Hi, I’m Shelley…………….wife, mother, professional, closet diva, food enthusiast, straight-talker, life coach, Christian and dreamer! Some days confident, others a hot mess 🙂 I look back on my life so far and realise that I have in fact packed quite a bit in and done many jobs, (not all of which I was cut out for) and made many great connections, learnt a lot and talked a good talk on occasions – one thing has remained constant – my love of FOOD! I have always had a dream, a fantasy that always revolved around the same topic………Food & cooking. Owning a cafe, writing about food, helping others to discover the joy of home-cooked, healthy food. I have at times in my life severely deprived myself of food, to try and look skinny and swan about looking sophisticated and glamorous. (At times I have been really slim but never cracked the sophisticated bit!) I have been overweight and blamed the food, I have dieted, overeaten, reset – repeat.
About 27 years ago whilst living in Greece I became vegetarian – for all sorts of weird reasons I cut out meat completely from my diet. People have a strange perception that if you are a vegetarian you will be walking around like a twiglet in a dress! Skinny and vaguely ill-looking. Err, no! Crisps, peanuts, cheese darling….bread, butter, pies! So, I didn’t drop a million dress sizes but I did start to feel better and started to notice that I didn’t get sick as often, fewer colds, flu and general unwellness.
Fast forward twenty-something years – I made a major life decision to stop trying to diet and just concentrate on being healthy and using food in the way God intended – as the staff of life and as a medicine for the body. I also was hurtling towards fifty (Well, that’s been and gone – officially now middle-aged!) and being an older mum wanted to make sure that I stayed as fit and healthy as possible for my boys. I began to become more and more interested in people who lived long and healthily, staying mobile and alert and what they ate and the lifestyles they led. I also started to explore plant-based diets and their benefits.
My husband had a health scare a couple of years ago – he was on a slippery path to diabetes and kidney problems. He made a major decision to cut out sugar from his diet and for his own reasons to stop eating meat. (He is of Caribbean descent and meat was a major part of his life) The transformation was pretty incredible – he dropped around 2 stone quite quickly and his skin looked amazing. His digestive problems and lethargy began to fade and a new love for vegetables, pulses and fruit emerged. (KFC was a staple when I first met him!)
My boys hardly noticed some of the changes I made, swaps to wholewheat pasta, wraps and bread. Let’s be real, some of the stuff we eat they would rather starve than try! But it’s just gently introducing swaps a little at a time that have been successful.
My mission now is to share what I have learnt over the years with other women (who may be the main cook for the home) and men, who work, juggle and are busy but want to live a long and healthy life and nourish their bodies. Whether you are a professional or not, a mother or not, a wife or not – you need to put the best in to get the best out………………….
I want to acknowledge my good friend Tracey Fenner from Broomfield, Essex who is the person who really inspired my love of cooking – it was Tracey who showed me what it was to make amazing, rustic homemade food and always has something tasty on the hob when you visit 🙂 She showed me how to make food from scratch and what was seasonal and cheap and how to live the good life!
Vitality Kitchen 
You must be logged in to post a comment.