A woman who craved eating CLAY while pregnant has spent over £3000 on her habit - and continues to eat the chalky substance today.
Dymund Dina, 31, started craving clay during her first pregnancy with her first son in June 2013.
Her hankering began after sniffing and smelling washing powder and then quickly turned to consuming the edible clay.
The mum-of-five buys the clay from shops in her local area that import it from Congo, Central Africa.
But when stocks ran low, she would send her partner Jay King, 38, a medical supplies delivery driver, to locate her craving from other independent stores, sometimes over an hour drive away.
In her first pregnancy, Dymund predicts she spent around £800 on her obsession.
She describes her cravings as an 'addiction' and has said she can't settle until she's satisfied her craving.
Dymund has gone on to have three more pregnancies and four more children - twins, Kai and Kylee, seven, Keziah, five and Kiana, one.
The mum-of-five craved clay constantly throughout each of her pregnancies and continues to consume it now - despite no longer being pregnant.
She eats a specific type of clay, known as mabele which is edible and comes from Congo.
Dymund, a social media content creator, from Orpington, Southeast London, said: "Mabele has a really distinctive smell, and when I was pregnant I was obsessed with it.
"It smells like fresh rain in summer - that's the only way I can describe it.
"Then I started eating it and couldn't stop.
"When I was pregnant I'd get through ten bags a day, it was such a strong craving. Each bag is roughly two grams.
"I still can't get enough and eat clay every day, and I'm not even pregnant anymore!"
During her first pregnancy, Dymund found that eating mabele and ice helped alleviate her morning sickness, and she'd chew on the edible clay any chance she'd get.
Dymund said: "My mum Odette, 58, also ate mabele when she was pregnant, so I've always known about it.
"The cravings really kicked in around the 12-week mark of my first pregnancy.
"Up until that point, I'd been too sick to eat anything.
"But as I went into my second trimester, I found that eating the clay really helped with the nausea."
Dymund purchased the clay so often that her local stores would frequently run out of stock - leaving partner Jay to travel up to an hour in the car to find a shop that would sell more.
Dymund was once so desperate to get her chalky fix that she asked her cousin Naomi Mpia, 29, who lives in France to send some over to her.
"Sometimes Jay would have to travel over an hour to find some for me,'' she said.
"He absolutely hates the smell and doesn't understand why I love it so much.
"It got so bad that one time when I ran out and couldn't find any more, I had to ask my cousin in France to send me some."
The content creator predicts she has spent roughly £800 on clay during each pregnancy and has spent over £3000 in total over ten years on the bizarre craving.
"I'm obsessed with the taste and texture, I just can't get enough of it," Dymund said.
"I only like salty tasting mabele. If I buy some that's not salty, I have to go out and find more.
"Even talking about it makes my mouth water."
Dymund Dina, 31, started craving clay during her first pregnancy with her first son in June 2013.
Her hankering began after sniffing and smelling washing powder and then quickly turned to consuming the edible clay.
The mum-of-five buys the clay from shops in her local area that import it from Congo, Central Africa.
But when stocks ran low, she would send her partner Jay King, 38, a medical supplies delivery driver, to locate her craving from other independent stores, sometimes over an hour drive away.
In her first pregnancy, Dymund predicts she spent around £800 on her obsession.
She describes her cravings as an 'addiction' and has said she can't settle until she's satisfied her craving.
Dymund has gone on to have three more pregnancies and four more children - twins, Kai and Kylee, seven, Keziah, five and Kiana, one.
The mum-of-five craved clay constantly throughout each of her pregnancies and continues to consume it now - despite no longer being pregnant.
She eats a specific type of clay, known as mabele which is edible and comes from Congo.
Dymund, a social media content creator, from Orpington, Southeast London, said: "Mabele has a really distinctive smell, and when I was pregnant I was obsessed with it.
"It smells like fresh rain in summer - that's the only way I can describe it.
"Then I started eating it and couldn't stop.
"When I was pregnant I'd get through ten bags a day, it was such a strong craving. Each bag is roughly two grams.
"I still can't get enough and eat clay every day, and I'm not even pregnant anymore!"
During her first pregnancy, Dymund found that eating mabele and ice helped alleviate her morning sickness, and she'd chew on the edible clay any chance she'd get.
Dymund said: "My mum Odette, 58, also ate mabele when she was pregnant, so I've always known about it.
"The cravings really kicked in around the 12-week mark of my first pregnancy.
"Up until that point, I'd been too sick to eat anything.
"But as I went into my second trimester, I found that eating the clay really helped with the nausea."
