Recipes for Happiness? How Rachel Kelly, Author of ‘The Happy Kitchen’, Finds Happiness Through What She Eats
Patri HernandezOwner of ohmightyhealth.com
I have known Rachel Kelly for a couple of years now. Her journey should encourage the most lost of souls when it comes to recovering from depression. Her wonderfully simple tips & techniques are huge leaps to anyone wanting to get well.
Rachel Kelly, Author, Mental Health Campaigner
About Rachel
Rachel Kelly began her career as a journalist and spent ten years on the Times. With a long-standing interest in mental health, Rachel now runs workshops on how to achieve good mental health and is an ambassador for SANE and a vice president of United Response.
“My work is sharing what I’ve learnt about how to stay calm and happy.”
Hi Rachel – wonderful to have you here to share your insights and experience. I’ve read a lot about you and your story, let me say it is really a pleasure to be able to have a chat with you. How about you introduce yourself and your work?
Thanks so much Patri, great to chat.
So I’m 51, a former Times journalist, and mother of five who has had a long battle with first depression and then its near relation anxiety, but who is now recovered and well.
I’ve been really lucky over the past twenty years to have been helped by great doctors, therapists and nutritionists to get better, so my work is sharing what I’ve learnt about how to stay calm and happy.
I am very familiar with depression myself because of a family member. It was very much a taboo subject at the time (so much that we didn’t even know it was taboo; it was simply not mentioned but ‘lived with’ if that makes sense). I love that you really bring this topic to light!
Yes, I think stigma is alive and well, despite huge steps we’ve taken recently to be more open about talking about mental health and recognising it’s importance.
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I think stigma is particularly strong in worlds like mine, where people find it hard to admit they are finding life challenging when they are outwardly blessed with a good job and loving family.
But a privileged life doesn’t always mean a privileged health. Your brain can go wrong like any other part of your body.
“Mental illness is no respecter of background or circumstances.”
What I find fascinating is that you really open a new road for women (and men) with your same background in terms of coming out with topics that are usually not dealt with, spoken about, or both. How do you feel as one of the pioneers in this ‘field’?
Well, that’s very kind of you to describe me as a pioneer.
I think it’s true that a lot of the work to de-stigmatise mental health has been done by celebrities, great people like Ruby Wax and Stephen Fry who have talked openly about their battles. Equally I think there’s an understanding that if you suffer real social deprivation, and are struggling to put food on the table, you might well suffer from anxiety and depression.
I’m interested in people somewhere in the middle you might say — doctors, journalists, people running small businesses, plumbers, accountants, lawyers: people a bit like me with a professional background, who work hard, but who despite seeming to have it all in terms of a good job and nothing to worry about financially and who are not in the public eye with the pressures of fame, still succumb to mental illness.
I feel privileged that in a tiny way I’ve given voice to this group, as the truth is that mental illness is no respecter of background or circumstances.
How difficult was for you to talk about your experience openly and how did you family deal with it?
I think my background as a communicator, writer and journalist made it easier for me to talk about my experience openly.
On a professional level, that’s what I’ve always done. On another level it was hard. I think it’s always difficult for the families of those who suffer from mental illness not to feel somehow they are to blame.
I come across this time and again in the work I do running workshops for mental health charities such as Depression Alliance and Mind, both for those who are afflicted and for their family members. But your family would not blame themselves if you suffered from a physical illness like cancer for example.
Depression is an illness like any other and it is not the fault of our families that we fall ill. If anything, my family were a huge part in helping me get better. Having said that, I’m really grateful to my family for supporting me in telling my story. My husband in particular felt it was important that others knew about the reality of the terrifying illness that depression is.
“I keep choosing to write about topics that are helping me.”
I am very familiar with your work as you know (your books “If”, “Black Rainbow”, “Walking on Sunshine”) and I’d like to know how and why do you choose your topics
I believe that while depression is an illness and something goes wrong with your brain — a topic that doctors and scientists are still researching — like many illnesses it happens in a context. And we can influence that context, making it less likely that we will be vulnerable to falling ill.
There’s a huge amount of evidence-based approaches, including psychological strategies, nutritional ones, physical ones, which I have adopted which mean that I now manage my tendency to fall ill and have remained well for several years now.
I feel lucky to have benefitted from help from different experts, be they doctors, therapists, nutritionists, as well as learning from those I work with running my workshops. I want to share what’s helped me in the hope that perhaps it might help one other person.
I keep choosing to write about topics that are helping me and where there is fresh research showing that they work.
Let’s talk about food. Do you think that today we’re on the brink of new discoveries regarding how food affects your (emotional) health?
