Healthy attitude, happy eating
HELPING people learn how to eat healthily without obsessing or dieting is Lyndi Cohen’s goal.
The popular Australian television nutritionist, who is known as The Nude Nutritionist, and practising dietitian shares her own story in her new book, The Nude Nutritionist.
She talks about having an obsession with losing weight when she was growing up, sacrificing and counting calories as she grew older and trying all the wellknown diets and boot camps.
‘‘But even once I got to my goal weight, it never felt the way I imagined. I’d still look at photos and think ‘Your arms are still so big. You could lose more weight’.’’
Eventually, that led to binge and emotional eating.
It all came to a head after she was diagnosed with anxiety and the shock led her to question her relationship with food.
‘‘I realised that years of dieting had made me hate my body and gain weight.’’
So she stopped weighing herself and counting calories.
‘‘It wasn’t a swift or easy process.’’
After four years, she has lost 20kg, but the biggest victory for Cohen is not feeling controlled by food any more.
In her book, she shares what she did to regain control of her eating and her attitudes in chapters on how to spot a diet in disguise, intuitive eating, basic nutrition, boosting body image and balancing hormones, mood and energy. Case studies and work sheets are included.
Once you have ‘‘digested’’ all the information, there are more than 50 recipes that she says are easy to make and do not require a lot of cleanup.
They include breakfasts, mains, salads and desserts, with plenty of tips about ingredient swapouts or additions.