In 2004 Sally Bee was working as a successful writer, TV presenter and was mum to three beautiful children. With a successul career and a wonderful home life it came as a shock to everyone that the same year she suffered three major heart attacks in the same week. Unbeknown to Sally she had been born with a major heart defect. But, against all the odds and defying all the doctors expectations, Sally is fighting fit almost 8 years on. Although her condition can never be cured she has turned her own trauma into a positive and now teaches others about the importance of eating and living healthily. Her website Sally-Bee.com and cook book Have Your Cake and Eat It Too offers delicious, yet balanced and nutritious recipes the whole family can enjoy. Sally is also the founder of The Precious Hearts Foundation which raises money and helps others with heart conditions.
StyleNest caught up with Sally to steal some tips on what to put in the kids’ lunchboxes, what her perfect Sunday looks like and how you can’t beat a good old Chicken Casserole.
In 2004 you devastatingly suffered three heart attacks and discovered you had a heart defect. Now healthy, happy with a successful career and three beautiful children, tell us how you bounced back mentally?
My emotional recovery was much harder than the physical recovery. It was especially difficult because I had no positive prognosis for survival and I had 3 young children at home. So I didn’t so much ‘bounce back’ as crawl back in the early days.
We love your website and healthy, delicious recipes. How important is eating healthily to you and your family?
Healthy eating is the only thing that gives us health. Making bad lifestyle choices will take good health away, eating the right kinds of food is like giving your body an insurance policy for the future.
Tell us about your new book Have Your Cake and Eat It Too.
The philosophy behind Have Your Cake and Eat it Too is that we all deserve a treat and a celebration every so often. For me healthy eating is a life-or-death choice rather than a lifestyle choice, so I try to make these celebrations and treats as healthy as possible. In this book there are 100 sin-free desserts that will treat the mind, body and soul.
Do you have a failsafe recipe that you cook time and time again when you’ve only got minutes to feed a hungry family?
Chicken Casserole: it can be prepared in 10 minutes, you can add whatever veggies you have left in the fridge and it’s always a family pleaser.
Are your children good eaters or fuss-pots? Any secrets on how to get children to eat vegetables?
My children are great eaters but we’ve always given them exactly the same as what we’re eating. I don’t believe in disguising vegetables at all and if you give them veg from a very early age, children will treat them just like any other food.
Any top tips for over mum readers when thinking up new and interesting ideas for kids lunch boxes?
My biggest tip for lunch boxes is to add lots of colour. We should be looking to eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables anyway to ensure we get all the nutrients we need and this is never more important than in kids lunch boxes. So, you can give them a brown bread sandwich, a green apple, a Satsuma, a banana, a blackberry yoghurt – already that is brown, green, orange, yellow and blue. Kids do need calories and protein so a chunk of cheese and a small sweetie dessert is fine, as long as they have filled up on the fruit and fibre from the bread.
What’s your all time favourite food?
I can’t possibly choose, it changes from day to day but today I am craving juicy peaches!
This year you set up The Precious Hearts Foundation. Tell us about it and has it helped you to deal with your own health scares?
The Precious Hearts Foundation is very important to me. Raising money and helping other people who are suffering from ‘broken hearts’ allows me to give something back after all the help and assistance that I’ve received – it also reminds me of how far I’ve come in my own recovery. It is the best thing to come out of my own trauma.
We’re always on the hunt for family friendly restaurants, any recommendations that are also healthy?
I live in Stratford Upon Avon and one of our favourite restaurants in Midas. It is run by a wonderful Moroccan gentleman called Mida and he and his wife Zena produce the most amazing Moroccan dishes that the children seem to love as much as the adults. They adore having children in their restaurant and go out of their way to make them feel welcome and cater to their needs.
What do you enjoy doing as a family? Describe your perfect Sunday.
The perfect Sunday would start off with a lie in – although with three kids that very rarely happens. My husband makes breakfast, then we all go for a walk with the dog (Scruffy Bob) – usually along the River Avon. We often then meet up with friends, have some lunch, then come home and all snuggle on the sofa and watch a movie together.
What is your hero beauty product for when you’ve only got five minutes to get ready?
Clarins beauty flash balm will zing my skin into action in a flash.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever been given?
Always do things 100%. if I’m busy I will be busy 100%, I eat healthily 100% of the time and the most important one is to rest 100%. A half-hearted rest is no rest at all.
Who or what inspires you?
Where do I start? I counsel heart patients and am inspired by them every time I meet them. These are people who have faced death, they are not afraid of living and will always offer their help to others in the same situation. People also too readily complain about the NHS, yet all the people I meet who work in the NHS are completely inspiring to me. They have a vocation , not a job and are usually paid a pittance but without them many of us would not be here now.
Do you live by any favourite motos?
Don’t just say the moto, live every day as if its your last – live it!
For more information on Sally Bee, her recipes, book or The Precious Heart Foundation visit www.sally-bee.com