Cooking Without Made Easy: All recipes free from added gluten, sugar, yeast and dairy produce

Cooking Without Made Easy: All recipes free from added gluten, sugar, yeast and dairy produce Barbara Cousins This is the third book in the ‘Cooking Without’ collection written by nutritional therapist Barbara Cousins. This series of cook books has been an enormous success. They have been recommended by nutritional therapists all over the world and have transformed the lives of thousands of people.In ‘Cooking Without Made Easy’ Barbara offers ultra-simple new recipes all of which are free from gluten, dairy, sugar and yeast. They include lots of one-pot meals, and cakes and cookies also rely on the all-in-one method for simplicity.In this book Barbara summarises the effect that ‘Cooking Without’ can have on people’s lives. Barbara tells her own story and includes lots of client case histories to inspire you. They help one to realise the extent to which dietary measures can improve not only our physical health but our mental and emotional states too. Cooking Without Made Easy Recipes Free From Added Gluten, Sugar, Yeast And Dairy Produce Barbara Cousins The cure of the part should not be attempted without treatment of the whole. No attempt should be made to cure the body without the soul, if the head and body are to be healthy, you must begin by curing the mind…for this is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that physicians first separate the soul from the body. Plato, in the fifth century BC Table of Contents Cover Page (#u934cd92d-203d-5b6e-b998-9c143f8438de) Title Page (#u1241c3fa-149d-523a-ad0d-fa0d4a7f72a3) Epigraph (#u4990952b-d7cc-5602-baa3-a7b9099b0aa9) Introduction (#u9c8b1682-0f91-5ae0-92ab-8a03e7ef56d9) Starters (#litres_trial_promo) Soups (#litres_trial_promo) Salads (#litres_trial_promo) Meat Dishes (#litres_trial_promo) Fish Dishes (#litres_trial_promo) Vegetarian Main Courses (#litres_trial_promo) Desserts (#litres_trial_promo) Cakes and Biscuits (#litres_trial_promo) Resources (#litres_trial_promo) Index (#litres_trial_promo) Copyright (#litres_trial_promo) About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo) Introduction (#ulink_be776e17-e588-5946-b5a8-5af5b8c727ff) Having spent the last 18 years in practice as a nutritional therapist, I felt I needed to write this third book in the Cooking Without series to summarize the knowledge I have acquired during this time. I also wanted to include lots of easy recipes because, having learnt during the last 18 years to be much kinder to myself, I like to cook dishes that are uncomplicated as well as healthy. My first book, Cooking Without, came as a result of clients asking for recipes because they didn’t know how to cook without wheat, sugar, yeast and dairy produce. When my self-published version was eventually taken over by Thorsons I added a section about detoxification so that the book could be used as a do-it-yourself manual by anyone wishing to put the regime into practice and improve their health. Next came Vegetarian Cooking Without, which has a section covering various health problems and the insights that I have gained over the years through dealing with my own health as well as that of my clients. This book feels like the final one of a trilogy. It is a summary of the effect that ‘cooking without’ can have on peoples’ lives. In it I have used my own story, and those of some of my clients, to help explain the remarkable changes that can happen when detoxification takes place. It has always been my aim not only to alleviate the physical symptoms of my clients, but In all the case histories quoted in this book the names and precise circumstances of individuals have been changed in order to protect their privacy. to uncover the reasons why they became ill. Physical symptoms are just the body trying to talk to us, to encourage us to look below the surface and find the answers. We need to reach a point where we can be in the moment rather than in the past or future, where we can let go of control and have trust and faith, where we can be in touch with our intuition rather than in our heads—a place where health replaces disease. This is what Cooking Without Made Easy and my other two books are about. It is, I believe, the work I came here to do and to pass on to others. Where it all began My interest in diet and nutrition really took off after the birth of my first son in 1974. Three weeks after my son was born he developed a throat infection. His birth had been long and difficult and I had accepted all the pain relief I was offered. I’m now sure that his first infection was his body’s way of throwing off the toxicity from the drugs that he too must have ingested. When the doctor gave him his first antibiotic I had an instinctive feeling that this was not the right thing to do. A month later he went down with another infection. His little body had overcome the suppression of the antibiotic and was now trying to eliminate the previous toxicity, along with that of the antibiotic. Fortunately, there was a health food shop in the town where I lived and although in those days the supplements available were limited, it was suggested that I try vitamin C. It did the trick. When infections did occur over the years I always went to the doctor for a diagnosis, but he soon learned that I preferred not to use drugs. Sometimes I went away with a prescription just in case, but I always followed a visit to the doctor with one to the health food shop, and so my son avoided the antibiotic treadmill. When my second son was born 18 months later, my own health began to suffer. For the first time in my life I was lacking in energy and my skin and hair felt lifeless. This spurred me on to examine and improve our diet. I started baking wholemeal bread, cut down on sugar and included more fruit and vegetables in the family diet. My health improved rapidly, my children blossomed and as a result I became a convert to healthy eating. Healing physical symptoms In the early days my use of nutrition was aimed at—and succeeded in—eliminating physical symptoms. Over the years, many of my clients have seen the dramatic effect that a change of diet can have on their physical health. Often, after only a few weeks on a new regime, the change is remarkable and many struggle to believe that diet can be so powerful. This was the situation in the following three case histories. David David came to me because he was suffering from anxiety symptoms. He was waking in the night feeling anxious, frightened and panicky, and had palpitations. During the day he was tired, couldn’t concentrate and often felt depressed, irritable and full of irrational fears. Three weeks after the start of a ‘cooking without’ dietary regime David was delighted with his improvement. He was less