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There is too much nonsense talked about obesity, not only in the media, but even in published findings of scientists and doctors who, by rights, should know better. If you decide to take time out to plough through the voluminous research and declarations about degenerative diseases and obesity, their causes and their cure—as I have done ad nauseam in the course of my developing Leslie Kenton’s Cura Romana—you discover that several important conclusions demand to be drawn. Let’s look at the obesity problem first. Then we’ll go on to examine what few people yet know: the same factors that make some of us fat can foster the development of degenerative diseases in all of us. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Cereals, grains, and sugar-based carbohydrates are the culprits that make you gain weight, if you have inherited a genetic tendency to do so. These foods distort hormonal regulation and interfere with your body’s ability to maintain its functions within a normal range. This is a consequence of the way grain and sugar-based carbs screw up blood sugar and destroy insulin sensitivity. What most people—even those who believe they are eating a ‘healthy diet’—are amazed to learn is that sugars and starches don’t just cause weight problems. They are major factors in the development of diabetes, coronary heart disease and a myriad of other degenerative conditions, even in those who never seem to gain weight, no matter what they eat. Nonetheless all of us, fat or thin, become prone to rapid aging when we consume carbs and sugars in quantity. HERE’S WHY The most signification change to human diets in two million years began with the Agricultural Revolution, where man went from a carbohydrate-poor to a carbohydrate-rich diet as cereals and starchy vegetables began to enter our food chain. The more that these carbohydrates have been refined and processed, the more problems they have caused us. Meanwhile, during the 20th century, an overwhelming increase in cereals, grains, sugars and high-fructose corn syrup used in convenience foods has become a major trigger of burgeoning obesity and chronic illness. In the nineteenth century, we ate between 10 and 20 pounds of sugar per person per year. Today per capita we consume between 150 pounds and 200 pounds a year. So this is little wonder. Health Care - IGNORANCE IS PROFITABLE In the so-called civilized world, people are getting fatter and sicker by the year. Yet food manufacturers, government bodies and well-meaning but ignorant doctors are still telling us that we need to eat more low-fat-high-carb foods, as you can see from the three images of the Food Pyramid and Choose Your Plate. This includes masses of bread and cereals, rice and pasta. And the majority of the population still buys into the notion that fats, not carbs, are the villains of the piece. Much of the public’s inability to recognize what low-fat-high-carb eating is doing to ruin our health comes from the fact that the more ignorant we remain, the more profitable it becomes for some. In the past sixty years, multinational food manufacturers have been quick to take up the notion that carbs are good for us and fats are bad. Commercial interests waste no time in translating unsubstantiated scientific research promoting a fat-free, low-fat, and reduced-fat way of eating into huge profits. Consequently our supermarkets remain overloaded with convenience foods which health elitists, in the know, refuse even to touch. As for those who remain unaware that it is possible to transform health and weight naturally, the majority of the world continues to suffer. As the Irish humorist P.J. O’Rourke pointed out, the world is full of “masses waddling into airports, business offices and churches dressed in drooping sweats or fuchsia warm-up suits or mainsail-size Bermuda shorts, each with a mobile phone in one ear…sucking Diet Pepsi through a straw”. A True Healthy Eating Plan - Things to know As a result of the negative influence they exert on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, sugars and starches foster the development of diabetes, coronary heart disease and obesity. These foods are also significant contributors to the Diseases of Western Civilization. These include cancer, arthritis, depression and rapid aging. Cereals, grains, and sugar-based carbohydrates distort hormonal regulation of homeostasis. They raise blood sugar, which encourages excessive insulin secretion leading to insulin resistance, Syndrome X and metabolic syndrome. Eating carb foods increases hunger, causes food cravings and addictions, also creating an on-going experience of fatigue. This forces people to rely heavily on coffee and other stimulants to get through each day. Weight gain is a disorder of excess fat accumulation as a result of disequilibrium in the body’s hormonal regulation of fat metabolism. Obesity is not caused by gluttony, too little exercise or a lack of will power. Taking in excess calories is not the cause of weight gain, nor can expending a lot of energy on exercise prevent it. Good quality fats and oils such as olive oil, coconut oil and butter neither cause obesity nor the development of degenerative conditions. FIND OUT MORE If you want to educate yourself further about this revolutionary stuff, you need to read my brand new ebook: Leslie Kenton’s Secret Guide to Lean Health for Life. Within it, you will find the latest ground-breaking—and often shocking—information about carbs, fats both good and bad; oils; sugar in all its insidious forms; the false directives based on bad science we have been following for far too long, and why these are so dangerous; as well as practical advice on how to begin eating in a way that can literally transform your body and life. Learn More: Download My New Book Free - Healthy And Lean For Life In my new book Healthy And Lean For Life which is available to everyone at no cost, readers will be surprised to learn some of the real causes of degenerative conditions and weight gain as well as natural methods to become free of them. Download Health And Lean For Life Now Allred, J B, Too Much of a Good Thing? An Overemphasis on Eating Low-Fat Foods May Be Contributing to the Alarming Increase in Overweight Among US Adults., J Amer Dietetic Assoc, 1995, April; 95 (4): 417-18. Banting, W, Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public., Obesity Research, 1993; March, 1 (2): 153-63. (Reprinted from the December 1863 third edition.) Farquhar, J W, et al, Glucose, Insulin, and Trigylceride Responses to High and Low Carbohydrates Diets in Man., J Clinc Invest, 1966; 45 (10): 1648-56. O’Dea, Glucose and Insulin Responses to Carbohydrate Ingestion: Acute and Long-term Consequences., in Obesity: Dietary Factors and Control, Romsos, Himms-Hagan, and Suzuki, eds., Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, 1991; pp147-57. Lee, B M, Wolever, T M S, Effect of Glucose, Sucrose and Fructose on Plasma Glucose and Insulin Responses in Normal Humans; Comparison with White Bread., European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1998; 52: 924-928. Taubes, Gary, Good Calories, Bad Calories – Challenging the Conventional Wisdom Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007

