RESTRICTING RESTRICTIONS

A New Way to Food is much more than a collection of recipes Laura Brehaut

In A New Way to Food ( Roost Books, 2019), Maggie Battista shares a profoundly relatable pursuit: self-acceptance. Contrary to numerous diet and nutritionrelated books – peddling prescriptive plans and 30- day promises – she rejects restrictions. In their stead, she embraces a spirit of body-positive generosity and a commitment to prioritizing health.

“I wanted this book to present a kinder approach to healthier living. One that was a little more mindful and a little more real,” says Battista. “I actually wanted to talk about real wellness and not the fake kind I grew up with; all these other diet books that really got me nowhere, ultimately. They just made me feel worse about myself.”

During decades of yo-yo dieting, she tried many different regimens, including multiple stints at Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, low fat, low carb and high protein. Each, for various reasons, failed to stick. But once she began to see her “full potential” – and learned to love herself and her body unconditionally – she vowed that this time would be different: “I would find ways to be mindful of my health forever.”

Battista describes A New Way to Food as a cookbook hybrid; “a bit like my diary.” It’s a celebration of the small victories and realizations that propelled her on the path “from fat girl to mostly well and happy-to-be-just-me lady.” Through it, refreshingly, she encourages a healthy relationship with food, shares 100 recipes true to her journey and offers strategies to sustain a more healthful approach in the long-term, whatever that means to you. After all, she emphasizes, our needs, experiences and how we see ourselves are all highly individual.

“A health change is more than just the food. And so I wanted to talk about all the parts of it that were touched in some way when I was going through this, and as I still go through this transformation. Because it took me decades to get here; it is not going to be solved in a year or two or three or five,” says Battista.

Shifting her mindset – learning to view the wholesome food she eats as nourishment rather than compromise or deprivation – was central to this commitment to change. Battista admits it wasn’t easy, which is why she decided to write the book in the format she did; recipes interspersed with personal essays, tips, mantras and advice so that others have more of a head start than she did.

“I felt like fixing my body was the purpose of all my years on planet Earth and to some extent, that is still true,” she adds. “Working on loving myself and accepting my body. Presenting myself with some radical self-love is the purpose of my days on this planet. I tried some ways for decades and now I’m trying a very, very different approach for a better future for me.”

From A New Way to Food by Maggie Battista © 2019 by Maggie Battista. Photographs by Kristin Teig. Reprinted in arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc.

KRISTIN TEIG