Freaky Eaters (2007) s03e05 Episode Script
Addicted to Chips
'23-year-old Brummie Dave Wheatley | lives with his girlfriend Clare.
He's about to embark | on a new life at university, but he's struggling | with a dark secret, a secret smothered in | salt and vinegar.
' Can I just get a portion | of chips, please? 'Dave is addicted to chips.
' My life pretty much | revolves around eating chips.
Just delicious, you know.
Without chips, I wouldn't eat.
It's like a whole bouquet | of flavours.
'Dave's diet consists of chips, chips | and, er, chips 365 days a year for almost 20 years.
' Big French fries - now, | these are absolutely gorgeous.
'And don't even think about | giving him anything else.
' I don't ever eat | fruit or vegetables at all.
I have a problem with the colour | and the smell of the green.
'But now Dave's one-track diet | has finally had its chips.
' It's just stopping me from | living my life to how I want it.
'In Dave's corner | in the fight against chips will be psychologist | Felix Economakis' If your brain is associating feelings of being powerless | or being bullied with certain foods, you're gonna build up | a reaction to that.
'.
.
and nutritionist Charlotte Watts.
' A vitamin is something that | we must have in our diets daily.
Without those, this is what | can happen.
'They've got just four weeks | to reverse a habit of a lifetime.
But will Dave be able | to go the distance?' I feel sick.
I feel a bit sick.
I just really, really, really | want some chips.
WOMAN: You feeling a bit fed up? | Yeah, I'm fed up.
I've done nothing but support you, | and you sit there and say that.
I just lost it and I basically | justjust broke down in a heap on the floor.
(BOTH SOB) I am so desperate to change | just so I can feel normal.
THEME MUSIC 'Dave's eating problems started | at the age of four.
' They all used to | sit round the table, and everyone would have their, | like, piece of carved meat and their broccoli | and their sprouts and things, and I was always last one | to leave the table because I was always told, you know, "Eat what's on your plate - | it's good for you.
" And I really didn't like it.
That's how I got spoke to | when I was younger.
Our mum made the meal, whatever it | was, and we all sat down and ate it.
'Dave's parents divorced | when he was young, so poor Mum got lumbered with | Dave's dodgy diet.
' The compromise for me was | at least I got him to eat something.
OK, it was chips, but I would | make them as healthy as possible and I'd cook them in the oven | so they weren't surrounded in fat, but it was chips with David | or nothing at all.
'Nearly 20 years later, | and Dave still has an aversion to almost all foods | except his beloved chips.
And don't get him started | on the veggies.
' For me, I think I'm really, | really sort of afraid of, like, green foods, or the smell of | green food when you break it open.
Just that whiff gets into you | and I'm just, like, "I really, really | don't want to eat that.
" It smells like the garden, and | I don't want to go into the garden and eat the grass off the floor.
'Girlfriend Clare is committed | to getting him eating green, and it doesn't come much greener | than pasta with pesto.
' No, that really | It just looks really fresh.
It smells really gross, seriously.
| It smells really gross.
I genuinely don't know | what green smells like.
I don't know what it is | that he's smelling.
Just try and just take a bite of it.
Oh, my God! Well done! Oh I actually hate you | a little bit now, Clare.
'Dave's lifelong diet | is starting to take its toll.
Deep-fried spuds, it seems, | are not the food of love.
' I'm 23 and I can't go | to a restaurant with my girlfriend.
We've never been out for a meal.
| I mean, what would he eat? It just wouldn't be an enjoyable | experience for him or me.
It makes me feel ashamed | that I'm not grown-up enough to be able to eat | what everyone else eats, and I really wish that I could.
'Dave not only has to come to terms | with giving up chips, he's also about to face | another huge life change.
' In about a month's time | I'm going off to university, so I'm gonna meet | loads of new people, and I don't want to have to | explain my diet to them.
I don't want to be an outcast | straightaway.
It's just stopping me from | living my life to how I want it.
'But it's not just his social life | that's really concerning Dave.
' I don't feel like | I'm a healthy person inside.
I don't feel like I don't think I think | I feel like I should, you know.
My worry is that | David won't reach his 50s.
He'll have clogged his arteries up | with his appalling diet.
I will be doing | what every parent dreads, and that's burying her child before | he reaches his full potential.
'It's day one | of a month-long dietary makeover.
Dave's in London to meet the experts who'll help him fight | his food fears.
' Hi, Dave.
I'm Felix.
| Hi, guys.
Hi, Felix.
| This is Charlotte.
Hello.
Nice to meet you.
| How are you feeling? A little bit nervous, but I guess | that's to be expected, really.
Other than that, I'm all good.
| Excellent.
Don't worry, you're | in safe hands with us.
If you wanna come this way, | we've got something to show you.
NARRATOR: 'First things first - | messages from family and friends.
' OK, Dave, the next few weeks | are gonna be tough, so we want to show you something that you can use | as a motivational tool.
OK.
| OK? We'll leave you to watch it.
Cool.
PROJECTOR WHIRRS Listen up, fat lad.
| (LAUGHS) What we need you to do is | sort your life out, all right, cos this eating thing's | gonna have to change.
You are gonna end up | pegging it early.
We don't want that at all, and we would really love it if you could stay around | just that little bit longer.
Hi, David, it's Mum.
I'll do whatever it takes | to keep you eating healthier, because my one fear in this life | is that you will not get to my age.
You're not gonna get there | if you carry on with this diet.
I just want you to know | that I love you and I'm really proud of you | for doing this.
I know that you're not | finding it easy and you're quite scared | about what's gonna happen.
It really upsets me to think about | what you might be doing to yourself.
Hopefully things will be OK.
PROJECTOR WHIRRS, SOMBRE MUSIC So, Dave, what's it like for you | to hear those comments? I feel, like, kind of sick | for making them all worry that much and making them all think | that I'm not gonna reach Mum's age.
You know, I make jokes I don't want | to get old and sort of decrepit, but I don't want to die | this early either.
Does that feel quite motivational | for you, then? Yeah.
It just makes me | not want to let them down.
Yeah.
I really don't want | to let everyone down, cos I feel like | I've already sort of done that with the first, like, | 23 years of my life by not eating properly and | sort of making them worry that much.
OK, so, let's go and take a look | at what you are actually eating.
OK.
Let's go.
| OK? 'Felix and Charlotte begin their work | with a nutritional wake-up call that should test | even Dave's devotion to chips.
' (CHUCKLES) So, Dave, what do you think this is? It's a lot of chips.
| Yes, it is.
Well, we've calculated that this is the amount of chips that you eat | over an entire year, which is a staggering | 300kg of chips.
300kg.
That's more than three times | your body weight.
It's mind-boggling.
It makes me feel | a little bit sick, actually, like, just sort of looking at it | and sort of seeing it all.
It's just a bitit's a bit sickly.
The chips aren't | the only thing you're eating.
We've also calculated | the amount of salt that you put on those chips | in an entire year, and it comes to this amount.
That's a lot of salt.
Look at that.
| Ohhh! Eugh.
Are you worried about this amount | of salt going in your body? I think I'm only supposed to have, | like, a pinch of salt a day, and that looks a hell of a lot.
That's a lot of pinching.
| Yeah.
We actually also calculated the amount of oil needed | to fry this amount of chips.
And there we are.
And that's actually | 30 litres of oil.
(GASPS) Now, when you fry that oil, | that oil becomes very damaging, so it's damaging fats | which damage your heart.
I don't even know | where the hell that's going.
I don't want to put that and that | and everything into my body anymore.
I'm done with it, you know? So, what is your goal | for the next four weeks? To just be able to eat normally.
| To not do that.
Not to rely on chips - | just to be able to eat normally and eat fruits and vegetables and actually have | a healthy, balanced diet.
The challenge in the next few weeks is going to get Dave | to try new tastes and new textures.
He has a very limited palate of | foods at the moment.
They're quite childlike foods.
We need to get him to try | new things outside of that range and move him away from chips.
'In four weeks, Dave will face | the ultimate challenge - eating a proper meal with his family | for the first time in 20 years.
' It sounds like a lot to think about.
I just need time to sort of detox | from everything that's going on, just sort of take a step back | and just really think about things.
But nervous about the next few days | and what the future holds, and what's gonna happen, basically.
Yeah.
'Dave's clearly shocked | by what he's seen so far, but Charlotte hasn't finished yet.
There are more home truths to come.
She's arranged for Dave's blood | to be tested by Dr Pixie McKenna, a GP with a special interest | in eating problems.
This morning, Charlotte's | brought Dave to hear the results.
' I'm actually really worried | that the way I've been eating and the fact that | I haven't eaten anything, like, with any vitamins or minerals | in perhaps, like, 10, 20 years has actually really damaged | my health sort of beyond repair.
Really nice to meet you, Dave.
| Hello there.
I'm intrigued to know | how you're feeling at the moment.
Are you feeling fit? | Are you feeling well? I wouldn't say I was fit | and energetic and whatnot.
Like, I'm an energetic person, but I don't really feel like | I have loads of energy.
OK, one of the things | that came up in your blood results was that you are deficient | in a vitamin called vitamin B12.
OK.
Long-term vitamin B12 deficiency can | result in problems with your balance, with your vision, | your hair can fall out, your skin will become | quite washed-out looking.
You'll get cracks round your mouth.
Shall I show you | what you'll look like? Da-na-na-na! That's horrible.
That's ridiculous.
| That's so horrible.
That is really, really horrible.
So, a vitamin is something that | we must have in our diets daily.
Without those we can't function, | and this is what can happen.
You are so deficient | in vitamin B12 that, really, we need to boost your resources | here, now, today.
NARRATOR: 'Vitamin B12 can be found in most meats, fish | and dairy products.
However, you don't find it | in fruit, veg or chips.
The body needs vitamin B12 to create red blood cells | and keep the nervous system happy.
After years | of a monotonous chip diet, Dave's vitamin B12 level is so low that Dr Pixie needs to take immediate | action and give him a boost.
' In a couple of days, | it will become apparent and you will feel so much more | energetic, I so promise.
All right, now, this 'Dave also has | high levels of triglycerides, which basically means | a lot of fat in his blood.
The tube represents | Dave's bloodstream, and Dr Pixie wants to demonstrate how seriously the fat | could be affecting his circulation.
' So, Charlotte's on hand | with some fat.
CHARLOTTE AND DR PIXIE: Ooh! It's clogging up.
| Look at that, Dave.
Can you see that | flowing round in your circulation, blocking the circulation? The circulation may be | to your brain, give you a stroke, to your heart, | give you a heart attack, blood vessels at the back | of your eyes, make you blind, to your kidneys, | giving you kidney failure.
It's a really serious matter.
Good evidence for | getting rid of the chips.
Good thing is you're only 23, which means you've got massive scope | to prevent this happening.