Coffee smells good and tastes great. It delivers quick energy bursts to clear away your brain fog. But the caffeine from the coffee bean can soon burn out, leaving you nervy and exhausted. Drinking coffee distorts insulin balance, triggers blood sugar distortions and creates unconscious addictions that are hard to kick. Mainstream medicine tells us that it’s the caffeine that causes problems. We are also taught that all caffeine is the same. Well, I’m here to tell you, it just ain’t true. Not all caffeine is the same When I was nine years old, I was in Brazil with my parents. There we discovered a plant also rich in caffeine which switches on your energy and keeps it going without the negative downsides associated with coffee-drinking. When this exotic plant is organically grown and carefully harvested to preserve its caffeine, along with many other plant factors that make it so powerful, it delivers energy, increases your strength and stamina and, unlike coffee, does not burn you out. The plant is called guaraná. It’s named after an Amazonian tribe—the Guaranis—who recognized its power centuries ago. It grows wild in the exotic Brazilian rainforest in the form of a red berry. And it holds the energy secret of Brazil, and many other South American countries. In Brazil, guaraná is a drink more popular than coffee. Thanks to its complex combination of health supporting plant factors, the naturally occurring caffeine—unlike coffee—is released slowly into your system. As a result, the energy boost that guaraná brings you is not short, nervous and abrupt with a rapid energy drop-off. It’s uplifting and it lasts without distorting your metabolism. Western medicine confused Western medicine has long been ignorant and confused over guaraná. You’ll find all sorts of contradictory, not to say absurd pontification about its so-called dangers if you surf the web looking for information about it. Don’t bother. For centuries, guaraná has been the best kept secret in South America for increasing physical and mental stamina, increasing positive motivation and keeping the population going day after day without the toxic chemicals in coffee and other energy drinks. Guaraná supports all twelve of the body’s fundamental systems important for human health. In the past 50 years, many research projects in the Southern Hemisphere have turned up remarkable truths about this amazing plant. By all means, look online and learn about this marvelous plant, but forget searching for good information from American or European scientific research projects. They don’t exist. Western medicine has hidden its head in the sand and turns out the same-old, same-old nonsense claiming that guaraná is nothing more than plain old caffeine so you might as well take a No-Doz pill or swallow another cup of java. But clinical studies from the Southern Hemisphere have much to tell. The alkaloids in guaraná, say researchers, stimulate our myocardium and central nervous system, reducing our fatigue while enhancing alertness. Guaraná is a superior health tonic. Its seeds hold from 4 to 8% caffeine including large amounts of saponins, terpenes, tannins and flavonoids. Its seeds are fatty. When you grind them into a powder they are not water-soluble, which is a major reason why the special caffeine they contain is only slowly metabolized by your body. This protects from the nervousness and abrupt drop-off you get from coffee. This also means that guaraná’s seeds are able to act as “carriers of energy” through the body. The energy they bring therefore has a calmer, cooler quality that both revitalizes and relaxes. Guaraná also enhances physical and mental performance and promotes thermogenesis by nutritionally stimulating the body’s Beta receptor pathway, breaking down stored fat and allowing it to be turned into energy. Warning Avoid Energy Drink Claiming guaraná Now here are some important warnings, so please listen: Should you decide to explore what guaraná can do for you, you must make certain that the product you choose is genuine guaraná imported from Brazil that contains the whole plant—instead of some cheap derivative which is only caffeine. Believe me, cheap imitations of the real thing are rampant. Big-selling drinks are riddled with plain old caffeine listed as guaraná on their labels. So are all those sports drinks and macho “energy boosters”, designed to attract men and women naïve enough to believe that they will get bigger muscles by using them. Stay away from such rubbish for the sake of your health and your pocketbook. Guaraná must never be mixed with a lot of other stuff, which could well make you sick. Guaraná is a substance only meant for adults. It is not for children, pregnant or breastfeeding women or anyone with fibrocystic breast disease. You should consult your health care professional before using it. Finally, use only one or two tablets of guaraná a day. More is NOT better. When to take them? Take only one tablet thing in the morning. If this works well for you but you feel you want another energy boost later in the day, you can take a second tablet at lunchtime. Find out what works best for you. But never take guaraná late in the day—it might interfere with your sleep. the very best guarana product I’ve investigated many guaraná products on the market. Here is what I believe to be the very best: Guarana Energizer Guarana is a natural herb imported from Brazil. It has been used for centuries by the Native Americans of the Amazon as an energizer. Order Guarana Energizer from iherb Each guaraná tablet contains approximately 200 mg of natural occurring caffeine. This is 1 to 2 times the caffeine in a cup of coffee. I’m keen to hear from you about your own guaraná experience. Do get in touch by adding a comment below:

Recent metabolic research has brought to light a powerful, health-transforming natural process developed out of 2 million years of human evolution. So far, few people have heard about it. Before the agricultural revolution, we humans had been exposed only to minute levels of carbohydrates. Today, we eat masses of them. As a consequence, more than a third of us are obese, and suffer from widespread degenerative conditions, from cancer and heart disease to Type II diabetes and Alzheimer's. What if we knew how to reactivate an innate process within the body that brings energy to our cells, organs and metabolic pathways, while helping to protect us from the devastating destruction to human health taking place throughout the world? Take a breath. This is not only possible. It is slowly beginning to happen. TWO PATHS FOR ENERGY There are two fundamental processes by which your body creates energy for life. It can draw fuel from glucose when we eat carbs and sugar. Or, it can draw fuel from our relying on fat. More about this in a few moments. For generations, the powers-that-be have been pointing us down the glucose path. We’ve been told to eat bread and pasta, potatoes and sugar. We’ve been urged to get a minimum of 130 grams of carb foods a day. (Actually, most people eat two or three times that amount of carbs every day.) We’ve also been told that glucose is brain fuel which we need lots of for it to function well. Up-to-date top quality research studies carried out in the past 10 years show quite clearly that such advice is wrong. Our following it has resulted in a worldwide pandemic of degenerative conditions. It’s not easy to admit that the nutritional advice they have been handing out to us for more than fifty years has been wrong. As a result, vital truths about human health continue to be treated as though they were fringe concepts. CARBOHYDRATE INTOLERANCE The truth is, people vary widely in their ability to handle carbs without succumbing to obesity, food cravings and degenerative diseases. We all know about gluten intolerance. We deal with it by staying away from gluten. Then there’s lactose intolerance, which we handle by limiting dairy products. But, in truth, the greatest problem most of us face right now is carbohydrate intolerance. What should we be doing about this? Simple. Cut way back on the carbs we eat. When necessary, eliminate them. The degree of carbohydrate intolerance we suffer from depends fundamentally on how insulin resistant our body is. I’ve witnessed this first-hand during the last five years working closely with thousands of people on Cura Romana. After completing the rapid weight loss— Essential Spray + Food Plan—part of the program, a small number of people discover as they enter Consolidation that they can metabolize carbohydrates reasonably well provided they don’t eat them too often. A second group—the majority—discover they have to carry out careful testing to identify those carbs which their body can manage in small quantities as well as those which need to be eliminated from their life permanently. Finally, there are people