Pascale Naessens - Pure and Simple: Natural Food Combining for Health and Happiness

We began to better understand why certain diseases occur after we started to examine our evolutionary background. Evolutionary medicine is the science aimed at answering these questions. As famously explained by Charles Darwin, natural selection allowed for the genes of individuals who were best adapted (survival of the fittest) to the prehistoric conditions of existence to be encoded in our DNA.

Man is also genetically adapted to, and thus most healthy in, his natural, primal environment. In the ten thousand years since the agricultural revolution, and especially in the last hundred or so years since the Industrial Revolution and the development of fast food, we have made changes to our environment at a quicker pace than the human body can adapt. These rapid changes have disrupted the ancient balance between our genes and our environment. The resulting mismatch is the cause of many of our diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

To be able to maintain our health as we age, we must go back to our primal environment. However, what was this primal environmentwhat Darwin called our conditions of existencethat made us transition from ape to man? What distinguishes us from our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, is our enormously large and complex brain. When our early forefathers left the jungle and settled on fertile riverbanks and coastlines, the optimal conditions were created for the development of this highly advanced brain. Food from this land-water ecosystem contained various nutrients that were essential to this development.

In the following six million years, the human brain tripled in volume, and our genes adjusted gradually to living by the water. Then, man conquered the world by spreading across coastlines, lakes, rivers, creeks, and streams; the land-water ecosystem remained the main source of food, always and everywhere. Our primal environment is the land-water ecosystem, and the food that we find in and along the water is the food we need to eat to remain healthy into old age.

Pascale puts this scientific knowledge into practice. With her delicious recipes, she restores harmony between our primal genes and our modern environment, making us fit, energetic, and healthy. Moreover, she contributes her part to reducing the ever-rising cost of healthcare. By restoring balance between our genes and our food, the focus is less on treating than on preventing diseases. And this is what its all about: If you are healthy, you are truly happy!

Dr. Remko Kuipers

Remko Kuipers is a physician and a pharmacist. He has a doctorate in evolutionary medicine with a focus on our primal nutrition. He gives international lectures on his studies and is the author of Het oerdieet (The Primal Diet).

Many people may not believe me, but I once had an eating disorderlike so many models. Eat fewer calories and exercise more. I heard this so often and tried many times to conform to this rule. I struggled with my eating habits for years. I was constantly hungry and never satisfied.

Fortunately, today, things are very different: I eat a lot more, I dont count calories, I feel wonderfully satisfied after each meal, and I love my healthy, lean body. Why are things working for me now, and not then? My willpower hasnt changed. What has changed is that I no longer listen to classic nutritional advice, but have adopted a new, up-to-date approach to eating that I will share with you in the following pages. As Professor Dariush Mozaffarian, the world-renowned nutritionist from Boston, said to me: Nutrition is a science and science evolves. You dont want to take pills from ten years ago anymore, do you?

Liberated from my eating disorder, for a few years I was euphoric. But when I saw people around me, and especially young girls suffering as I had done, my heart ached. Thats when I started looking for a way to share my experience because I knew I would be able to help people who were in the same situation as I had been. If I was able to free myself from my carbohydrate addiction, then anyone could. Thats when the idea came to me to write a cookbook about eating differently, using the latest nutritional insights.

Since then, I have published seven bestselling books in Belgium, selling more than one and a half million copies combined, and so many people have found their way to a healthier, more energetic, and lighter life through my books. My books have helped create a real culinary movementpeople are once again free to enjoy their food, but still stay slim and healthy. I think my readers are also attracted to my romantic way of cooking, because the delicious and simple recipes are uncomplicated, easily accessible, and designed to share with friends and family. Im thrilled to have the opportunity to have this book published in English, so that I can share my message with a new audience.

THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST ABOUT HEALTHY FOOD.

I want it all. I want to:

share meals with friends,

not spend too much time in the kitchen,

and not put on weight.

I dont want to turn anything down. And this book is a reflection of my hunger to live a good life and an introduction to my way of getting all of the above.

The best moments in life often occur at the table. A romantic dinner, chatting with friends, catching up over a glass of wineI wouldnt miss those moments for the world. And these experiences are actually the reason I enjoy cookingbringing people together and enjoying time together. But Im also always conscious of my own enjoyment: I dont want complicated recipes that keep me bound to the kitchen for hours. My meals are simple (anyone can prepare them), yet special.

I have discovered that cooking and eating are synonyms for enjoying. We dont have to be at war with time and calories. Its important to enjoy yourself! Turn a daily task into a pleasure by cooking consciously. Youre not just cooking, but creating, developing yourself, and feeding yourself and others. And when you use natural, high-quality ingredients, you know that every bite is good for you. You are free to enjoy your dinner without restricting portion sizes or counting calories.

How you eat is no less important than what you eat. I enjoy setting the table with beautiful plates, glasses, linens, and crafting a welcoming atmosphereoften outside. Its half the fun. I create my own beautiful world. Thats why I started making my own dinnerware. I am a ceramist as well as an author. It gives me an immense feeling of satisfaction to make plates with my potters wheel.

Healthy eating, for me therefore, has nothing to do with smoothies, juices, energy bars, and so onwhere is the food, the pleasure? Where are the people? This so-called health food is far removed from real experiences. People think you can reduce food to a mere sum of vitamins and minerals. Where is the true life? For me, the act of eating itself is a source of happiness, a moment to be savored.