The way you have to do that | is through diet, and we'll go and look at some foods that are gonna help you | prevent this, OK? It's really easy to deny the link | between what you're putting in your body and what is | actually happening inside, and I'm really hoping that | that really clear illustration is gonna make him | motivated to change.
After seeing all that, just feeling a bit depressed | and a bit sad, actually.
It's obviously just, like, not nice knowing that all that's going on | and I've done that, basically.
It's my fault.
Hey, darling.
| CLARE: Baby! So, how did it go? | Oh, today was horrible.
Why? Cos they showed me this absolutely | horrible, horrible, horrible, worst picture ever of me, basically, what I could look like in the future | if I carried on the way I did.
You're gonna have to tell me | if it's, like, upside down.
(LAUGHS) Yes, it's upside down.
That's a horrible, horrible | See, look at ya! It's | It's horrible in all of its Yeah, OK.
Yeah, | it's pretty horrible.
You're never gonna kiss me again.
Not if you get those boils | all round your mouth.
(LAUGHS) See, look? That's all you're gonna | think about now.
I just think that you should | remember that horribleness and just use it and focus on that whenever you feel like | you want chips, or if you feel like | it's really difficult.
Like, don't just ignore it.
| No, I've got I'd rather focus on other things, something that is | a bit more positive.
'Today is Dave's first one-on-one | session with nutritionist Charlotte.
She needs to understand the | full extent of his food problems.
' If there's anything green, | I know I'm gonna, just, like My brain's gonna instantly | start saying, "No, no, no.
" The last thing I'd really | like to see in there is, like, just, like, a big plate of, like, | cold cabbage or broccoli.
Hi, Charlotte.
It's Dave.
DOOR BUZZES 'So, it's time for a taste-off.
' OK, Dave.
We're gonna take this step by step, and I want to find out what | you can manage and what you can't.
So, looking at the table, | what are your first impressions? There's some things that look gross, | lots of things that look gross.
OK.
| Sprouts.
Sprouts.
| Sprouts, broccoli.
No, broccoli.
| Yep, OK.
Cauliflower.
| Why those in particular? Cos I remember eating them as a kid, | and they were horrible then.
You can sort of | smell the chlorophyll in it.
OK, that's an interesting thing.
Can you just grab that plant | closest to you? Now, this is basil.
Can you smell that and | tell me what that smells like? Smells like green.
| It really smells like green.
So you've got blanket "green"? | Yeah.
It's a very pungent smell.
| It really smells like green, though.
That's a really pungent | smell of green to me.
OK.
Let's try the cucumber.
| OK.
Do you want to just grab | a slice of that, actually? It's savoury.
| Yeah.
See, that just reeks of green.
| (BOTH CHUCKLE) (BREATHES DEEPLY) OK, is that seeds in the middle? | Like, is that clear seeds? Like, what are they? | Oh, they're barely, vaguely Yeah.
| I'm gonna avoid those, then.
OK.
OK, did not enjoy that one.
All I could taste was green | all the way through.
Every single crunch of that | was just pure greenness.
What I can say is that that doesn't | mean that you dislike it forever.
OK.
| OK? It takes children about, you know, up to 17 times | to learn to like a food.
'Charlotte then steps it up a gear.
' Let's move on to the big guns.
Let's try some broccoli.
| Cos there's It's SO good for your heart.
But no-one likes broccoli.
| I love broccoli.
Do you want to grab a little bit? Ooh, that IS a little bit.
| Yeah.
(LAUGHS) | Luckily, that bit was right there.
But it just looks like | you shouldn't eat it.
It really doesn't look like someone | should go out there and go, "Mmm, that looks delicious.
" I think, actually, to say that | human beings should not eat plants is proven to be | a bit of a redundant statement.
(CHUCKLES) It just smells like Sunday dinners back when I was, like, | five years old again.
(SNIFFS) It's just | a horrible, horrible smell.
OK.
(BREATHES DEEPLY) I hateI hate you.
| Already, I hate you.
(MUMBLES INDISTINCTLY) (Let's go, let's go.
) (EXHALES) Again, it sort of tastes | exactly how it smelt and just, like, cold green.
I'm trying really hard | to just shut my brain off and just sort of be a bit more | open-minded towards everything.
I think today went | really well for Dave.
It's one thing to try lots | of little amounts of things, though, and it's a different thing to really | incorporate that into a new diet.
The thing that really | sort of stuck out for me, it was the broccoli.
It instantly took me back | to when I was a kid and sort of having that | sort of placed in front of me knowing that I was | gonna have to eat it.
'Dave's back in Birmingham, | and it's day one of a new diet with no chips.
' Good morning.
Morning.
| Do you think we should open it now? Yeah.
'Charlotte sent Dave home | with a hamper filled with food to get him started.
' Open it.
Oh! That looks really good! But there's a thousand | green things in there.
Aw, that's really nice.
| There you go, look.
Do you reckon these are seedless? | Dunno.
I don't know.
| I'm sure they're seedless.
Don't worry.
If there is a seed, | you can just That's OK.
| Dave, did you just eat that grape? So quickly and casually? | Yeah! (LAUGHS) Well done.
It was sweet.
'Charlotte's also sent recipes, tips, and clear instructions | to chuck out the chips.
' Goodbye, curly fries.
'It's time to go cold turkey.
' 'Dave may be off the chips for now, | but in order to keep up the progress, psychologist Felix | needs to understand the root of his eating problems.
' You've been eating mainly chips | for most of your life.
Yep.
And when did this start for you? I can't remember a time | when I wasn't.
I can remember times when | I was really, really little eating but, like, as far | as I can remember back, I've pretty much had chips, | like, all the time.
What I usually find is, let's say | in the course of normal development, we develop an eating pattern, so at some point this normal | progress just got derailed somehow.
Yeah.
And I'm really curious | about what happened at that point that just switched you | to this new track.
I remember my dad used to cut me, | like, Sunday lunches, and I remember, like, growing up, | really not enjoying Sunday lunches.
Like, I didn't enjoy the meat, | I didn't enjoy any of the vegetables.
He was always one of these people | that just said, like, "If you don't have it now, | you'll have it for your tea, and if you don't have it | for your tea, you'll have it for your breakfast.
" And I remember always | hating Sunday dinners, because I would always be | the one left on the table with a plate full of meat and carrots | and vegetables and stuff that I really didn't want to eat.
Our brain learns by association.
If your brain is associating feelings of being powerless, | or being helpless, of being sort of coerced or bullied | with certain foods, you're gonna build up | a reaction to that, a sort of aversion to that.
So, what are the good things, | the positive things about chips that you'd like to carry over | into your other eating habits? One of the things that I really loved | when I was growing up was my mum used to make | home-cooked chips, and I used to love them.
They were, like, amazing, a special treat, like, birthdays, | Christmas, sort of thing.
I just sort of want | to continue that sort of feeling where I'm actually happy | to eat a food that I'm excited about.
At the moment, sounds like | it's a little bit black or white.
Vegetables and meat | are associated with your dad trying to coerce you | or bully you into eating it, and these lovely, | home-made cooked chips you associate with | being welcoming and love.
So, I mean, the strange thing | is, David, this is not really about the food.
This is about the emotions | associated to the food.
If your dad sat you there saying, "You're gonna eat your chips | until they're all finished" It would have been | the other way round.
Exactly.
So, it's really about | breaking that connection.
Yeah.
| Well done.
'It's the start of week two, | and Dave's still off the fries, but he's struggling with new foods.
This morning's homework challenge | from Charlotte? To eat a mango.
' I have never I think I've seen this, | but I've never actually eaten one.
Or, I don't think I've seen | anyone eating one themselves.
Yeah, I can feel | something hard in the middle.
OK.
Eugh, that looks like | a giantstony thing.
OK.
(SNIFFS) (EXHALES) OK.
Yeah, my brain's thinking about it | too much now, and I feel sick.
I feel a bit sick.
It's just | the textures and stuff now .
.
are sort of ruining it for me.
Like, for now, | I'm just done with the mango.
'Over the coming days, | Dave's progress is very slow and not exactly steady.
' This morning for breakfast, I had | a bunch of grapes and an apple, so that's, like, | two of my five a day, and then .
.
I had some crisps and I had | a doughnut, cos I was really hungry.
'Desperate times call for | desperate measures.
Dave's ready to cook and hopefully | eat an omelette for the first time.
' CLARE: How are you feeling | about eating the omelette? Excited? | I don't really know.
Just a bit hungry, really.
| (CHUCKLES) You seem a bit fed up.
| I am fed up.
I'm not eating what I want to eat.
I'm eating things | that I don't want to eat yet.
I just really, really, really | want some chips.
That's all I really want to do, | is just eat a portion of chips, and then I sort of think | I can get through another week if I'm not having them.
I know you want to eat the chips, but I think, at the same time, | you don't want to eat them.
I don't want to eat the chips cos | of all the bad (BLEEP) that happens, and all that stuff, and yeah, yeah, yeah, | all that, yeah, it's bad for me.
But I still like them.
I still would like to have a meal | that I'm actually going to enjoy I know.
.
.
rather than just a meal that | I'm just cooking to keep trying it.
I understand why I can't | eat the chips and whatnot, soI'm trying to focus on that, but when I just | get down about myself, it's a really horrible thing | to feel about myself constantly, cos all I want to do is just | do something that I actually enjoy.
'With Dave on a real low, | Felix invites him to London.
He wants to tackle what he sees as the root of the problem - | family mealtimes.
' OK, so, Dave, what do you think | this represents? A table and chairs? Dinnertime.
Oh, no, a child's dinnertime.
That's right.
This is you.
'Armed with cardboard cut-outs | of Dave's family, Felix hopes that Dave can overcome the negative memories | associated with family meals.
' He wouldn't eat it, end of story, | full stop, and that's why the old, | "You'll sit there till," you know "If you don't eat it now, you'll have it for breakfast | in the morning.
" Go for it.
(CHUCKLES) You'd end up thinking, | "The poor kid's gonna go hungry.
What WILL you eat, then, David?" And Dave said, "Well, you can do me | chips, and I will eat chips.
" Here you are.
Everyone else is eating all the food.
Your brothers are making | some snide remarks.
Your parents - | there's a slight tension.
Your mum says, "Just leave him.
" Your dad's saying, "Well, you know, | should he get away with it?" And, you know, "I had to eat | what was put in front of me.
" What are you feeling right here | as your three-year-old self? Just feeling like I'm being | singled out, and I don't I just want to do everything | that everyone else is doing.
What's it like for you | to feel singled out? What emotions are attached to that? Just unhappiness.
| Like, most mealtimes wasn't fun.
It wasn't a good time for me.
So, I'd like you here as young Dave, | now, to go into your father's shoes.
I'm gonna ask you questions as Dad.
You've heard from your son | that he's feeling upset here.
He doesn't enjoy this.
So, where are you coming from | with this kind of pressure? Why is he being difficult? That's Like, I just want him to eat | what everyone else is eating.