with a high level of carbohydrate intolerance who discover that they need to cut out carbs and sugar from their diet altogether to support the lean and healthy experience which they discovered while on Cura. KETO-ADAPTATION It’s time to meet the second metabolic process for energy production: Keto-adaptation. This is the remarkable process that the body goes through when only exposed to limited carbohydrate foods. Keto-adaptation is characterized by the body switching over to use fat as fuel for energy. It’s a process that can take several weeks as the shift from glucose to fat burning happens. What are ketones? They are natural by-products of the breakdown of free fatty acids in the liver. Small energy-containing substances derived from fatty acids, they are able to provide fuel for all our tissues, including the brain. When these ketones are produced at high rates, they accumulate in the bloodstream. This results in the state known as ketosis—a metabolic state characterized by an increase in ketone production usually marked by blood levels greater than 0.5mmol/L. Becoming keto-adapted requires that you restrict your intake of carbohydrate foods—including sugar, of course—below a certain level, so your cells and mitochondria can change over from using glucose to using fat as fuel. The level of carbohydrate restriction at which a person’s body is able to enter into a ketotic state varies tremendously. Some people only need to restrict their carbs to 50 or 100 grams a day to spur this metabolic transformation. Others must restrict carb intake to as little as 20 grams to spur the process. The reason that keto-adaptation takes time—usually two to six weeks—to establish as the body’s new metabolic process is that metabolic change must take place at every level. NEW FANGLED—NO WAY Far from some weird 21st century invention, a keto-adaptation is an ancient practice for which the human body has already been metabolically programmed. We had just forgotten how to access it. Recent studies into ultra low-carb keto-adaptation show that this process has profound implications for high-level wellbeing. Here are a few of the benefits that can take place when a body switches out of a carb/sugar metabolism into a ketone/fatty acid one: While cancer cells tend to proliferate on a sugar-based metabolism, when switched over to fatty acids and ketones, tumor growth often regresses. The switch is being associated with life extension and may even slow the aging process. It quells free radical damage. It enhances athletic performance. Keto-adapted long distances runners don’t experience “hitting the wall”—the brains fuel crisis that has non keto-adapted athletes reaching for glucose based drinks and gels just to keep going. It brings about regressions in Type II Diabetes. It heightens gene expression. It increases mental clarity. It fosters emotional balance. It increases work output. It increases a body’s antioxidant defenses. Most of the mainstream medical community remains ignorant about the profound benefits of keto-adaptation. They confuse this kind of nutritional ketosis with ketoacidosis—a dangerous side effect of Type I Diabetes, during which ketone production reaches levels above 10 mmo/L. Nutritional keto-adaptation is completely different and perfectly safe. ANCIENT METABOLITES An ingrained characteristic of human metabolism, ketones—which consist of beta-hydroxybutyrate (BOHB) and acetoacetate (AcAc) —are as old as humanity itself. They are naturally produced by the liver whenever the intake of carbohydrate foods becomes limited. Then they are released into the blood. This natural metabolic program has been silenced since the time of the agricultural revolution, when carbohydrate foods began to be available. So important are these archaic ketone molecules that they provide the human brain with a superior fuel source to support its functions. Some researchers believe that keto-adaptation is likely to have been at least in part responsible for homo sapiens developing the big brain which distinguishes us from our animal friends. Every one of us, regardless of age, has the capability of producing ketones. But unless we are following a low-carbohydrate way of living, this remarkable ketogenic program continues to be suppressed. So long as we continue to eat a lot of carbohydrate foods, the body doesn’t have an opportunity to boot up and run its keto-adaptation process. The long term assertion that only glucose can fuel the brain adequately is completely untrue. Thanks to beta-hydroxybutyrate (BOHB), up to 3/4 of the energy the brain needs can come from ketones. In fact, they are by far the most stable and sustainable fuel source available for the brain. CRACKING THE CODE As far back as the Middle Ages and even earlier, a ketogenic diet has been used to treat illnesses, including childhood epilepsy. The natural treatment came out of the discovery that a complete fast can help prevent epileptic seizures in children. But since there was no way of sustaining a fast indefinitely, most especially in growing kids, a ketogenic diet became a viable alternative. It still is. In the 1920s researchers, discovered that when they fed children on a diet low in carbohydrates, high in fat and gave them just enough protein for growth, the children were able to maintain ketosis for long periods of time. By doing so, pediatric epilepsy came under control while drugs and other treatments failed. Then in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, new drug treatments were developed for epilepsy and the use of the ketogenic diet dwindled for a time. CHARLIE’S STORY In the United States, it was “rediscovered”, thanks to a two year old named Charlie who suffered from uncontrollable epileptic seizures which no drug treatments—not even brain surgery—had been able to control. In a desperate search to help his son, Charlie’s father discovered the references to a ketogenic diet used for epilepsy back in the 1920s by an American doctor named R.M. Wilder. Armed with this information, he sought help for his son. So successful was the ketogenic diet in clearing Charlie’s seizures that it spurred Charlie’s father to set up the Charlie Foundation which now trains doctors and dietitians from all over the world on how to use the diet, and produces videos as well as a book, The Epilepsy Diet Treatment: An Introduction to the Ketogenic Diet, to help people learn how to use it. In recent years, a very large project in treating childhood epilepsy has been carried out at Stanford University in California. Other medical uses of the ketogenic diet in the past and present include the treatment of childhood trauma, respiratory failure, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson’s Disease, autism, migraine, depression and wound healing. THE KETO-ADAPTIVE PROCESS Is keto-adaptation for you? Not unless you are serious about changing your health and your life permanently. The keto-adaptation process takes time. It means making major changes in how you eat and live. This can be challenging, despite a recent proliferation of diet books which would have us believe the keto-adaptation process is “a piece of cake.” Full of poorly gathered information, but lots of pretty photos of low-carb sweets and treats, the current spate of Keto diet books—primarily targeted towards weight loss—are pretty useless. Too often they’ve been written by people who have not done their homework. There is one exception, however: It’s the work of a brilliant and passionate young woman from Czech Republic called Martina Šlajerová. She has created an app for iPads and iPhones as well as a short ebook called The KetoDiet which is first rate. If you want to know about using keto-adaptation for weight loss, I recommend that you look at her materials. They are not only accurate. Thanks to Martina’s fascination with truth-seeking and her commitment to living her own life at a high level of wellbeing, they are even inspiring. EAT ONLY THE BEST As with any other way of eating for health and protection from rapid aging and degenerative conditions, for