anxious, less tired and had had only one anxiety attack in the night. He continued to make improvements, becoming much calmer and less prone to mood swings. His concentration improved and life took on new meaning. David’s problems stemmed from an allergy that was causing his blood sugar to drop. However, once the problem foods were removed from his diet and his blood sugar was supported with the right kind of food at regular intervals, his problems ceased. Gail Gail had been suffering from arthritis for 15 years and migraines for 20 years when she came for a consultation. Within just three weeks she experienced an improvement—she had more energy, no headaches and fewer aches and pains. Six weeks later she was feeling really well and, for the first time in years, her periods were on time. Gail continued to visit me over the years whenever she had a problem and although she did have a little residual damage in her feet from the arthritis, her original problems did not recur. Gail was a teacher and had spent years living on her adrenalin, taking more out of her body than she was putting back in. Once on a nutritionally-sound programme, her body was able to eliminate some of the backlog of toxicity that was at the root of her problems. Kirsty tells her story ‘When I first began seeing Barbara, I was feeling tired, bloated and constipated, and I had been putting weight on steadily for five years. I had gradually become anaemic and was at a loss as to why this was happening, as I had not altered my diet or lifestyle. After overcoming the shock of such a drastic change in diet—I had to eat six times a day and a minimum amount—I started to feel better and found I had more energy and was calmer and more relaxed. But the biggest change came when I cut out all dairy produce (an allergy test had proved that I was intolerant to dairy from any animal). I stopped having digestive rumblings, wind and constipation, and my sinuses cleared up. I also started losing weight—30kg in a year, which translates to 11b per week, a healthy rate. I have not needed to see Barbara for some time now, but I still keep pretty much to her diet. Detective work Although over the years most clients have seen some improvements in their health by their second appointment, not everyone experiences overnight success. Nutritional therapy is a little like detective work—it involves looking for signs that the body produces, in order to diagnose and prescribe, and then watching how the body reacts to any changes. Most clients have a few ups and downs, as we untangle the causes of their problems, before they eventually settle on the road to recovery. Bernice Bernice had ulcerative colitis, which caused cramping pains and urgent visits to the loo with the passing of blood and mucus. She was tired all the time and depressed because of her ill health. By her second visit she had much more energy, she was less depressed and the ache in her colon had disappeared. Bernice was enjoying feeling much better so she made the most of it and started catching up on all the jobs she had left undone. Unfortunately, her health soon began to deteriorate again. At this stage in her recovery there simply wasn’t enough energy available for healing and catching up. But at least Bernice was learning. Her next lesson, once she had improved still further and started venturing out into society again, was how important it is to stay with the diet. She was feeling better and starting to enjoy life, so the diet slipped—as did her health. We had another year of ups and downs as Bernice adjusted to her new regime but now at least she has an answer to her problems. Sarah Sarah was quite poorly when she first came to see me. She had serious digestive problems, which included severe pain, bloating and constipation, as well as very poor energy levels, and thrush. It was obvious that Sarah had intolerances to several foods and although coming off these produced a slight improvement in her health, we had a long way to go. Over the course of a few years, Sarah and I learned a lot about her body as we untangled the web of clues that her illness threw up. Sarah’s body was so finely balanced that any major change caused a reaction, therefore we had to proceed very slowly. We discovered that Sarah’s liver was struggling to cope. When it was happy the severe pains she had in her shoulder disappeared; when it wasn’t happy the food she ate just sat in her stomach. We learned that foods with a warming energy (I talk about the energetics of foods in Vegetarian Cooking Without) helped her digestion, while too many foods with a cold energy shut it down. In fact, Sarah became so good at knowing the energy of foods because of her body’s reaction to them that, in the end, she was teaching me. We learned that too much protein overloaded her digestion, but equally too much carbohydrate or vegetables and she had a reaction. We tried the ‘Hay diet’ and the ‘Eat right for your type’ diet but in the end we had no option but to follow the diet that Sarah’s body was determining and, as a result, her health improved. Body, mind and spirit In all the above case histories the individuals were able to alleviate their symptoms—but only if they followed the diet. However, what started to interest me as far back as the 1970s were the reasons behind why people became ill. In those days, as well as reading all I could find on nutrition, I studied astrology, spiritual healing, Bach flower remedies, yoga and anything else I could find on holistic health. The link between body, mind and spirit was starting to become clear. Over the years, however, not all my clients have been ready to delve deeper and look at the reasons behind why they became ill. Many just wanted their physical symptoms to disappear so that they could carry on with their lives. While it is not up to me to decide when the time is right for anyone to delve deeper, I was often responsible for giving people the odd nudge, which sometimes did and sometimes didn’t make them think. When ready to consider the deeper reasons for their illness, clients come into the consultation room and instead of talking about their physical problems, will say things like ‘I’ve been thinking’. Suddenly their physical health, which was their priority, is no longer paramount and their desire for a greater understanding takes precedence. I’m always thrilled when this happens because it means that we can move on to a deeper level of detoxification. Eventually, when their mental and emotional bodies are satisfied, they come into the consultation room saying things like ‘Why am I here?’ or ‘Do you believe in a higher power?’ At this point it’s time to move on to the next stage—the spiritual. This progression never ceases to amaze and delight me and I’m forever in debt to all the clients who have allowed me to be part of their journeys and taught me so much along the way. But it also makes me so aware of how much society’s loss of spirituality is in direct proportion to its dietary decline. Detoxification Having originally trained as a home economist, I eventually retrained as a nutritional therapist in the mid-eighties. During my training I began to learn the principles of detoxification, which involves using strict dietary principles (as outlined in Cooking Without) and supplementation to assist the body to eliminate toxicity. It was this training that made me realize that nutrition can be used as a catalyst for detoxifying the body on various levels. Once the physical body starts to heal, detoxification moves on to a mental and emotional level, and finally reveals a spiritual body hidden beneath. Once I started to detoxify I started on a journey of self-discovery. As well as improving my physical health, I started to uncover the real me that had been buried beneath the layers of ideas and conditioning that I had taken on board from others over the years. It was like peeling off the layers of an onion. The more dysfunctional our past, the more layers we develop in order to cope and protect ourselves. These layers build up from early childhood and directly influence our view of the world. Developing layers As babies, we come into this world with nothing in our heads but a strong intuitive drive to meet our needs and be true to ourselves. Watch a little child playing. One minute it is totally engrossed then suddenly it has had enough and moves on to something else or comes for a hug or a drink. If a child were allowed to grow up keeping in touch with its intuition then as an adult it would build up far fewer layers. Unfortunately, children are continually being told to use their heads and not their hearts, ‘finish your maths before you go out to play’. Some of this is necessary, of course—our heads tell us to look both ways before crossing the road or not to eat food that is too hot. However, living too much in our heads means that we lose touch with our sense of self. As always in life, the art is in finding a balance. Here I am talking about healthy children in good homes, but imagine the damage that can be inflicted through neglect or physical and mental abuse. Losing our sense of self means that we are being, doing and thinking what others have taught us. Detoxification is about stripping off the layers and uncovering our core self, which is always a beautiful expression of our soul. I believe that one of the things we are all here to do is to peel off the layers in order to reach our intuition and true potential, and hence follow the path our soul chose. Soul paths I think that we all come into this world with the potential to be something special. I don’t mean famous or rich, but with a potential to be a good mother, a special friend, a great teacher…It’s as though our souls decide before we are born and they know what we are meant to do—but, when we are born, no one lets us in on the arrangement. However, if we can learn to trust a higher power and be in touch with our intuition, then the universe can guide us along the path we are meant to tread. There will still be difficulties along the way, as these are necessary in order for us to grow, but it’s when we rely on our heads and want to be in control that we create the most problems. When we flow with life and are open, the universe guides us gently forward, creating synchronicities and coincidences. Opportunities and directions appear and we know—rather than think—that we are doing the right thing. Uncovering our life path There are many ways of uncovering our intuition, the real us and our life path, and each individual must choose the right way for themselves. Everything that we need to know is inside us and we must find a way of going inside to find that information. What is right for me and what is my truth may not be yours. It’s as though we are all little spiders heading back to a higher consciousness on our own little threads. I cannot jump onto your thread and you cannot jump onto mine. Our intuition is the higher consciousness talking to us, so the ideas contained in this or any other book should only be considered right for you if they resonate with your truth. The method I found of uncovering the real me, and the way I’ve used to help my clients find their truth, has been through diet and detoxification. The only way that I can know that an individual is better is when they have uncovered the reasons why they became ill and have found their path in life. Julie Julie came to me after an operation for cancer. The cancer was a wake-up call and Julie knew that she had to change if she was to survive. However, she didn’t know what changes she needed to make and the thought of making any filled her with fear. Julie embarked on a serious detoxification regime that, day by day, led her to new insights about herself and her lifestyle. She had a mundane office job that was way below her capabilities, but it enabled her to act as a support system for her husband and family. I remember Julie on her first visit: she had her blonde hair swept up in a very eighties’ style and was dressed in a flimsy suit and camisole on a cold winter’s day. I wanted to wrap her up in a warm sweater and jeans, but the image she portrayed was the one her husband liked—the feminine woman who needed him, was there for him and who didn’t rock the boat. As Julie progressed she started to read alternative books, make new friends and became vegetarian. She studied counselling at nightschool and although she wanted her husband to be part of her new life, he was clearly not impressed because she wasn’t always there at his beck and call. Julie blossomed and grew stronger as the months passed. Eventually the inevitable happened and she left her husband. She was willing to stay, but only if her husband was prepared to accept the person she was—but alas, he wasn’t. He wanted life to go back to the way it had been because that meant he didn’t have to face his own issues (Julie had always rescued him from these). Leaving was very tough for Julie, as she had to face many fears. Would she be able to support herself? Would she be able to stand up for herself and cope with the running of a home on her own? Would the children understand why she was doing this? Julie not only survived, but went from strength to strength. She finished her counselling course and was asked to go back and do some teaching. She set up a private practice and became very successful—and guess what? She changed her hairstyle and threw away the flimsy suits. Maralyn tells her story ‘I had suffered from bouts of depression for 30 years when I went to see Barbara. During these times I was incapable of