There’s a huge amount of research happening in this area. I’ve been lucky to work with the nutritionist Alice Mackintosh for several years now, ever since I began to be interested in the difference food can make to our mood.
90% of the feel -good hormone serotonin is made in our stomachs, so the health of our intestines and gut makes a difference to how we feel.
There’s more and more work being done on the influence of particular foods on our anxiety levels, or whether we sleep well and how energetic we feel.
“I keep choosing to write about topics that are helping me.”
Not long ago I remember doctors prescribing all sorts of pills to combat depression. I can see that the general sentiment on the Internet nowadays is to fight this; to find natural remedies that can help us with these states of being. Almost like a regression into medicinal plants and ‘gran’s old remedies’. What’s your view on this?
Yes, I think this is trend happening in the world of mental health and health more generally. There’s a feeling that we need a little less medication, with its side-effects and the long-term uncertainty about its impact, and a little bit more food, exercise, psychological approaches — in short, a much more holistic approach which seeks to address our whole lifestyle and the underlying causes of mental illnesses rather than the more ‘sticking plaster’ approach of taking a pill.
I think one advantage of this approach is that we can take more responsibility for our own health, and that’s empowering rather than waiting for a doctor’s appointment — though of course there will always be a crucial role for the medical profession and psychiatrists.
Let’s talk about your new book “The Happy Kitchen”. How did it come about, what have you enjoyed the most and how does it benefit your readers
The Happy Kitchen: Good Mood Food came about because for several years now I’ve been interested in the power of nutrition.
I became excited about how changing my diet — in particular moving to a more plant-based, ‘real’ food diet — helped stabilise my mood and boost my energy, as well as calming me down. But I found it a huge subject, with lots of conflicting research. So I got in touch with the nutritionist Alice Mackintosh to help. The book came from the conversations we had as a result.
We developed recipes to help my particular symptoms. I couldn’t find a cookbook which offered this symptom-led approach — what to eat to beat the blues for example, or to enhance my energy which is always flat when I feel low.
Developing and eating the recipes we developed has been hugely enjoyable — especially the eating bit! Last night I had our Salmon and Prawn Teriyaki skewers with Noodles and Courgette ribbons — a recipe full of omega-3s to help with low mood.
They recipes are fun, easy and delicious, and I always feel better afterwards. I’m hoping others will benefit too when I share what food works to boost our happiness and why.
“90% of the feel -good hormone serotonin is made in our stomachs.”
What is your favourite recipe from the book and why
Probably our Dark Chocolate and Brazil Brownies. We spent ages perfecting these and they have the consistency of a true brownie — soft, rich and gooey in the centre. But while they feel like a treat, we’ve used ingredients that are generally a bit better for you than the typical refined sugars and flours.
Spelt flour is wholegrain and won’t lead to a sugar spike like white flour, the Brazil nuts deliver selenium which is good for your brain, while the cacao is a great source of calming magnesium.
I’ve always turned to food for comfort when feeling low. Now I can still do so, but not feel guilty that what I’m eating is actually making my mood worse afterwards.
The one thing or ingredient you COULDN’T live without
The one thing I couldn’t live without would be hummus.
We have a great recipe in the book which avoids the additives of shop bought varieties and is super quick and easy to make. It’s so easy as I always have a can of chick peas in the store cupboard.
I’ve found that I need to keep my energy balanced throughout the day to keep my mood balanced and hummus is the perfect snack which you can have with raw carrots or cucumbers, or on an oatcake, or added to salads.
I never get bored as I vary the basic recipe by adding sun-dried tomatoes for example, or roasted peppers. And my children love it too.
What have you learned from writing this book
I’ve learnt that I’ve got a lot more to learn!
Cooking, nutrition, and learning more about how we are affected by what we eat is a huge subject which is fascinating to me…
I feel I’ve only just begun on the next stage of my journey.
“It’s absolutely true that the person we help most by reaching out to others is ourself.”
It is very inspiring to see how you work can help so many people Rachel. I feel particularly honoured to be able to see people like you at the front of new holistic approaches to health, I am extremely grateful that others can read this and benefit from your experience!
That’s very kind of you, thank you.
If I had to say the one thing that’s helped me recover, beyond all my approaches including nutrition, it’s wonderful feedback from others who have told me that one of my small steps has made a tiny difference to their mental health.
It’s very humbling and thrilling all at once to hear that. It’s absolutely true that the person we help most by reaching out to others is ourself.
‘The Happy Kitchen’
Rachel Kelly and Alice Mackintosh on recipes to boost your energy, nourish your spirit, and help you sleep.Visit the Website