I just want him to be normal, | basically.
I just want him to carry on | doing what everyone else is doing.
Like, he just seems to be | being really difficult about it.
Now, some parents may say, | "I don't care - eat what you like.
" They're kind of indifferent.
Indifference means that | they don't care.
So, strangely enough, | even though your father was angry, his anger was partly taking it | personally, but also cos he cared.
He wanted you to eat something right, | something good for you.
Yeah.
The problem here | is that he didn't know exactly how to express that care.
Yeah.
So, what I would like to do now, I'd like you to advise your dad | on how Dave needs to be treated.
Dad, what I really needed | when I was a kid was for you to sort of back off, for you to be a lot more supportive.
Excellent stuff.
Now, be Dad.
You've got the benefit of this | new insight of what's really needed.
How would you respond now | to your young son instead? Hey, Dave, I was only doing | what I was doing because I love you and because of how I was brought up, but I realise | that we're not the same.
What I wish I'd done was more caring and more actually listening | to what the problem was rather than just thinking | you're being awkward.
How do you feel towards your dad now, | having experienced this? A lot better.
| I think we would have been I think we should be a lot closer | than we are.
I think it caused a lot of tension | that we didn't actually need, cos I know he was doing it | for the best intentions.
Excellent.
It sort of made me realise that we sort of lost a lot of | good childhood memories, and I don't speak to my dad | that much now.
It just made me really want | to speak to him and actually just go out | and do stuff with him.
I sort of want to make happier memories with my family | regarding food than just these sort of unhappy ones that I always usually | associate with, so I sort of want to get | some happiness back from my family.
'Clare has joined Dave in London, | and it's dinnertime.
They're in the food Mecca of | the East End to grab a bite to eat.
What could be simpler?' Ooh, look.
There's English here.
Seafood.
I'm not really | a fan of seafood, am I? Omelette.
Oh, it comes with chips.
See? Everything comes with chips! You know what I really want to try, | is corn on the cob.
No? You're not coming with me | on this one? How would you feel about a toastie? I think then we're going into | the areas of stringiness.
And I'm actually really hungry.
You're hungry now? | I'm starving! 'Two hours later, | and the hungry couple settle for coffee and cake for one.
' Try a sip of juice? You should try the cake.
| It's so nice.
Not everything has to be tried | to force down my throat, you know.
I'm not forcing it down your throat! | You know what I mean.
I'm offering it to you.
REFLECTIVE MUSIC 'The lack of chips and anything else | he likes eating is getting to Dave.
Behind closed doors, | he's really struggling.
' I just lost it and I basically just | broke down in a heap on the floor.
Why can't I eat the chips? | I know I can't eat the chips.
It's stupid, but I want them, | but I don't want them.
And I justI was so angry.
He started to cry, | which wasreally, like, really upsetting to watch, and really shocking because | I've been with him for, you know, over a year and a half now and never, ever seen him crying | that whole time.
It's just everything was just | getting on top of me, and I just (SIGHS) I just want to be happy.
| That's all I want.
'Dave's hit rock bottom, | but Felix is on hand to help.
' PHONE RINGS Well, Dave, I mean, you're | going through a very hard time, and I think you've got a lot of | cumulative stress building up there, so, you know, you've gotta | give yourself a break as well.
So, what that means is you CAN eat | chips from time to time, you know.
People do that.
We just don't want to make it | your one and only staple.
Just to check, Dave, were there | any other emotions you're aware of that played into this? The trying the new foods has been sort of a strain, like, | as it would be.
Then there's been the whole | moving to uni thing, like, then sort of knowing that | it's sort of like even though me and Clare | aren't breaking up, we're sort of likewe're living | apart as soon as I go to uni.
It is a time of lots of fast changes | happening, and change is stressful, so the fact that you've had | a little bit of an experience of feeling overwhelmed, hey, give yourself permission | to be overwhelmed, you know, from time to time.
Cool.
Thank you very much, dude.
All right, Dave.
Take care, OK? | See you later.
'Bye.
(SIGHS) 'So Dave takes Felix at his word | and heads for the chippy.
' Hello there.
Can I get a ã1.
30 chips | and a sausage, and then a small chips | as well, please? I won't have any of them.
There you go.
| Thank you.
Thank you.
Don't be sad.
'It's back to the house | with his stash, the first chips he's eaten | in over two weeks.
' Mmm! (LAUGHS) Well, are they as good | as you remembered? Oh, better, cos I haven't had them | for a while.
(Oh, they are really nice.
) | (CHUCKLES) I hope this doesn't make it | more difficult for you, Dave.
See, I think | you're not enjoying them as much as you thought | you were going to.
I'm not enjoying them | as much as I used to.
That's good.
Before I had them, I was sort of | really looking forward to them and sort of, like, there was | sort of like that bit of excitement.
Like, "Oh, I haven't had chips | for a while, so what are they gonna taste like? Hope they're gonna be | as good as before.
" And then after eating them, no, they weren't | as enjoyable as they were before.
I think within | trying all these new foods, you sort ofI've felt a lot better | after eating a meal, and I know that the reason I'm | feeling a bit gluggy and a bit heavy is because of the chips.
'There's now just one week to go before Dave must eat his first | proper dinner with his family in nearly 20 years.
Dave is still struggling to | adapt to his chip-free challenge, so Felix has to hope | an exciting new experience will help him take the plunge.
' Dave, have you ever been on | one of these things before? No, never.
I'm really excited.
It looks cool as hell, yeah.
It's not the kind of thing | you usually do, is it? No, no.
Travelling on the bus is pretty much | the peak of my excitement.
So, you up for it? | Definitely, definitely up for it.
Hey, it's Action Dave.
| It is.
How do you feel? | You ready for this challenge? Yep, very ready.
I'm excited.
You've got just one mission to do | OK.
.
.
just to enjoy yourself.
| Cool.
You can do that? | Pretty sure I should be able to.
JAUNTY MUSIC At the moment he's doing about 4mph, which is a bit less than | walking speed, I think.
Dave, go a bit faster! ENGINE ROARS, UPBEAT MUSIC That's the one.
What I'm really hoping | for Dave to get out of this is he starts of apprehensive, | tentative about something, and then he realises | he can really have fun with it.
There's a monotony about things, | so I think it's really important that he IS more adventurous | across the board.
How was that, then? You did full throttle, didn't you? | Yes.
Yeah, I thought you did.
Brilliant.
| (CHUCKLES) I was a bit nervous about it, but then I was, like, | "No, just go for it.
" Literally, most of that was full | throttle, I was enjoying it so much.
It was great.
In life, you take | a little bit more risks, you can actually | enjoy life a lot more, and now the trick is | to do that with your food.
Like, I totally understand what | Felix was saying about, you know, why not apply that to food? Why can you not just think, "Screw it, I'm gonna | throw caution to the wind.
If I love it, great.
If I don't, | I don't.
That's fine.
" I think I just need to be | more adventurous now.
It's great.
Good, Dave.
| Good.
'With Dave now feeling more positive | and making progress, Charlotte decides it's time to | move his eating to the next level.
' Hello again.
| How's it going? What Dave really needs to learn now is to start to understand | how you mix flavours, how you can mix new foods together, and how he's gonna | really start enjoying that.
(SPEAKS JAPANESE) Oh, yes! Whoa! (BOTH CHEER) 'Charlotte hopes Teppanyaki, | a Japanese way of cooking that quickly and easily | mixes flavours together, is something | that might appeal to Dave, especially with | his student days ahead.
' Thank you.
Thank you.
| Enjoy your meal.
Thank you very much.
| Thank you.
How was that for you? That was thrilling.
That was | really good.
I enjoyed that.
What did you take in terms of watching the chicken being cooked, | for instance? It wasit looked delicious | when it was just being fried and it was just being nice, and it was being juggled about | and just slowly being cooked.
And also, you can see how simple | it is to get flavours in there.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
And also, he used | an enormous amount of garlic, which is the most simple flavour | you can possibly get, and every culture has garlic in it, | pretty much.
OK.
| Shall we go? We'll go for a bit of chicken, yeah.
It's really nice.
| Mm-hm! That's a world away from just trying | something on its own, isn't it? And, yeah, it was | really, really good.
I really enjoyed it.
Like, you asked me that | two weeks ago, said I'd be eating there, | like, it wouldn't have happened, so it was, like, | a really nice thing to try.
'Dave may be doing well, | but Felix believes that to truly put his chip-eating days | behind him, he needs to clear the air | with his father about the miserable mealtimes | of the past.
Trouble is, they haven't seen | each other for over two years.
' I haven't seen my dad for a while.
We speak sometimes, | but not very often.
After some of the stuff | that Felix said, I thought that we sort of really need to talk to each other | to sort a few things out.
Hello, Papa.
| Hi, sunshine.
Looking well.
| Thanks.
What's with your glasses? | I'm blind because of you.
Blaming me for that one, are you? Shall we sit down? | Eh? How are you? I'm OK.
I'm OK.
You're looking good, mate.
| Different.
It's because of | your crappy eyesight.
I can't imagine you with glasses on.
| I've had to.
How long you had them, then? | A few weeks.
Like, I know when I was a kid, | I really didn't like green stuff, like the broccoli | and the sprouts and stuff.
At the end of the day, | I thought I was right and you were just playing up Yeah.
.
.
when it was started off, | I suppose, you know what I mean? So it was just one of them things.
But, like I say, you can see your | point of view and my point of view, but at the time you | don't think of these things.
No.
You don't think about the situation, | might be years later.
You're just doing | what you think's right.
Well, that's it.
At the end | of the day, it's, you know At the end of the day, | you used to eat food, normal, so why suddenly change? Somewhere along the line, | something happened.
Oh, I don't know.
| And that's it.
It was many, many years ago, Dad.
| I haven't got a memory that good.
Yeah.
It'll be nice to say | you can eat normal stuff.
Before Friday, | I hadn't eaten chips for two weeks.
New start, is it? No, no, I was trying | fruits and vegetables.
It's good to, you know, know that | you are trying these other things.
So, if I made you up | one of my special fish pies I've never tried a pie.
| (STAMMERS) It's, like, smoked haddock, | normal haddock, cheese sauce, mashed potato.
It's just all full of good stuff, | you know what I mean, tasty.
Maybe, yeah.
I'm surprised as to, you know, | what's going on, and what you're saying to me now | is just unbelievable.
Yeah.
OK.
I'm gonna go, Dad.
Yeah, you take care.
| Lovely to see you.
I'm so glad that | everything's working out for you.
Yeah, it's good.
And you're gonna come up, | and we're gonna cook for each other, and you're gonna teach me | how to cook some beef.
It was really nice | seeing my dad, actually.
It was weird | cos I haven't seen him much.
He looks a bit older than | the last time I saw him.
