www.womanthismonth.com 31 January 2015 might come to me with their heads bowed down and admit to giving into bad food and I rejoice on their behalf. They’re usually really confused! If someone has been eating really well and then they eat garbage, they feel it! That is your motivation. The people I work with want to change their life and part of that is messing up. It’s the only way to understand what works for you and what makes you feel good. But if you know you’re going to feel guilty afterwards, you may as well not have that particular food.” Even Muneera has her moments. “Last month I was in New York and I had a massive croissant. I usually don’t eat wheat at all. I had an almond milk hot chocolate with it too. You have to get your pleasures in life. The reason I had the croissant was because when I met with Joshua Rosenthal, the founder of integrative nutrition, he said: ‘You’re in New York, there are so many things to do, be bad!’ – it’s part of the coaching he does with people. One of the homework assignments is to be bad. I have to say I enjoyed that croissant. But of course I felt bad, but I knew I would.” As part of her coaching, Muneera adopts a word which many of us are new to: holistic. It’s all about bringing food and lifestyle together because they’re not mutually exclusive, they influence one another. “I have a tool I use called the circle of life, it’s a big wheel that is divided into wedges and each has an aspect of life that creates balance. Food is different for everyone. Everyone has different nutritional needs based on age and what they do: a sumo wrestler eats very differently from a ballerina! In terms of life, the wheel will have ‘home cooking’ ‘finances’ or ‘education’ and ‘social life’ – dots are put in the centre of the wheel if you’re really miserable and at the peripheral if you are very happy with your life. If you connect the dots and the shape is spherical, you’re happy, but more often than not it’s more squiggly. I honestly believe when you’re very happy you’ll follow through with your goals.” “Hungry for Joy is about the journey of health and wellness. I really find it’s about finding joy and for people to find their own joy. Why do people really want to be healthy? It’s about finding joy in life. A lot of it is compensated with food and destructive behavior. The book has quite an extensive recipe section but also a meditation and exercise portion and super foods.” Is she wanting to be the Gwyneth Paltrow of Bahrain? “I’m not keen on being a public figure. I just like working with people.” Visit: www.muneera.com
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk0MTkxMQ==