A schoolboy addicted to Shreddies and Mcdonald's chicken nuggets for seven years has had been cured - thanks to hypnosis.

Arlo Powncenby, nine, would refuse to try new foods and has eaten the same set three meals since he was two-years-old.

Arlo's diet consisted of Shreddies for breakfast, pancakes for lunch and a nine-piece McDonald's chicken nugget box for dinner.

His desperate mum Steph, 37, says she used to get odd looks from shoppers after bulk buying dozens of boxes of Shreddies each week.

The mum-of-four, from Abindgon, Oxon., said: "It started when he was about two. He's got autism and it was like he just stopped wanting to eat normal food. "

"Since he was about three he would have the same diet, mainly the same foods. He'd have Shreddies for breakfast, then dried cereal and a pancake for lunch, then dinner was the same branded cheese pizza or McDonalds nuggets."

"It's really tricky. When we'd go on holiday we had to make sure we're near a McDonald's and have a cooker in the hotel. He never used to eat out with us so it was tricky. Whenever we saw family and friends I'd have to take food with me."

"He just wouldn't eat new foods, he would point-blank refuse. We tried everything. The pediatrician that he was under told us it takes 15 times for the pallet to get used to new foods. But he used to smell it, nine times out of ten he wouldn't try it. "

"He has a huge bowl of Shreddies in the morning and it has to be the actual brand. He's very brand orientated, one time we ran out on holiday and he point blank refused to eat breakfast for two days."

"Even with chicken nuggets and chips he'd know. We couldn't cook them at home. "

"Then his cheese pizza, they discontinued it. He could tell just by looking at it and smelling it that it wasn't the same one."

"Because of the protein in the chicken nuggets that was all the protein he was getting. On average he has McDonald's three times a week, and then pizza for the other four."

Mum Steff suspects Arlo suffers from Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder but hasn't had him formally diagnosed.

At his most extreme he could munch through two boxes of Shreddies and eat over 27 chicken nuggets a week.

Steff, who lives with Arlo's stepdad Stuart, 43, said: "He's never been officially diagnosed him with ARFID, but the NHS doesn't have the resources to diagnose him. "

"The pediatricians were useless, we didn't even get given the opportunity to see a dietician or anything."

In a desperate attempt to help Arlo's diet and sleeping issues caused by autism, his mum Steph turned to hypnosis specialist David Kilmurry.

After just seven sessions eating condition specialist David managed to get Arlo munching on a variety of foods for the first time in seven years.

"My husband first got in touch with David in March. We found him through the internet looking for hypnotherapists. Arlo is very intelligent and doesn't like not to be right and better himself. "

"He was putting so much pressure on himself and we wanted someone to help with that. Then David asked about his diet and that's what he specialises himself in."

"Within the first session Arlo had tried new foods, which we didn't think would happen. "

"He's the most incredible man I've ever met, everyone needs a David in their life. We use his videos to get to sleep at night, too."

"Arlo now has fruit, raisins, apples, blackberries, kiwi etc, which is a huge plus for children. He also has vegetables and eats chicken. Last night he had lamb chops for dinner."

"Last week he went to Nandos and had the chicken wings. It's been gradual and he came away from the first session trying things. "

"He has a normal lunch box now. We're still working on the dinner, we give him the spaghetti bolognaise."

His breakfast remains the same but his lunch now includes

a croissant, crisps like Doritos or pretzels and fruit.

While dinner consists of chicken, vegetables, lamb chops - and even Nandos.

Steph added: "It's just so odd, we're trying to get our head around it. We thought it was not something that we thought would ever happen."

"This year he's even managed to have a birthday cake for the first time since he was two, a lemon drizzle cake."

Hypnosis expert David said: "It was a true blessing to meet and work with young Arlo and see him develop his fuel intake. I can't be more pleased and inspired by this young hero with his huge breakthroughs. "

"Originally Maths genius Arlo's Mommy & Daddy booked him in for awful sleep, stomach issues and anxiety meltdowns."

"So, often Arlo would be back and forth to the bathroom several times to see if he needed it restless and overthinking throughout the night - and this meant night times were a horror story."

"So, with autism we make allowances for certain things including the way we eat, avoiding certain places - many of our ARFID recovery successes are with children or adults that are neurodivergent literal thinking can really help in recovery towards ‘free eating'."

"Arlo's beige, bland and low value diet wax the main factor on why he didn't sleep. Being within the diagnostics for ARFID is dangerous and never a nice thing, going on holidays for the family always had to be self-catering restaurants were a no-go and having exactly the same food, military every day at exactly the same time can be quite exhausting & ‘prison like' for the family. "

"Over the course of the programme, Arlo hasn't just overcome ARFID, he's learned to eat freely and find a huge internet in food. He has also been able to sleep and not just that, he's come fully off the Melatonin - which was giving him awful bladder issues and has some concerning side effects."

ENDS