Category : Five
Live
Date : 11.04.2004
Printable version
Mum-of-two
Cathy Creegan is a self-confessed chocoholic.
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She talks to Rachel Burden and Phil Williams on Five
Live Breakfast today (Sunday 11 April, 6.30-9.00am).
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In almost 50 years Cathy has never eaten a square meal.
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She survives on bar after bar of chocolate and estimates
that she spends up to £200 a month on the sweet stuff.
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She has already munched her way through 15 Easter Eggs.
Petite Cathy, who weighs seven-and-a-half-stones, told Â鶹Éç Radio Five
Live: "I just love chocolate, it's as simple
as that. It's not a fad, it's just the way I live my life.
"I love everything about it. The look of it, the sound of it when
I unwrap it, the feel of it melting in my mouth and obviously the taste
of it.
"I buy the big boxes of it from the cash and carry, and the sight
of bar after bar of perfect chocolate makes me so excited.
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"Then I take all the bars out of the box and I
put them in my secret hiding places.
"I have various cupboards and tins all over the house which are
for my chocolate.
"I get so angry if anyone eats it.
"I always know if my husband has been near it because he leaves
the cupboards open. He knows now that if he eats my chocolate he has
to buy me some to replace it.
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"I know it sounds mean but as far as I'm concerned
there is a fridge and cupboards full of food which he can eat and enjoy
- but chocolate is my staple diet."
Cathy, a Senior Library Assistant at Solihull College, has been married
to husband Trevor for nearly 30 years, they have two children, Stephen
28 and Jessie, 26.
She said: "I've always been like this - ever since I was a baby.
I used to drive my parents to distraction over it.
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"In the end they took me to the doctor because
I wouldn't eat anything. The doctor told them to try absolutely everything
until they found something I would eat. That turned out to be chocolate.
"Obviously they wouldn't just feed me chocolate - and as I grew
up they would pile my plate with meat, potatoes and vegetables - but
I just couldn't eat it. It used to make me sick.
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"The only way I could eat anything was to swallow
it whole with water - so I wouldn't have to taste it.
"I suppose they always thought I would grow out of it - I never
did.
"The only other thing I eat apart from chocolate is potato. I can
manage the odd bowl of mash or a couple of roast potatoes.
"I did try to keep my eating habits from Stephen and Jessie when
they were young, but they used to catch me out eating chocolate when
they were in bed.
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"Luckily though they eat anything and everything
so my chocolate habits haven't rubbed off on them."
Cathy, who turns 50 this year, said she know her diet isn't a healthy
one, but she feels great.
She said: "I'm hardly ever ill. I feel like a teenager - and some
would say I act like a teenager.
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"It doesn't take a genius to work out this isn't
a healthy diet but it's not something I have consciously chosen - I
really do feel sick at the thought of most food.
"The very thought of pasta and rice and beef or bacon or fish or
cheese just makes me gag. It's not just the taste of it, it's the feel
of it and the thought of it."
Trevor, an aircraft engineer, said: "She's always had these odd
eating habits, we have all just got used to it. The rest of the family
all eat well.
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"Whenever we go to a friend's house for dinner,
they just cook her a bowl of mash and give her some chocolate. But no-one
minds - it's just the way she is."
