Nigella Lawson’s advice: eat what you want, when you think it’s right

We have adored Nigella Lawson for years, and these new words only make our respect for her stronger.

Nigella recently spoke with Mamamia about finding a balance between the foods that are good for us and the foods we enjoy.

“I think that within each diet there is a grain of sense”, she told Mia Freedman in a podcast interview. “But it’s very difficult for all of us not to carry things a bit too far, which becomes unhelpful”.

“People who want cheesecake after every meal, it’s because they tell themselves they shouldn’t eat cheesecake”.

“But if you tell yourself you can have cheesecake whenever you want it, you just eat it when you think it’s right”.

“I always try to order want I want to eat, rather than what I feel I ought to eat, because I think that’s where trouble starts. And sometimes, it might be…  I just want a really good plate of chips”.

Nigella believes this message is a particularly important one for women, considering just how much pressure our culture puts on them to stay in shape.

“From a strong feminist case has always been made that there’s a constant trend for women to take up less space in the world… that’s the obsession with thinness”.

“Calling it clean-eating implies that everything else is dirty and shameful. And I think food-shaming is pernicious”.

“People are frightened of food and they are frightened of flesh”.

However, she added that this “eat what you want” attitude is something that works for her because she functions better without rules; others find success in dieting simply because they need those boundaries to bring out their best.

“I prefer to concentrate on what I add to my diet, rather than what I take away, and that seems a much happier way of looking at it… It’s  an essential act of kindness towards yourself”.

Do you agree with Nigella’s words? Where do you do draw the line between the foods you need and the foods you love?