Minds are amazing creatures!, like any bad experience you subconsciously prevent that experience from happening even when it seems irrational.

I haven't been able to eat fresh apricots since I was 8 because of a bad experience with them and even accidentally touching the outside flesh of one at the grocers makes me physically ill to this day

In similar strain to what you are saying Anrea - when I was 15, I had my first major intense panic attack, at the time of it coming on I was cooking ratatouille for a friend in her kitchen and opening a can of tinned tomatoes my heart started going into overdrive and the rest is a blur but I ended up in the ER not knowing what was happening to me. It took me 5 years to use tinned tomatoes again and another 15 years to cook ratatouille again. Go figure