Psychotherapist Susie Orbach: how I eat

Susie Orbach: ‘I eat only when I m hungry.’ Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose for the Observer for the Observer

Breakfast

I wake at 6.30am and have hot water with licorice root, or fresh mint, followed by mango tea. Much of my work has been about what we’re hungry for and when. So I eat only if I am hungry: toast, an omelette or a grain of some kind (quinoa, oatmeal, polenta); always savoury.

Lunch

A quick capsule meal of about 20 minutes, any time between noon and 3pm: a salad, leftovers from the night before.

Dinner

Usually some time after 6.30pm. Unless I’m eating out with friends, I make everything. It’s often pasta. I’m never going to make Chinese or Indian food – I trust other people to make that much better than I would. I’ll often have wine with dinner.

Snacks

I don’t like non-food foods, so if I do snack, it’ll be prosciutto or seeded crackers, cheese, grilled veg. I also like salted shop-bought popcorn. I like the idea of tea, and make loads during the day, but I’m working so it gets cold and I don’t drink it. I have a similarly theoretical hot drink – usually hot water – at night, which I don’t drink either.

• Susie Orbach is the author of Fat Is A Feminist Issue.