Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle has opening up about how important it is to have a healthy relationship with food.
The singer revealed that she doesn’t want her daughter, Anaíya, to feel ashamed for her eating habits and spoke about the pressure she herself faced. Saying, “It’s so sad when food does become the enemy. I’ve been through that, where you’re thinking, ‘I can’t get the jeans on’, or ‘I’m moving up a size’ – or, in some cases, I’m moving down a size for whatever reason – maybe stress,”
In conversation with journalist, Prudence Wade she said; “Having a good relationship with food is so important because we have to eat – there’s no way of getting around it.”
Continuing, the Derry native said; “I have never made an issue out of food – if Anaíya wants to have something, I don’t make it an issue. If she wants something sweet – she loves her sweets, she would eat a whole packet of biscuits if she was left to her own devices –
I’m like, ‘yes, you can have another one, get another one, then OK, that’s enough. Because you don’t want to make yourself sick, and I don’t want you to feel bad for wanting something unhealthy.'”
Nadine has also noticed a big difference in the foods she ate during her childhood and what Anaíya, 6 years old, eats now.
The Promise singer grew up in Derry during the 80s and noted there wasn’t a lot of variety in meals back then. Explaining, “I come from a small town where it’s very much meat and vegetables – everything’s farm-fresh, but there’s not a lot of variety in foods.”
“A lot of foods growing up were not available. For example, I didn’t know what an avocado was. I don’t think you could find them in Derry or Donegal when I was growing up.”
Whereas Anaíya is growing with much more variety. While Anaíya is adventurous and tries new foods, Nadine revealed that her daughter doesn’t like cheese, eggs, or pork. Something the Last Singer Standing judge wouldn’t have gotten away with growing up.
“If we couldn’t eat ham, eggs and cheese, we may have starved at lunchtime.”
Nadine also shared that she and Anaíya love to cook together. Sharing how it helps Anaíya to be open to new foods. Saying, “she’ll try everything, because she thinks it’s her recipe – which I find very, very helpful”.
Words: Slaine McKenna
