Local eats nothing but French fries, appears on national TV

A New Carlisle woman who only eats hand-cut, skinless French fried potatoes discussed the hardship she’s endured due to her unusual eating disorder Friday on the ABC’s news program “20/20.”

Amber Scott suffers from the rare condition called Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).

The divorced mother in her earlier 30s has dined almost exclusively on French fries since she was a very young girl.

Scott said she has faced anger and scorn  from people who think she is unhealthy and is just being stubborn.

“I heard it all. I’ve heard I am going to have a heart attack any day now. I’ve heard I wouldn’t make it to age 40,” Scott said.

During the segment with ABC reporter Deborah Roberts, Scott nearly vomited at the thought of eating rice. She manages to eat a few grains after trying for seven minutes.

Scott learned a few years ago that she is not the only one with the condition thought to affect a few thousand people.

Scott now has a podcast that deals with so-called adult picky eating and has appeared on Dr. Phil and TLC's Freaky Eaters.

“It’s a very old-fashioned kind of mentality to tell your children you’ll eat what I made or you’ll starve,” Scott said during her interview.

Contact this columnist at arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com or Twitter.com/DDNSmartMouth

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