Peyton-Jones Elizabeth - Cook yourself young: harnessing the power of food: 100 easy recipes to make you look and feel younger

Its only when you understand that what you eat is life changing, that you can change your life.

This is a book to help you cook and eat more youthfully. Its a kind of DIY youthing manual, full of practical and easy ways to rejuvenate your brain, body and immune system as well as any other bits you think might need some attention The source of youthing power lies in your kitchen!

Just before I started writing this book, a journalist asked me, Is food powerful? A simple question, youd think, but it stopped me in my tracks. I had never myself expressed it that way before. Powerful is a strong word, especially for something that we use/eat/cook with three times a day. It got me thinking. Can food really be described in that extraordinary way?

After not too much reflection, I concluded (you knew it!) that food is full of power. Phytochemical power, vitamins, minerals, protein, amino acids, enzymes, essential fatty acids, flavonoids, antioxidants and a load of other nutritional nuggets... It produces energy and repairs your body.

In extreme cases, it can kill you. It can also be the antidote. It contains almost everything you need to survive. Powerful? You bet.

Yet today much of our food comes in boxes and packets from supermarkets. And, in a subtle way, that undermines our understanding of its intrinsic power. I often see people who dont realise that food is a life form that contributes to their own life form. They dont grasp that what they eat might be making them healthy and feel youthful, powerful, vibrant and strong. Or unhealthy, old, angry, insipid, self-conscious and dull. (And it can, let me assure you.)

This book is called Cook Yourself Young: Harnessing the Power of Food because it seemed genuinely important to me to reacquaint people with that fundamental food-body-power connection. If you want to feel fresh, awake, vibrant, youthful, inspired and ready for new adventures, then look at what you eat. If you want to have clear, glowing skin, sparkling eyes, a lean physique, glossy hair, nails and a body that works seamlessly well, as well as stave off colds, flus and other bacterial illnesses, then your diet is fundamental.

Thats the theory. Heres the application. Within these pages I want to:

Take healthy, youthing foods mainstream so they become your new normal

Help you understand what your body does with food, so you can feed it better

Give you hundreds of ideas, recipes and suggestions so you can start cooking and eating youthfully right here, right now (and ditch addictive foods while youre at it)

along the way but you dont have to follow them slavishly; just let them inform your cooking, eating and thinking around food. And there are four real-life studies of my clients, each of which shows how adopting a youthing lifestyle and eating plan can revolutionise the way you look, feel and think.

I dont explore exercise or the power of the mind in this book. But it is imperative that, for optimum health, daily exercise for both body and mind is taken as seriously as the food that is eaten. Good food will help quieten the mind and allow for contemplation, which in itself can be life changing.

Of course, I cant promise miracles. But I know from experience that when clients change what they eat, they start to feel better remarkably quickly (were talking weeks rather than months). They get leaner without feeling deprived. Their niggling symptoms (headaches, bad skin, aching joints and muscles, fatigue, brain fog) disappear. They start to look healthy and bouncy; they become more energetic and upbeat. They fall sick less often and dont need antibiotics, because they throw off illness more easily. (Thats great news, not least because we are all entering an antibiotic-resistant world in which we can no longer rely on antibiotics to fight our bodies battles for us.) They start experimenting with imaginative, tasty and super-healthy youthing dishes such as those in this book and start having fun around food.

As soon as theyre off that anti-youthing rollercoaster they start looking, feeling and living a healthier, leaner, more balanced and energised life.

And as well as helping you look great and feel fabulous, this way of eating feeds your immune system and is therefore the foundation to great health. By removing the allergenic foods that inflame it and the processed foods that disrupt it, your immune system will be able to react more quickly, fight more strongly and repair more effectively. Your body will overcome bacterial infections more easily and your need for antibiotics will diminish. Eating this way will help boost immunity, so your body can fight infections with vigour and rejuvenate much more effectively.

Just think about how astonishing that is.

Thats the power of food.

BEFORE YOU START

You should know about five bodily processes and systems that can accelerate ageing, but that you can overcome by choosing healthy, youthing foods.

Digestion: a well-functioning digestive system is the most important youthing tool. Its responsible for nutrient uptake, detox, immunity and mood (as most of the bodys serotonin is produced in the gut). You want this to run smoothly and to be problem-free

Inflammation: if this natural immune response becomes over-reactive (as it tends to if you have food intolerances, a high-sugar diet, ongoing stress, exposure to chemical irritants) then you get chronic low-level inflammation in the body which is hugely ageing. In fact, doctors have coined the word inflamm-ageing to describe its toxic effects.

Acid and alkaline: the blood and intracellular fluid in your body work best when they are slightly alkaline. Eating too many acid foods (meat, dairy, processed foods, some grains, alcohol) can tilt them off balance, which means tissues are not repaired quickly, digestive disorders can arise and in the long term an over-acidic body can cause long-term damage and degenerative malfunctioning. You want to try and stay alkaline

Oxidation: oxygen is used by every cell in our body, but it is a bit of a loose cannon, always looking to combine with other molecules and, in the process, creating unstable free radicals that can cause cellular damage. Boosting the intake of antioxidants in your diet protects against this so-called oxidative stress, minimising cellular degeneration and promoting youthing.

Immune system: your whole strength as a human your ability to throw off colds, heal wounds, to repel, repair and rejuvenate is down to a well-functioning immune system. It works non-stop, flat-out to direct the epic good vs bad bacterial battle that is waging daily in and around your body. Eating nutrient-rich foods and minimising the use of antibiotics, which kill off friendly bacteria along with the unfriendly, is the key to keeping it in powerfully rejuvenative health.