The Self-Care Cookbook: Easy Healing Plant-Based Recipes

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This first chapter is all about retreating into yourself for a little while, slowing the pace down so that you can gather your energies together again. I’ve included sections on how to get more rest into your days, with ideas and recipes to calm the nerves and reduce anxiety, and to aid properly peaceful sleep. I’ve also shared an easy restorative mindfulness exercise, which you can even practice while you are preparing a delicious meal for yourself! The chapter closes with one of my favorite sections in the book—Cozy. Whether it’s a sleep-in on the weekend or snuggling down into the sofa after a long day, I believe getting cozy is essential to our well-being. It should be a MUST in your self-care routine.

Having worked as an addiction counsellor in women’s projects for more than a decade, Gemma has an in-depth understanding of treating yourself with compassion, especially while in recovery. It’s simple,’ says author Gemma Ogston. ‘When we make an effort to eat more healthily and take proper time to rest, recharge and do more of the things we enjoy, we feel better and happier. This means we’re stronger and more able to deal with whatever life sends our way.’

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This is exactly why she wanted the recipes in her book to be both physically and mentally nourishing. She avoids using phrases like ‘guilt-free’ and tells me it’s more about taking care over the food you’re eating, and making it a pleasurable experience. So many of us go about our busy lives without eating wholesome food. Yet without giving our body what it truly needs to fuel us through the day (and night), we get ill, feel low and have trouble sleeping. In this beautiful book, Gemma Ogston introduces us to eating as the ultimate chef, and her journey to becoming a mother and business owner, each recipe has been crafted to be nurturing to your body – and mind. Your first book, The Self-Care Cookbook: Easy Healing Plant-Based Recipes, which was published by Penguin in 2019, is focussed on what we might now call “conscious eating”. Were you always a fan of food that nourishes and nurtures?

To help support the growth of healthy bacteria,” she continues, “we need to eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fermented foods.” The best part? A batch will keep up to three months when frozen, so you can always have some close at hand.While the potatoes are cooking, heat the olive oil in another large saucepan set over a medium heat. Fry the onion and garlic for 2 minutes, until starting to soften. A recipe and self-care book rolled into one, this is the first of its kind and will make a perfect gift for anyone needing an extra bit of TLC. No late-night scrolling! We all know the blue light emitted from electronics can affect sleep, but social media can sometimes spark negative thought processes, too. You want to go to bed feeling calm and content. With over 60 delicious recipes, including Barley and Miso Risotto with Greens and Crispy Shrooms to boost energy levels and mood, Super Nourish Stir Fry with Kimchi to support gut health and immunity, and Tummy-loving Simple Stew to ease digestive issues, The Healing Cookbook is the path to wellness and vitality. Read more Look Inside Details Partly due to hard work, but my first book has really helped. Penguin said The Self-Care Cookbook would never go out of fashion and it was right; I was on Saturday Kitchen recently and the book sold out everywhere. I do a lot of work with Soho House, including pop-up kitchens at Brighton Beach House. I share recipes with brands like Sweaty Betty and create energy-boosting menus for corporate meetings. I’m aware that there’s some scepticism around plant-based eating, so I developed a bean burger and a plant-based lasagne that are so good you don’t miss the meat. I’m not a fan of processed vegan food and I’m certainly not here to dictate what anyone should or shouldn’t eat. There are no rules.

LEON Fast Vegan (Picture: Supplied) LEON Fast Vegan by Rebecca Seal, Chantal Symons and John Vincent But the ultimate act of self-care is, of course, listening to your body and what it needs. “It’s alright to have a bit of chocolate cake if that’s what you want!” Gemma notes. “It’s about giving yourself permission to do that, rather than getting sad about it, and beating yourself up.”This is where her passion for mood foods really began, but cooking has always been a big part of Gemma’s life. Growing up in a big family, as the youngest of five, everyone had chores to do around the house, so Gemma’s mum taught her to cook. Feeling the effects of an especially indulgent festive period? Us too. And with the new year – and indeed, the new decade – just beginning, there’s never been a better time to think about restoring the balance. With over 60 delicious recipes including fiery bean stew for the days we feel under the weather, calming miso pasta to give your gut flora a super boost and indulgent chocolate pud because YOU deserve it, The Self-Care Cookbook is for anyone who needs some extra TLC. Read more Details

That’s something I’ve been doing the past few years, saying no to things that I don’t really want to do – or if I do them, then it’s going to mean that I’m tired. It’s about choosing to do things that serve you and your family, rather than doing stuff to please other people.”Stir the tamari, thyme and parsley through the pulses mixture and spoon it into a large pie dish (remove the bay leaves if you can find them!). Chef Gemma Ogston once worked as an addiction counsellor, but now runs the plant-based business Gem’s Wholesome Kitchen from Brighton. Her second book will be published by Penguin in September That feeling of being tranquil, with the absence of any strong emotions or stressful thought patterns is such a nice idea, isn’t it? But daily life, chores, family commitments, and worries can often mean that calm isn’t something we feel or practice often enough. Maybe we have even forgotten what it actually feels like to be calm? I hope by the end of this chapter, you will have started to feel a little calmer, recharged, and more in control. Bringing a sense of calm to how you go about your day, however chaotic life may feel at times, will leave you better able to cope with whatever you are facing. As many of us know though, as much as we can have good intentions with self-care, so often busy schedules take over and we just seem to not have enough time. Gemma’s response to that? Prioritise it.