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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