work and lost interest in everyone and everything. I had tried all the usual antidepressant drugs and had seen psychiatrists and psychologists, but nothing seemed to help. Initially, Barbara reviewed my diet and explained that with intolerances (I had become aware that I was intolerant to yeast) a restricted diet was important but until the emotions were dealt with, the allergy would not resolve itself. Through detoxification, vitamin and mineral supplements and dealing with my emotions relating to a very unhappy, restricted childhood, I slowly started to feel much better. I can honestly say that since meeting Barbara I have never suffered a repeat bout of depression. That was over five years ago and now I really understand the saying ‘We are what we eat’. Looking back at my own childhood I was the second of two children, with a brother two years older. We grew up on an isolated farm and my parents worked very hard, so they had little time for looking after children. My father was moody, heading towards manic depression and locked in his own inner world of torment. He had lost his mother when very young and had had a tough upbringing. I soon learnt that it was best not to have any needs if I wanted to please my parents and, as a result, I began to cut off from my emotions at an early age. I learnt to smile rather than cry, even though I was hurting inside. I also learnt that if I did something exceptional I received some attention—and so I became a people pleaser and an over-achiever. I started losing touch with my intuition by spending time in my head trying to be what everyone wanted me to be and assuming that I was the cause of any deficit. Not surprisingly, this resulted in an unrealistically negative self-image, which laid the foundations for a life that would need many knocks to get me to examine, and begin to peel off, the layers I had developed through childhood and beyond. Being in touch with our true selves and our intuition doesn’t prevent us from making mistakes, but it helps us recognize when we’ve made them, because things don’t feel right. I had stopped feeling, therefore it was very difficult to distinguish between what felt right and wrong. Logic versus intuition When I talk about being ‘in our heads’, I’m talking about using the left side of the brain, which is the logical side. This logical side works things out by analysing the criteria rather than by assessing how things feel. In contrast, our intuition whispers to us between our thoughts. When we go with our intuition we are using the right side of our brain and we feel comfortable with what we are doing. Frequently, when clients are trying to work out what job they would like to do, they make the mistake of trying to work it out by analysing what they are good at. They may think they are good at maths and so start looking at jobs where they could use this skill, such as accountancy or teaching. However, it’s more important to look for something that feeds the soul—if it doesn’t, it can become soul-destroying. We won’t ever reach our full potential in life or be really happy if we don’t follow our hearts. I believe that when we find our true path in life, our job will feel more like a hobby. When I discovered nutritional therapy I simply wanted to read and learn everything I could about the subject. It was a natural extension to turn it into a job. Helen tells her story of a change in direction ‘I had a high-profile job in marketing when I first went to see Barbara. I was travelling the country, working long hours, and although I earned a good salary, most of it was spent sustaining my working lifestyle. By the time I reached 31 I had undergone four operations to remove endometriosis, but it always came back. I turned to nutritional therapy out of sheer desperation. Within three weeks I was looking and feeling much better. I wasn’t putting in the same hours in the office because I needed time to shop and cook, but the work I produced reflected a new clarity and confidence. Even my boss commented on it. Over the next few years I made some major changes in my life. I let go of the security and trappings of my career and left to set up a consultancy. As I downsized I realized that the freedom and satisfaction I now felt easily replaced the big salary and company car. Creating more space in my life meant that I had time to walk, horse ride and spend more time with nature and the people who mattered to me. I felt much more in touch with myself as I began to live more from my heart than from my head. My next major change came when I took off with my partner on a 16-month, round-the-world trip. That really was a leap of faith, to let go of everything and just trust. It turned out to be the most amazing time of my life. While travelling I started to write a travelogue, tapping into a creativity that had lain dormant since my schooldays. Now I am working on this material and hope in the future to become a travel writer. Combining travel and writing would be my dream way of life. And the endometriosis? It just disappeared, much to my consultant’s surprise. I am so glad that I took those first steps towards controlling my own health and my life.’ Detoxification is like a life jigsaw When I look back at the person I was before I started to detoxify I can hardly believe that I’m the same person. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that ‘I’ve arrived’, as I’m constantly gaining new insights and growing stronger, and will continue to do so until the day I die. But looking back lets me see how eating the right food has enabled me to recognize the next stage in my development; to see issues that needed working on as they appeared and then, after working through these, moving on again, rather than staying stuck and repeating the same mistakes. I often liken detoxification to a life jigsaw. It’s as though a jigsaw has been put together but the pieces are not all in the right places. When you start to detoxify it’s as if someone has thrown your life’s jigsaw onto the floor and it has smashed into hundreds of pieces. It is then up to you to fit it back together—only this time with all the pieces in their right places. At first this is difficult because you know that your life doesn’t work but you haven’t a clue what the jigsaw is meant to look like. At this point you need a certain amount of trust and faith that your new direction will appear. And it does. You find yourself considering a piece of the jigsaw that holds the key to a certain area of your life. It may be a piece about guilt, or pleasing people and you spend a few days or weeks thinking about how this affects your life and how you could change it. Then one day you consider another jigsaw piece and have a new insightful realization, and suddenly you’ve fitted two pieces of the jigsaw