ketogenic diet to be healthy, it must be well constituted. It needs to provide not only optimal quantities of vitamins and minerals, but also top quality, organic, low-carb green vegetables. It needs to be rich in the phytonutrients. It needs to provide only the very best fatty acids—organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and butter from cows, preferably fed on pastured land. A sound keto-adapted way of living must make use of the finest natural foods on the planet—foods as close as possible to those our ancient ancestors thrived on. Your goal should be the transformation of your body and your life to a higher level of energy, good looks and well-being permanently. Of course, it’s important if you suffer from a liver or kidney complaint, or some other metabolic abnormality, that you get your doctor’s permission to make changes. It is unwise for anyone to undertake dietary change without the guidance of a physician or health practitioner knowledgeable about functional medicine and metabolic nutrition. Take a look at this excellent video about keto-adaptation with Jeff Volek. You’ll find it by clicking here. It will give you a real feel for what fat adapted living is like. THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LOW CARBOHYDRATE LIVING Carbohydrate restricted diets are commonly practiced but seldom taught. As a result, doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, and nurses may have strong opinions about low carbohydrate dieting, but in many if not most cases, these views are not grounded in science. Buy Low Carb Living THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LOW CARBOHYDRATE PERFORMANCE A Revolutionary Program to Extend Your Physical and Mental Performance Envelope. Our recent book 'The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living' was written for health care professionals, championing the benefits of carbohydrate restriction to manage insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type-2 diabetes. Buy Low Carb Performance THE KETODIET BOOK—REAL FOOD & HEALTHY LIVING BY MARTINA ŠLAJEROVÁ The ketogenic diet is high in fat, adequate in protein and low in carbohydrates. Most people follow the diet in order to lose weight. However, weight loss is just one of the many benefits that include improved cholesterol levels, lowering risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes, treating of cancer, epilepsy and more. Buy KetoDiet Book THEN THERE IS MY OWN BOOK ON THE KETOGENIC AND INSULIN BALANCED DIETS: THE X FACTOR DIET Permanent weight loss without hunger or hardship is everyone's dream. In this ground-breaking book Leslie Kenton reveals how to achieve your ideal body shape and weight in this way while simultaneously overcoming the health hazards that excess weight brings in its wake. Buy X Factor Diet

Below you will find a list of good sleep foods and bad sleep foods. good sleep foods Bananas Figs Dates Yogurt Tuna Wholegrain Crackers Nut butter Turkey bad sleep foods Caffeine Alcohol Sugar Cheese Chocolate Sauerkraut Bacon Ham Sausage Aubergine Potatoes Spinach Tomatoes

Each year we hear about some “deadly” new strain of flu. The powers-that-be incessantly spread fearful propaganda about their dangers. So much so that vaccination has now become widespread from cradle to grave. Despite all the media hype, we know little about the long-term consequences of most inoculations being forced upon us today. We do know that some of these vaccines provoke illnesses they are supposed to be preventing. Meanwhile, what few are aware of as yet is this: Microchip implants have become so small now that they can be, and frequently are, injected direct into the human body via a hypodermic needle while a vaccination is being given. This is without consent. Many are injected into the bodies of newborn babies. There the implant remains. Thanks to its presence in the body, with the help of satellites, any implanted person can potentially be tracked anywhere on the planet, since these minute implants respond to low-frequency radio waves. Enough about these questionable high-tech practices. When it comes to prevention and treatment, I’ll opt for nature power every time. Simple herbs work better and are far safer. They keep me from being laid low by illness even when people all around me are dropping like flies. NATURE’S WAY If you are generally healthy, yet lead a stressful lifestyle, the occasional cold is simply your body’s way of getting rest and clearing out toxins. However, if you find yourself spending most of the winter with your nose in a handkerchief, then it is time to take preventative action. Both colds and flu are viruses. There are many plant friends that can help protect from them. Viruses cannot replicate themselves without entering your own cells and altering their function. If you can prevent a virus invading your cells, you will stop cold and flu in their tracks. Giving your immune system a boost for the colds and flu season is the key to doing this. Eat well—plenty of fresh vegetables and some low-glycemic fruit, and cut out all the packaged convenience foods. They are worthless when it comes to protecting or enhancing your health. AT FIRST SNIFFLE The moment you feel you may be coming down with something, it’s time to listen to your body. You might like to stop eating cooked food and go raw. In such circumstances, I often don’t eat anything at all—just take live, fresh organic juices like carrot, spinach, apple, celery, kale—whatever I have in the house or can pick up at the market. Animals stop eating when they feel unwell. So do children. The body needs all its strength to get rid of the invasion. Trust this. Boost your immunity by wrapping yourself in your favorite blanket, watch your favorite film or listen to music you like. Have a glass of juice or, if you prefer something warm, a bowl of tonic soup. Remember, your body is trying to clear itself of stuff that does not belong in it. Make time to let the clearing take place. GOOD OLD VITAMIN C Remember the discoveries of two Nobel Prize winners—back when the Nobel Prize still meant something: Begin by taking at least 4 to 8 grams of vitamin C a day. This may sound excessive, but if you are under-the-weather or your immune system needs a boost, you will soak up vitamin C like blotting paper. It’s worth remembering that we don’t make our own vitamin C like other animals. If we were goats, we would be making 5 grams of vitamin C per day or more for ourselves. The body simply flushes out any vitamin C it doesn’t need. If you find your bowel movements are loose, reduce the amount you are taking a little. You can rest assured that your cells are being adequately flushed in ascorbic acid. Look for a supplement that has bioflavonoids in it as well. And if you have a delicate tummy, go for a brand that’s “buffered.” Personally, I take 3 grams of Vitamin C 3 or 4 times a day when I feel a cold or flu threatening, until 2 days after all symptoms have disappeared. SWEET PROTECTION Astragalus is the root of the yellow vetch plant. Unlike many herbs, it actually tastes good. Creamy yellow, it’s a favorite among the Chinese for strengthening digestion, overcoming chronic weakness, and enhancing wound-healing. Astragalus brings deep strength to the immune system, increasing the number and quality of white blood cells used to fight infection. It even boosts the production of interferon. This is why it is often used with HIV and cancer patients whose immune systems have been undermined by chemotherapy or radiation. Astragalus is also an adaptogen, a plant which is often called a ‘medicine for well people’ that, taken over time, brings strength and support to the whole body. Three cups of astragalus tea a day helps ward off colds and flu, so long as you take it consistently every day during the cold season. Chinese medicine defines ailments as being either ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ and herbs as being ‘warming’ or ‘cooling’. Astragalus is a warming herb to be used with ‘cold’ illness. Use it for protection as well