Jamie Oliver - Everyday Super Food

This book is dedicated to my amazing food and nutrition teams, all the recipe testers, all the incredible doctors, scientists and professors, and of course, all the wonderful, old but still amazingly active people, in some of the healthiest places on the planet, who Ive met on the epic journey of creating this book.

First of all, thank you for picking up this book and welcome to my Everyday Super Food . The ultimate promise in these pages is that every recipe choice is a good choice. Quite simply, I wanted to create a super-safe place celebrating delicious, nutritious, achievable meals that will help you cook your way to a healthier, happier, more productive life.

By the time you read this, I will have reached my fortieth birthday. About 18 months ago, nudging ever closer to it, this upcoming milestone made me pause and look at life slightly differently. Ill be honest: its taken me on a bit of a personal journey as far as my health is concerned. We all have very different lives mine is particularly peculiar and I love it but regardless of our individual circumstances, I think most of us want to achieve and support a happy, healthy family at home; be the best we can be at work; maintain good friendships; continue to experience new things; and have lots of laughs along the way. Theres certainly no one-size-fits-all answer and getting it wrong sometimes is all part of the journey. But, in order to give yourself the best chance, good personal health needs to be your utmost priority. So, my philosophy in this book is to help you get it right on the food front, most of the time.

If you pick up just a handful of ideas from this book, youll start thinking differently about food

I want this book to be a gateway to a more understanding and open relationship with food, as something to feed, fuel, fix and nourish you, but also as medicine. I want to give you knowledge and a better understanding of food and how to put a balanced meal together. I know its a clich, but knowledge really is power thats what I want you to take from this book. Im not saying you have to eat from it every day, nor for the rest of your life, but I hope it will arm you with the tools to make the right choices, allowing you to duck and dive at your own pace, mixing up these meals with some naughty days and a few treats Im not sure a sustainable healthy relationship with food is achievable without them. Personally, Im using this book Monday to Thursday/Friday, then hitting up Comfort Food at the weekend.

My philosophy in this book is to help you get it right on the food front, most of the time

I believe my job with this book was to go out, learn from some of the best health and nutrition experts out there doctors, scientists, professors and travel to some of the healthiest places in the world, absorb as much info as possible, then express the most relevant stuff back to you. So thats exactly what Ive done, combined with my 30 years of cooking in order to create these yummy recipes, as well as sharing some bite-sized nuggets of super-useful info that will be relevant to you in your everyday life. Ive been bartering and bantering with my nutrition team to ensure that the recipes and ideas are exciting, fun, new and delicious, and that each one embraces the food groups and different ingredients super-rich in nutrients, vitamins and minerals that work together in a complementary way. Every recipe reflects the balanced plate philosophy and appropriate portion control to ensure youre getting the right amount of food (see ). And you really can eat a super-healthy meal and be satisfied the recipe testers have been surprised at just how generous some of the portions are!

So, no matter which recipe you choose from each chapter and theres at least 30 breakfasts, 30 lunches, and 30 dinners it will first and foremost tickle your taste buds and fill you up, but you can also be sure it will fit within a daily structure of calories that will stand you in really good stead (less than 400 calories for breakfast and under 600 each for lunch and dinner, leaving you with plenty spare for snacks and drinks see ).

And you know what, this book wont break the bank either. My team have costed up all the meals, using the supermarkets, as well as local butchers and fishmongers, and on average its coming out at just 2.50 per portion at 2015 prices. I dont know about you, but for the health investment youre making by cooking from this book, for me, thats a total bargain.

Whether you use the book faithfully for every meal, or dip in and out of it to supplement other meal choices, my hope is that it will deliver on being that solid source you can always rely on. I wanted to show you what good really looks like for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus some exciting snack and drink ideas, so you have a real understanding not just of how to balance your plate, but of how to balance your day, week and month too.

If you pick up just a handful of ideas from this book, youll start thinking differently about food and the power it has to directly affect you both physically and mentally, inspiring positive changes not only in the way you eat, but hopefully in the eating habits of the people around you as well. Food is there to be appreciated, shared and enjoyed, and healthy, nourishing food should be colourful, delicious and, most importantly, fun.

The ultimate promise in these pages is that every recipe choice is a good choice

Rigorous recipe testing has, as usual, been at the heart of the development of this book because I want you to have success at home, every single time. With such a focus on nutrition, the process of writing it has been very different for me. Quite honestly, its changed the way I work and how I approach putting a plate of food together. The book has become more of a natural diary for me, and this has meant that Ive also photographed all the food myself, as the recipes have often taken time to shape and perfect. What you see in these pages is a real reflection of the journey Ive been on and Im really proud of this book a lot has gone into it.

Embrace the book, enjoy it, use it as often as you like, cook for your loved ones, but most importantly, I hope it will capture your curiosity and fuel an interest in getting things right when it comes to food, in a way that really works for you. Good luck.