Amelia Freer - Cook. Nourish. Glow.

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First published 2015

Text copyright Amelia Freer, 2016

Photography copyright Susan Bell, 2016

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful to be notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future editions of this book.

Photography: Susan Bell
www.ameliafreer.com

ISBN: 978-1-405-92524-2

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IM NOT ON A DIET, IM JUST EATING HEALTHY, REAL FOOD.

Amelia Freer

Its hard to believe that its a year since Eat. Nourish. Glow. was published. I could never have imagined that so soon afterwards Id be creating my very own cookbook! I have been overwhelmed by the response to my first book and it has been a joy every day to know how many of you have embraced my principles of healthy eating. It has been so humbling for me to read your individual stories and to know that you have been making changes with such dramatic positive results for your health.

The many letters and emails I receive have had one very clear common thread: the need for more recipes. Rather than asking me about weight loss or superfoods, readers have written to me begging for more recipe ideas. And this makes me very happy indeed. Your kitchens have been detoxed, you have become graceful around food, you are moving your bodies in a way that you enjoy and you are glowing! How fantastic. Its a dream come true for me. And so it is with absolute delight that I am now delivering what you have asked for a whole book filled with recipes that are dedicated to defending your health.

In this book Ive remained true to everything that Eat. Nourish. Glow. offered, and Ive built on those principles to provide practical, nourishing and delicious recipes. I hope you enjoy them and continue to bring healthy eating into your homes and lives and to celebrate good food while nurturing your health. I also hope theres something in this book for everyone, whatever cooking skills you have.

I love cooking and, ever since I began studying nutrition in 2004, Ive been drawn to fresh ingredients and discovering and coming up with new recipes. I especially enjoy entertaining and serving beautiful food to friends and family. Im not a trained chef, Im a home cook and a genuine foodie. I cant stand bland, repetitive meals so my recipes have evolved out of necessity Im always looking for creative ways to provide my body with the goodness it needs to help me live the richest life possible. And by rich I mean healthy, happy and alert. As a nutritional therapist, my focus is on creating flavourful recipes that are packed with the most nourishing range of ingredients possible. Trust me, your body will thank you for eating these dishes.

I am evangelical about the difference eating well can make to your mind, body and health because my life changed when I changed my eating habits. I spent my twenties in a food rut. I was working long hours in an enjoyable but demanding job; I filled my days with endless cups of sugary tea, ate preservative-packed sandwiches for lunch and supermarket ready-meals at night. I didnt think of myself as an unhealthy eater because I wasnt gorging on McDonalds every night, but those microwaveable lasagnes were just another form of fast food and the impact on my health and well-being was terrible. I felt exhausted all the time; I suffered terrible IBS; dreadful acne and recurrent colds, infections and low mood. A visit to a nutritionist changed my life and I decided to study nutrition.

Over the years, as my relationship with food and its impact on my health has evolved, Ive developed a fervent love of cooking. When Im preparing food is truly when Im at my happiest; I dont see it as a chore, rather as a therapeutic part of my day. Whether Im throwing together a quick omelette for my breakfast or cooking a three-course supper for friends, I love every part of the process. I love playing with food, I love smelling it, chopping it up, throwing together different colours and finding new ways to serve up my favourite ingredients.

So when I began to consider writing a recipe book, I knew I wanted to write one that was true to my beliefs around food. Each and every person is different, but my experience working as a nutritional therapist has shown me that most people suffer inflammation as a result of eating too much grain, gluten, processed sugar and dairy, and so my recipes avoid these. I looked around at the cookery books available and what I found was a very wide gap between gourmet food and convenience food. Several of my clients and readers think you have to choose one or the other. They wanted gourmet food when they had friends coming over for dinner or when they were eating out, and they reverted to quick and processed foods like cereal, toast, pasta, ready meals, packet foods and stir-in sauces the rest of the time. So I started thinking about the middle ground. Meals you cook from scratch but that dont take hours or require fancy skills. Breakfasts you can throw together before work, dinners you want to eat when you walk in from a busy day. Basically real food for real life. And I call this process food assembly.

I find that many of my clients, when I first start working with them, feel daunted by the prospect of having to spend hours in the kitchen and think they will need to cook complicated meals. Thats why I prefer the term food assembly. I dont aspire to create gourmet cooks and I, therefore, encourage my clients to take small steps, building on their skills. We live busy lives and I promise you Im not going to ask you to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen. You can if you want to, of course, but this book has been designed to show that you can eat well in minutes if thats all you have. There are also recipes here to entertain family and friends, as well as giving you some therapeutic me time in the kitchen; these meals will take a bit longer to prepare but the results will be more than worth it. And I really do hope that any recipes I share with you in this book can be building blocks and inspiration for you. After all, we each have our own needs, likes and dislikes, and time restrictions.