Wednesday 26 November 2014

Book Review - My Relationship With Food - Lisa Roukin

Towards the end of last year I was invited to the launch of the book ‘My Relationship with Food’ by Lisa Roukin (chef and teacher) and was given a copy of the book to review.

I was early to the event and was privileged to be able to spend half an hour with Lisa getting to know what was behind her decision to write such a book and to get to know her a little.  What I discovered was a lovely, confident, beautiful young woman with a passion for imparting others with her story of how she overcame personal challenges around body image and eating and went on to manage her relationship with food.
Lisa told me that everyone has a food agenda or relationship and for the most part, for most people it is a normal one, however for around 37% of women and 26% of men it is not a happy or satisfying relationship.
In her beautifully illustrated book with 100 gluten free recipes (they also do not include sugar or an overload of carbohydrates) Lisa tells how she overcame her negative thoughts and bad body image and now has a healthy, positive relationship with food.

Our relationships with food are impacted daily by the choices we make in what we are going to eat and these can be influenced by culture, family and friends as well as outside influences.

At the book launch we were able to taste food that had been made from recipes in Lisa’s book. These dishes were beautiful as well as delicious and did not immediately indicate you what you were missing (sugar, dairy, gluten etc) but satisfied the palate and they eyes as well.
I was so interested in Lisa’s book that I did not want to rush home to write this review but to take time to think about the book and my own relationship with food.  I have over the years tried most of the diets and still am the same shape and size and still struggle with my own self image.
I have been thinking for a long time about changing my eating habits and perhaps becoming more active (I have a sedentary job in an office and actively dislike exercise!) and attending this book launch and meeting and talking with Lisa has spurred me on to take a look at my personal situation and how I can make changes.
I wanted to make a series of small changes (over the years I have attempted to do too much too quickly and failed) such as going ‘gluten light’ and ‘dairy light’, seeking to cut down not eliminate totally.  I want to make myself more aware of the ingredients in food that I buy such as hidden sugars and salts and to increase my activity in a manageable way. I got a fitbit for Christmas and am currently trying to take more steps during the day, monitor how many I take with a daily goal of 10,000 (the recommended minimum amount an adult should be taking in a day!)
How long I can sustain this new regime I cannot say but I am already walking two to three as much as previously and have cut down on my daily caffeine intake.

I will be making some of the recipes in Lisa’s book ‘My Relationship with Food’ and spending time on changing my personal relationship with food.  Watch this space!
This book is self-published and is available from www.myrelationshipwithfood.com for a RRP of £25.

I was given a copy of the book to review but was not paid to review it or to write a positive review.  As usual all opinions and photos are my own. 

No comments:

Post a Comment