as an immune boost after any bout of cold or flu. Organic astragalus is increasingly available in herb stores dried and shredded. Bought from Chinese pharmacies and Asian markets, dried astragalus root looks like ice-lolly sticks. It is cheap and simple to prepare, and it makes a mild, sweet tea. Look for sticks which are long and thick, firm yet bendable with a few striations. They should have a sweet taste when you chew on them. DRINK ASTRAGALUS TEA I make enough for three or four cups at a time. This recipe can make a sweet chilled drink, but I prefer to reheat mine and drink it warm. Here’s how: Put 6 sticks of astragalus, 3 pieces of licorice root sticks and a 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly, into a saucepan (not aluminum or non-stick). Pour 1 ½ liters (just over 2 ½ pints) of cold water over the herbs and bring the mixture to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Take it off the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Strain and keep in the fridge. (You can also buy astragalus herb tea in a packet, which you can prepare as you would a cup of ordinary tea.) ELDERBERRIES FROM THE GARDEN Elderberries too make an excellent healing tea. It has been shown in trials to help protect from infection. If ever you do succumb to flu or a cold, elderberry tea can shorten the length of time you are ill. If you are one of those people who tend only to be recovering from one illness when another hits, these wonderful berries can help break the chain and give you time to recover completely. The way it works against flu is fascinating: The flu virus breaks into healthy cells by piercing them with spikes on its surface. Elderberry appears to make these spikes useless, so defeating the virus before it has had a chance to do any damage. You can make your own Elderberry tea from the garden. Here’s how: Put 2 tablespoons of crushed fresh or frozen elderberries in a tea pot. Pour three cups of boiling water over them and steep for 5 minutes. Strain and drink. JAPANESE HELPERS Shiitake and Maitake mushrooms not only taste delicious, they contain excellent immune strengthening compounds, among them the compound lentinan. This phytochemical helps lower elevated cholesterol. It also boasts anti-aging and anti-tumor properties. You can take Shiitake and Maitake in capsules or as extracts, but I prefer eating the mushrooms themselves. I soak the dried mushrooms and put them in salads, soups and stir-fries. All of these will help you to ward off colds if you make them a part of your daily life. You won’t get their full benefits, however, unless you support your body with a good supply of all the nutrients it needs for good health. HOW TO LIVE A COLD-FREE LIFE 1. Cut back or eliminate completely cereal-based, grain-based and sugar-based carbs. 2. Eat a large, raw salad once a day. This is the best possible way of enabling your body to rebalance and rebuild itself, restoring metabolism to its peak level. Choose high-quality real foods. Shun all packaged convenience stuff. 3. Eat plenty of ‘high water’ foods. Your body is 70% water. For it to cleanse itself properly, it’s useful to make at least 50-75% of your daily diet high-water foods—fresh, low-glycemic fruit and vegetables—most of them eaten raw. This is one of the easiest stay-healthy guidelines to keep. If you are eating fruits or vegetables for breakfast and at least one big salad a day, it just about takes care of itself. 4. Don’t eat between meals. If you are truly hungry, have a piece of non-sugary fruit such as berries or some crunchy raw vegetables. Your system thrives when you give it time to complete the digestion of a meal before you put anything else into it. Four or five hours should elapse between lunch and dinner, otherwise digestion (never at its best when you are unwell anyway) can be incomplete. 5. Drink plenty of clean water—up to 3 liters a day if you have a cold or feel yourself coming down with one. Avoid coffee, milk, which is mucus forming, and alcohol. Instead, drink plenty of filtered water. Take advantage of the huge number of delicious herb teas now available. 6. Try sprinkling a handful of sage or eucalyptus (or a few drops of the essential oil) onto a bowl of hot water and inhale the steam to ease any respiratory difficulties—cover your head and the bowl with a towel to keep the steam in. Celebration Herbals Organic Astragalus Root Tea Astragalus is one of the most famous herbs used traditionally in China. The long oval leaves have a feathery appearance and the Astragalus puts forth handsome bell shaped flowers with pale yellow petals. The root, which is used in herbal preparations, has a yellowish white interior and faint sweet taste Buy Celebration Herbals Organic Astragalus Root Tea Celebration Herbals Organic Elderberry Herbal Tea The Elder is a legendary tree, considered magical and sacred in folklore and myths. Some herb manuals refer to it as the medicine chest of the country people. The Elder Tree produces creamy-white flowers in late spring which give way to bunches of juicy, purplish black berries in early autumn. Birds love Elderberries and will eat entire crops if given the opportunity, so harvesting must be done quickly. Buy Celebration Herbals Organic Elderberry Herbal Tea Mushroom Wisdom Super Shiitake Tablets Paradise Imperial Mushroom Blend is a Full Spectrum hot water extracted concentrated formula. It provides a complete full spectrum with active levels of polysaccharides in the balanced ratio nature intended without isolating, fractionizing or using toxic solvents, harsh chemicals or gases to ensure all active and synergistic constituents are present. Buy Mushroom Wisdom Super Shiitake Tablets

We live in a world where fats—especially the saturated, animal-based variety—are falsely accused of being our greatest enemy. Meanwhile, the polyunsaturated fats, whose benefits are often celebrated, are not as good for our health as we have been led to believe. In fact, they can be very dangerous. Science has moved on since much of the erroneous “fat research” appeared some 40 years ago. But politically correct dietary advice and mainstream public consciousness has not. Health-supporting evidence has come to light. It’s vitally important you learn about it: A lot of saturated fats–which we have long been told are dangerous–are, in truth not dangerous at all. They do NOT cause heart disease as we have been taught. In truth they are GOOD for us. So are many other fats which our forefathers ate but which we have long been told to avoid. The trick is to choose the right kinds of these fats in your meals. When you do this, your body, health and looks will be revolutionized. THE BAD SCIENCE For generations, fats have been surrounded by all sorts of false beliefs. One of these is that “saturated fat is a prime cause of heart disease”. This theory is based on the 1950s ‘lipid hypothesis’, by the scientist Ancel Keys. This erroneous research greatly benefited the vegetable oil and food processing industries, who suppressed alternative views. Over sixty years later, many still believe it. Another myth: “The Western diet has increased in saturated fat over the last century”. This is absolutely wrong. In fact, the reverse is true. At the turn of the century, most people got their fatty acids from saturated or monounsaturated animal-based sources: Lard, butter, tallow, etc—and they were better off for it. But from 1910 to 1970 in the United States, the proportion of animal fats declined from 83 to 62%. Butter consumption went from 18 to 4 pounds per person per year, all because of the promotion of margarine manufacturers. What has increased is the amount of fats we’re taking in the form of refined vegetable oils, margarines and junk fats—by a whopping 400%—during the same period. And our health as a species continues to suffer. THE REAL CULPRITS Here’s something else that might shock you. Analysis of the fat in artery clogs reveals that only about 26% is saturated. The rest is mostly polyunsaturated! In actual fact, saturated fats are our heart’s preferred source