In late 2010, Catherine Ruehle, Fort Worth business owner, cake artist, pastry chef and television personality, was at the peak of her career. A regular on Food Network's "Challenge," with a book and TV projects in the works, a thriving bakery, employees counting on her, and the major breadwinner of her family, she became ill to the point that she couldn't function. Rheumatoid arthritis, a painful and crippling autoimmune disease, threatened to end her culinary career.
Ruehle closed Sublime Bakery, her highly successful business in Fort Worth. Everything in her life was crumbling, more than she's ever said publicly until now."Back then, people looked at me like I had it all, and I guess in a way, I thought I did," Ruehle says. "For a long time everything that was written in the press made it seem like my life was perfect. I don't want people to just see the good stuff. I want them to see the adversity, and I've been through a lot of adversity."
"In a space of two years, I lost my health, my home, my marriage and my father - everything I could lose except my son, and I've completely recreated my life. One of the things I've learned having gone through this health crisis is life just isn't as sweet if you haven't gone through some sour patches," she says. "When you look at someone else and you know they've been in pain and experienced loss, then you get so much more out of watching their successes. You feel like you can get to the other side of it. So now, I'm being more open, and I hope it inspires somebody."Instead of taking toxic medications, Ruehle chose to change her diet and lifestyle, eliminating gluten and other food triggers that set off her illness. She returned to school to study nutrition and launched a new business, A Well-Nourished Life, which offers holistic health consulting to clients all over the U.S.
Ruehle's first cookbook, Let Us All Eat Cake (Ten Speed Press), was released on Sept. 9. Many of her 60 classic cake recipes originated from Sublime Bakery or her work as a restaurant pastry chef. Ruehle's recipes are gluten-free and all natural. She offers alternatives for vegan, dairy-free and nut-free versions.
Ruehle says she knew the cookbook would be a massive undertaking. "I was under no illusions," she says.
Most of her taste testers - including her 14-year-old son, Cade - were not gluten-free or dairy-free, which worked well, because Ruehle's goal was to put out a cookbook that nobody would ever guess was gluten-based.
Her recently released e-guide, Put Out the Fire! Diet & Wellness Guide, is the foundation of an eight-week wellness program. It's a plan she used to control her RA, and it's the same plan she uses with her private clients.
"I wrote the e-guide because this is what people have asked me about for three years," Ruehle says. "It's for anyone who needs to eat and feel better and doesn't know how to do it."
Amber Brown, of Amber Brown Design, says the wellness program was exactly what she was looking for. "Cat was super knowledgeable and full of the energy that I wanted a piece of; instead of judging, she used encouragement with information to help me make better choices," Brown says.
Ruehle has been cooking for Three Dog Bakery owner Christy Howard's family for more than a year. "She has our family eating and loving things I wouldn't touch before," Howard says. "Catherine has pushed me to be a better person. She reminds me to stop and take time for myself."
The key to learning to take time for yourself is in understanding why you don't do it in the first place, Ruehle says. "It usually has something to do with fear of failure or concern for what others think of you. If you can wrap your head around that, then changing the behavior is much easier," she says.
It's been three years since Ruehle has fully recovered from RA. "I'm recovered in the sense that my symptoms are controlled. As far as we know, there's no cure," she says. "My body is ready to go haywire if I don't manage my stress, my rest and my food. People look at me like I have three heads when I say I'm grateful I got RA when I did, but it made me look at what was really important, turn my life upside down and shake it. All the stuff I didn't need fell out, and the rest stuck."
To download the EGuide or Ruehle's new book, visit: catherineruehle.com.
| photography by Alex Lepe |