It was just nice to see him, and | hopefully he'll come up to Lincoln, and he can sort of teach me | how to cook some stuff.
'The day has arrived | for Dave and Clare to move out of their Birmingham home.
Clare's going to Sheffield | with her dad, while Dave's off to | Lincoln University with his mum.
' Last ones.
| Give it a try.
(CHUCKLES) Yay! Look at that.
I love you.
| I love you more.
(CRIES) I'm sorry.
Just gonna miss you, is all.
I'll miss you more.
Good luck.
| See you, Dave.
See you later.
(SIGHS) HORN TOOTS I am a little bit sad | to leave the house, you know.
It's the house where me and Clare | first moved in together, so it's got loads of memories | for us, but, you know, also looking forward | to moving into the new flat and seeing what that's all like and | making new friends and stuff, so (STARTS ENGINE) 'It's the first day of uni and | the moment Dave has been dreading.
He's not sure what | the other students will be like or what they will make | of his eating habits.
' Which course are you | going to be doing? Computer games production.
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) | Hopefully.
What about you? You doing that one? Yay! I'm Dave! I'm Jose.
| Jose, how's it going, man? I don't know - if you want, | we'll meet you over there and go grab a drink or something.
Yeah.
'Dave befriends two lads | from his computer course, but it's not long before the dreaded | topic of eating is on the menu.
' What are you looking at? | Ultimate Tower Burger.
See, I don't know what to have | cos I'm not eating chips, so everything comes with chips.
Well, you could always go for | a jacket potato.
I've never eaten a jacket potato | in my life.
That's pretty good.
You reckon? I'm iffy about the cheese.
No, I'm gonna go cheese and bacon.
| (BLEEP), I'll go for it.
'Dave has never tried | a jacket potato, but he decides to take the risk.
After all, that's just like | a big chip, right?' I've got a jacket potato | with bacon and cheese.
Many thankyous.
| There we go.
Thank you.
| That's me.
How do you eat a jacket potato? You can either eat the skin | or leave the skin.
I think I'm gonna leave the skin.
It looks like | there's a lot of cheese.
This is what I was afraid of, that it was just gonna | get overpowered with cheese.
Go on.
Just eat it.
It's not gonna kill you, is it? It could do.
| What if it's slightly poison? No, it's not gonna kill me.
| (CHUCKLES) Mmm.
It's kind of like mashed potato, | but without it being mashed.
Mmm.
And I really think it could | it would benefit from some vinegar.
(CHUCKLES) That was OK, that was.
| (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) I didn't enjoy the salad after it, but I think the bacon | could have used some work.
But as a whole, I can now eat | jacket potatoes.
There you go.
It's been fun so far.
It's been nice meeting some new | people, and they just seem to be, like, "Oh, OK, you haven't tried | it," which is always nice, you know.
It's nice not to be ridiculed | for something that I haven't done and more supported for it, | so they just seemed like nice guys.
Think we're gonna get along.
| It's gonna be good.
'Dave settles in quickly | to his new life at university, and he even buys himself a wok and | starts experimenting in the kitchen.
But there isn't a veg in sight.
With just two days | before the final challenge, Charlotte decides to spring | a surprise visit on Dave.
' Hello.
| Hello, darling.
Wasn't expecting you up here.
Have you been cooking? | I have been cooking.
What have you been cooking? I've mainly been having those | egg noodles.
They're delicious.
And what about the greenery? There's only been | little bits of greenery.
That's your kind of blind spot, | is the greenery.
Yeah, the greenery.
'Charlotte has one last chance | to get Dave over his green phobia before the final challenge.
' Can we take one of those? | Thank you.
Thank you very much.
'And she's risking it all | with a salad.
' Four salads for ã6.
A bargain! Cheers! | Thank you.
'Bye.
So, I've prepared this salad.
| There's a lot of greenery there.
(LAUGHS) So, you can see a lot of leaves, | but a lot of colour too.
So, again, it's that mixing | of flavours that we did, so it tempers that taste | that you're not necessarily used to.
We're going to | put together something that's going to bring this salad | alive, some dressing.
What we're gonna start with | is a really simple one, so, olive oil, some lemon juice.
Also gonna add | a little bit of honey in there.
OK.
'Her plan is to disguise the taste of | the vegetables with some dressings.
' And there you go.
| So, how does that look to you? What's your brain telling you | about that at the moment? It just looks Now it just looks like | wet leafiness, and I can just get the smell | of green and beetroot.
Let's go for it.
(EXHALES) OK, OK.
Yep.
That was some chewy green.
And? | Tastes like green.
So, how was the dressing? | Did that make a difference? I couldn't taste any dressing.
'Charlotte's determined | to try whatever it takes to get Dave to actually | enjoy the salad.
' I really don't enjoy the texture | of those avocados.
(SPITS) What was that? | Bits.
I'm not really sure if | the salads and dressings experiment worked with Dave.
He's quite reticent towards the | whole "green thing", as he calls it, but he really, really was trying, | really putting big mouthfuls in, so there's a lot | of positive stuff there.
I just don't know how much | he's gonna try on his own when he's left to his own devices.
'It's just 24 hours before Dave must | eat a roast dinner with his family.
Clare has come to visit him | for moral support, but the conversation | quickly turns sour.
' So, have you been | eating any vegetables since you've at uni, Davey? Um, only those beans and, you know, | the beany sprout things.
Bean sprouts? | Yeah.
And that is it? I haven't really been cooking | that much.
And it's just, likeno.
| Why? I don't know.
It's not Like, once I get into a routine It's just because | it's the first week.
Everyone's going out, | everyone's meeting each other.
Everyone's, like, bonding together.
| Yeah.
So it's sort of been | I'm worried about you.
I don't want you | to go back tojust eating the stuff you can whack in the oven just because you don't | have to think about it.
I'm not gonna just go back to that.
I should hope | that you know that I won't.
OK.
It's nice to know | that you have faith in me.
Dave! I've done nothing but have faith | in you the whole time, OK? Nothing but support you, you know, | trying to help you, listen to you.
I've done nothing but good stuff, | and you sit there and say that! 'Four weeks and | just one bag of chips later, it's time for | Dave's final challenge - to eat an entire roast dinner | while his family look on, something he hasn't done | since he was four years old.
' I think the thing that | I'm least looking forward to is the green stuff, the broccoli, | or just the meat.
I think the meat could be a problem, cos I usually have a problem | just chewing the meat.
'And the whole family will be there | for the first time in over 10 years, including his dad.
' Well, I can't remember how long it's | been since I seen him eat properly, so ifI think if he does | get through it today, I think it'll be amazing.
He's gonna give it his best shot.
I think he's gonna do really well, | and just the fact that he's here and he can even contemplate | doing it is amazing.
I don't actually think | he's gonna do it today, that's all.
'And Felix and Charlotte | are there for moral support.
' All right, Dave? | Hello! How's it going, darling? | Hello, darling.
Hello.
| Nice to see you again.
You OK? I'm good, man.
| How are you feeling about today? I'm OK.
Bit nervous.
| A bit nervous, but I'm OK.
We haven't eaten together like this | for, like, 10, 10 years or so.
It'll be unusual.
| Yeah, it'll be unusual.
It'll be unusual for me to eat | the same things as them as well.
So, you're gonna | tackle the vegetables? I'm gonna have to | tackle the vegetables, yes.
(LAUGHS) | (FELIX SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) Go and meet your family, then.
| Good luck, Dave.
The only thing that might | hinder his progress today is that he's not been trying that | greenery at home on his own, so he's got | quite a large leap to make.
'Dave dreaded family roast dinners | as a boy.
Will he be able to stomach this one?' Oh, go on, lad.
You've had more veg than me, son.
| Are we gonna tuck in, then? Well, Davey, cheers, son.
ALL: Cheers.
Doing well.
LOW-LEVEL CONVERSATION I'm very impressed, | cos all his veggies are gone.
Mm-hm.
| Well done.
'Even though Dave has managed | to tackle the vegetables, he still has a plate full of meat | and potatoes to get through to finish the challenge.
' 'While all the others have finished, | Dave is still munching.
' Well, it's getting down there, son.
Mmm.
| I'm proud.
I am proud.
Yeah, I'm done.
I didn't think I'd see the day.
(ALL TALK AT ONCE) How do you feel, son? | Full.
Proud? Hello.
| Hello, hello, hello.
That looks like a very empty plate! Yeah.
| And there were vegetables to start? There were vegetables to start with.
Your favourite, broccoli, | was on there.
Yeah.
Did you enjoy the broccoli? It was OK.
| Hey, that's a start.
We're getting there.
| That's a step upwards.
Can I get some reactions | from people round the table? As a family, I think this has been | a bit of a milestone, cos I can't remember the time | when we've sat down all together and eaten a meal where David's | had the same as everybody else.
So it's been absolutely | mind-blowing.
I'm just so proud of you.
Oh, no.
Oh, no! Really, really so proud of you.
| (CHUCKLES) Yeah, I'm just so surprised | he has tried it all.
He's done better than you have, Rob.
| He has done better than me! I'm a bit fussier than him.
| (ALL LAUGH) Brilliant.
| Well done, son.
Well done.
| Brilliant, mate.
(ALL TALK AT ONCE) When I first started | and I said, like, I didn't want to feel | like a kid anymore, I just wanted to be an adult, and that was definitely a step | towards feeling like an adult, being able to eat with everyone else, just having a nice meal | with them all.
I think he has banished those old | demons and written a new chapter, which is exactly my hope for him, | and job well done.
I justI'm really ecstatic | that he enjoyed it so much.
I mean, he ate all the vegetables | and he enjoyed it.
I think he's gonna be | really positive.
I think he's gonna take that to uni, and I think he's starting | a whole new life.
We can do so many things now | that we could never do before.
It's like a whole new world.
It'sthis has changed his life.
Well done, son.
I'm so proud of you.
You did great.
He's really chuffed.
| I'm proud of my son.
I'm just gonna carry on | expanding what I'm eating.
There will still be chips | in the diet, but everyone has some chips | in their diet.
It just won't ever be to the extent where it's every single day, | twice a day.
Not even, like, every single week.
It's just gonna be every once in a | while like everyone else has them.
So I'm happy about that.
'One month later, and Dave's dietary | revolution is still going strong.
' I can actually honestly say | I don't miss chips at all.
It's now no longer a thing | of, like, "Ooh, I'm hungry.
I wonder where | the nearest chip shop is?" It's, like, "Oh, I'm hungry.
I wonder if this place | does nice sandwiches?" Or, "This place has got | some nice food on the board.
" I'm no longer having to just look | at the kids' menu to order food, and I'm basically | just a normal person, and that's what I've always wanted, just to be able to not feel like | I'm singled out because of what I'm eating.
I don't have something | ruling my life like chips did.
Now, it's more like I'll try little | bits of sort of greenery food and salad and stuff.
