Positive nutrition

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to go to a talk by the nutritional therapist and author Amelia Freer. Getting one of the best-known names in the health and wellness industry to visit our small Dorset town on a chilly January evening was a bit of a coup for the bookshop which organised the event. For me, it was an amazing opportunity to meet one of the people who has done so much to bring nutritional therapy into the mainstream, which in turn gave me the confidence to do what I have been wanting to for years, and finally start studying it myself.

Amelia Freer is well known for working with stars like James Corden and Sam Smith, and for her best-selling books, ‘Eat. Nourish. Glow.’, ‘Cook. Nourish. Glow.’ and ‘Nourish & Glow: the 10-day Plan’. She is currently promoting her most recent recipe book, ‘Simply Good For You’, which is why she agreed to stand in a cosy but unglamorous community centre and face questions from a roomful of (mainly) women who all had their own very personal relationship with food.

It was that personal aspect which struck me most about the evening. Amelia told us that when she became a mum for the first time, she experienced what many of us have: the real effort it takes to eat healthily when you are permanently sleep-deprived and barely have a moment to yourself, let alone time to plan and prepare nutritious meals full of the nutrients our bodies are no doubt crying out for. Instead we munch on toast, drink endless cups of tea and reach for chocolate and biscuits just to keep ourselves awake. Certainly, early motherhood was when many of my bad eating habits started, and I know for many people it’s very difficult to kick that dependence on sugar and caffeine.

I loved Amelia’s solution. She started small, by making the toast snacks (so easy to eat one-handed while feeding the baby!) more nourishing, and her new book has a whole section devoted to what she calls her ‘hero toppings’. Move over avocado, welcome green houmous and sardine pâté. The emphasis is much more on what we can include in our diet to ensure we are eating enough nutrients for us to thrive, rather than worrying about what we mustn’t eat.

For someone who became interested in diet and nutrition because of the negative impact certain foods were having on my family’s health, it’s easy to focus on what we need to avoid. I still can’t tolerate gluten and have to limit dairy. I know if my children eat lots of processed foods, they can be quite poorly for days. When they were younger, parties were always a problem. Should I say they couldn’t go? Or send them with their own food, which would make them self-conscious and miserable, but ensure they stayed well? Or let them go and eat what they like and deal with the consequences afterwards? I’ve done all three, and still do not know which is the right answer!

Focusing on the positive and extolling the virtues of healthy but really delicious food is a much more pleasurable way to approach diet, especially if you are trying to change a lifetime of bad habits. More than once, Amelia stressed the importance of enjoying food, and not being afraid of that enjoyment. As she said, if you are anxious or stressed about making the right choices all the time, you are unlikely to continue making those choices. Anyone can keep up a sugar-free/low-carb/vegan diet for a short burst, but unless we actually enjoy what we’re doing, or feel the benefits, we are unlikely to stick to any changes, regardless how good for us they are.

I was surprised and moved by how honest some of my fellow audience members were about the relationship they had with food. During the question and answer session, some spoke about how unhappy they were with how they looked and felt, others talked about a lifetime of failed diets. I learned a very important lesson from them and from Amelia Freer’s response. Rather naively, I had envisaged my future role as one of educator, helping people to make healthier choices which would, in turn, improve their overall wellbeing. I have realised before I can do that, I will have to learn to understand what it is that leads people to make the food choices they do. Only then will I be able to help them make any changes. Amelia Freer was kind and non-judgemental in her answers. She wants people to enjoy food, not to worry about it. She calls it ‘Positive Nutrition’, and it’s a concept I am going to do my best to embrace as I continue to work towards a career in nutritional therapy.