Michelle Bridges with Charlotte Middleton, from Cloverdale.
Camera IconMichelle Bridges with Charlotte Middleton, from Cloverdale. Credit: Supplied/Jon Hewson        www.communitypix.com.au d466717

Fitness guru Michelle Bridges brings recipe for health to Belmont

Sophie MooreSouthern Gazette

Ms Bridges was whisked from the airport to meet fans and sign copies of her latest recipe book Food for Life at Big W in Belmont Forum.

“This is my 14th book,” she said. “I can’t even believe I’m saying that; I know, it’s insane.”

Food for Life was written to get people back into the kitchen.

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“Most people are very gun shy about cooking, the skill has definitely been lost throughout the country,” she said.

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The book has healthy meal options but also sweet treats made with nary a chia grain.

“Oh, I’m a foodie,” she said, “don’t ever think that I’m just a lettuce leaf, carrot stick girl trust me.”

“Of course I am (a carrot stick girl),” she admitted, “but it has to be exciting to look at.”

She said she loved how food brought people together.

“One of my all-time favourite things is to look down a table at a bunch of people all eating and talking and that makes me feel very at home.”

She said the nation’s relationship with food and obesity was complex.

She compared it to reining back the tobacco industry but harder, since people need food to survive.

“There’s so much marketing and money that goes into trying to get people to eat certain things. It’s a big industry and there are a lot of people making a lot of money on making Australians unhealthy,” she said.

She said she’d support a sugar tax only after a debate.

“Research tells us the population who consumes a lot of sugar are the ones who would be hit in the hip pocket the most from a sugar tax and that’s tough,” she said.

“I think education is key.

“You only know what you know and if that’s all you know then that’s what will be handed down through the generations.”

She said people needed to take care of themselves and one another.