I'm still not its biggest fan | by a long shot, but at least | now I'm still trying it, and I may come to | eventually love salad, maybe.
He's about to embark | on a new life at university, but he's struggling | with a dark secret, a secret smothered in | salt and vinegar.
' Can I just get a portion | of chips, please? 'Dave is addicted to chips.
' My life pretty much | revolves around eating chips.
Just delicious, you know.
Without chips, I wouldn't eat.
It's like a whole bouquet | of flavours.
'Dave's diet consists of chips, chips | and, er, chips 365 days a year for almost 20 years.
' Big French fries - now, | these are absolutely gorgeous.
'And don't even think about | giving him anything else.
' I don't ever eat | fruit or vegetables at all.
I have a problem with the colour | and the smell of the green.
'But now Dave's one-track diet | has finally had its chips.
' It's just stopping me from | living my life to how I want it.
'In Dave's corner | in the fight against chips will be psychologist | Felix Economakis' If your brain is associating feelings of being powerless | or being bullied with certain foods, you're gonna build up | a reaction to that.
'.
.
and nutritionist Charlotte Watts.
' A vitamin is something that | we must have in our diets daily.
Without those, this is what | can happen.
'They've got just four weeks | to reverse a habit of a lifetime.
But will Dave be able | to go the distance?' I feel sick.
I feel a bit sick.
I just really, really, really | want some chips.
WOMAN: You feeling a bit fed up? | Yeah, I'm fed up.
I've done nothing but support you, | and you sit there and say that.
I just lost it and I basically | justjust broke down in a heap on the floor.
(BOTH SOB) I am so desperate to change | just so I can feel normal.
THEME MUSIC 'Dave's eating problems started | at the age of four.
' They all used to | sit round the table, and everyone would have their, | like, piece of carved meat and their broccoli | and their sprouts and things, and I was always last one | to leave the table because I was always told, you know, "Eat what's on your plate - | it's good for you.
" And I really didn't like it.
That's how I got spoke to | when I was younger.
Our mum made the meal, whatever it | was, and we all sat down and ate it.
'Dave's parents divorced | when he was young, so poor Mum got lumbered with | Dave's dodgy diet.
' The compromise for me was | at least I got him to eat something.
OK, it was chips, but I would | make them as healthy as possible and I'd cook them in the oven | so they weren't surrounded in fat, but it was chips with David | or nothing at all.
'Nearly 20 years later, | and Dave still has an aversion to almost all foods | except his beloved chips.
And don't get him started | on the veggies.
' For me, I think I'm really, | really sort of afraid of, like, green foods, or the smell of | green food when you break it open.
Just that whiff gets into you | and I'm just, like, "I really, really | don't want to eat that.
" It smells like the garden, and | I don't want to go into the garden and eat the grass off the floor.
'Girlfriend Clare is committed | to getting him eating green, and it doesn't come much greener | than pasta with pesto.
' No, that really | It just looks really fresh.
It smells really gross, seriously.
| It smells really gross.
I genuinely don't know | what green smells like.
I don't know what it is | that he's smelling.
Just try and just take a bite of it.
Oh, my God! Well done! Oh I actually hate you | a little bit now, Clare.
'Dave's lifelong diet | is starting to take its toll.
Deep-fried spuds, it seems, | are not the food of love.
' I'm 23 and I can't go | to a restaurant with my girlfriend.
We've never been out for a meal.
| I mean, what would he eat? It just wouldn't be an enjoyable | experience for him or me.
It makes me feel ashamed | that I'm not grown-up enough to be able to eat | what everyone else eats, and I really wish that I could.
'Dave not only has to come to terms | with giving up chips, he's also about to face | another huge life change.
' In about a month's time | I'm going off to university, so I'm gonna meet | loads of new people, and I don't want to have to | explain my diet to them.
I don't want to be an outcast | straightaway.
It's just stopping me from | living my life to how I want it.
'But it's not just his social life | that's really concerning Dave.
' I don't feel like | I'm a healthy person inside.
I don't feel like I don't think I think | I feel like I should, you know.
My worry is that | David won't reach his 50s.
He'll have clogged his arteries up | with his appalling diet.
I will be doing | what every parent dreads, and that's burying her child before | he reaches his full potential.
'It's day one | of a month-long dietary makeover.
Dave's in London to meet the experts who'll help him fight | his food fears.
' Hi, Dave.
I'm Felix.
| Hi, guys.
Hi, Felix.
| This is Charlotte.
Hello.
Nice to meet you.
| How are you feeling? A little bit nervous, but I guess | that's to be expected, really.
Other than that, I'm all good.
| Excellent.
Don't worry, you're | in safe hands with us.
If you wanna come this way, | we've got something to show you.
NARRATOR: 'First things first - | messages from family and friends.
' OK, Dave, the next few weeks | are gonna be tough, so we want to show you something that you can use | as a motivational tool.
OK.
| OK? We'll leave you to watch it.
Cool.
PROJECTOR WHIRRS Listen up, fat lad.
| (LAUGHS) What we need you to do is | sort your life out, all right, cos this eating thing's | gonna have to change.
You are gonna end up | pegging it early.
We don't want that at all, and we would really love it if you could stay around | just that little bit longer.
Hi, David, it's Mum.
I'll do whatever it takes | to keep you eating healthier, because my one fear in this life | is that you will not get to my age.
You're not gonna get there | if you carry on with this diet.
I just want you to know | that I love you and I'm really proud of you | for doing this.
I know that you're not | finding it easy and you're quite scared | about what's gonna happen.
It really upsets me to think about | what you might be doing to yourself.
Hopefully things will be OK.
PROJECTOR WHIRRS, SOMBRE MUSIC So, Dave, what's it like for you | to hear those comments? I feel, like, kind of sick | for making them all worry that much and making them all think | that I'm not gonna reach Mum's age.
You know, I make jokes I don't want | to get old and sort of decrepit, but I don't want to die | this early either.
Does that feel quite motivational | for you, then? Yeah.
It just makes me | not want to let them down.
Yeah.
I really don't want | to let everyone down, cos I feel like | I've already sort of done that with the first, like, | 23 years of my life by not eating properly and | sort of making them worry that much.
OK, so, let's go and take a look | at what you are actually eating.
OK.
Let's go.
| OK? 'Felix and Charlotte begin their work | with a nutritional wake-up call that should test | even Dave's devotion to chips.
' (CHUCKLES) So, Dave, what do you think this is? It's a lot of chips.
| Yes, it is.
Well, we've calculated that this is the amount of chips that you eat | over an entire year, which is a staggering | 300kg of chips.
300kg.
That's more than three times | your body weight.
It's mind-boggling.
It makes me feel | a little bit sick, actually, like, just sort of looking at it | and sort of seeing it all.
It's just a bitit's a bit sickly.
The chips aren't | the only thing you're eating.
We've also calculated | the amount of salt that you put on those chips | in an entire year, and it comes to this amount.
That's a lot of salt.
Look at that.
| Ohhh! Eugh.
Are you worried about this amount | of salt going in your body? I think I'm only supposed to have, | like, a pinch of salt a day, and that looks a hell of a lot.
That's a lot of pinching.
| Yeah.
We actually also calculated the amount of oil needed | to fry this amount of chips.
And there we are.
And that's actually | 30 litres of oil.
(GASPS) Now, when you fry that oil, | that oil becomes very damaging, so it's damaging fats | which damage your heart.
I don't even know | where the hell that's going.
I don't want to put that and that | and everything into my body anymore.
I'm done with it, you know? So, what is your goal | for the next four weeks? To just be able to eat normally.
| To not do that.
Not to rely on chips - | just to be able to eat normally and eat fruits and vegetables and actually have | a healthy, balanced diet.
The challenge in the next few weeks is going to get Dave | to try new tastes and new textures.
He has a very limited palate of | foods at the moment.
They're quite childlike foods.
We need to get him to try | new things outside of that range and move him away from chips.
'In four weeks, Dave will face | the ultimate challenge - eating a proper meal with his family | for the first time in 20 years.
' It sounds like a lot to think about.
I just need time to sort of detox | from everything that's going on, just sort of take a step back | and just really think about things.
But nervous about the next few days | and what the future holds, and what's gonna happen, basically.
Yeah.
'Dave's clearly shocked | by what he's seen so far, but Charlotte hasn't finished yet.
There are more home truths to come.
She's arranged for Dave's blood | to be tested by Dr Pixie McKenna, a GP with a special interest | in eating problems.
This morning, Charlotte's | brought Dave to hear the results.
' I'm actually really worried | that the way I've been eating and the fact that | I haven't eaten anything, like, with any vitamins or minerals | in perhaps, like, 10, 20 years has actually really damaged | my health sort of beyond repair.
Really nice to meet you, Dave.
| Hello there.
I'm intrigued to know | how you're feeling at the moment.
Are you feeling fit? | Are you feeling well? I wouldn't say I was fit | and energetic and whatnot.
Like, I'm an energetic person, but I don't really feel like | I have loads of energy.
OK, one of the things | that came up in your blood results was that you are deficient | in a vitamin called vitamin B12.
OK.
Long-term vitamin B12 deficiency can | result in problems with your balance, with your vision, | your hair can fall out, your skin will become | quite washed-out looking.
You'll get cracks round your mouth.
Shall I show you | what you'll look like? Da-na-na-na! That's horrible.
That's ridiculous.
| That's so horrible.
That is really, really horrible.
So, a vitamin is something that | we must have in our diets daily.
Without those we can't function, | and this is what can happen.
You are so deficient | in vitamin B12 that, really, we need to boost your resources | here, now, today.
NARRATOR: 'Vitamin B12 can be found in most meats, fish | and dairy products.
However, you don't find it | in fruit, veg or chips.
The body needs vitamin B12 to create red blood cells | and keep the nervous system happy.
After years | of a monotonous chip diet, Dave's vitamin B12 level is so low that Dr Pixie needs to take immediate | action and give him a boost.
' In a couple of days, | it will become apparent and you will feel so much more | energetic, I so promise.
All right, now, this 'Dave also has | high levels of triglycerides, which basically means | a lot of fat in his blood.
The tube represents | Dave's bloodstream, and Dr Pixie wants to demonstrate how seriously the fat | could be affecting his circulation.
' So, Charlotte's on hand | with some fat.
CHARLOTTE AND DR PIXIE: Ooh! It's clogging up.
| Look at that, Dave.
Can you see that | flowing round in your circulation, blocking the circulation? The circulation may be | to your brain, give you a stroke, to your heart, | give you a heart attack, blood vessels at the back | of your eyes, make you blind, to your kidneys, | giving you kidney failure.
It's a really serious matter.
Good evidence for | getting rid of the chips.
Good thing is you're only 23, which means you've got massive scope | to prevent this happening.
The way you have to do that | is through diet, and we'll go and look at some foods that are gonna help you | prevent this, OK? It's really easy to deny the link | between what you're putting in your body and what is | actually happening inside, and I'm really hoping that | that really clear illustration is gonna make him | motivated to change.
