Recipes For Self Healing

One of the most important steps towards self-healing is to take responsibility for your own nourishment. This book provides a set of tools to do this. It takes guidance from the insights of traditional Chinese medicine and makes them accessible to the modern day person. There are over 100 recipes using familiar foods that reflect the cosmopolitan nature of Western cuisine. Each recipe's energetic actions are described to enable the reader to choose recipes suited to their own individual needs. There are no good foods or bad foods: all the reader has to do is listen to the wisdom of their own body. This book can be read alone or as an accompaniment to "Helping Ourselves" and "The Energetics of Food".

• 100 inspired recipes complete with energetic actions


• lifestyle and dietary guidance for a range of conditions


• how to nourish and support the Organs


• how to transform illness through diet


• recommended reading at many colleges of Chinese medicine


• a skilful interpretation of Chinese medicine for the western reader

Daverick Leggett is the author of Helping Ourselves A Guide to Traditional Chinese Food Energetics,(reviewed in JCM issue 47) one of the only books on the traditional Chinese approach to diet rooted firmly in the dietary habits and readily available ingredients of Western countries. Recipes for Self-Healingdevelops from that earlier work and presents a wide range of great recipes, again using indigenous foods rather than the often strange and unavailable components of similar Chinese books. The recipe section is divided into Soups, Salads, Grains, Vegetables and Beans, Meat and Fish, Sauces, Dips and Relishes, Condiments, Bakery, Desserts and Drinks. For each recipe, as well as the standard preparation and cooking instructions, there is a full discussion of the energetics and a simple table showing its effect on qi, blood, yin or yang, pathogenic factors and zangfu, as well as its temperature and contraindications. Thus for example 'Cabbage in Chestnut & Walnut Sauce': "Chestnuts and walnuts both support the Yang and help counteract Dampness. They are supported in this by the garlic whilst the lemon acts on the Liver and makes the dish more digestible. The cabbage helps strengthen the Blood and is especially beneficial for the Stomach and Intestines". The overall effect of this dish is to warm the body, clear dampness, support the Kidney Yang and nourish the Intestines".

There is much more to this book however than just the recipes, however wonderful. Introductory chapters discuss such subjects as sources of nourishment (air, water, trees and plants, cosmic energy, sensual nourishment, relationships and food) which reveal the author's grounding in qigong and spiritual practice, and his always rounded, sensible and comprehensive approach to the potentially narrow issue of dietary regulation. Since this book is aimed both at the practitioner and the layperson, there is a comprehensive introduction to the relevant Chinese medicine theory (channels, zangfu, substances, yin and yang, climatic factors etc.). A valuable final section, suitably entitled 'Leftovers' considers subjects such as coffee and tea, alcohol, sugar, dairy foods, vegetarianism, raw food diets, pregnancy, babies and children, slimming and obesity, fasting, microwave cooking, genetic engineering, vitamins and common medical drugs.

Whist Helping Ourselves was very obviously a self-published book, Recipes for Self-Healing is an altogether more professional and beautiful publication, attractively designed and laid out, and with fine illustrations. It marks a major step in the development of Chinese dietary principles to Western diets and habits, and establishes Daverick Leggett as one of the leaders in this field.
Peter Deadman

Acclaim for Recipes for Self-Healing:

A fabulous wealth of wisdom offered with clarity and wit. Daverick Leggett has written in a style that offers real understanding and insight into this fascinating approach to health and wellbeing. The recipes are lovely and make you want to get started right away! Recipes for Self-Healing has wonderful accessible information for the intellect, tasty delicious food for the body and wit and levity for the spirit - the complete mind, body, spirit experience.
Jane Sen, author of The Healing Foods Cookbook

Daverick Leggett's book is a timely addition to the increasing information in the West about Chinese medicine. In China everyone instinctively knows which foods are appropriate for a healthy life. We have lost this connection in the West. Daverick's book is a reminder of its simpli"city".
Building upon solid foundations of Chinese medicine, he comprehensively lists recipes which will nourish our souls as well as our bodies. These recipes are the practical application in the modern world of a 5,000 year old medical tradition. In our increasingly frantic world such wisdoms are greatly needed. This book will be of great benefit to everyone interested in health and developing a healthy way of living.
Dr. Stephen Gascoigne, M.s., Ch.B., C.Ac., Dip. CH.M.,