Dymund purchased the clay so often that her local stores would frequently run out of stock - leaving partner Jay to travel up to an hour in the car to find a shop that would sell more.
Dymund was once so desperate to get her chalky fix that she asked her cousin Naomi Mpia, 29, who lives in France to send some over to her.
"Sometimes Jay would have to travel over an hour to find some for me,'' she said.
"He absolutely hates the smell and doesn't understand why I love it so much.
"It got so bad that one time when I ran out and couldn't find any more, I had to ask my cousin in France to send me some."
The content creator predicts she has spent roughly £800 on clay during each pregnancy and has spent over £3000 in total over ten years on the bizarre craving.
"I'm obsessed with the taste and texture, I just can't get enough of it," Dymund said.
"I only like salty tasting mabele. If I buy some that's not salty, I have to go out and find more.
"Even talking about it makes my mouth water."
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FunTranscript
00:00 Hello, my name is Diamond and I have a habit of eating clay.
00:09 So I don't really know the source of it but I just remember being young, my mum used to
00:15 eat a lot of clay when she was pregnant and in my culture it's just one of those things
00:20 that women do when they're pregnant.
00:22 All my aunties almost, all of my mum's friends, they always have eaten clay so when I felt
00:28 pregnant for some reason I just had a crave for it and initially I didn't know it was
00:35 a crave for clay because what I was craving was like just that earthy, the earthy smell,
00:43 that fresh smell of rain that you get, that is really what drew me to it and then I tried
00:49 clay and I first tried it when I was pregnant and my son is now 10 years old and I still
00:56 continue to eat it, I recently had a baby, the baby is one and yeah, one year on and
01:02 I still have the habit of eating clay.
01:07 At first eating mabile, which is called mabile, we're calling it clay but in my native tongue
01:13 we call it mabile, so at first when I started eating it, it just helped me, it was just
01:19 like a form of like, you know, a craving during my pregnancy but as I suffered with hyperemesis
01:25 which is a severe form of morning sickness and I think when I say severe, I feel like
01:30 severe is not even like the strongest word to describe hyperemesis but it's just like
01:35 severe morning sickness, you're vomiting every chance you get and you know, there were times
01:42 where I was medicated, I had to go in hospital and get IV fluids, I was dehydrated and I
01:48 was producing a lot of saliva so what I found is that actually eating mabile helped me with
01:54 that and it kind of helped to reduce the nausea as well.
01:59 So yeah, so it started off as something where it was just like I was craving mabile but
02:03 soon it almost became something that I started depending on this to deal with my hyperemesis.
02:11 Okay, so I know the habit itself is a bit of a strange one but I know I'm not crazy
02:18 because there are legit websites that you can go on and actually order these clays and
02:25 you can find it in many different areas, like regions of Africa, you can get it in North
02:29 Africa, West Africa, South Africa and East Africa as well, it just depends and different
02:35 regions call it by different names but yeah, like I said, there are legit websites where
02:39 you can actually go on there and buy these.
02:42 Of course you can't go to your local supermarket and purchase these clays because it's not
02:48 that common but there is a community out there.
02:54 But a lot of my African friends, they really like it, so again I don't know if that's something
02:59 to do with just our background or whatever or like I said, just like that memory in our
03:04 brain but yeah, you can't get this from your local newspaper shop but yeah, there are websites
03:11 where you can go and purchase these.
03:15 I believe I've probably spent about £3000 on these bad boys and a lot of people don't
03:23 understand why because a lot of my friends have tried it but my thing is just that it
03:27 kind of leaves that very distinctive memory in your brain so I feel like that's why I
03:32 continuously go back to it and every pregnancy I always crave it, like I have other cravens
03:39 as well, I do crave ice but I definitely feel like this has been the most expensive habit
03:44 that I've had during my pregnancy and the thing is I don't understand why I still crave
03:49 it.
03:50 My mouth is even watering just talking about it.
03:54 I literally eat at least two bags of these clays a day and it's funny because the other
04:00 day someone asked me, do you even know what it's made of?
04:02 I have no idea.
04:03 I have no idea.
04:04 I don't know, it's just baked.
04:07 Some are salty, some have little grains of stones in it but I prefer the ones that are
04:12 really smooth and really salty and yes my mouth is watering talking about it but yeah
04:19 it's just a craving.
04:21 I'm hoping of course that the need for it declines in the future because I almost feel
04:28 like I don't need it for pregnancy related issues but I feel like now it's just something
04:34 that's just embedded in my brain that once I feel the need to eat it, I have to eat it
04:40 and if I don't eat it I will literally drive my partner crazy.
04:45 He has to go find me a bag.
04:47 I'm going to eat it.