After seeing all that, just feeling a bit depressed | and a bit sad, actually.
It's obviously just, like, not nice knowing that all that's going on | and I've done that, basically.
It's my fault.
Hey, darling.
| CLARE: Baby! So, how did it go? | Oh, today was horrible.
Why? Cos they showed me this absolutely | horrible, horrible, horrible, worst picture ever of me, basically, what I could look like in the future | if I carried on the way I did.
You're gonna have to tell me | if it's, like, upside down.
(LAUGHS) Yes, it's upside down.
That's a horrible, horrible | See, look at ya! It's | It's horrible in all of its Yeah, OK.
Yeah, | it's pretty horrible.
You're never gonna kiss me again.
Not if you get those boils | all round your mouth.
(LAUGHS) See, look? That's all you're gonna | think about now.
I just think that you should | remember that horribleness and just use it and focus on that whenever you feel like | you want chips, or if you feel like | it's really difficult.
Like, don't just ignore it.
| No, I've got I'd rather focus on other things, something that is | a bit more positive.
'Today is Dave's first one-on-one | session with nutritionist Charlotte.
She needs to understand the | full extent of his food problems.
' If there's anything green, | I know I'm gonna, just, like My brain's gonna instantly | start saying, "No, no, no.
" The last thing I'd really | like to see in there is, like, just, like, a big plate of, like, | cold cabbage or broccoli.
Hi, Charlotte.
It's Dave.
DOOR BUZZES 'So, it's time for a taste-off.
' OK, Dave.
We're gonna take this step by step, and I want to find out what | you can manage and what you can't.
So, looking at the table, | what are your first impressions? There's some things that look gross, | lots of things that look gross.
OK.
| Sprouts.
Sprouts.
| Sprouts, broccoli.
No, broccoli.
| Yep, OK.
Cauliflower.
| Why those in particular? Cos I remember eating them as a kid, | and they were horrible then.
You can sort of | smell the chlorophyll in it.
OK, that's an interesting thing.
Can you just grab that plant | closest to you? Now, this is basil.
Can you smell that and | tell me what that smells like? Smells like green.
| It really smells like green.
So you've got blanket "green"? | Yeah.
It's a very pungent smell.
| It really smells like green, though.
That's a really pungent | smell of green to me.
OK.
Let's try the cucumber.
| OK.
Do you want to just grab | a slice of that, actually? It's savoury.
| Yeah.
See, that just reeks of green.
| (BOTH CHUCKLE) (BREATHES DEEPLY) OK, is that seeds in the middle? | Like, is that clear seeds? Like, what are they? | Oh, they're barely, vaguely Yeah.
| I'm gonna avoid those, then.
OK.
OK, did not enjoy that one.
All I could taste was green | all the way through.
Every single crunch of that | was just pure greenness.
What I can say is that that doesn't | mean that you dislike it forever.
OK.
| OK? It takes children about, you know, up to 17 times | to learn to like a food.
'Charlotte then steps it up a gear.
' Let's move on to the big guns.
Let's try some broccoli.
| Cos there's It's SO good for your heart.
But no-one likes broccoli.
| I love broccoli.
Do you want to grab a little bit? Ooh, that IS a little bit.
| Yeah.
(LAUGHS) | Luckily, that bit was right there.
But it just looks like | you shouldn't eat it.
It really doesn't look like someone | should go out there and go, "Mmm, that looks delicious.
" I think, actually, to say that | human beings should not eat plants is proven to be | a bit of a redundant statement.
(CHUCKLES) It just smells like Sunday dinners back when I was, like, | five years old again.
(SNIFFS) It's just | a horrible, horrible smell.
OK.
(BREATHES DEEPLY) I hateI hate you.
| Already, I hate you.
(MUMBLES INDISTINCTLY) (Let's go, let's go.
) (EXHALES) Again, it sort of tastes | exactly how it smelt and just, like, cold green.
I'm trying really hard | to just shut my brain off and just sort of be a bit more | open-minded towards everything.
I think today went | really well for Dave.
It's one thing to try lots | of little amounts of things, though, and it's a different thing to really | incorporate that into a new diet.
The thing that really | sort of stuck out for me, it was the broccoli.
It instantly took me back | to when I was a kid and sort of having that | sort of placed in front of me knowing that I was | gonna have to eat it.
'Dave's back in Birmingham, | and it's day one of a new diet with no chips.
' Good morning.
Morning.
| Do you think we should open it now? Yeah.
'Charlotte sent Dave home | with a hamper filled with food to get him started.
' Open it.
Oh! That looks really good! But there's a thousand | green things in there.
Aw, that's really nice.
| There you go, look.
Do you reckon these are seedless? | Dunno.
I don't know.
| I'm sure they're seedless.
Don't worry.
If there is a seed, | you can just That's OK.
| Dave, did you just eat that grape? So quickly and casually? | Yeah! (LAUGHS) Well done.
It was sweet.
'Charlotte's also sent recipes, tips, and clear instructions | to chuck out the chips.
' Goodbye, curly fries.
'It's time to go cold turkey.
' 'Dave may be off the chips for now, | but in order to keep up the progress, psychologist Felix | needs to understand the root of his eating problems.
' You've been eating mainly chips | for most of your life.
Yep.
And when did this start for you? I can't remember a time | when I wasn't.
I can remember times when | I was really, really little eating but, like, as far | as I can remember back, I've pretty much had chips, | like, all the time.
What I usually find is, let's say | in the course of normal development, we develop an eating pattern, so at some point this normal | progress just got derailed somehow.
Yeah.
And I'm really curious | about what happened at that point that just switched you | to this new track.
I remember my dad used to cut me, | like, Sunday lunches, and I remember, like, growing up, | really not enjoying Sunday lunches.
Like, I didn't enjoy the meat, | I didn't enjoy any of the vegetables.
He was always one of these people | that just said, like, "If you don't have it now, | you'll have it for your tea, and if you don't have it | for your tea, you'll have it for your breakfast.
" And I remember always | hating Sunday dinners, because I would always be | the one left on the table with a plate full of meat and carrots | and vegetables and stuff that I really didn't want to eat.
Our brain learns by association.
If your brain is associating feelings of being powerless, | or being helpless, of being sort of coerced or bullied | with certain foods, you're gonna build up | a reaction to that, a sort of aversion to that.
So, what are the good things, | the positive things about chips that you'd like to carry over | into your other eating habits? One of the things that I really loved | when I was growing up was my mum used to make | home-cooked chips, and I used to love them.
They were, like, amazing, a special treat, like, birthdays, | Christmas, sort of thing.
I just sort of want | to continue that sort of feeling where I'm actually happy | to eat a food that I'm excited about.
At the moment, sounds like | it's a little bit black or white.
Vegetables and meat | are associated with your dad trying to coerce you | or bully you into eating it, and these lovely, | home-made cooked chips you associate with | being welcoming and love.
So, I mean, the strange thing | is, David, this is not really about the food.
This is about the emotions | associated to the food.
If your dad sat you there saying, "You're gonna eat your chips | until they're all finished" It would have been | the other way round.
Exactly.
So, it's really about | breaking that connection.
Yeah.
| Well done.
'It's the start of week two, | and Dave's still off the fries, but he's struggling with new foods.
This morning's homework challenge | from Charlotte? To eat a mango.
' I have never I think I've seen this, | but I've never actually eaten one.
Or, I don't think I've seen | anyone eating one themselves.
Yeah, I can feel | something hard in the middle.
OK.
Eugh, that looks like | a giantstony thing.
OK.
(SNIFFS) (EXHALES) OK.
Yeah, my brain's thinking about it | too much now, and I feel sick.
I feel a bit sick.
It's just | the textures and stuff now .
.
are sort of ruining it for me.
Like, for now, | I'm just done with the mango.
'Over the coming days, | Dave's progress is very slow and not exactly steady.
' This morning for breakfast, I had | a bunch of grapes and an apple, so that's, like, | two of my five a day, and then .
.
I had some crisps and I had | a doughnut, cos I was really hungry.
'Desperate times call for | desperate measures.
Dave's ready to cook and hopefully | eat an omelette for the first time.
' CLARE: How are you feeling | about eating the omelette? Excited? | I don't really know.
Just a bit hungry, really.
| (CHUCKLES) You seem a bit fed up.
| I am fed up.
I'm not eating what I want to eat.
I'm eating things | that I don't want to eat yet.
I just really, really, really | want some chips.
That's all I really want to do, | is just eat a portion of chips, and then I sort of think | I can get through another week if I'm not having them.
I know you want to eat the chips, but I think, at the same time, | you don't want to eat them.
I don't want to eat the chips cos | of all the bad (BLEEP) that happens, and all that stuff, and yeah, yeah, yeah, | all that, yeah, it's bad for me.
But I still like them.
I still would like to have a meal | that I'm actually going to enjoy I know.
.
.
rather than just a meal that | I'm just cooking to keep trying it.
I understand why I can't | eat the chips and whatnot, soI'm trying to focus on that, but when I just | get down about myself, it's a really horrible thing | to feel about myself constantly, cos all I want to do is just | do something that I actually enjoy.
'With Dave on a real low, | Felix invites him to London.
He wants to tackle what he sees as the root of the problem - | family mealtimes.
' OK, so, Dave, what do you think | this represents? A table and chairs? Dinnertime.
Oh, no, a child's dinnertime.
That's right.
This is you.
'Armed with cardboard cut-outs | of Dave's family, Felix hopes that Dave can overcome the negative memories | associated with family meals.
' He wouldn't eat it, end of story, | full stop, and that's why the old, | "You'll sit there till," you know "If you don't eat it now, you'll have it for breakfast | in the morning.
" Go for it.
(CHUCKLES) You'd end up thinking, | "The poor kid's gonna go hungry.
What WILL you eat, then, David?" And Dave said, "Well, you can do me | chips, and I will eat chips.
" Here you are.
Everyone else is eating all the food.
Your brothers are making | some snide remarks.
Your parents - | there's a slight tension.
Your mum says, "Just leave him.
" Your dad's saying, "Well, you know, | should he get away with it?" And, you know, "I had to eat | what was put in front of me.
" What are you feeling right here | as your three-year-old self? Just feeling like I'm being | singled out, and I don't I just want to do everything | that everyone else is doing.
What's it like for you | to feel singled out? What emotions are attached to that? Just unhappiness.
| Like, most mealtimes wasn't fun.
It wasn't a good time for me.
So, I'd like you here as young Dave, | now, to go into your father's shoes.
I'm gonna ask you questions as Dad.
You've heard from your son | that he's feeling upset here.
He doesn't enjoy this.
So, where are you coming from | with this kind of pressure? Why is he being difficult? That's Like, I just want him to eat | what everyone else is eating.
I just want him to be normal, | basically.
