the experiment ends in tears.
'It's traumatic for me,' she explains.
Most people struggle to use a box of corn starch in a month, but one woman's bizarre addiction sees her eat up to 2lb of the thickening agent every day.
Nikki Myles who is profiled in the latest series of TLC's Freaky Eaters, loves corn starch so much, she eats it from the box with a spoon.
The 34-year-old, who consumes up to 3,300 calories a day, reveals in a clip from the show how the addiction first started when she was pregnant 16 years ago. Before long she was eating three boxes a day.
Craving: Nikki Myles who stars in Freaky Eaters, loves corn starch so much, she eats it straight from the box
She continued: 'Corn starch is typically used for thickening, baking, but for me, when I buy it, it's strictly for eating it. My mouth always waters for it. it's the best.
'Corn starch is soft, it's very fine. It is so so good, I can't stop eating it.'
Emotional eating: Mrs Myles addiction worsened after the death of her youngest son"
'It became an escape for me,' she said, admitting that she even hid the extent of her addiction from her husband, Charles, by hiding stashes of corn starch in sealed plastic bags around her house.
But it appears there was a scientific reason for Mrs Myles bizarre habit, as Freaky Eaters' nutritionist JJ Virgin explains.
She told the Today show: 'She started eating dirt when she was young. She has pica, which is a zinc and iron deficiency. And then it got triggered by her pregnancy.'
Thanks to the help of Ms Virgin and psychotherapist Mike Dow, who also tackled the emotional reasons behind the problem, Mrs Myles life has been transformed since the show.
Ms Virgin revealed: 'She does maybe two spoonfuls of corn starch a day but sometimes none, because she’s filled her life up with other activities. That’s not where she’s going for her comfort anymore.'
But Mrs Myles is just one of a number of case studies in the Freaky Eaters series. Among them is a divorcee hooked on sugar, and a young man who is addicted to pizza.
Compelling story: Kelly, 34, has eaten nothing but cheese-covered potatoes for the past 30 years"
Traumatic: In one scene Kelly's husband tries to make her eat a vegetable - but she begins gagging before it even touches her lips, and the experiment ends in tears"
FIVE MORE OF FREAKY EATERS' STRANGEST FOOD ADDICTIONS
TARTAR SAUCE
Freaky Eaters' experts are called in to meet Mysti, who eats 40 gallons of tartar sauce a year.RAW MEAT
The man who eats everything from raw hamburger meat to raw chicken fillets - even when he is told it contains E.coli.LIQUIDS
Whitney is terrified of eating solid food following a traumatic incident in which she almost choked to death.ICE CREAM BARS
A woman eats up to 40 ice cream bars a day.SUGAR
A divorcee discovers that her taste buds have become completely destroyed by her addiction to sugar.She admits: 'It's definitely more than food, it's like crack to me. I've got to have it.'
She admits she is embarrassed about the extent of her addiction.
'I won't eat at work, I'll go through a drive thru at lunchtim,' she said. 'I don't really eat in front of other people. I don't really want people to know how much I'm consuming.'
She revealed that she ate other foods as a child, but when she was four, she was forced to eat foods that disagreed with her while staying with relatives.
'Since then,' she said, 'my diet has consisted of cheese and potatoes for probably 30 years.'
So extreme is her habit that she can't stand the smell or even touch most other foods, and has to leave the kitchen when her husband of seven years is cooking for himself.
In one scene he tries to make her eat a vegetable - but she begins gagging before it even touches her lips, and the experiment ends in tears.
'It's traumatic for me,' she explains.
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