I struggle to eat because it might make me vomit! Why Emetophobia can lead to a restricted diet.

In this Episode of the Emetophobia-Free podcast, Michelle speaks to Sam who is an ex-emetophobe as well as a Thrive Coach in the United States. The topic today is food, and how an emetophobe’s relationship with food can be very problematic. 

Sam starts off by explaining that because she struggled to eat as a child due to the fear of vomiting, she was deemed ‘failure to thrive’ and was underweight and malnourished. Although she had a group of safety foods, she ‘could’ eat, they were not nutritionally dense enough to provide for her body.

Sam describes it akin to a vicious cycle, where she needed food to survive, however, each time she ate she was creating a lot of anxiety around it and perceiving it as a threat to herself. She worried constantly about whether the food was going to make her vomit and consequently grazed on ‘safe’ foods that kept hunger at bay but was not enough to nourish her.

Michelle has a similar experience with food and shared that even safe foods could become quickly ‘unsafe’ if exposed to certain conditions. One example Michelle gave was when making oven chips (a food on her 'safe' list) there was an unpleasant smells of fertiliser coming from the surrounding fields so she had to throw them all away incase they made her sick.

Although improving Sam’s relationship with food and her nutritional wellness was an important goal, both Michelle and Sam advocate for not using food as a barometer with regard to the Emetophobia-Free journey, instead using feeling calmer, more relaxed, less anxiety and the processing of these emotions, as the barometer of success within the programme. Accepting that if you are feeling overall less stressed, more relaxed and less anxious then the food will come. i.e., it’s great to have specific foods as goals, to be eaten, however, the overall success of the programme actually relies on a generalised understanding of the thought patterns before, during and after eating.

Find out more: https://www.emetophobiafree.org
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Thanks for watching :)

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Emetophobia is the fear of vomiting/sickness: either yourself, other people, or both. Research suggests 0.1 to 8.8% percent of the population have a fear of being sick (Hout & Bouman, 2011). Emetophobia is a debilitating phobia, which significantly impacts your life: sufferers are chronically anxious and go to great lengths to avoid encountering anything sickness-related, which provides temporary relief but often results in a rollercoaster of anxiety, fear and exhaustion. Issues associated with emetophobia include: OCD, eating difficulties, anxiety-related gastric problems, phagophobia, tocophobia and more. Our goal is to raise awareness of this severe phobia and provide a solution for sufferers and their families.

You do not need to live with Emetophobia - you can COMPLETELY overcome it. The Thrive Programme for Emetophobia (also known as Emetophobia-Free) is the single most successful and predictable method for getting rid of your emetophobia. It has helped over 20,000 emetophobes around the world overcome their phobia.

You can study the programme at home by yourself wit...