together. And so it goes on; as you peel the layers from yourself you gradually build up a new picture of the real you. I’m still working on my jigsaw; I still have issues with lack of self-worth but the universe keeps providing me with opportunities to grow. My lack of self-worth My parents were basically good people who loved me in their own way, and they were doing what they thought was their best. However, their attitudes to parenting were based on their own dysfunctional upbringings. They were very money orientated—to them, money in the bank equalled security. I had very few toys or books, the most basic of clothes and the home didn’t contain any of life’s luxuries. I remember birthdays and Christmases with nothing to open—instead my parents put money in a bank account for when we were older. We never had a Christmas tree or bedtime stories; I didn’t go on holiday or have friends to stay. The message that I constantly received as a child was that I didn’t matter but money did. Self-worth was one of the lessons my soul obviously came here to learn. Wanting the perfect marriage My lack of self-worth and inability to be in touch with my feelings have drawn many lessons to me throughout my life. Because of my relationship with my father, I was attracted to emotionally unavailable men, whom I hoped would fulfil my every need—if I loved them enough. Basically, there was still a little girl inside of me desperately wanting the love of her father, so I transferred this on to the men in my life. My husband had come from an equally cold and dysfunctional family, where he was taught fear and learnt to control in order to allay his fears. Once married, I also gained an equally controlling mother-in-law and so my self-worth took another battering and my ‘people pleaser’ ran on overdrive. I wanted to have the perfect marriage and I was willing to suppress any discomfort I felt in order to make this happen. I loved being married and I loved being a mum to my two boys. I went to no end of trouble to make the home a warm, comfortable environment and was determined to make sure my children felt loved and secure. But I also felt trapped and controlled. No one was interested in how I felt and whether my needs were being met and I didn’t have sufficient self-worth to put my case forward. If I did try to assert myself then I tapped into my husband’s fears, and he couldn’t cope, so I suppressed my feelings yet again. And, of course, I never dreamt of talking to anyone outside the home, as my sense of self-worth was invested in being perfect. Eventually I was introduced to astrology and I started to question what life was about. I read alternative books and looked at what was going on in my life from a different perspective. The floodgates of emotion eventually burst when my dog was accidentally killed. I remember finding her and wanting to cry but not being able to at first—but when I did start crying, I couldn’t stop. I wasn’t just crying for her, devastated though I was, I was crying for me and all the hurts and injustices I’d suffered throughout my life and had never cried about before. That marked a turning point in my life. I could no longer be what everyone else wanted me to be; I had to start standing up for what I needed. It was hard, however, to put the blinkers on and follow the path that was revealing itself to me. I felt like I was on a long, straight road that disappears into the horizon. On each side the land was lower than the road and all along were people trying to pull me off my path and divert me. It would have been easy for me to use everyone else as an excuse for not following my own star, especially as I didn’t know where my star was taking me. We are, however, always aware of the next step and the rest is revealed to us one day at a time. Facing the fear When I eventually re-trained and set up a healing clinic in the mid-eighties I was full of fear. Alternative medicine wasn’t exactly popular in Manchester, and nutrition was at the bottom of the list. I was fearful of failure, of not being able to help people, or being thought of as foolish. But more than that, I was frightened of putting myself, and my growth, first. Self-growth, however, is like giving birth—you can’t stop it once it’s started, and so I kept moving forward and taking the next step. I was facing the fear and doing it anyway. I also learnt to trust in God and the universe. For God is like a kind, caring father, who’s going to push a little so that we grow, but he will never put us in situations where we really can’t cope. And so my clinic was a success. The more I trusted God and handed over control, the more he helped. I was frequently guided to treatments or found myself uttering statements that I didn’t know I knew. Natalie Natalie was a client of mine who had three young children and a husband. She was organized, hard working and capable, with a tremendous amount of untapped potential. She wanted to set up her own business, but she had a husband who was married to his job. This meant that he arrived home later than he said he would, ended up working weekends or on his days off and, when he was around, his mind was elsewhere rather than on his family. Natalie took responsibility for everything concerning the home and family. In their early married life, when the children were young, Natalie didn’t mind too much; it was only when the children started school that she resented being the support system with no hope of a career other own. But Natalie avoided facing the fear involved in forcing the necessary changes—instead she used food as a substitute for love and to cover up any feelings of discomfort. Eventually, Natalie came to see me when she developed arthritis. She went home from her first consultation enthusiastic about the slender, healthy body that she felt she would soon regain. A few months later she was back in my consulting room saying that she was going to have to give up on the treatment. She was having a few problems with her husband and needed time to sort these out before she resumed treatment. It seems that Natalie had started expressing how she felt as she had started to detoxify and this had caused problems between her and her husband. I tried to explain that this was all part of the detoxification, that health wasn’t just about being slim and fit but about being true to our selves and in touch with our own potential and power. It’s not an easy concept to grasp and Natalie didn’t even want to try. Things were very uncomfortable and she didn’t like it, so she chose to go back to her old way of life rather than rock the boat. She took menial jobs that fitted in with the children’s schooling and holidays and continued to have health problems. Natalie chose to remain toxic rather than face and move through her pain. Learning