of “food” to draw on under stress. They help our bodies perform many other functions too, building our cells, strengthening our bones and immune systems. As for polyunsaturated fats, most of which are in the form of omega-6 fatty acids, these tend to become rancid quickly when heated—such as during cooking or food processing. They then become a health-undermining source of free radicals, “marauders” inside our bodies. Polyunsaturates can do our body a great deal of harm, attacking our cells and damaging DNA. Little wonder that time after time, studies show a high link between consumption of these fats with cancer and heart disease. (Whether rancid or not, too much omega-6 in the diet is dangerous. This is just beginning to be discovered.) Yet most of the fats in modern diets come from these vegetable oils—with many diets consisting of up to 30% polyunsaturated fat. So don’t do yourself a disservice by believing what those P.C. diet gurus tell you. A good hard look at the evidence shows us quite the opposite is true. OUT OF WHACK - OMEGA 3 BENEFITS Omega-6 and omega 3 fatty acids, when in the right balance, help your body in all sorts of ways. They increase your cells’ sensitivity to insulin, helping your body regulate its blood sugar. They increase metabolic rate and fat metabolism, so more of your stored fat can be burnt as energy. Paleontologists have discovered that our ancestors consumed them in the ratio of 1:1 or 2:1 (omega-6 to omega 3 fatty acids). However today, in our Western diets, the balance between these two fatty acids has become all screwed up. Modern diets contain a ratio of about 22:1—far too high for optimal health. This excess can cause all sorts of problems, from weight gain to cancer. What can we do about it? For a start, you never have to worry about getting enough omega-6s. They’re everywhere. What you do need to do is increase your intake of omega 3 fatty acids]. A great way of doing this is to start taking a good-quality fish oil supplement. Good Fats and Bad Fats - GET SAVVY Another vital way to address the imbalance of good and bad fats in our diets is to get savvy about what oils we are using daily—in our cooking, baking, dressings, and everything else: Safflower, Corn, Sunflower, Soybean and Cottonseed Oils are very high in omega-6—over 50%—and are badly processed, using all sorts of nasty chemicals. Avoid them completely. Canola Oil has been associated with fibrotic heart lesions; is high in sulfur and easily turns rancid. Steer clear of it at all costs. Olive Oil is monounsaturated rather than polyunsaturated, so is the safest vegetable oil you can use. It’s well-suited to dressings and can be heated at moderate temperatures. Make sure it’s cloudy (not filtered) and a golden-yellow color. Sesame Oil is reasonably stable and can be used on occasion for frying. But don’t overdo it, as it is still high in omega-6. Coconut, Palm, Palm Kernel and Red Palm Oils are much more highly saturated than the other vegetable oils, so are the safest, healthiest oils you can cook with. Coconut oil in particular is very good for you, containing antiviral and antibacterial properties and plenty of medium chain triglycerides which support weight loss. BUTTER ‘EM UP If you’re like millions of others, you buy margarine in the belief that it’s “better for you” than butter. Here’s an order: Avoid it like the plague. The process used to make margarine, known as hydrogenization, does horrendous things to the already-rancid vegetable oils it is made from. Not only does it contain all sorts of additives you should steer clear of. It’s linked to both cancer and heart disease, and can cause chronic high cholesterol. On the other hand, natural, good quality butter contains many essential nutrients. In fact, it may be the only good source of fat-soluble vitamins in the American diet! Experiments comparing the health of margarine eaters with butter eaters continually find in butter’s favor: In one such study, the risk of developing heart disease in butter users was half that of those using margarine. Infants and children especially benefit from butter for their normal growth and development. Use this delicious stuff liberally—and without guilt—in the knowledge that it will do you no harm, and your body will thank you for it.

I have often found that great gifts come in small packages. This is why I’m so excited about bringing you my brand new little book Kick Colds which has just been published. For many, the cold and flu season brings nothing but misery. It doesn’t need to happen. This year, suffering can be optional. Kick Colds tells you how to clear cold symptoms, and then how to make some simple natural changes that can protect you from getting a cold afterwards. It shows you easy and effective natural ways to boost your immune system. It brings you simple, practical guidance on how to get shot of sniffles, coughs and nasty throats when they threaten. It teaches how making changes in the way you eat and calling on the best anti-viral herbs and nutrients available can help you thrive even if all around you people are succumbing to a cold. This little gem of a book is packed full of healing power—from specific herbs and nutrients to easy-to-carry-out techniques, helpers and healing tools that can work wonders. The earlier you get on to them, at the first sign of sniffle or cough, the faster they can bring relief. IF YOU ASK ME I hate colds. To me, colds are the nastiest of all common sicknesses—sheer misery. They make me depressed, constipated and bad-tempered. This is why I’ve spent a lot of time learning how not to catch a cold in the first place and. if the first sign of one threatens what is the most effective way to ward it off. The time I’ve spent researching this stuff has been well spent, since I literally can’t remember when I had the last cold. By now it must be several years. Before that I used to suffer the common cold’s miseries once or twice a year. Everything you’ll find in this book relies on the powers of nature. Standard methods of treating colds with drugs and antibiotics don’t work. Antibiotics are useless against a cold virus. They only target symptoms while driving wastes and toxicity associated with the infection deeper into the body, from which they are likely to emerge in the form of another ailment in the future. Colds are associated with anything up to 200 viruses. Viruses are weird—so small you can’t even see them under a normal microscope. Scientists still can’t decide if they are living things or not, since they don’t eat, use oxygen or eliminate wastes. What they do—in no uncertain terms—is reproduce inside your body. Anti-viral drugs are as scarce as hen’s teeth, and antibiotics can’t deal with viruses. Viruses are not able to replicate themselves without entering your own cells and altering their function. Once you learn how to keep a virus from invading your cells then you can stop colds and flu in their tracks. Giving your immune system a boost for the cold and flu season is the key to doing this. COLDS HAVE REASONS We come down with a cold for two reasons: First is that the body needs to eliminate the wastes and toxins it has been carrying around and a cold is the way it chooses to do this. Second because your immune system is much in need of a boost. Colds are a body’s way of getting rid of all the wastes and toxins it has collected from our modern life filled with convenience foods, stress, inactivity and pollution. Keep your body free of toxins, and you need never have to go through the misery of a cold again. By this I don’t mean living in a plastic bubble and eating like a rabbit. It’s just common sense. Learn which foods support your body’s own ability to clear waste day by day, and avoid eating foods that put more toxins into it. Kick Colds tells you how to make simple changes to what and how you eat that shift metabolism in powerful ways so it can you free from becoming cold-fodder. LEARN TO FIGHT BACK Your immune system is a complex network of specialized cells and processes which form your body’s natural defense against