I just want him to carry on | doing what everyone else is doing.
Like, he just seems to be | being really difficult about it.
Now, some parents may say, | "I don't care - eat what you like.
" They're kind of indifferent.
Indifference means that | they don't care.
So, strangely enough, | even though your father was angry, his anger was partly taking it | personally, but also cos he cared.
He wanted you to eat something right, | something good for you.
Yeah.
The problem here | is that he didn't know exactly how to express that care.
Yeah.
So, what I would like to do now, I'd like you to advise your dad | on how Dave needs to be treated.
Dad, what I really needed | when I was a kid was for you to sort of back off, for you to be a lot more supportive.
Excellent stuff.
Now, be Dad.
You've got the benefit of this | new insight of what's really needed.
How would you respond now | to your young son instead? Hey, Dave, I was only doing | what I was doing because I love you and because of how I was brought up, but I realise | that we're not the same.
What I wish I'd done was more caring and more actually listening | to what the problem was rather than just thinking | you're being awkward.
How do you feel towards your dad now, | having experienced this? A lot better.
| I think we would have been I think we should be a lot closer | than we are.
I think it caused a lot of tension | that we didn't actually need, cos I know he was doing it | for the best intentions.
Excellent.
It sort of made me realise that we sort of lost a lot of | good childhood memories, and I don't speak to my dad | that much now.
It just made me really want | to speak to him and actually just go out | and do stuff with him.
I sort of want to make happier memories with my family | regarding food than just these sort of unhappy ones that I always usually | associate with, so I sort of want to get | some happiness back from my family.
'Clare has joined Dave in London, | and it's dinnertime.
They're in the food Mecca of | the East End to grab a bite to eat.
What could be simpler?' Ooh, look.
There's English here.
Seafood.
I'm not really | a fan of seafood, am I? Omelette.
Oh, it comes with chips.
See? Everything comes with chips! You know what I really want to try, | is corn on the cob.
No? You're not coming with me | on this one? How would you feel about a toastie? I think then we're going into | the areas of stringiness.
And I'm actually really hungry.
You're hungry now? | I'm starving! 'Two hours later, | and the hungry couple settle for coffee and cake for one.
' Try a sip of juice? You should try the cake.
| It's so nice.
Not everything has to be tried | to force down my throat, you know.
I'm not forcing it down your throat! | You know what I mean.
I'm offering it to you.
REFLECTIVE MUSIC 'The lack of chips and anything else | he likes eating is getting to Dave.
Behind closed doors, | he's really struggling.
' I just lost it and I basically just | broke down in a heap on the floor.
Why can't I eat the chips? | I know I can't eat the chips.
It's stupid, but I want them, | but I don't want them.
And I justI was so angry.
He started to cry, | which wasreally, like, really upsetting to watch, and really shocking because | I've been with him for, you know, over a year and a half now and never, ever seen him crying | that whole time.
It's just everything was just | getting on top of me, and I just (SIGHS) I just want to be happy.
| That's all I want.
'Dave's hit rock bottom, | but Felix is on hand to help.
' PHONE RINGS Well, Dave, I mean, you're | going through a very hard time, and I think you've got a lot of | cumulative stress building up there, so, you know, you've gotta | give yourself a break as well.
So, what that means is you CAN eat | chips from time to time, you know.
People do that.
We just don't want to make it | your one and only staple.
Just to check, Dave, were there | any other emotions you're aware of that played into this? The trying the new foods has been sort of a strain, like, | as it would be.
Then there's been the whole | moving to uni thing, like, then sort of knowing that | it's sort of like even though me and Clare | aren't breaking up, we're sort of likewe're living | apart as soon as I go to uni.
It is a time of lots of fast changes | happening, and change is stressful, so the fact that you've had | a little bit of an experience of feeling overwhelmed, hey, give yourself permission | to be overwhelmed, you know, from time to time.
Cool.
Thank you very much, dude.
All right, Dave.
Take care, OK? | See you later.
'Bye.
(SIGHS) 'So Dave takes Felix at his word | and heads for the chippy.
' Hello there.
Can I get a ã1.
30 chips | and a sausage, and then a small chips | as well, please? I won't have any of them.
There you go.
| Thank you.
Thank you.
Don't be sad.
'It's back to the house | with his stash, the first chips he's eaten | in over two weeks.
' Mmm! (LAUGHS) Well, are they as good | as you remembered? Oh, better, cos I haven't had them | for a while.
(Oh, they are really nice.
) | (CHUCKLES) I hope this doesn't make it | more difficult for you, Dave.
See, I think | you're not enjoying them as much as you thought | you were going to.
I'm not enjoying them | as much as I used to.
That's good.
Before I had them, I was sort of | really looking forward to them and sort of, like, there was | sort of like that bit of excitement.
Like, "Oh, I haven't had chips | for a while, so what are they gonna taste like? Hope they're gonna be | as good as before.
" And then after eating them, no, they weren't | as enjoyable as they were before.
I think within | trying all these new foods, you sort ofI've felt a lot better | after eating a meal, and I know that the reason I'm | feeling a bit gluggy and a bit heavy is because of the chips.
'There's now just one week to go before Dave must eat his first | proper dinner with his family in nearly 20 years.
Dave is still struggling to | adapt to his chip-free challenge, so Felix has to hope | an exciting new experience will help him take the plunge.
' Dave, have you ever been on | one of these things before? No, never.
I'm really excited.
It looks cool as hell, yeah.
It's not the kind of thing | you usually do, is it? No, no.
Travelling on the bus is pretty much | the peak of my excitement.
So, you up for it? | Definitely, definitely up for it.
Hey, it's Action Dave.
| It is.
How do you feel? | You ready for this challenge? Yep, very ready.
I'm excited.
You've got just one mission to do | OK.
.
.
just to enjoy yourself.
| Cool.
You can do that? | Pretty sure I should be able to.
JAUNTY MUSIC At the moment he's doing about 4mph, which is a bit less than | walking speed, I think.
Dave, go a bit faster! ENGINE ROARS, UPBEAT MUSIC That's the one.
What I'm really hoping | for Dave to get out of this is he starts of apprehensive, | tentative about something, and then he realises | he can really have fun with it.
There's a monotony about things, | so I think it's really important that he IS more adventurous | across the board.
How was that, then? You did full throttle, didn't you? | Yes.
Yeah, I thought you did.
Brilliant.
| (CHUCKLES) I was a bit nervous about it, but then I was, like, | "No, just go for it.
" Literally, most of that was full | throttle, I was enjoying it so much.
It was great.
In life, you take | a little bit more risks, you can actually | enjoy life a lot more, and now the trick is | to do that with your food.
Like, I totally understand what | Felix was saying about, you know, why not apply that to food? Why can you not just think, "Screw it, I'm gonna | throw caution to the wind.
If I love it, great.
If I don't, | I don't.
That's fine.
" I think I just need to be | more adventurous now.
It's great.
Good, Dave.
| Good.
'With Dave now feeling more positive | and making progress, Charlotte decides it's time to | move his eating to the next level.
' Hello again.
| How's it going? What Dave really needs to learn now is to start to understand | how you mix flavours, how you can mix new foods together, and how he's gonna | really start enjoying that.
(SPEAKS JAPANESE) Oh, yes! Whoa! (BOTH CHEER) 'Charlotte hopes Teppanyaki, | a Japanese way of cooking that quickly and easily | mixes flavours together, is something | that might appeal to Dave, especially with | his student days ahead.
' Thank you.
Thank you.
| Enjoy your meal.
Thank you very much.
| Thank you.
How was that for you? That was thrilling.
That was | really good.
I enjoyed that.
What did you take in terms of watching the chicken being cooked, | for instance? It wasit looked delicious | when it was just being fried and it was just being nice, and it was being juggled about | and just slowly being cooked.
And also, you can see how simple | it is to get flavours in there.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
And also, he used | an enormous amount of garlic, which is the most simple flavour | you can possibly get, and every culture has garlic in it, | pretty much.
OK.
| Shall we go? We'll go for a bit of chicken, yeah.
It's really nice.
| Mm-hm! That's a world away from just trying | something on its own, isn't it? And, yeah, it was | really, really good.
I really enjoyed it.
Like, you asked me that | two weeks ago, said I'd be eating there, | like, it wouldn't have happened, so it was, like, | a really nice thing to try.
'Dave may be doing well, | but Felix believes that to truly put his chip-eating days | behind him, he needs to clear the air | with his father about the miserable mealtimes | of the past.
Trouble is, they haven't seen | each other for over two years.
' I haven't seen my dad for a while.
We speak sometimes, | but not very often.
After some of the stuff | that Felix said, I thought that we sort of really need to talk to each other | to sort a few things out.
Hello, Papa.
| Hi, sunshine.
Looking well.
| Thanks.
What's with your glasses? | I'm blind because of you.
Blaming me for that one, are you? Shall we sit down? | Eh? How are you? I'm OK.
I'm OK.
You're looking good, mate.
| Different.
It's because of | your crappy eyesight.
I can't imagine you with glasses on.
| I've had to.
How long you had them, then? | A few weeks.
Like, I know when I was a kid, | I really didn't like green stuff, like the broccoli | and the sprouts and stuff.
At the end of the day, | I thought I was right and you were just playing up Yeah.
.
.
when it was started off, | I suppose, you know what I mean? So it was just one of them things.
But, like I say, you can see your | point of view and my point of view, but at the time you | don't think of these things.
No.
You don't think about the situation, | might be years later.
You're just doing | what you think's right.
Well, that's it.
At the end | of the day, it's, you know At the end of the day, | you used to eat food, normal, so why suddenly change? Somewhere along the line, | something happened.
Oh, I don't know.
| And that's it.
It was many, many years ago, Dad.
| I haven't got a memory that good.
Yeah.
It'll be nice to say | you can eat normal stuff.
Before Friday, | I hadn't eaten chips for two weeks.
New start, is it? No, no, I was trying | fruits and vegetables.
It's good to, you know, know that | you are trying these other things.
So, if I made you up | one of my special fish pies I've never tried a pie.
| (STAMMERS) It's, like, smoked haddock, | normal haddock, cheese sauce, mashed potato.
It's just all full of good stuff, | you know what I mean, tasty.
Maybe, yeah.
I'm surprised as to, you know, | what's going on, and what you're saying to me now | is just unbelievable.
Yeah.
OK.
I'm gonna go, Dad.
Yeah, you take care.
| Lovely to see you.
I'm so glad that | everything's working out for you.
Yeah, it's good.
And you're gonna come up, | and we're gonna cook for each other, and you're gonna teach me | how to cook some beef.
It was really nice | seeing my dad, actually.
It was weird | cos I haven't seen him much.
He looks a bit older than | the last time I saw him.
It was just nice to see him, and | hopefully he'll come up to Lincoln, and he can sort of teach me | how to cook some stuff.
