Zoe Strimpel

Like all the best spiritual leaders, this diet theologian will leave you trembling

Eat. Nourish. Glow., the healthy eating book currently number one in at least three Amazon categories, came to my attention recently while I was in a stew of self-loathing over an out-of-control cake habit. Realising the time was ripe for a new regime, the feature in The Times spoke to me instantly. One Amelia Freer, pictured smiling and trim-wasted amid strawberries, was advocating a new approach to eating.

I had thought, as an armchair nutritionist and sometime dieter since my early teens, that I’d seen every new way of eating under the sun. Especially in recent years, as the mantra of ‘good fats’ has come to drown out all others (apart, of course, from fat-shunning, fruit-courting Weight Watchers, which still enjoys market domination). Could this blue smocked, fresh-faced Freer be offering new hope, even to those of us who know full well the peril of sugar and carbs but have still managed to fall foul of diets composed of avocados and macadamias? I instantly downloaded the e-book onto my ipad.

Freer does offer something a little bit special. Fear and loathing, and passion. This is food theology served up by a particularly enthusiastic evangelist. Eaten her way, food would save the body and therefore the soul. Eaten any other way, particularly the way of ‘the 80s dieter’ (the saddoes who know ‘everything about calories but nothing about nutrition’), it kills. Like the best spiritual leaders, she left me trembling in fright. When would the pernicious, even deadly effects of the sugar in the slice of my boyfriend’s birthday cake kick in? How would the violent ‘roller coaster’ brought about by cereal consumption affect the shameless ignoramuses that I breakfasted with that weekend? I watched them closely, nervously awaiting a glycemic incident, perhaps a violent outburst, or a mid-Sunday walk collapse. Mystifyingly,

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in