Courtney Black explains how she learnt to see food as a 'celebratory thing'
If you’re not already a massive fan of British personal trainer Courtney Black, you’re about to be. A lover of coffee, garlic, and fitness being used to promote wellbeing, she soared into the spotlight as a PT and she’s doing it again with her new book ‘Happier, Healthier, Tastier’.
Filled with delicious and feel-good recipes and meal plans for everyone, the book does a beautiful job of highlighting Courtney’s philosophy for food - making it an enjoyable experience to share with the people you love. Speaking to us, she shares how she’s realised that food ‘controls so much of our lives’, along with her experiences with an eating disorder, and the impact it had.
‘When I had my eating disorder, I stopped myself from going out and eating so much – I’d avoid going out for food on holidays with my family, I wouldn’t go out for dinners, I mean I remember going on a cruise and not going to a single dinner,’ she shares. ‘I always make sure now that I plan the meal we’re having and what we’re going to enjoy eating because food it such a celebratory thing. It just makes people happy, food.’ Too true.
You can catch this way of thinking in her book too, which has family favourites such as the Vegan Chocolate Brownies, Korean BBQ Jackfruit Rice Bowl and Chorizo and Spinach Baked Eggs recipes she has kindly shared with us.
All of her recipes have a healthy twist that give you an incredible meal that everyone will enjoy - with no guilt after.
In fact, the 25-year-old loves taking every opportunity to bust the myth that healthy food can’t be tasty; ‘I think that this is from years and years of it being drummed into us with pictures of salads and pictures of vegetables and pictures of chicken in a meal-prep box – that’s not the case’, she says. ‘All these ingredients are natural, home-grown, healthy ingredients so why can’t they be put together and made into an amazing meal?’
Much like she endorses eating food you enjoy, she’s also all about breaking the stereotype that only certain people can eat certain foods. Another feature of her new book, the meal plans, provide simple guidelines to follow to achieve the results you’d like, whatever they may be. For example, the High-Protein meal plan ‘isn’t just for people who are trying to gain muscle, people need to know that protein is also about losing weight, it’s about toning up, it’s good for your bones, it’s good for everything.’
Happier, Healthier, Tastier is a mini masterpiece of a recipe book, put together by someone who cares about the wellbeing of her body and really wants to show other women the importance of finding a way to fall in love with food. With her recipes being easy, accessible, and bloody yummy, they’re probably the biggest giveaway to her main food, and life, philosophy – ‘I’ve realised how important it is in my life to not have that restriction; by easing off I’ve improved my life and my happiness over and over again.’ Well said, Courtney.
Lucky, lucky us; here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come.
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