Rosa and Margo Flanagan (Two Raw Sisters) are passionate about the power of nutrition.
The Christchurch cooking duo tell Anna Thomas how their individual health journeys have influenced their fresh approach to food.
Rosa and Margo Flanagan (aka Two Raw Sisters) Photo: Two Raw Sisters / Facebook
Content warning: This story contains mentions of an eating disorder
Photo: Allen & Unwin
Rosa tells Anna Thomas she's always had a passion for food but not always a healthy relationship with it.
As an elite athlete for eight years, nutrition was a massive part of her life.
“It’s quite common being an elite athlete where you’re really obsessed around your training and your food intake because you want to obviously do the best you possibly can, and sometimes it can get a bit out of control in terms of how restrictive you are.
“I suppose I got in a bad, vicious cycle around that.”
After developing a severe training obsession and an eating disorder, Rosa's period stopped.
She was diagnosed with RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) - a condition caused by the mismatch between energy intake and energy expended during exercise.
“I hit rock bottom. I suffered really bad anxiety and depression, had super-low bone density and this was all through under-fuelling my body and just overdoing it.”
To get out of a “deep dark hole” Rosa says she needed to find her purpose and heal her relationship with food.
“Realising the importance of having a healthy, sustainable lifestyle was a massive eye-opener for me and kind of an epiphany... Life’s too short to restrict yourself, to be hard on your body and live this “perfect” life.”
Curious and wanting to help educate others, Rosa undertook a degree in human nutrition and is now a registered nutritionist.
Meanwhile, her sister Margo was on a completely different health journey.
After being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome at 16, Margo began to focus on eating for gut health. Within three months, she says her symptoms “pretty much disappeared”.
This was her own massive eye-opener.
“I was never into food... but going through my chronic fatigue and learning how to overcome it made me realise the importance of food within today’s world, and how I can help others.”
From this shared desire to help people gain food knowledge and cooking skills for everyday life, Two Raw Sisters was born.
“With every aspect of life, whether it’s you want to succeed in work or you want to exercise or sleep well or be less stressed within your body, food is always the starting point,” Margo says.
“You really are what you eat.”
Margo and Rosa Flanagan’s fourth cookbook Simple Fancy is out now.
Recipes from Two Raw Sisters on RNZ:
Where to get help:
Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.
Eating Disorders Association of New Zealand: Phone: 0800 2 EDANZ / 0800 2 33269
Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.
Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202
Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)
Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 (8am-12am), or email talk@youthline.co.nz
What's Up: Online chat (3pm-10pm) or 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787 helpline (12pm-10pm weekdays, 3pm-11pm weekends)
Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm or text 832 Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English.
Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
Healthline: 0800 611 116
Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
OUTLine: 0800 688 5463 (6pm-9pm)
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
