This Boy Has Only Ever Eaten Custard And Biscuits, Hopes To Eat More By Christmas

Josh Grove, 11-year-old from Dorchester, England, only eats three food groups — and they're not what you'd think. He refuses to put anything in his mouth that isn't custard, digestive biscuits (a popular British snack similar to a crispy cookie), or baby food. And even then, his baby food habit is restricted — he'll only swallow Mediterranean chicken and apple and pork casserole.

For breakfast, Josh eats baby food every day. At school he eats custard and biscuits for lunch, then returns home to an identical meal for dinner. Luckily, Josh has avoided any severe medical repercussions for his diet — he takes a vitamin supplement once a week and a vitamin D oral solution every day, working closely with doctors to ensure his health remains stable.

His family, desperate to solve his extremely picky eating habit, is now looking to hypnosis to medicate his psychologically driven aversion to other foods.

"He'll touch food, but he simply can't put it in his mouth and doesn't know why," his mother, Lorraine Grove, told The Sun tabloid. "He really wants to overcome his problem and sometimes he gets really upset about it, which is hard for me, as his mum, to see."

The problem began with Josh was 14 months old. Ever since, he just can't put anything else in his mouth. They first noticed it was a serious dilemma around Christmas.

"He was really ill during his first Christmas," his mother recalled. "He was just going onto solid food and we took him to the doctor, who told us to put him back down onto weakened bottles and after that, he really struggled with any solid food."

His parents have tried everything to help their son; it hurts them to see him struggle with his aversion to food. He first expressed his desire to eat normally at age nine, and has been very vocal about it ever since.

"It's difficult for him," Lorraine continued. "He'll go round to friends' houses to play for a few hours, but he's always home for dinner, because he finds his diet hard to explain."

They've gone through medical tests, doctors, dietitians, and counseling — but nothing has worked.

"Josh is quite smart," his mother explained, "and he would sit in the room and say what they wanted to hear but, once he got home, he wouldn't do any of it."

Now they're turning to hypnotherapy, a tactic recommended by close friends and teachers. Hypnotherapy is expensive, so the family has begun crowdfunding for his expenses. Their goal? To have him eating a full meal by Christmas.

"Every year he asks what I would like for Christmas and he knows my answer," his mother admitted. "Every year I tell him, 'I want you to have Christmas dinner, mate,' but, instead, he sits there with his jar of baby food, while we all tuck in."

To donate to his family's cause and to help fulfill his mother's Christmas wish, you can find their crowdfunding page here.

We hope the hypnosis works for Josh — his problem certainly won't be helped by a sneaky trick that gets some kids to eat their vegetables.