to love ourselves If we are not following our true path and meeting our needs, then we are not loving and caring for ourselves. We then need other people or other things to serve as a substitute for love, and to use as an anaesthetic to cover up our basic unease. Natalie used food, but whatever ‘substance’ you are addicted to—be it alcohol, drugs, sex, television, shopping or gambling—you are using something or someone to cover up your pain. Natalie’s husband used work. I used sweet food, but I also always wanted other people to love me because I didn’t love myself. I always dreamt of wonderful birthdays and Christmases when I would be showered with gifts. I always hoped that my husband would buy me chocolates and flowers and book tables in romantic candlelit restaurants, but it never happened. And it didn’t happen because the universe wanted me to learn to love myself. This lesson repeated itself so many times in my life that I eventually wrote the following quote, which I’ve handed out regularly to clients over the years: ‘We don’t get what we want in life, we get what we need in order to grow. When we’ve grown we get what we’ve always wanted, only then we don’t need it any more’. The more I wanted others to show how much they loved me, the less love I received. Eventually, however, when I started loving myself sufficiently, others started treating me better, but guess what? I didn’t need it any more. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t appreciate their kindness, because I did, but it became a bonus and an indulgence rather than a necessity. Learning to love ourselves doesn’t make relationships redundant, but it does mean that we move on from dysfunctional relationships where we are too dependent on our partners to meet our needs, to a relationship where two people come together for mutual growth and benefit, one in which each is able to stand on their own feet, meet their needs and follow their own path. Being human During the time I was learning to love myself I suddenly found myself attracted to someone new. The feeling was mutual and I was shocked. I thought I had the perfect marriage, so what was happening? However, in reality I was more in touch with what I imagined my marriage to be, rather than the real thing. Looking back, I did the best possible thing—I told my husband what was happening and how I was feeling. This opened up a level of communication we’d never had before, enabling us both to face issues, many of which we’d not even known were there. These issues were ones that would have come up in the new relationship, if I’d chosen to move on, because like attracts like. I was attracting someone who would have been there to teach me in the same way that my husband was. The only time a new relationship is necessary is when an old one is over; when one partner has moved on and grown and the other hasn’t and doesn’t want to. I’d not been in touch enough with my feelings to be able to be honest with myself, and now suddenly feelings were overwhelming me. I had always tried to be ‘Miss Perfect’, using perfectionism and super-achievement as a shield to cover up for my lack of self-worth. But suddenly I felt very human, and human beings are not infallible. It was actually a relief to realize that I was human; that I wasn’t perfect and that it was actually all right not to be. I was being taught to love myself, warts and all. Even though I hadn’t consciously attracted someone else, I’d obviously done so unconsciously. Inside of me there was still that little girl who just wanted to be loved and who felt better about herself knowing that others loved her. It made me much more aware of the work I still needed to do in order to love myself sufficiently so that I wasn’t so needy. I had to be able to stand on my own two feet, whoever I was with. My husband’s fear of losing me made him face up to the fears that had prevented him from wanting to listen to my problems in the past. If I wasn’t happy he felt vulnerable, inadequate and lacking in control. In turn, I sensed his pain and tapped into my own fears of losing him, because I wasn’t making him happy, therefore I’d always suppressed my feelings and backed down. Now that things were changing, I was able to tell him about all the occasions when I’d been unhappy, when I’d felt unsupported, when I’d been very hurt. I cried and I got angry. Finally being honest with each other allowed us both to grow and we became closer—and more open with each other than we’d ever been. Jane’s story Jane was a client of mine. She was married with two boys and had what she considered a good marriage. Jane was a carer—she loved looking after her home and family and never complained. Her husband had his own business and worked long hours, but he was a good father and always found time for the boys. He would take them to football matches or play with them on the computer and had built up a good relationship with his sons. However, the family didn’t do many things together—they rarely went out for the day or to the seaside or even on holiday. Jane would often entertain her husband’s work colleagues, despite the fact that she didn’t like some of them. She also did the book keeping for the business because it helped out and saved the company money, rather than because she enjoyed it. Jane had started taking antidepressants in order to cope with her father’s long illness and subsequent death. The drugs helped her to suppress the emotions she needed to work through, many of which stemmed from the lack of support she was receiving. She came to me to help her come off the antidepressant. However, each time she cut down the amount she was taking she became anxious. This was caused by mental and emotional toxicity that she needed to work through and leave behind. Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them, therefore I suggested that she came regularly for support in order to begin to work through the issues at the root of her anxiety. Unfortunately, this never happened as Jane always managed to cancel her next appointment before we’d done any constructive work. In her heart, though, Jane knew that this was the right way forward and would arrive back in my consulting room six months down the line, back on the full amount of antidepressants. We’d then start the process again, only for her to give up yet again. Eventually, the drugs were not sufficient and Jane started to turn to alcohol. She enjoyed a glass of wine and considered it a treat, but what had been an occasional tipple became a daily necessity, something that she turned to whenever she felt anxious, uncomfortable, unloved or put upon. As a result, the emotions that were trying to come to the surface were suppressed yet again. Then one day Jane met someone else, had an affair and moved out of the family home. Everyone was shocked, including Jane. She couldn’t understand what was happening to her; what this compulsion was that was dragging her away from what she thought was a good marriage. She said that she hadn’t minded always being there and looking after everyone, yet the man she had met was giving her all the things that she’d never had in her marriage: weekends away, days out, holidays, fun, time for her, and support. Jane had used drugs and alcohol over the years to suppress the real her. She had tapped into one side of her personality, the carer, but had ignored a part of her soul that was crying out for attention. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have a happy ending. Eventually, Jane’s husband took the opportunity to move to America and the boys decided to go with him. They never forgave their mother for breaking up their home. And so Jane gained and lost a great deal. It’s not for me to judge if Jane did the right thing. Only her soul knows if she is on the right path, but I can’t help wondering what would have happened if Jane had been able to stay with the diet and detoxification. The last few case histories have been about women getting in touch with their feelings and having sufficient power to act upon them, but I haven’t yet talked about men. At present, the world is going through a great metamorphosis and this is affecting men as well as women. In the past, women were seen as nurturers and men as achievers. Now this is changing and the change is causing a lot of confusion, pain and loneliness. Men and women are becoming more androgynous and becoming whole within themselves – sometimes receptive, sometimes assertive. Relationships between men and women are changing to one of mutual understanding, companionship and growth. We are learning to talk to each other as equals and human beings instead of trying to fit into stereotypical male and female roles. The patriarchal domination of the world is hopefully coming to an end. The feminine represents the kind of power we need in order to overcome the warmongering, empire-building greed that is bringing our planet to the edge of extinction. The fear and disrespect of the feminine emerges from a fear and distrust of one’s own feelings. There is no room in a male-dominated system for them. If one really felt the effects of one’s actions—whether the act is suppressing a race, abusing a child or allowing starvation to occur—most people could not continue to live with the internal conflict it would cause. Fortunately, many men today are starting to become aware of their feminine side and are more ready to show their feelings. They are letting go of control and starting to respond from their hearts. They are learning to tap into a higher spiritual power and flow with their intuition. Jonathan’s story Jonathan’s childhood was characterized by the dominance of his strict father, who wanted Jonathan to be ‘a success in life’. Being a very sensitive and caring child who loved animals and art, Jonathan did not fit in well with the role he was being forced to play. When Jonathan arrived home from school, he wasn’t allowed to play with his friends, watch television or draw. If he didn’t have homework from school, his dad set some for him to do. He was forced to play rugby and take part in judo, even though he hated these contact sports. He was, however, quite a good long-distance runner, but instead of being able to enjoy his talent his father killed his enthusiasm. Jonathan told me about a time when he was leading a race but ran out of stamina and was overtaken in the last leg. He was runner-up in the race, but his father was furious that he had allowed himself to be overtaken. Jonathan was only in his early twenties and at university when he had a nervous breakdown. He was doing all the things he thought he was meant to do in order to enjoy life, such as going to football matches with his friends and for drinking sessions at the pub, but inside he was empty and unhappy and he didn’t know why. Jonathan came to me because he instinctively knew that the drugs he had been given for his breakdown were only masking the symptoms. He didn’t know what to expect, or even if I could help him, but he knew that there had to be another way He happily changed his diet and started to detoxify. He was so thrilled that someone understood what he was going through and was offering him a way out of his trauma. As Jonathan detoxified he was able to work through some of the issues in his past, though now he was able to see what went on from a more mature perspective. Jonathan still spoke to his father regularly but he hated their phone calls or meetings because his father still tried to tell him what to do. A real breakthrough occurred when Jonathan stood up for himself one day and told his father what HE thought and what HE was going to do. His father refused to speak to him for quite a few weeks but Jonathan didn’t back down. He also worked through the anger he felt towards his mother for not sticking up for him when he was a child. Eventually, Jonathan was able to build up a relationship with both his parents. It was never going to be easy because his parents hadn’t moved on and Jonathan had. However, he was able to accept them for what they were—and even forgive them for the past—and carry on to complete for himself the job of parenting. Jonathan started to develop a strong psychic talent as he tapped into his feminine side. I’m not sure where this will take him, as he is still young, but he is now open to whatever the universe has in mind. It hasn’t been an easy path for him and he has suffered great pain and loneliness along the way. The things that are important to him now do not fit in with his old lifestyle—or that of the youth culture of today—but as the years go by he will meet others on similar paths and his true purpose will be revealed to him. However, what he is going through now is nothing in comparison to the pain and torment he was suffering. He has gained an inner strength and peace and an understanding that will hopefully enable him to reach his potential and make a difference during his time on this planet. Tom is another male client who had to contend with a strong father who struggled to associate feminine, creative qualities with his image of masculinity. For Tom to be a writer, and to learn to feel comfortable in that career, has entailed a lot of soul searching and hard work. I’m looking forward to seeing his success as he taps into his true feminine creativity and leaves behind his past conditioning. Here, Tom tells his own story. Tom’s story ‘I suppose I’d felt for some time that looking more closely at what I ate could be helpful in my healing process, but it was seeing the dramatic improvement in my partner’s health that