“The kitchen is where the healing happens,” says Sally Errey, explaining why in her book Staying Alive: Cookbook for Cancer Free Living, she provides, early on, advice on how to organise the Cancer Conqueror’s Kitchen.
“I find a lot of people really hate their kitchen,” she said. “They give attention to their cars, their, hair their make-up but not their kitchens . . . they are disorganised, they use blunt knives.”
As people following the advice in the book will be spending time in the kitchen it is just as well to be “in communion” with it, Sally said.
There is a lot to do without - sugar, white flour and hydrogenated fats such as in margarine and bought cookies - and a great many vegetables, fruit and pulses to be cooked and consumed - if one is to follow this diet, but then the people it is intended for, those with a diagnosis of cancer, are nothing if not strongly motivated. Even so, Sally, a nutritionist, says she will begin by asking patients: “What does your breakfast tomorrow morning look like?” “That’s the level where the changes get made,” she said. “You cannot overhaul your complete diet in two weeks.”
Sally Errey grew up on Hobart’s Eastern Shore and graduated from the University of Tasmania. Her first career was in accountancy and IT, but in 1998 she began studying at the Canadian School for Natural Nutrition in Vancouver, and for the past seven years she has worked in that city at the Centre for Integrated Healing.
Many of the people who tell their stories in the book have healed themselves of cancer by being careful about what they eat and how they nurture themselves in other ways, sometimes while eschewing treatments such as chemotherapy.
Sally first wrote the book in 2004, and it is a best-seller in Canada. It was updated last year, and Sally has been testing the market in Australia while on a six-month sabbatical and visit to her parents. There is no distributor for the book in Australia, and Fullers is the main stockist.
The book is full of practical advice on such things as what are most important foods to source from organic growers - any animal products head the list - 20 power foods, products and foods to avoid and recipes - her own and contributions from people with cancer - to organising your cupboards.
It’s not all beans and vegie juice - garlic, ginger, shiitake mushrooms and herbs are immune boosters, as well as flavour boosters. It is, says Sally “a style of eating where a fork, not a calculator, is required”. As well as cancer patients, anyone with a suppressed immune system, diabetes, a heart condition or someone who simply wants to live well for longer, will benefit from the ideas in Staying Alive.
“The biggest challenge you might face is managing the energy and enthusiasm that comes from re-experiencing health and vitality,” Sally says.
Staying Alive: Cookbook for Cancer Free Living, Belissimo Books, Canada, $39.95 at Fullers. See www.myhappytummy.com
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
