The Ancient Cookfire: How to Rejuventate Body and Spirit Through Seasonal Foods and Fasting [Paperback]

Carrie L'Esperance (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

Carrie L'Esperance shows us that the Ancients understood our body's subtle relationship to the changing seasons, and knew how to rebalance body and spirit with periodic fasts and diets of seasonal foods. She presents fasts and recipes to both cleanse and rebuild the body, drawing on an array of time-honored healing systems including Chinese Five Elements, Ayurveda, and Native American traditions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The book is an invaluable resource for anyone who wishes to improve their health through conscious eating. Recommended. -- Anne Newkirk Niven, SageWoman, Issue #52 - Winter '00 - '01

Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Co (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879181517
• ISBN-13: 978-1879181519
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #825,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ancient Cookfire: How to Rejuvenate Body and Spirit, June 15, 2001

By 

Cassandra Barnes "Cassandra" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ancient Cookfire: How to Rejuventate Body and Spirit Through Seasonal Foods and Fasting (Paperback)

A gourmet cook, permaculturist, and certified iridologist, Carrie L'Esperance has studied healing systems for more than a quarter-century. She uses her knowledge to develop health programs for her clients. Now, she has blended her research and experience in a book, The Ancient Cookfire: How to Rejuvenate Body and Spirit Through Seasonal Foods and Fasting.

L'Esperance says "clearly our physical, psychological--even spiritual--well-being depends largely upon what we eat, how it is cooked, and the way we eat it."

She discusses the benefits of regular fasting, and offers detailed instructions on safe fasting. She provides numerous recipes for teas and juices to drink while fasting.

The first part of the book is concerned with restoration of the body and a discussion of how the four seasons can affect the body. Each season, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, has a chapter devoted to recipes best suited to that season. L'Esperance says "the beauty of eating seasonal foods and using cleansing diets is their simplicity and their ability to help balance the systems of the human body."

Another chapter provides recipes for internal and external water therapy, and the chapter on herbs is filled with directions for preparing various teas. The final chapter discusses food balancing and combining, digestion aids, and cookware recommendations. She also provides a bibliography and a listing of sources for those wishing further information.

L'Esperance wrote her book "to make it easy to explore these many techniques that have been, and still are, essential for health and self-healing. They are all tried and tested to help ensure a pleasant and/or rewarding time." Readers who have wondered about safe and healthy fasting and rejuvenating their bodies will find answers to all their questions in The Ancient Cookfire.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I haven't ever seen a book like this one before!, August 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ancient Cookfire: How to Rejuventate Body and Spirit Through Seasonal Foods and Fasting (Paperback)

This work is a unique book that approaches the nourishment and cleansing of the body based on seasons. It has information gleaned from many traditions and cultures, that will help one to bring ones body into balance. The goal is to eat those foods that will support and cleans the body in harmony with the seasons. The author lists what organs are stressed during each season and offers tonics, relaxants, healing foods, fasting meals and techniques, and much more. This book is a valuable addition to ones library and a must for natural health practitioners, healers, herbalists, and complementary medicine advocates.

An amazing book that begs to be used. Highly recommended!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, January 4, 1999

By 

Samuel F. Reynolds "Return2theSource" (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ancient Cookfire: How to Rejuventate Body and Spirit Through Seasonal Foods and Fasting (Paperback)

I bought this book for my partner as a present and by the time we both had read through it, I wanted it back. It presents an "organic," reasonable program for wholistic health and eating. The author presents a fantastic amount of detail on fasting and cleansing techniques and the book is chocked with good recipes and thought-provoking information. The most lamentable feature of the book is that the photographs of food either didn't print very well on the book's colored paper or they were underexposed, which might be hard to swallow given that the author is an award-winning photographer. I would highly recommend this book!