Your body will thank you.
Hi! I’m Liv. I am a singer, songwriter, actor and voice over artist living in London, UK, and I am the creator of The From Scratch Body. I am a lot of things as you can see, but here are a few things I am not: a professional chef, nutritionist or health expert of any kind. I just want to be totally clear about that. Also, it’s kind of the whole point of The From Scratch Body for me.
Food is inevitably a huge part of all of our lives. It can be a source of a lot of love, excitement, and be attached to memories; I know it is for me. I was always the one who came running in to the kitchen to see what my mum was making for dinner - and I got excited almost no matter what it was. I was a food lover from day one! However, I was never that excited about actually cooking the food - I just thought that was something some people were good at, while others, like me, were not.
A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, and though there is not much evidence to prove the connection between food and this condition (although there are studies currently being done as awareness is growing), my body is giving me pretty clear signals as to what food makes my condition flare up and what doesn’t - and it adds up pretty much perfectly with what other endometriosis sufferers report.
My pain, and the lack of official information, forced me to experiment with what I could and couldn’t eat. The only way of really getting to the bottom of what foods were welcome in my body, was the process of elimination.
There is only one way of being in total control of what goes in your body, and that is by cooking it from scratch. You are completely in charge of every single ingredient, and it helps you keep track of how much you’ve had of nutritious ingredients, as well as the not-so-amazing ingredients. You are also much more likely to put in less of the latter category than what would be in something prepared in a factory!
Having to try new things and break out of simple, safe recipes that I’d always used, I got pretty fearless and experimental. I started realising what a wonderful power it is to be totally in charge of what you put in your body. Not only has it helped reduce my pain hugely, but I have found so many other benefits: I feel much more excited about meals, I am saving tons of money, I am wasting almost zero food and I can wow myself, my partner, family and friends with awesome, unique meals. It’s a win-win-win-win… I’ve lost count! Just endless winning!
If you are struggling with health in any way (chronic pain, fatigue, bloating, anxiety, depression, insomnia, dehydration, skin problems, the list goes ooooon!), wouldn’t it be neat to find out that you can improve your quality of life by taking charge of what you put in your body? Maybe you don’t even know how great you can feel from certain changes to your diet - I know that definitely happened for me once I cut back on ready-made meals. I had more energy, my skin and hair looked better - I lived happily ever after, basically.
Now, let me get back to the beginning of this fairly long “about me” section (I know, I’m sorry - you can go browse recipes in a sec!). I stated that I am not a nutritionist, and that this is kind of the point. It is! You do not have to be a professional chef or food expert of any kind to make super exciting, nice food. Anyone can do it. Trust me. I used to follow recipes religiously and was terrified to make mistakes. Now I’ve messed up many a meal and come out the other side alive. I’ve also surprised myself with meals that were better than I ever expected!
What I want to share with The From Scratch Body is ultimately this: whoever you are, whether you have any restrictions with food or not, our bodies will benefit greatly from cooking our own food from scratch. I want to inspire you to experiment yourself, rather than just give you a step by step recipe, and I want to give you ideas that you can use as a base and then perfect to your tastes. I aim to have most of my recipes be so flexible that with a few changes you can make anything veggie, vegan or include your choice of meat/fish, and that the recipe can still be doable for you even if you have an intolerance - with a few simple tweaks. I also want you to know that if you’re missing a couple of the ingredients on the list, it doesn’t mean that you can’t attempt the recipe that day.
There are only suggestions, NO RULES!
The benefits to the planet are also undeniable: much less packaging from those ready meals, and much less waste (I will give you some great tips on how to use all your leftovers down to your potato peels and chickpea water!). You wallet (does anyone have those anymore? You know what I mean) will benefit too; if you can be bothered, try to compare a month where you go out for meals or get takeaways vs when you cook the majority of your meals at home. I guarantee a pretty mind blowing difference!
Lastly I want to make one more thing clear: this is meant to be fun and inspiring. I want you to feel great about food, both about making it and about eating it. There is no judgment or holier-than-thou attitudes here. Listen, I still buy frozen pizzas sometimes (mostly as a backup for those evenings when I fail at a new experimental recipe!), and I still get takeaway meals (I live in London, have you tried the Indian food here?!). When I’ve mentioned The From Scratch Body to people, some people get embarrassed and exclaim something like: “oh, you won’t approve of this pre-packed sandwich I’ve got for lunch, then!” - but that is not the case. I am not here to judge or tell you that the only way is cooking from scratch (it’s not a cult, ew), I know we all have different lives, schedules, resources… But I do want to share the benefits of being in charge of your own meals, all the way from scratch.
Because trust me: your planet, your wallet, your family, your friends and your body will thank you.
Now let’s eat!
- Liv