Eat to Beat Fatigue: Recipes for people with low energy - Jane Harries

Why do so many cookbooks assume we have endless energy and time? After a hard day’s work or when you’re under the weather, it’s too much effort to cook ‘properly’, so all too often we reach for the ready meals.

‘Eat to Beat Fatigue’, a cookbook by Jane Harries for quick and healthy eating, is designed to help us. Shirley Conran says of it, “Every working person should have this book, whether or not he or she has ME.” Coming from an ex-cookery editor of the Observer, who once observed, “Life is too short to stuff a mushroom”, that is no mean compliment. “I am so grateful to Jane for producing this book, for me and for you,” she adds, “It is clearly an efficient labour of love.” 

This new edition has been revised and expanded. It consists of a wide range of recipes, from famous cooks such as Ainsley Harriott, Nigel Slater and Michael Barry and from people with ME. They can be adapted to be free of wheat, dairy products and sugar, to help those with food sensitivities, and are approved by a qualified nutritionist. There is a comprehensive section on low-energy shopping and cooking, as well as nutritional tips and a directory of organic and speciality food sources. The tone is lightened by apt cartoons and sketches throughout.

Each recipe is graded according to the level of energy required. There are also lists of ‘no-effort’ meal ideas, portable food and substitutes for products containing wheat, dairy and sugar. The appendices are a mine of information about organic and speciality food suppliers and further reading.

The book benefits the charity Action for ME which supports and campaigns for people with ME/CFS. £3,000 has been raised from its sales so far. 

For more information on Action for ME, call 0845 123 2380 or visit their website at www.afme.org.uk.