invasion, poison and disease. It is like an elaborate, highly organized secret police in a totalitarian country which, together with its special branch of armed militia, has the job of ensuring that absolutely everything foreign is kept out. There are two sides to immunity: the secret police themselves—humoral immunity; and the militia—cell-mediated immunity. Your humoral immunity collects a vast log of thousands of antibodies throughout your lifetime which it has created in response to specific viruses, chemicals, bacteria and foreign substances which have invaded your system. As we now know, there are around 200 different viruses associated with the common cold. When your body is invaded by a new one it is the militia, the cell-mediated immunity, which goes out to fight it. This part of your immune system is centered around specialized cells called T-cell and B-cell lymphocytes. Build it up, and you have an in-built resistance to infection. A healthy immune system can stop a virus in its tracks. There’s plenty you can do to keep yours in peak condition. Become aware when your immune system is being breached, and act quickly to heal the invasion. Don’t even wait for the first sneeze. Take action now to nip it in the bud. FOOD CHANGE FOR INSTANT RELIEF To clear a cold fast, stop eating all grains, sugars, starchy vegetables and foods made out of them. Ready-in-a-minute pre-cooked meals, junk foods and even the standard meat-and-two veg Western meals can fill you with rubbish and create catarrh. They introduce your digestive system to the most difficult of all foods for it to break down and make use of: concentrated carbohydrates (e.g. breads, cereals, starchy vegetables and sugars of all kinds). Convenience foods and junk foods are also grossly deficient in essential nutrients, further inhibiting your body’s ability to eliminate waste. If your first response to all this is to say ‘How ridiculous, I’ve been eating bread and potatoes for years and they’ve never done me any harm!’ think back to how many colds you’ve had in your life. The digestive system of anyone who lives on manufactured foods or who chronically overeats doesn’t function normally because it remains in a state of permanent stimulation. Many people in this state eventually develop chronic fatigue, unrelenting hunger or food cravings, as their body calls out for the essential vitamins and minerals it is lacking. Poor digestion triggers metabolic slow-down, you lose energy, gain weight easily, and come down with frequent minor illnesses like colds and flu. INSIDE STORY My goal in writing Kick Colds has been to share with you tried and tested inside information, natural remedies, tools, and techniques both for banishing a cold if you’ve caught one, as well as helping you develop an immune system of the highest order. I’d love to see you enhance your wellbeing so well that, when someone asks you “When did you last have a cold?,” you’ll be able to look them straight in the eye and answer, “I’m not sure... it must be a few years back by now.” It can be great fun when, having tucked under your belt all you need to know to keep from catching colds, the last cold you had was so long ago that you can’t quite remember it.

I love high quality herbal products you can rely on to do the job when you need some help. I have just discovered one such product on iHerb.com. It’s called Arctic Root. I use it when I feel stressed, need mental clarity and have a sense I could do with some more stamina. A proprietary blend centered around SHR-5 extract of Rhodiola rosea root, Arctic Root was awarded Product of the Year by the Swedish Health Council four years in a row. A creation of the Swedish Health Institute—a world leader in natural immune support and adaptogens with more than 35 years of research—Arctic Root is a real find. An adaptogenic plant means a plant capable of strengthening an organism's "non-specific resistance" to aging, illness and fatigue. Adaptogens include many 'rejuvenating' plants such as ginseng, damiana, and sarsaparilla - all of which are capable of enhancing the body's ability to adapt itself to all forms of stress while at the same time normalizing its biochemical activities. The product comes in a packet of 40 capsules at one of iHerb.com’s ridiculously low prices—US$10 when the product retails elsewhere at US$16.55. Even Aaron, whom I convinced to try it, was impressed by the support it brings him. Original Arctic Root Rhodiola Rosea The recommended dose is 2 capsules a day—one in the morning and the other later in the day—so I order three packs at a time. iHerb ship worldwide so fast that it sometimes makes my head spin and their shipping costs are the lowest anywhere. Order Original Arctic Root Rhodiola Rosea from iherb ORDERING FROM IHERB.COM: If you decide to order any products from Iherb.com, you will automatically receive $5 or $10 off your first order. Their products are the cheapest and best in the world…I use them for everything no matter where I am. Get it sent to you via DHL. It will be with you in three to four working days… iHerb.com ship all over the world very cheaply.

Many of the most beautiful meals will be found on the ageless aging table. The variety of colors, textures, tastes and culinary experiences which delicious natural foods offer to anyone with an interest in food preparation and a love of fine cuisine at the very least equals the best traditional cooking. Eating fresh foods rich in `life force' in a high-raw way of eating means that your taste-buds, sense of smell and aesthetic awareness of food become dramatically heightened so that the appreciation of all that you eat can be greater than ever before. From being someone who used to love fresh cream and rich sauces I've become infinitely more appreciative of the fine flavors implicit in ageless aging cuisine. And I love it. Not only because I look younger, feel better all round and have infinitely more energy than before, but because the experience of eating itself has become so much more delightful. Most of us eat far too much and we dull our senses and our appreciation of food in the process. Even the most subtle of Beethoven's late quartets begins to dull the senses when you have too much of it. So can too much food even if it is the very best. Ageless aging cuisine revives them. Put your kitchen scales away and forget the complex routine for preparing a béchamel sauce.  It’s not conventional directions that matter when preparing foods, it is a passion for the foods themselves – a feeling reflected in our passion for the earth and life itself.  It’s good because it tastes good.  Such passion, which is visual, visceral and luscious, becomes the inspiration that, in food preparation, leads you automatically to make certain choices.  Open wide your kitchen window.  Welcome in the breezes of experiment, wit and spontaneity.  Inside, you find the traditional meal of roast meal and boiled Brussels sprouts topped off with a piece of sticky toffee pudding replaced by something far more hedonistic: slivers of raw Pacific salmon, luscious garden-fresh salad, followed by a winter sorbet of cranberry and mint.  The real joy in eating fresh, light foods lies in their taste, their texture and the remarkable ability they have to bring excitement to a palate jaded by too many highly processed, unimaginatively seasoned or over-cooked dishes. sheer energy I look on food as a source of both delight and life-energy which is passed on to us from the earth.  I believe this energy needs to be preserved by not cooking food too much, by eating it fresh and by respecting its essential nature.  Food eaten this way becomes a medium through which we build our own vitality – energy to protect the body from premature aging and illness, to enhance good looks and to keep the mind clear.  It is the life-energy present in abundance in fresh foods and the clean, simple protein from fish, game, organic meat and poultry that makes these foods irresistible and helps us look and feel great. The most significant change to human diets in two million years began with the agricultural revolution, when man went from a carbohydrate-poor to a carbohydrate-rich diet.  