McKeith - You are what you eat: the plan that will change your life

PENGUIN BOOKS

You Are What You Eat

Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD) is an internationally acclaimed holistic nutritionist. She is the presenter of You Are What You Eat, the hit Celador primetime television programme for Channel 4. She is also the author of the bestselling You Are What You Eat Cookbook, Dr Gillian McKeiths Ultimate Health Plan and Living Food for Health (Piatkus). Raised in Scotland, Gillian now travels extensively, giving lectures and seminars.

This Plan Will Change Your Life

A Celador Production as seen on Channel Four

PENGUIN BOOKS

This book is dedicated to my two wee lassies.
Hugs, love and kisses from Mummy. Eat your greens!!

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First published 2004

Published in paperback 2007

Copyright Celador Productions Limited, 2004

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

ISBN: 978-0-14-194946-8

Some people paint me as the unrepentant ruthless nutritionist, obsessed with natural foods and healthy diet. My own mother is afraid to spend Christmas dinner with me, because she is worried that Ill start lecturing her on good food and bad food, and my daughter has been known to call me a food freak.

OK, I admit it. I am passionate about what goes into your body. However, I wasnt always like this.

Years ago I ate only foods that were frozen, or in a plastic packet, and I could not get through the day without my daily ration of crisps and chocolate bars. Growing up in the Highlands of Scotland, I loved my diet of mince and potatoes, fish and chips, custard and jam rolls.

And then I fell in love with an American, a health nut. I went to live near his home in Philadelphia, but I refused to let his weird ways influence my normal lifestyle. That is, until my 24th birthday, which is when everything changed. My boyfriend surprised me with an envelope. All it said on the card was that I was going on a long journey to a special place on my special day. At that very moment, I had no idea as to just how long my journey would be. We jumped in the car and began the very long drive to an undisclosed location. During the six-hour-long drive, I imagined luxury hotel rooms with hot tubs, perhaps overlooking the mountains or prairie, by a river or a hot spring. After a few hours on the highway, I spotted a sign blaring, New York State Welcomes You. I then started to imagine visiting the Empire State Building, Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, staying on 5th Avenue or Madison Avenue. My heart was pounding with anticipation. This Scottish lassie was on her way to the Big Apple in this big country with this big man. Wow, what a birthday!

Just before the seventh hour we arrived at our destination. No Big Apple, no mountains and certainly no hot tub in sight.

We are going to a macrobiotic lunch for your birthday, Mr America shockingly gushes.

To a what? I shoot back.

Youll see, he calmly assures.

We entered a ramshackle hut filled with dozens of people sitting around makeshift folding tables and folding chairs with paper plates and plastic forks. The setting looked more appropriate for a tots tea party, but here were adults of all ages, clearly from all walks of life; some dressed smartly and sophisticated, others casual and relaxed. Was my boyfriend part of some scary cult, I wondered? My parents warned me about things like this before I left Scotland.

The programme finally commences. The keynote speaker, Elaine Nussbaum, a slight, soft-spoken slender lady with the most sincere eyes and a strong New York accent and author of a small underground book, titled Recovery, is introduced. She begins to tell her story and it turns out to be the most profound story of my life. I listen in disbelief first, then awe, and finally inspiration and hope.

Elaine was given two weeks to live. Every bone in her body had been riddled with cancer and she could barely walk, talk, breathe, sit or stand. The hospital sent her home to die. They could do no more for her.

On her deathbed, a friend decided to spoon-feed her an esoteric diet, called macrobiotic. This incorporated natural vegetarian foods like brown rice, green vegetables, seeds, seaweeds, beans and lots of soy or miso soups. Within one month, Elaine began to regain strength. Within two months, she felt like she was no longer ill.

She then went back to the hospital for tests and the doctors discovered that her cancer had disappeared in full. They had never seen anything like it, and I had never heard of anything so incredible.

Thats when my journey began, when I realized just how powerful food is. We indeed are what we eat. I was suffering with a litany of normal health complaints that we all know too well when we work and play too hard. I had headaches, tiredness, body pains, aches, spots on my face, I suffered from candidiasis, an insidious yeast infection and I was over my ideal body weight. When I stopped long enough to genuinely think about it, I realized that I was one of the least healthy persons I knew.

Today I see the same parallels with my own patients at the McKeith Clinic in London. When patients first arrive, they are usually poor eaters, many are overweight, and some are at crisis point. My goal with you, as with my patients, is to get you to know what is best for you to eat, and which foods will help you to lose weight, stay slim and improve your health for life.

You really can do it if you follow my plan. Do much of what I tell you most of the time, and you will surely be healthier, fitter, stronger, sexier and happier. Thats my promise to you. I have treated literally thousands of people with fantastic, unprecedented results. People will travel from every region of the globe to get help. Ive seen patients from just about every nationality and walk of life, including Hollywood stars, royalty, world leaders, footballers, and Olympic athletes. But theyre mostly people like you and me. And they all have one thing in common: all of them, regardless of their background, are made up of what they eat! And those who eat horribly are generally, and not surprisingly, sicker than those who eat healthily.