Nicola Davis is just 19, but she has her own cookbook.
It all started when she developed an eating disorder. Two years ago, she stopped eating entirely. She survived on an amount of calories that was dangerously low. But she still loved to cook. She would cook for her family, and eat none of it for herself.
But after a time, she got too hungry.
“I had been baking all the time and was coming up with loads of recipes for fun, but I didn’t actually eat any of them.
“It wasn’t until I had been doing it for a couple of months that it got to the point where I felt it was a bit harsh that I wasn’t allowing myself to eat anything I was making.”
She says that cooking was the one thing she found that helped her recover.
“I never had anything physical to help me,” says Nicola. “I went to therapy and I had doctors and things like that, but there was nothing I could really relate to.”
She hopes her new cookbook, called “My Super Sweet Recovery Cookbook,” can help others with their recovery.
“I want this book to be a resource that people can go to and engage with,” she says. “It was written by a young person like them, who has been through what they are going through.”
This is a project that she did almost all herself. Ten percent of the profits of her book are going to BEAT, which is a UK charity that helps those with eating disorders.
“I have been getting loads of messages from people who are being really open about their disorders,” said Nicola. “A lot of people think there is a real need for books like this.”