'The day has arrived | for Dave and Clare to move out of their Birmingham home.
Clare's going to Sheffield | with her dad, while Dave's off to | Lincoln University with his mum.
' Last ones.
| Give it a try.
(CHUCKLES) Yay! Look at that.
I love you.
| I love you more.
(CRIES) I'm sorry.
Just gonna miss you, is all.
I'll miss you more.
Good luck.
| See you, Dave.
See you later.
(SIGHS) HORN TOOTS I am a little bit sad | to leave the house, you know.
It's the house where me and Clare | first moved in together, so it's got loads of memories | for us, but, you know, also looking forward | to moving into the new flat and seeing what that's all like and | making new friends and stuff, so (STARTS ENGINE) 'It's the first day of uni and | the moment Dave has been dreading.
He's not sure what | the other students will be like or what they will make | of his eating habits.
' Which course are you | going to be doing? Computer games production.
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) | Hopefully.
What about you? You doing that one? Yay! I'm Dave! I'm Jose.
| Jose, how's it going, man? I don't know - if you want, | we'll meet you over there and go grab a drink or something.
Yeah.
'Dave befriends two lads | from his computer course, but it's not long before the dreaded | topic of eating is on the menu.
' What are you looking at? | Ultimate Tower Burger.
See, I don't know what to have | cos I'm not eating chips, so everything comes with chips.
Well, you could always go for | a jacket potato.
I've never eaten a jacket potato | in my life.
That's pretty good.
You reckon? I'm iffy about the cheese.
No, I'm gonna go cheese and bacon.
| (BLEEP), I'll go for it.
'Dave has never tried | a jacket potato, but he decides to take the risk.
After all, that's just like | a big chip, right?' I've got a jacket potato | with bacon and cheese.
Many thankyous.
| There we go.
Thank you.
| That's me.
How do you eat a jacket potato? You can either eat the skin | or leave the skin.
I think I'm gonna leave the skin.
It looks like | there's a lot of cheese.
This is what I was afraid of, that it was just gonna | get overpowered with cheese.
Go on.
Just eat it.
It's not gonna kill you, is it? It could do.
| What if it's slightly poison? No, it's not gonna kill me.
| (CHUCKLES) Mmm.
It's kind of like mashed potato, | but without it being mashed.
Mmm.
And I really think it could | it would benefit from some vinegar.
(CHUCKLES) That was OK, that was.
| (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) I didn't enjoy the salad after it, but I think the bacon | could have used some work.
But as a whole, I can now eat | jacket potatoes.
There you go.
It's been fun so far.
It's been nice meeting some new | people, and they just seem to be, like, "Oh, OK, you haven't tried | it," which is always nice, you know.
It's nice not to be ridiculed | for something that I haven't done and more supported for it, | so they just seemed like nice guys.
Think we're gonna get along.
| It's gonna be good.
'Dave settles in quickly | to his new life at university, and he even buys himself a wok and | starts experimenting in the kitchen.
But there isn't a veg in sight.
With just two days | before the final challenge, Charlotte decides to spring | a surprise visit on Dave.
' Hello.
| Hello, darling.
Wasn't expecting you up here.
Have you been cooking? | I have been cooking.
What have you been cooking? I've mainly been having those | egg noodles.
They're delicious.
And what about the greenery? There's only been | little bits of greenery.
That's your kind of blind spot, | is the greenery.
Yeah, the greenery.
'Charlotte has one last chance | to get Dave over his green phobia before the final challenge.
' Can we take one of those? | Thank you.
Thank you very much.
'And she's risking it all | with a salad.
' Four salads for ã6.
A bargain! Cheers! | Thank you.
'Bye.
So, I've prepared this salad.
| There's a lot of greenery there.
(LAUGHS) So, you can see a lot of leaves, | but a lot of colour too.
So, again, it's that mixing | of flavours that we did, so it tempers that taste | that you're not necessarily used to.
We're going to | put together something that's going to bring this salad | alive, some dressing.
What we're gonna start with | is a really simple one, so, olive oil, some lemon juice.
Also gonna add | a little bit of honey in there.
OK.
'Her plan is to disguise the taste of | the vegetables with some dressings.
' And there you go.
| So, how does that look to you? What's your brain telling you | about that at the moment? It just looks Now it just looks like | wet leafiness, and I can just get the smell | of green and beetroot.
Let's go for it.
(EXHALES) OK, OK.
Yep.
That was some chewy green.
And? | Tastes like green.
So, how was the dressing? | Did that make a difference? I couldn't taste any dressing.
'Charlotte's determined | to try whatever it takes to get Dave to actually | enjoy the salad.
' I really don't enjoy the texture | of those avocados.
(SPITS) What was that? | Bits.
I'm not really sure if | the salads and dressings experiment worked with Dave.
He's quite reticent towards the | whole "green thing", as he calls it, but he really, really was trying, | really putting big mouthfuls in, so there's a lot | of positive stuff there.
I just don't know how much | he's gonna try on his own when he's left to his own devices.
'It's just 24 hours before Dave must | eat a roast dinner with his family.
Clare has come to visit him | for moral support, but the conversation | quickly turns sour.
' So, have you been | eating any vegetables since you've at uni, Davey? Um, only those beans and, you know, | the beany sprout things.
Bean sprouts? | Yeah.
And that is it? I haven't really been cooking | that much.
And it's just, likeno.
| Why? I don't know.
It's not Like, once I get into a routine It's just because | it's the first week.
Everyone's going out, | everyone's meeting each other.
Everyone's, like, bonding together.
| Yeah.
So it's sort of been | I'm worried about you.
I don't want you | to go back tojust eating the stuff you can whack in the oven just because you don't | have to think about it.
I'm not gonna just go back to that.
I should hope | that you know that I won't.
OK.
It's nice to know | that you have faith in me.
Dave! I've done nothing but have faith | in you the whole time, OK? Nothing but support you, you know, | trying to help you, listen to you.
I've done nothing but good stuff, | and you sit there and say that! 'Four weeks and | just one bag of chips later, it's time for | Dave's final challenge - to eat an entire roast dinner | while his family look on, something he hasn't done | since he was four years old.
' I think the thing that | I'm least looking forward to is the green stuff, the broccoli, | or just the meat.
I think the meat could be a problem, cos I usually have a problem | just chewing the meat.
'And the whole family will be there | for the first time in over 10 years, including his dad.
' Well, I can't remember how long it's | been since I seen him eat properly, so ifI think if he does | get through it today, I think it'll be amazing.
He's gonna give it his best shot.
I think he's gonna do really well, | and just the fact that he's here and he can even contemplate | doing it is amazing.
I don't actually think | he's gonna do it today, that's all.
'And Felix and Charlotte | are there for moral support.
' All right, Dave? | Hello! How's it going, darling? | Hello, darling.
Hello.
| Nice to see you again.
You OK? I'm good, man.
| How are you feeling about today? I'm OK.
Bit nervous.
| A bit nervous, but I'm OK.
We haven't eaten together like this | for, like, 10, 10 years or so.
It'll be unusual.
| Yeah, it'll be unusual.
It'll be unusual for me to eat | the same things as them as well.
So, you're gonna | tackle the vegetables? I'm gonna have to | tackle the vegetables, yes.
(LAUGHS) | (FELIX SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) Go and meet your family, then.
| Good luck, Dave.
The only thing that might | hinder his progress today is that he's not been trying that | greenery at home on his own, so he's got | quite a large leap to make.
'Dave dreaded family roast dinners | as a boy.
Will he be able to stomach this one?' Oh, go on, lad.
You've had more veg than me, son.
| Are we gonna tuck in, then? Well, Davey, cheers, son.
ALL: Cheers.
Doing well.
LOW-LEVEL CONVERSATION I'm very impressed, | cos all his veggies are gone.
Mm-hm.
| Well done.
'Even though Dave has managed | to tackle the vegetables, he still has a plate full of meat | and potatoes to get through to finish the challenge.
' 'While all the others have finished, | Dave is still munching.
' Well, it's getting down there, son.
Mmm.
| I'm proud.
I am proud.
Yeah, I'm done.
I didn't think I'd see the day.
(ALL TALK AT ONCE) How do you feel, son? | Full.
Proud? Hello.
| Hello, hello, hello.
That looks like a very empty plate! Yeah.
| And there were vegetables to start? There were vegetables to start with.
Your favourite, broccoli, | was on there.
Yeah.
Did you enjoy the broccoli? It was OK.
| Hey, that's a start.
We're getting there.
| That's a step upwards.
Can I get some reactions | from people round the table? As a family, I think this has been | a bit of a milestone, cos I can't remember the time | when we've sat down all together and eaten a meal where David's | had the same as everybody else.
So it's been absolutely | mind-blowing.
I'm just so proud of you.
Oh, no.
Oh, no! Really, really so proud of you.
| (CHUCKLES) Yeah, I'm just so surprised | he has tried it all.
He's done better than you have, Rob.
| He has done better than me! I'm a bit fussier than him.
| (ALL LAUGH) Brilliant.
| Well done, son.
Well done.
| Brilliant, mate.
(ALL TALK AT ONCE) When I first started | and I said, like, I didn't want to feel | like a kid anymore, I just wanted to be an adult, and that was definitely a step | towards feeling like an adult, being able to eat with everyone else, just having a nice meal | with them all.
I think he has banished those old | demons and written a new chapter, which is exactly my hope for him, | and job well done.
I justI'm really ecstatic | that he enjoyed it so much.
I mean, he ate all the vegetables | and he enjoyed it.
I think he's gonna be | really positive.
I think he's gonna take that to uni, and I think he's starting | a whole new life.
We can do so many things now | that we could never do before.
It's like a whole new world.
It'sthis has changed his life.
Well done, son.
I'm so proud of you.
You did great.
He's really chuffed.
| I'm proud of my son.
I'm just gonna carry on | expanding what I'm eating.
There will still be chips | in the diet, but everyone has some chips | in their diet.
It just won't ever be to the extent where it's every single day, | twice a day.
Not even, like, every single week.
It's just gonna be every once in a | while like everyone else has them.
So I'm happy about that.
'One month later, and Dave's dietary | revolution is still going strong.
' I can actually honestly say | I don't miss chips at all.
It's now no longer a thing | of, like, "Ooh, I'm hungry.
I wonder where | the nearest chip shop is?" It's, like, "Oh, I'm hungry.
I wonder if this place | does nice sandwiches?" Or, "This place has got | some nice food on the board.
" I'm no longer having to just look | at the kids' menu to order food, and I'm basically | just a normal person, and that's what I've always wanted, just to be able to not feel like | I'm singled out because of what I'm eating.
I don't have something | ruling my life like chips did.
Now, it's more like I'll try little | bits of sort of greenery food and salad and stuff.
I'm still not its biggest fan | by a long shot, but at least | now I'm still trying it, and I may come to | eventually love salad, maybe.