Written in 2016

A couple of weeks ago I took my 15-month-old daughter to visit day-care for the first time. She wandered the yard exploring and within minutes it was time for afternoon tea. As we were simply visitors that day, not enrolled, I picked her up and cuddled her as the other eight or so one-year-olds sat around at a little outdoor toddler-sized picnic table waiting to be served their meal. Evie wriggled to be let down and walked over to the table, staring in at the children sitting together, circling around part of the way. She instinctively wanted to be included and my heart ached for her that she wasn’t. To my relief, one of the day-care supervisors made some room for her and served up a plate of fruit and a water bottle, just like the other kids. They were all so cute sitting together eating their snacks and I could see Evie was loving it. My fussy eater even had a nibble of the pikelet she was served; such a thing would usually be rejected at home.

All afternoon at home, Evie repeated the words ‘sitting’ and ‘babies’. The experience of sitting together for a meal with others had had a profound effect on her. She brought up the happy memory again and again into the evening, through bath time and then before bed. Her innocent joy in a shared meal and the connection she felt to her peers through food was inspiring. It reminded me that communion, togetherness and shared meals are a basic human need and a true joy — one that we often take for granted.

It's my intention that this book will serve as both a gentle reminder to bring mindfulness to your dinner table and as an in-depth guide to how you can nourish yourself and your family with ease and joy. Within these pages you’ll find a conscious collection of personal stories, advice, tips, insights and recipes; a culmination of my knowledge and experience as a practicing naturopath, plus years of holistic living as an intuitive woman, wife and mother who lives for health, herbs, happiness, beauty, science, spirit, nature, earth, medicine and magic. This is the essence of Mindful & Nourished.

Excerpt from Mindful and Nourished by Libby Williams

Mindful and Nourished is an ebook available for digital download here

Libby is a naturopath and shiatsu massage therapist based in South Fremantle