provided the final impetus. I had been involved in personal development and had used alternative therapies for a number of years but I was still regularly suffering from debilitating and extremely painful headaches. I teach scriptwriting and have had a great deal of success in “turning on” lots of students to the joys of creative writing. However, despite consistent confirmation of my own ability as a writer, I have suffered a good deal of ambivalence, as well as a lack of confidence, about my own work. At the end of our first session, Barbara asked me how I felt with what she had suggested. I can still remember the hubris with which I shrugged the question off. This was no big deal to an evolved guy like me who already ate fairly healthily. Knowing the power of dramatic irony only too well, part of me looks back with amusement at that cock-sure attitude. I found myself having sudden fits of rage, cursing vegetables and hurling the sieve across the kitchen as I drained yet another load of brown rice. I was also astonished at how these outbursts seem to come from nowhere. Sticking with the discipline of the nutritional programme was sometimes far from easy and it is to Barbara’s credit that she knew just when and how to offer support. She sensitively worked her holistic magic, addressing mind, body and spirit. As the detoxification continued, I found greater equilibrium: my health started to improve and my headaches lessened. In particular my energy levels and my moods evened out. I found a more naturally-rooted zest for living coming up. I could make changes in circumstances faster and more easily, and there was a pronounced improvement in knowing what I wanted and being able to assert those wishes, as well as being able to break patterns of over-adaptation to others. There have been major changes in my life: my relationship broke up; a much postponed plan to redecorate my house has been acted upon; my teaching work has changed direction; I have started training as a drama therapist; I have started offering personal development/creativity workshops; and I have now (18 months on) started a new relationship that feels much easier than previous liaisons. Working with Barbara has been a significant experience in my life. It has helped me to discover a more solid sense of self-worth, an inner knowing of what I need, along with a deeper impulse to really care for myself—and I’m now starting to feel a new dawn looming on the creative writing front.’ Hopefully by reading my story, and those of some of my clients, you will have gained some insight into the extent to which dietary measures can improve not only our physical health, but also our mental and emotional state. If you are having health problems why not try a change of diet? If you feel lost and don’t know what direction to take in life, a change of diet might help you find yourself. If you are having problems with a relationship or work colleagues then what have you to lose by changing your diet? Good luck and may you find your path, your potential and your health. Some guidance on recipes and ingredients Serving size: I decided to make most of the recipes in this book feed two people, rather than four as in my previous books. This makes it easier for those of you who are cooking for one, as I know is often the case. The recipes are easy to halve for one, or double if you are cooking for four or want extra for the next day or the freezer. The soups still feed four as they all freeze so easily. I have tried to suggest lots of alternatives where possible in recipes, so that readers can work around likes and dislikes as well as allergies and intolerances. Tablespoons and teaspoons: The spoons I have used when creating these recipes are measuring spoons. Milk: Where recipes contain milk I have used soya milk, but others could be substituted. The choice is now wide and includes milk made from ingredients such as oats, rice, quinoa and almonds. However, while some milks are naturally sweet, others have sweeteners such as apple juice added and these would be less acceptable in savoury recipes. I’ve not been able to test all the milks available in all the recipes so take care as some may separate on heating. Yogurt: Where recipes contain yogurt I have used soya yogurt, but this can often be replaced with goat or sheep’s yogurt or even coconut milk. Soya Dream: I have suggested this as an alternative to cream for serving with desserts. It’s made from soya beans but does have fructose and glucose syrup added. It is readily available in supermarkets and health food shops. Tomatoes: If necessary, tinned tomatoes can be replaced with carrot juice or stock, or even tinned lentils in some vegetarian dishes. Tomato puree can be omitted and other vegetables used instead of fresh tomatoes. Lemon juice and lemon rind: I have used lemon juice and lemon rind to flavour some recipes but they could be omitted without too much detriment to the flavour. Vinegar can be used in salad dressings, if you do not have a problem with fermented foods, or another fruit juice, such as orange or pineapple, added. I like to freeze both lemon juice and lemon rind so that they are always to hand. I place the grated rind in containers and provided you don’t press it down, it’s easy to extract a teaspoon when needed. I freeze the juice in ice cube trays then decant into a storage container once frozen. Pickled lemons: Whole lemons are preserved in brine and provide a wonderful Moroccan flavouring to dishes. Omit if you cannot tolerate citrus. For suppliers see the list at the back of this book. Fruit juices: These can be substituted with other juices—try pineapple juice instead of orange juice and apple juice instead of grape. Tamari sauce: This is a wheat-free alternative to soya sauce. It imparts a wonderful savoury flavour to recipes, but it is fermented, so avoid if you have Candida problems. It is useful for adding to dishes you feel are lacking in flavour, and is readily available in health food shops and some supermarkets. Fish sauce: This adds a wonderful flavour to any savoury dishes and doesn’t really smell or taste fishy. It is made from anchovies, salt and 2 per cent sugar. It is fermented, so avoid it if you have Candida problems. Suppliers are listed at the back of the book, though it is now available in most supermarkets. Horseradish sauce: A salt-pickled version, containing no dairy produce, is available. See the list of suppliers. This is not fermented, though a little lactic acid may be produced when it is processed. I also found a hot horseradish in my supermarket that was similar. Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/barbara-cousins/cooking-without-made-easy-all-recipes-free-from-added-glut/?lfrom=688855901) на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.