A British teenager had a health scare last week and was rushed to a hospital when she had trouble breathing. The doctors were surprised when the girl revealed that since age 2 her diet consisted of chicken nuggets. She’s now 17.

Apparently, she first tasted McDonald’s chicken nuggets at age 2 and loved them so much she refused to eat anything else. No fruits. No vegetables. Nothing green. Based on the article, it wasn’t entirely McDonald’s brand of nuggets; she claims she also likes the KFC nuggets and some store brands. According to the article, her mother eventually gave up on trying to get her to eat anything else. Doctors have given the girl vitamins to take, after giving her vitamin injections during her hospital stay. And I guess the good news is that the girl is starting to realize her eating habits are harmful.

I have kids who are picky eaters, but they’ve never been this picky. They do eat more than one food item, but I do understand having children who are picky eaters. I don’t understand how the girl could have made it fifteen years by eating only nuggets. For one thing, given the vitamin deficiencies she had to be experiencing (the article never mentions taking supplemental vitamins while maintaining this diet), I’m left wondering how it’s possible she made it fifteen years on this diet without getting sick before.

That’s not the only thing I’m left wondering, and I’m not trying to pick on the mother. I have questions, and for all I know, the mother really did all she could about this situation before giving up.

Surely the mother had a health class and knew a little about basic nutritional needs of the body. She had to know her daughter’s nutritional needs were not being met. Are health classes offered at the girl’s school? Wouldn’t she have been aware that her basic nutritional needs were not being met? Shouldn’t one or both of them considered supplemental vitamins? Did the mother discuss her daughter’s diet with a doctor? Eating one food for fifteen years sounds to me like an eating disorder. Wouldn’t this warrant a discussion with a doctor, a psychiatrist, or both? The girl says in the article she loved nuggets so much she couldn’t face trying other foods. Again, this sounds like a psychological problem that warrants a discussion with a professional. And again, the article is very limited in the information it actually provides, so for all I know, perhaps her mother did seek help from some of these resources. I hope she did, at least.

I understand how difficult it is to get a picky eater to try new foods. Children can be quite stubborn. I have a little experience with situations similar to this. When Byron was about 2 1/2, he wanted to eat sausage and drink milk. He didn’t really want anything else. Rather than let it go and give up, I talked to his doctor who told me at that point it wasn’t anything to panic about because kids would sometimes go through phases like this. He told me to keep offering Byron other foods, and he told me to make sure Byron was taking a multi-vitamin every day. After I quit trying to hard to get Byron to eat something else, he started eating other things again. Cody would go through stages of wanting grilled cheese sandwiches or pizza rolls. However, while during his phase that made up the majority of his diet, it wasn’t the only thing in his diet, and again, we would add the multi-vitamin. So while these two boys went through their phases, they did come out of them. Had they not, I would have sought additional help from their doctors to make sure their nutritional needs were met.

Both the girl and her parents are to blame for this situation. How could you not know that a diet consisting only of chicken nuggets is not good for you? One of the sad things about this situation is that there is a whole world of food the girl has ignored. She tried chicken nuggets and loved them. If she would try other foods, who knows what else she might love? I still tell my pickier eaters that they’re missing out on a world of wonderful food, and every once in a while, they’ll try something else and find out they like it.

Picky eaters will always be out there, and they may not enjoy a wide range of foods, but they should at least try some things. And nobody should try to live on just one food item. Common sense should tell you that’s a bad idea.