Everyone will love this book because it is about something close to everyone's heart - food! And not just food, nourishment. It is about getting and staying healthy by eating and enjoying delicious foods which suit you the individual; not your doctor, or your spouse, or your mother or the architect of the latest diet fad. It's about self exploration and self understanding and appropriate self nourishment the way Chinese medicine sees it.
Jane Lyttleton, traditional Chinese medicine

This wonderful book offers words and wisdom - the intelligence and poetry of Chinese medicine reframed for modern life - to cultivate your own capa"city" to nourish yourself and others in accord with the unique circumstances of TODAY. What a blessing and joy!
Edward Espe Brown, author of the Tassajara Bread Book and Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings

A book we've been waiting for! It provides a rich source of information on many aspects of Chinese medicine especially in relation to food and diet. It is a user friendly resource for practitioners, patients and all those interested in Chinese dietary therapy and combines the Chinese principles of diet in relation to foods which are easily available in the west.
Angela Hicks, author of The Principles of Chinese Medicine and co-founder of The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine

'Daverick's descriptions of the Chinese medical system are both simple yet profound; his explanation of the crucial balance of our ability to receive and transform as the key to our health are enlightening. But this book is much more than that. Recipes for Self-Healing has inspired me to see diet in a totally new way, and has given me the tools necessary to truly use food as medicine. This is a great gift. By following the recipes and engaging actively with our own healing processes, we can begin to take responsibility for our own health. This is the first step towards true healing.'
Sandra Hill, author of Reclaiming the Wisdom of the Body and co-author of A Guide to Acupuncture.

Foreword page2
Introduction 4
How to Use This Book 7
Glossary 8

Part One
Nourishment

Perspectives on Nourishment 11
A Cosmic Perspective 11
ACulturalPerspective 14
AnAncestralPerspective 15
Biography as Biology 16

The Sources of Nourishment
Air 20
Water 22
Trees and Plants 25
Cosmic Energy 27
Sensual Nourishment 29
Relationship 30
Nourishment from Food 31

Part Two
Working with Chinese Medicine

Meridians and Organs
What is a Human Being Made Of? 35
Meridians 37
Organs 41
The Spleen 43
The Lung 50
The Kidney 54
The Liver 60
The Heart 66

The Substances
Qi 71
Blood 84
Stagnation of Qi and Blood 89
Essence 94

Yin and Yang
Yin and Yang 97
Yang Deficiency 99
Yin Deficiency 105

The Climates
Heat 112
Cold 114
Dampness 116
Wind 124

Invasion and Defence
Invasion ofWind 126
Invasion of Wind Heat 127
Invasion of Wind Cold 128
Invasion of Wind Damp 129
Invasion of Cold 129
Invasion of Dampness 130

Part Three
Recipes for Self-Healing

Nutrition East and West 133
Some Guidelines for Eating 135
Choosing Ingredients 136
The Energetics of Food 138
About the Recipes 151
Understanding the Recipe Pages 151
Measurements 152
Equipment 153
Language 153

Soups 154
Salads 171
Grains 182
Vegetables and Beans 192
Meat and Fish 200
Sauces, Dips and Relishes 219
Condiments 232
Bakery 238
Desserts 244
Drinks 254
How to Create a Self-Healing Recipe 264

Part Four
Leftovers

Coffee and Tea 271
Alcohol 272
Sugar 273
Dairy 275
Vegetarianism 277
Raw Food 280
Pregnancy 281
Babies and Children 283
Slimming and Obesity 286
Fasting 288
Microwave Ovens 289
Genetic Engineering 290
The Energetic Actions of Vitamins,
Minerals and Common Drugs 294

Footnotes 298
Bibliography 304
Further Reading 307
Useful Addresses 310
Index of Foods and Recipes 313
General Index 321
About Meridian Press 323