Amelia Freer - The 10-Day Plan to Nourish & Glow: Lose weight, feel great, and transform your relationship with food

For what its worth: its never too late to be whoever you want to be.

Adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I have been deeply humbled by the feedback I have received from both Eat. Nourish. Glow. and Cook. Nourish. Glow. To hear that so many people have been able to move toward a healthier and more satisfying relationship with food is exactly what I set out to achieve. The community that has also been created among readers, who work tirelessly to support each other and me, is amazing to witness and I sincerely thank you all.

I would hazard a guess that by now most people (especially if you have read my previous two books!) have a fairly good idea about the general principles of healthy eating. But turning these principles into a complete meal, for a whole day, week, or even year of good food, without falling into the common pitfalls can be a little more difficult.

We also find ourselves facing a whole new set of challenges these days. The clean eating movement has swept across us as a tidal wave of marketing and media hype, bombarding us with messages about what we supposedly must eat and what we must avoid at all costs. This movement has, in some ways, been a step in the right directionwith good nutrition taking center stage and easier access to whole-food ingredients. But (and this is a big but) it has also created a lot of anxiety, fear, and confusion around food. Healthy eating has become a touchy subject.

So that is where I hope that I can help out again. Relaxed nutritional balance is how I approach my own diet and what I help my clients to achieve.

Food is not something that should be feared. Yes, it is important to eat with consciousness both for our own health and the health of the environmentbut food can also be a carefree source of pleasure and joy. Identifying where our own personal balance lies on this continuum is the key to finding contentment around food.

Nourish & Glow: The 10-Day Plan is therefore not just a diet book, nor indeed just a recipe book. It is a comprehensive handbook, gently guiding you to find your own insights and building up your knowledge and skills, encouraging you to explore a way of eating healthy that is right for you.

We will explore your mind-set, habits, and how your approach to eating is influenced by family and friends, and peel away any emotional baggage you may be holding onto around food. You will wipe the slate clean of conflicting and confusing messages. Instead, you will learn about the concept of Positive Nutrition with a simple but effective pyramid tool. No more talk of everything in moderation, which I hear all too often yet find to be a rather vague and unhelpful phrase for those struggling with their nutrition.

You will then have the opportunity to put this into practice by working through a carefully designed 10-day meal plan. This will enable you to find out what it really feels like to plan, shop, cook, and eat in a healthy way, while learning some simple new recipes and time-saving methods. The final chapter will help to arm you with the skills to maintain these new habits for life. These are fundamental in creating the strong foundations for a life of nourishing nutritionyet are so often overlooked.

It is likely that there are things in these pages that will not particularly resonate with you. It is, after all, impossible to create a one size fits all approach when there are so many differences between us. This is one of the most misleading concepts promoted by the diet industry. Instead, I want to help you feel empowered to make your own decisions. To discard what you dont need and to try out what you do. To adapt and play with ideas. Ultimately, achieving good nutrition is a lifelong experiment of trial and error. No guru, blogger, celebrity chef, or self-styled expert can do that for you. This is your life and only you can find out what works best. But we could all do with a helping hand along the way.

This book can therefore be whatever you need it to be: a source of new recipes, some mind-set help, or a set of guidelines for meal planning among other things. Above all, I hope that it offers solutions to help move away from restrictive, negative beliefs and the cycle of being good or bad with food.

When I work with clients, this is where I start. We discuss their current lifestyle, habits, preferences, and limiting beliefs and then work together to find practical solutions. I understand that not everyone is able to work with a nutritional therapist or functional medicine practitioner (although I wish we all could). Therefore, I hope that this book can act like a surrogate nutritional therapist, bringing a bit of my practice into your home.

What a healthy diet means for you will be different from what it means for your best friend, your mother, your colleagues, or even me. And that really is the key herebecause a healthy diet is as unique as we are.

My wonderful colleague Rozzie sums this up beautifully: A healthy diet is as unique as a fingerprint, as tailored as a Savile Row suit, and as personalized as a portrait. Its just that sometimes we need a little help to find the one that fits perfectly.

I recognize that healthy living is not always easy, and it can be made harder by the conflicting guidance we are exposed to and the individual differences between us. However, it is possible, and it is certainly important.

Note to self: This journey isnt about impressing others, or fitting into a smaller dress size, or beating myself up for past mistakes. This is about honoring the extraordinary body I have been blessed with, so that I may live the life of my desires.

My aim is that this book will become a trusty companion and advisor to you, helping you to find your own way around any obstacles that may be in your path, building your confidence and enabling you to find both balance and joy from your food. The new habits that you end up making may be more subtle than you would have expected at the startoften it is the smallest changes that lead to the greatest results.

While I know that some of you will be drawn to this book because you want to lose weight, it is my sincere hope that you will be able to see its potential to change how you think and feel about food for life. I am against diets and short-term quick fixes. They never work because they dont address the core reasons why people eat food that damages them. This book is not a diet book. Yes, if you follow the 10-day plan, you may well lose weight if you have some to lose, but what will also happenmuch more excitingly, in my opinionis that you will learn how to enjoy delicious, nurturing food for life and enjoy many more health benefits far beyond what the scale says.