After nearly forty years of writing healthy cookbooks, nutritional therapist Barbara Cousins has just published her fifth title.
Healing Cuisine was inspired by the large increase in the number of people with diabetes, obesity and the major diseases related to these but it was her own healing journey which prompted her to rethink her approach to cooking and nutrition.
Image by Faye Pearson Jones
I’ve always eaten what I considered to be a healthy diet says Barbara. So I was surprised when wearing a blood sugar monitor to find that my blood sugar levels were rising more than I expected, even after eating a whole-food, sugar free diet. I had always known that my blood sugar dipped between meals as I became shaky if I went too long without eating but I hadn’t realised how much it was spiking after eating any carbohydrates.
This led me on a new quest to produce easy, delicious low carbohydrate recipes that didn’t spike my blood sugar, and so my latest book Healing Cuisine was born. I learnt to balance any remaining carbohydrates in recipes with fibre, healthy fats and protein, including lots of plant proteins, in order to slow the rate they are absorbed into the blood stream. Soon I realised that I had much more energy and my sleep had improved so I figured that other people out there could benefit too. Now I can go between meals without the need to snack with no problem and my latest eye test showed that my eyesight had improved.
Barbara originally trained as a Home Economist before retraining in her thirties as a nutritional therapist and establishing a clinic in Manchester in 1986. During the following 17 years she helped thousands of clients to improve their health using diet and natural remedies.
It was during this time that she became an author almost by accident.
I took many of my clients off foods such as gluten, dairy and sugar. This was before the internet and before any healthy cookery books became available. People simply didn’t know what to eat, so I started compiling recipes and handing them out to clients. I was using dates as a natural sweetener and frozen banana as a basis for ice cream long before social media made such ideas popular.
One day a client I was treating suggested I put the recipes together in a book. He even brought a computer home from his office and set me up, while another client volunteered to illustrate the recipes
Image by Faye Pearson Jones
‘It felt as though the book was meant to be’ says Barbara
The result was Cooking Without which quickly developed a loyal following and whose fame spread by word of mouth. Barbara personally packed and posted over 14,000 copies all over the world.
Another remarkable twist of fate led to a publishing deal with Thorsons part of Harper Collins. While waiting to meet a buyer in Waterstones in Manchester Barbara struck up a conversation with a book rep standing next to her. Impressed by the success of Cooking Without he took a copy back to his head office and the rest as they say is history. Cooking Without became one of Thorson’s best sellers and is still in print today. Two more books followed in the Cooking Without series, then, in 2016 Easy, Tasty, Healthy was published.
Image by Faye Pearson Jones
Today, Barbara has come full circle by returning to self-publishing with Healing Cuisine. The beautifully produced book contains over 130 recipes designed to support healthy blood sugar while remaining simple, colourful and full of flavour. There are recipes for breakfast and brunches, main meals, meat free cooking, entertaining and of course some cakes and treats and low carbohydrate breads. The recipes are also gluten and dairy free which adds to their healing power.
‘Healthy eating should never feel like punishment,’ says Barbara. My aim has always been to show that nourishing food can also be enjoyable. I hope it will help many people.
Main – Photo by John Grubb
About the Author: Barbara Cousins
