It was the early 1990s and it was to be my first day at the Vancouver CBC Television studios as researcher, writer and assistant cook on a popular daily cooking show. Being newly opened in Subud in Lewes, UK I was still wondering what on earth I was doing here and worrying if I was up to the task.

I’d woken up early that morning fretting again and decided to read one of Bapak’s talks to help calm me down, but far from calming me down, a hand suddenly shot out of the pages (as it were) and gave me a sharp slap around the face … with the words “… this is right, you’re meant to be here”. I think the subtext was probably “… so stop whining and get on with it”!

Well! … of course the ‘slap’ didn’t hurt but it certainly woke me up with a bang and from that point onwards I didn’t look back (or dare to whine) … I was on my path.

Fast forward a couple of decades later to Italy, Bergamo to be precise, where I was locked up in a small apartment recovering from Covid.

I was reading Ibu Rahayu’s comforting words that the pandemic and lockdown were ‘… an opportunity to be quiet, to reflect and feel what is the benefit for you of this situation … how it can help you to improve your life.’ I personally couldn’t see how the whole disastrous situation could be of any benefit to me or anyone else, but I trusted the wisdom of Ibu’s words and tried to surrender, get calm and be quiet and reflective. At least lockdown was good for that!

I have always been aware of eating healthily. My father was an organic farmer (one of the founding members of the Soil Association) and healer, my mother an excellent self-taught cook and they were both interested in alternative medicine … most of our basic childhood ailments were treated with homeopathy, herbalism and healing. I’m still interested in alternative medicine and energy healing – and have taken it further by studying the role that food plays in vegan and vegetarian nutrition and in the holistic healing systems of Ayurveda, Herbalism and Chinese Medicine.

However, it wasn’t until I settled in Italy (about 10 years ago) that I actually began to start writing, blogging (www.eatingcloudsinitaly.com), teaching and running local workshops on raw foods, juicing, spices and generally eating healthily. This time there were no slaps in the face – although I’m forever grateful to Bapak for it! – I seemed to just get gentle ‘prods’ or nudges and the occasional ‘messages’ such as appropriate books falling off shelves or flashing newspaper headlines … but on the whole it’s been a gradual unfolding.

This gradual unfolding also seemed to involve an increased sensitivity to the foods I ate – and more awareness of how my energy and feelings were affected by different foods.

I played around with this concept whilst in lockdown as I needed to recover my energy, health and strength … and now I seem to have adopted (loosely!) a style of eating that is actually very similar to that of our ancient ancestors – mainly plant-based foods, herbs, flowers and spices, but with sustainably sourced fish, dairy and meat appearing not as the main protagonists, but as “occasional guests at the table”.

Luckily I didn’t need to follow any of the more drastic regimes such as Keto, Paleo, Hacker’s, Dukan etc. … or food-specific plans such as Cabbage Soup and the (rather tempting) Egg & Wine diet … or indeed the extreme non-food approach of the ‘Breath-arian’ regime!

Instead, just by experimenting and having fun with spices, I discovered a way of eating that suited me, mainly because I could feel the difference in my energy and health when I ate this way – and the opposite when I didn’t. It was that simple!

I did however have to learn to surrender to the wisdom of my body … to let go, listen and trust that it knew best – and I don’t mean following that chirpy voice assuring me that all those doughnuts and chocolate would be fabulous for me! The body doesn’t speak in words but communicates through our physical senses, feelings and intuition.

I don’t know about you but I found one of the scariest things about lockdown was the feeling of powerlessness and lack of control over our own lives. But on the other hand it highlighted one of the most fundamental powers we do have – the power and freedom to choose what we put in our mouths.

So let’s use it I thought!

It’s great to see a growing awareness and interest in healthy eating, but at the same time it comes with tons of conflicting information which can make us confused, overwhelmed … and vulnerable to ‘fake news’. The simplest and safest way, and the most reliable authority in choosing foods that are ‘right’ for our health, is our own body. And if we take time to listen to it, it will guide us wisely.

Lockdown also made me realise how much I wanted to respond in some small way to the two pandemics we have at the moment – covid and climate crisis. I’ve long been against mass food industrialization, fast food and factory farming and am very aware that we need to change our lifestyles if we want the planet to survive. I resonate with the words of Sir David Attenborough when he insists that “we must change our diet – the planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters”.

I remember many years ago when I was asked to write a pilot television series on the history of food, I was actually ‘warned off’ in no uncertain way by a large television company in the U.S. because of the controversial angle I was planning to take on industrialized food production. Well I haven’t changed my mind, but I’m taking the quieter view that to change anything maybe it’s best to change oneself first, and start small!

With all this in mind, I’ve just started a website where I offer a simple way to adopt a more plant-based way of eating, using a greater variety of plants, seeds, herbs, roots, flowers and spices which help bring more healing energy to body, mind and spirit.

Website: www.healingplantfoodsandspices.org
Blog on Living in Italy: www.eatingcloudsinitaly.com