Queenstowner Emma Wright’s book Body Confident: A Guide to Raising Happy Eaters was published in February.
In her book, Emma addresses the root causes of society’s current obsession with healthy food and explores overlooked factors that impact on our kids’ self-image. She also uses current research to help put an end to fights at the dinner table, and show parents how to help their child or teen step away from expectations that leave them anxious about food.
(You can pick yourself up a signed copy from Whitcoulls in Five Mile, if you’re quick)
Emma is also one of our wonderful Festival volunteers and was kind enough to take some time out of her busy coaching, speaking and writing schedule to tell us about what she’s been reading.
“For too long parents have been given an impossible task: to keep their kids a healthy weight while making sure they love their bodies. “
Firstly, tell us about your world. Where do books and words fit?
I’m an avid reader – I often have three or four books on the go. I inherited that from my mother who always had a big stack of books by her bed.
Your book came out in February. What inspired you to write it? How has the reception been?
I was approached by an editor to write Body-Confident: A Guide To Raising Happy Eaters, who saw a need for a parenting book around food that helped parents focus on fostering a healthy relationship with food rather than simply ‘get them to eat healthy’. I have a speaking gig that I deliver to parents at schools. The editor wanted to make the learning I give parents at events more accessible and more in-depth. I’ve been on the podcast circuit and almost everyone talks about how putting the ‘healthy eating’ ideas into practice is far easier in theory than reality. It starts lots of great discussions and leads to lots of ah-ha moments for the interviewers.
What have you been reading lately? Got anything stacked up for the winter months?I’m about to read Unshrinking by Kate Manne, who is a philosopher and academic. I’m highly invested in women reclaiming their relationships with their bodies, but I have never read about that from a philosophical perspective. It’s a topic that tends to be more in the psychology and health frameworks, so I’m excited. What’s your desert island book?
It would be a toss-up between The Goldfinch and Demon Copperhead.