Help from Above

I have a strong spiritual belief system and feel that we get help from above especially if we can trust, go with the flow and not try to be in control. I’ve also always felt that my work in nutrition and my books are what I came here to do and I feel that I have been helped many times along the way. I know from the comments I have received that the books have helped lots of people.

A lovely example of help from above came when I was creating Easy, Tasty, Healthy and I was so grateful. The book was with the publishers due back any day for its final proof read and my last chance to make any changes, but there was just one recipe that I wasn’t truly happy with. I kept re-trying this recipe, handing over and trusting, sure that a solution would eventually present itself. It was a lemon drizzle cake that rose beautifully if I put in sufficient bicarbonate of soda, but sufficient also meant that there was a slightly bitter aftertaste. Time was running out and I still didn’t have a solution, when I received an email from Thorsons saying that the layouts were working well but out of over 160 recipes there was just one that they couldn’t fit in. Yes, you’ve guessed – the lemon drizzle cake. I said a big ‘Thank you’ and went round the rest of the day with a smile on my face.

Writing the article ‘Help from Above’ reminded me of when I started to write my first cookery book in the 1980s and the coincidences and support I received then. It felt like a divine plan and I was just being used to put it in place.

When I first set up practice as a Nutritional Therapist in the mid 1980s, there were no alternative recipe books, no internet to look things up and very little in the way of alternative products on the market, but there I was taking people off gluten, dairy and sugar leaving them wondering what they could eat. So I started inventing and collecting recipes to give out to clients. One day a gentleman started to come to see me who offered his assistance to help me put my recipes into a small book. He lent me a computer from his office, set it up for me in our front room and showed me how to use it. Computers were foreign territory to most of us in those days.

At the same time another client happened to arrive who was an illustrator and she offered to design the cover of the book for me. And so the first Cooking Without was born, printed locally, and originally meant to be just for my clients. But word spread among other nutritional therapists and alternative practitioners and soon I was sending out boxes of books all over the world. Lots went to Ireland and New Zealand and places like the Nutri Centre in London made regular orders. In those days everything was done by post so I received lots of feedback and positive comments from individuals.

One day I received a phone call from a gentleman who had a late night programme on Manchester radio. He wanted to recommend my book but needed it to be available in a town centre shop before mentioning it. I duly made an appointment at Waterstones in Manchester and went along to discuss with them the stocking of Cooking Without. As I was waiting to see the relevant lady I started talking to the gentleman next to me. He was from a book publisher’s and was very impressed when he saw my book and heard how well it was selling. He suggested he took a copy to the relevant editor and the rest is history. Thorsons took over the publication and I no longer needed to pack books and spend time queuing up at the post office. It felt to me like there had been a lot of divine intervention getting Cooking Without into the book stores.