Dr Libby eats hot chips, too
OPINION: Four bits of chocolate, a handful of Doritos and some hummus were the cornerstones of my dinner on the night of Dr Libby’s Food Frustrations talk in Wellington.
So as I walk into the Riley Centre at Wellington High School for Dr Libby’s sold-out talk, I’m preparing to feel a little convicted.
Dr Libby, a nutritional biochemist, uses phrases like ‘‘earth suit’’ to describe the body, and promises to open our minds.
I’m sorry, but even as someone who is riddled with digestive problems, sometimes my earth suit just wants to grab whatever is on my pantry shelf, watch trashy TV and have a big, fat beer.
‘‘200 years ago we existed on a very different diet,’’ she says. ’’What we now know as organic whole real food – back then it was just food.’’
Here it comes, I think.
Dr Libby believes consistently reaching for certain foods is A captivating show with Fraser Hooper the clown. Guaranteed giggles. Suitable for ages 3 and upwards. ASB Theatre Marlborough on Thursday at 11am and 2pm. Tickets $7. connected to our emotions.
Lollies are due to tiredness or stress, chocolate is a feeling of craving something – maybe intimacy or comfort. Bread is usually linked to a desire to numb and emotion, she tells the 800-strong crowd.
Most of it’s met with widening eyes and nodding heads, but one woman seated behind me whispers: ‘‘I just want f...ing bread.’’
Amen, sister.
But then Dr Libby says: ‘‘If I feel like hot chips, I eat them.’’
Wait, what?
She goes on: ‘‘If you go to a friend’s house and she’s had a break up and you maybe smash more than one bottle of champagne ... the last thing you want to do the next day is be awful to yourself...
‘‘You weren’t there to be there for physical nourishment. You were there to help her get through this time.’’
A nourishing life should mean looking after your body first and foremost, she says, ‘‘but every now and again it’s in the direction of your soul’’.
She’s not worried about my Dorito-dinner every second month, because it probably won’t impact my health, she later tells me.
‘‘If you eat that three times a week, it will. There can be longer term consequences that are bigger than a bloated tummy.’’
She didn’t know what a McFlurry was until about three weeks ago but now she does: ‘‘There’s not an ounce of food in [a McFlurry], but I would never ever tell someone not to eat that.’’
‘‘But why would you want to put that in your extraordinary earth suit on a regular basis?’’
Dr Libby won’t condemn my occasional appetite for convenience and she’s not about to run through supermarket aisles in a kale cape, tearing processed foods off the shelves because demonising food, food choices or social lives isn’t helpful for people.
‘‘Any long term amount of change I have ever witnessed in someone has come from a place of kindness, not deprivation and judgement,’’ she finishes.
‘‘I want the changes to come from knowing you’re worth taking care of.’’
‘‘There’s not an ounce of food in [a McFlurry], but I would never ever tell someone not to eat that.’’ Dr Libby Weaver
Dr Libby’s nationwide tour comes to Blenheim next Monday, October 16, at the Marlborough Convention Centre, 42a Alfred St, Blenheim, 7pm to 9pm. Tickets - Pre-sale: $39.95; Door sale: $45, from drlibby.com/event/foodfrustrations/#newzealand