“Feeding the Hungry Heart,” no one was writing about issues around women and food, including breaking out of the cycle of shame, deprivation and self-torture. The prevalent wisdom at the time was focused on dieting. I suggested another way, which struck many as completely radical.
With “Women Food and God,” I challenged the common approach of relegating women’s issues around food, body and weight to will power and how much sugar you eat or don't eat. I broadened and deepened these constructs by saying: “How you eat is how you live.” If you want a reflection of the beliefs that drive you in your day-to-day life -- about relationships, your work, your children, about every single thing in your life -- all you have to do is take a look at the food on your plate.
In my new book, "This Messy Magnificent Life," I am now exploring cultural concepts of beauty and aging, as well as issues with food and body. Again, I’m broadening and deepening these themes because I’m also talking about the ownership of women’s bodies and how women have internalized misogyny in our culture.
I am asking the questions: How are you limiting yourself? What is the internal misogynistic relationship that you have with yourself? How do you talk to yourself?
Of course, we find, it all starts within.
