A FORMER market stall trader has told how she gave her ice cream addiction the cold shoulder.

Wendy Glassock used to tuck into tub after tub of ice-cream - even when she was full.

But since undergoing a therapy known as the tapping technique she has put the freeze on her calorie-busting addiction.

Wendy, 42, a former Blackburn stallholder said: "I would plough through one tub all on my own and then want another.

"I knew it was nothing to do with hunger as it felt like I was eating ice cream to fulfil an emotional need and to comfort myself."

Wendy, who now lives in Lytham St Annes, only had one session of the tapping technique but claimed that the results had been amazing.

She said: "I can't remember what the woman asked me while I was having the treatment, but all of a sudden I felt really emotional and started welling up.

"She definitely tapped on the emotion which was triggering my need to eat and almost instantly it went. Since then I have had ice cream, but in moderation."

Therapist Kay Gire, 37, who is originally from South Africa, has lived in Blackburn for ten years. She incorporates Meridian Energy Therapy into her life-coaching business at Image Health and Beauty in Pleckgate Road.

She said: "Any addiction, whether food, alcohol or even an emotional addiction to a person, can be treated using tapping.

"We all have meridian energy lines running through our bodies and these addictions arise from a negative emotional imbalance.

"By gently tapping on the meridian points, the negative emotion or association is taken away."

Stephen Morton, director of public health for Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust, said: "This is not something that I am familiar with but a lot of complementary therapies don't stand up to randomised trials.

"I would be surprised if there was any scientific evidence to support the claims - other than anecdotal evidence from people who say it worked for them.

"However, if people find the support useful, then it is up to them."