Meet the man who has lived his entire life terrified of most foods – but remains adamant he isn’t embarrassed by his condition.
Andrew Luber knew nothing different when it came to his relationship with food as he constantly struggled to deal with many kinds of foods.
While his biggest food fear came in the form of a banana, he attempted to conquer his phobia by trying his biggest food fear.
Andrew, from Los Angeles, California, USA, revealed: “A banana is my biggest fear. It’s the smell, the look, the colour – the idea of it even.
“I have this lingering fear that I’m going to throw up and that my body is just going to completely reject it and it’s always in the back of my mind.
“The textures are just ridiculously horrible, and I just can’t handle it so I’ll spit it out.”
Andrew lives with ARFID (Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder) – a condition where a person struggles to consume a variety of foods.
The screenwriter recalled how his parents endured a difficult time feeding him during his early years as he would constantly reject the meals he was being fed and repeatedly only eat the same meals.
Andrew has learnt to not be afraid to hide his condition and took to social media to help spread awareness about his condition.
He added: “At the beginning of this journey, it was so much harder than it is now.
“I’ve gained confidence through repetition just by continuously doing exposures, I got better at exposing myself.
“It would be in my head a lot; I used to situate myself during middle school lunch for example, I would strategically sit based on where people eat.
“I would go to friends’ houses and might not eat if the parents make stuff that I just can’t even go near. “I would just conceal it really well.
“My friends knew about certain foods like bananas because they were just really bad for me – I couldn’t even be in the same room as them.”
With his biggest food enemy being a banana, Andrew admitted the struggles of going to extreme lengths to avoid being in the same room as the fruit.
Andrew attempted to combat his fear by trying his biggest phobias including a banana and pickles but he was unable to consume the food.
Andrew said: “I found trying the different foods hard, like extremely hard.
“The positive feedback I’ve received does affect me as it makes me want to keep trying.
“It’s very hard – I feel like crying, I just don’t want to do it but I’m putting myself in the position to just do it.”