Читать книгу The Secret Ingredient: Family Cookbook - Sally Bee - Страница 7

Emotionally, my recovery after my heart attacks was very tough and, as crazy as it sounds, food played a part in my emotional recovery too.

It took about a year to start to recover properly but eventually me and my family became strong and happy again. To begin with I was afraid of absolutely everything. I was afraid to laugh, cry, love, feel anger, feel passion; I was just a quivering mess of worry and fear.

Gradually, with the help of my darling family and my precious friends, I started to rebuild the old Sally. I had to get strong again, physically and emotionally. I had no strength, no spare breath. If I walked up the stairs to read my boys a story before bed, I would have to lie down at the top of the stairs for 10 minutes to get my breath back before I could speak to them. I had also lost all my confidence that everything would be OK. The future was bleak for me, or so I thought. I was grieving the loss of my health and used to look at my family, thinking I wanted to do absolutely everything possible to make their lives wonderful, yet I didn’t even have the strength to simply pick up my baby and cuddle her tears better.

Luckily for me, and for them, I had this little flickering flame, a little sparkle somewhere deep down inside me that kept tickling me and prodding me and refused to give up. As each day passed, it grew a little more until eventually it had no choice but to burst out of me like fireworks from the ground, filling me again with all my hopes and dreams and plans for the future. I tell you, I grabbed hold of that sparkle and have been running and jumping with it ever since. Every morning, when I wake up, I am alive therefore I am happy.

I believe that life is all about balance. A balanced diet feeds your heart, body and soul. No one can live forever on cottage cheese salad and an apple. We all need variety, treats and food that feed our soul. I learnt that over time and I hope that this is one of the things you will gain from this book. All the recipes are developed with great health in mind. Some have some ‘treat’ ingredients and this is absolutely fine as long as these ingredients are balanced with health-giving foods. Don’t worry, they are!

A few years ago, reaching the 10-year milestone was for me a mirage that was far beyond my grasp. But now I look forward to celebrating my nine-year survival anniversary – if only so that I can then start the year-long planning for the big celebration on my tenth anniversary! That doctor was right. If I can survive 10 years after all I went through, I can survive forever. Being a healthy eater has empowered me to get my life back. Take that, heart!