Lisa Roukin’s cookbook, My Relationship with Food: 100 recipes to nourish mind, body & soul is a veritable autobiography borne out by the author’s struggle with childhood obesity, overcoming bullying at school and her lifelong battle to maintain a healthy diet which she still grapples with to this day.

Her traumatic experiences as child helped to form her entire outlook and understand the psychological impact negative choices about food can have on one’s relationships, career and family, and how the road to positive eating is fraught with problems if food becomes an addiction.

Lisa’s self-published title first went to print in 2015 and to date she has sold 5,000 copies.

She said the book has longevity because it is about everyone’s relationship to food and how people connect with it. She hopes that by engaging with the recipes, thinking about valuable nutrition and hearing her personal story, readers will have the tools necessary for a healthy relationship with the things they eat.

Her story begins at school. “I had such a traumatic childhood being overweight. I was bullied and picked on and I didn’t feel good enough. I felt rejected.

“I was called ‘fatso’ or ‘cabbage patch kid’, I used to walk uphill to school hearing that, or ‘fatty’.

“And it was between seven and 14-years-old when I was at my heaviest. I wasn’t happy anymore, I felt isolated.

“It was having a knock-on effect in my family life, I felt very angry and frustrated. In turn I ended up hating myself and I knew the only way I could see a change is if I made a change from within.”

Lisa was determined to manage her weight. By 13 she weighed 13 ½ stone and her clothes no longer fit.

“There was nothing in my size. I felt tired, sluggish, and I couldn’t be involved in sporting and social activities - fun places I wanted to be.

“I lost lots of weight at 16, four stone over two years. But losing weight is a difficult battle and when you do you then face a new dilemma of maintaining it. It’s hard to keep up that discipline and maintenance and it’s made harder still with modern life and social media.

“I want to let people know I’m here and that I understand what they’re going through.”

In 2008, Lisa set up a business called Cook with Lisa which was designed to be taken into people’s homes to teach them how to make nourishing healthy meals and “to ensure their fridges are stocked with mindfully balanced meals”. Then in 2014, she put together My Relationship with Food using recipes she was teaching.

“It’s all about educating people on the various options and methods available on how to cook certain foods.

“I see adults of all ages struggling, developing food allergies and intolerances. It’s important to ensure you work with it and don’t reject it. You have to find another way to introduce food into your life that will empower and inspire you.”

Lisa said when she speaks to audiences, nine-out-of-ten people report a negative relationship with food. “It can manifest with a difficult day and then overeating to feel better. It’s too easy to make that choice and the consequences afterwards can trigger other issues such as anger, self-harm, and a sense of rejection and depression.

“If you have a glass of wine after a hard day and then another and then have some chocolate it can be latching on to things which people think will ease the pain - but it’s a short-term, purely surface level solution for comfort.”

Lisa hopes her personal account may provide deeper solutions to such predicaments.

“There aren’t many people out there offering advice on how this can affect people’s lives and relationships. And what works for one body doesn’t necessarily work for others. I hope someone might read my story and take one thing that will help them.

“Even though this was years ago, an addiction stays with you and remain dormant. I know that. But I want to help guide people.

“Sometimes people are waiting to hear that direction from a doctor and by then it could be too late so why get to that stage - this could help bring that forward.”

My Relationship with Food doesn’t just focus on one diet plan, rather it is broken into “seasons” and each season is broken into ideas for each meal of the day.

It has 100 gluten free options and features the use of minimal dairy and refined sugars.

Lisa’s favourite meals from the book include Raw Chocolate Brownies, chicken baked in Corn Flakes and her winning dish, salmon with pistachio and wasabi crust.

Her book is available with free delivery using the code ‘happycooking’ on Amazon.

Lisa also offers cookery lessons and lifestyle coaching on how to have a better relationship with food in the home. For a consultation email lisa@myrelationshipwithfood.com

Times Series:

Lisa also offers cookery lessons and lifestyle coaching on how to have a better relationship with food in the home. For a consultation email lisa@myrelationshipwithfood.com