A mum-of-six who is addicted to eating dirt has lost four teeth due to her strange craving. Elizabeth Smith Leath, 31, started eating dirt when she was at high school to help her cope with stress and says there’s no taste like it.
At 17, she was diagnosed with Pica, an eating disorder which is characterised by a compulsion to eat non-food items, such as paint, dust and dirt.
As a teen, Elizabeth’s craving was so intense that she would scoff five cups of dirt and soil per day which caused her to lose four teeth.
She said: “There’s no taste like it. I went to a therapist who told me to grind up wheat thins and eat those because it’s a similar texture.
“Sometimes it works until I get super stressed out.
“I’m on medication to help manage it but I still get the cravings. I will go outside, get a cup full of dirt and just sit and chew on it.
“If I can’t get dirt, I’ll eat sand because it’s the closest thing to it.
“It’s messed up my teeth, they’ve really deteriorated, and I’ve lost four.
“When I was really bad, I was on five cups a day.”
She hides her strange craving from her kids
The stay-at-home mum, from Iowa Park, Texas, USA collects the dirt from her garden and eats it outside to keep the habit secret from her children, Dama and Jacob, 17, Sonia, 12, Solee, 11, Rosetta, 10, and Bella, four.
Although her children have never seen her eating dirt, Elizabeth fears that they’ll pick up on her habit as her youngest child, Bella, has started eating ash.
Elizabeth said: “She’s got ADHD and it’s not uncommon for kids with ADHD to have Pica.
“I’m just thinking here we go again.
“I eat dirt to cope with stress but Bella isn’t in a stressful situation.
“She’ll eat the ash out of an ashtray.
“She’s the only one of my kids to eat non-food items.”
Elizabeth confessed her secret habit to husband, Russel, 31, when they met at school and admits that he has tried to persuade her to ditch the addiction over fears for her health.
Elizabeth said: “I was diagnosed with bipolar first and when I was stressed, my coping mechanism was to go outside and eat dirt.
“I just couldn’t stop.
“I didn’t tell anyone until I was 17 and my foster mum caught me and took me to a doctor.
“I told my husband when we were at school and he caught me sat in dirt.
“He wants me to stop because he’s worried I’ll have internal bleeding or something.
“My youngest children don’t know but the oldest have figured it out.”
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