Health is something that should be important to all of us and the well-being of our heart plays a significant part in how healthy we really are.
I had the great privilege of interviewing Michelle Leon who is the author of ‘The Food Alphabet for Heart Health’ and the founder of Glorious Nutrition.
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“Tell us a bit about yourself including your qualifications and credentials.”
“I have a BSc qualification in Nutrition from King’s College London and a separate MSc qualification in Public Health from the University of Hertfordshire. My job title can fit into more than one category, but the one that is most relevant to this book is Public Health Nutritionist. This means that I have experience of how to apply nutrition knowledge to improve health and I know how to assess scientific literature. All of this enabled me to gain the relevant experience over the years so that I can deliver high quality training. When writing the book I talk about the different elements of being a Public Health Nutritionist and being able to critically review nutritional evidence and relay the information in layman terms.”
“What led you to write a book about Nutrition?”
“There were a few things that led up to me writing the book. Firstly, my sister-in-law recommended writing an eBook once she found out that I studied nutrition, so the seed was planted but I was still unsure. Secondly, my older sister, Melissa Mason, author of The Young Black Kingdom Series, was the one who inspired me to write. (To buy now, click here). She was the first one to start writing books and demonstrated the concept of using your creativity in order to sell. This made me realise that it is achievable to publish your own books on Amazon and other platforms without having to be reliant on a traditional publishing deal.”
“The deciding factor was further pushed when Covid happened as it caused a lot of people to stop and think what they were doing with their lives and review what was important to them. At the time I was in a job where I was only enjoying certain aspects of my role and it was in Nutrition and Public Health. I really felt the desire to pursue some personal goals but faced obstacles in progressing in that role; this was further compounded by the fact that during Covid that particular kind of work started to die down because a lot of tasks were being done at home. From there I decided I wanted to do a bit more with my life which sadly coincided with the death of my grandfather, Emile. Trying to grieve during Covid made me think to myself that there had to be something more I could do that would be positive in such a challenging time and I determined to write this book in his honour. Having something that I know will live on no matter who picks it up in 10 or 20 years down the line and will know of my grandfather through the book, is what inspired me further. That really pushed me to get the book finished and get it out there in 2020. Once I published the book I was like, “Now what?” I didn’t really start promoting the book properly until 2021.”
“How did you find the process of self-publishing on Amazon’s KDP platform?”
“While I didn’t have anything to compare it to, I realised that I could design my own book cover, despite the option to generate one through KDP, and I genuinely enjoyed that part of it. Overall the whole process is fairly straightforward, but there were little bits here and there where you couldn’t go on to the next stage until you got the current bit you were working on approved. I did struggle with trying to understand what KDP’s requirements were and what they meant in terms of dimensions and things being within the certain lines. Sometimes it would take ages and ages to load once you had got to this stage so ultimately, it was kind of a frustrating process trying to get it to look how I wanted it look while getting KDP to accept the way that I wanted it. I did edit the book a few times after publishing and the manuscript was rejected more than once, which meant that I had to trawl through the process again. It was, at points, quite a tedious process, but I still think it’s great that self-publishing is an option. In regards to pricing, you really have to set it so that you give yourself a reasonable amount of profit and obviously, because you are using Amazon’s platform, they ensure that they financially cover themselves first. Even having a book in colour and determining which paper choice you will use costs money, and these are not things that I considered when I started.”
“What 3 things can readers learn from this book?”
“They will gain a basic understanding of what heart disease is, an overview of how life related heart disease occurs and the process that takes place in the body.”
“They will learn about key foods that have been researched in relation to heart health and the impact they can have, so we can get an understanding of the origins of that food. This includes tips and advice on how to implement it into your diet.”
“Bonus pointers are included in the book also to help with any health recommendations from professionals that you may have received and don’t know how to implement. This book offers resources and basic guidance to help get you started. For example, there is a quiz which gives a baseline assessment of where your health is at. There are also recipe ideas and a 7 day menu plan. I have also created culturally adapted ‘Eat Well Guides’. One of them specifically covers a traditional Caribbean diet, as well as East and West African diets etc. which may be of particular interest to some.”
“Information for Culturally Adapted Eatwell Guide: In light of the diversity within the UK population, the Eatwell Guide has been adapted to help different communities make healthier food choices when it comes to choosing foods from a more traditional diet. Additionally, it will be an invaluable resource to individuals who deliver healthy eating messages to people from various backgrounds in clinical and community settings. A sample is provided from Eatwell Resource Guide V1.”
“‘The Food Alphabet for Heart Health’ is here to break down something that can be fairly complicated and make it as simple as possible. Ultimately this book will enable people to start their journey so that they can act on more than just knowing that ‘healthy eating is good’. This book highlights the key places that you should start in terms of food and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.”
“Will there be another book?”
“Yes, I would love to write another book. I am currently unsure of the timeline but I feel that I would focus on a book similar to ‘The Food Alphabet for Heart Health’, but about another health condition. I am quite interested in brain health like dementia, for example, because nutrition can help with the prevention of dementia which many don’t realise and because it affects so many people it is definitely a potential topic for my next book.”
So watch this space!!
“Look out for the Kindle Countdown which will be running in October 2023. To find out more you can visit Michelle’s website at the following link: www.gloriousnutr.wordpress.com.”
Why not connect with Michelle at the following:
Twitter/X: @gloriousnutrit1
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