The more that these carbohydrates have become refined in the past 300 years, the more problems they have caused us, not only in terms of burgeoning obesity worldwide but also in the development of the chronic degenerative diseases of civilization.   The thing to remember is that when you eat low-starch vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, asparagus and cauliflower, or proteins such as fish, meat and eggs, the levels of glucose in the blood (blood sugar) rise very slowly and modestly.  On the other hand, when you eat what are known as high-glycemic foods - starchy foods, simple carbohydrates, sugars - like a muffin, pasta, breakfast cereal or ice cream, blood sugar soars, then crashes as insulin is released in order to lower your blood sugar.  You can end up feeling hungry even though you've just eaten a meal, crave sweets and biscuits, and reach for a cup of coffee and a cake mid-morning just to keep going.  High insulin levels, by the way, suppress human growth hormone essential for healthy muscle tissue, making you look flabby and older. The most important foods are fresh non-starchy vegetables, fresh fruits, and proteins like meat, seafood, eggs and game.  A little unprocessed cheese is fine too and a few nuts and seeds.  Go for nothing but the best.  Here are a few guidelines: Choose natural whole foods – organically grown/raised if possible Your foods need to be as fresh as possible and eaten as close to a living state as you can.  This allows little time for the deterioration that occurs as a result of oxidation. All the foods you eat should be non-toxic and non-polluting to your body.  They should contain no synthetic flavours, colors, preservatives or other additives used to ‘enhance’ them cosmetically.  Stay away from convenience foods. Try to vary the foods you choose from day to day and week to week.  All through our evolution the human body has adapted to a wide range of foods offering a broad spectrum of nutrients. Use fresh garlic and herbs often.  They bring high-level support for cellular regeneration and immune support. Eat what you enjoy and enjoy what you eat.  Eating is one of life’s great pleasures – make it one of yours. make way for a new lifestyle Eating for ageless aging leads most people to a totally new way of living. You become more alert and more active. You will probably sleep less yet far better than before. This is because your whole system will be far clearer of toxicity than before and you will need less time for tissue repair and restoration than you do on a normal diet. You will also probably find that you are better able to deal with stress than ever. This way of eating provides you with high levels of potassium and rapidly restores the sodium-potassium balance in most people. This leads to increased resistance to fatigue and a greater feeling of calm stability day in day out. It may also set you slightly apart from your gravy-eating, hard-drinking friends and may even have them feeling slightly suspicious of you in the beginning. But it has been my experience that as soon as they find you are not trying to sell them anything - that you have a live-and-let-live attitude to whatever they do - they show a similar respect for your new lifestyle. In fact, the people who have been the most resistant to what you are doing and the most opinionated are very often the ones who are first to become intrigued about what an ageless aging lifestyle might offer them. And they are usually the ones with the energy and interest to carry it out. Day 1 RAW DISHES: melon; cauliflower and tomatoes mixed with red peppers and lettuce salad topped with Avocado Delight Dressing (see blow). COOKED DISHES: Steamed fish; wok-fried beans and peas; brown rice. Day 2 RAW DISHES: lamb's lettuce, celeriac and wild-herb salad topped with chopped egg dressing; fresh pears and plumped raisins. COOKED DISHES: Garlic Chicken Soup; steamed baby carrots and basil; young peas with mint. Day 3 RAW DISHES: mushrooms, watercress and chicory salad topped with Basil and More Basil Dressing; Mulled Stuffed Apples (see below). COOKED DISHES:  Fabulous Fish Soup. Day 4 RAW DISHES: `Sunburst' platter of avocado, beetroot, cos lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, celery and peppers served with raw humus (see below). COOKED DISHES: carrot and coriander soup; or venison burgers; Scottish oatcakes; Pineapple Blackberry Frappe. Day 5 RAW DISHES: `Jungle Slaw' salad made from cabbage, tender green beans, carrots, spring onions, red or yellow pepper and almonds served with a citrus dressing. COOKED DISHES:  Lightly grilled salmon and steamed green beans. Day 6 RAW DISHES: gazpacho; pineapple salad stuffed with orange, mango, papaya and strawberries and topped with coconut. COOKED DISHES: Hand Made Sausages (see below). Day 7 RAW DISHES: `Sandstone Loaf' made from carrots, lemon juice, almonds, pumpkin seeds, tahini and herbs; apple and ginger salad; home made blackberry sorbet. COOKED DISHES: Flax Crackers (see below) with humus. small meals For breakfast - or for that matter instead of lunch or supper when you want a small meal - you can't do better than a bowl of fruit muesli. If you have never tasted real muesli (and it bears no resemblance to the flaky sweet stuff you can buy on the shelves of supermarkets) you have a real treat ahead of you. Fruit muesli was the invention of Swiss physician Max Bircher-Benner who devised it as the perfect light meal. It is a delicious and easy-to-digest completely uncooked dish which can contain all of the essential vitamins and minerals, and which is an excellent source of high-quality complete proteins and essential fatty acids. It can provide you with sustaining energy but will never lie heavily in your stomach. And it can be made low in calories. Real muesli (often called Birchermuesli after its inventor) is not a grain-based but a fruit-based dish with only a very small quantity of top-quality fresh wholegrain flakes in it. It is usually made with apples and oats but there are so many varieties which you can make, calling on whatever fresh or dried fruits and whatever kinds of grains, nuts and seeds you have available, that you could quite literally eat it twice a day all the year round and never get tired of it. Children absolutely adore Birchermuesli both as a complete breakfast and as a sweet after a main meal. A small bowl of muesli in the morning will keep you going all the way to lunch with none of the `elevenses slump' that has many people reaching for a cup of coffee and a pastry or a chocolate bar. It is also an excellent food to eat in the evening since it is so easy to digest that it never interferes with sleep. I do a lot of traveling and for many years I dreaded having to stay in hotels because the food available in so many hotel dining-rooms is so poor. I have got into the habit of carrying with me a small `muesli bag' with a hand grater in it plus some grain flakes and minced nuts and a small bowl so I can make my own breakfast or supper whenever I want and not be forced to eat what I don't want just because there is nothing else. Here is the basic recipe: bircher muesli For each person you'll need: I level tablespoon rolled oats soaked in 4 tablespoons water I heaped tablespoon raisins or sultanas I tablespoon lemon juice 3 tablespoons natural unsweetened yogurt I large apple ½ banana I teaspoon raw honey (if desired) or pure stevia to taste I tablespoon minced hazelnuts and almonds or other mixed seeds and nuts I pinch cinnamon (if desired) Soak the rolled oats and raisins in water, preferably overnight. This begins to break down the starch present in the grains and turn it into natural sugar so it is easily assimilated. If you have no time to soak the grains then simply mix with the water (you will need slightly less water in this case) and carry on immediately. Wash the apple(s) and remove core and stem but don't peel. Then, using a stainless-steel hand grater or a food processor, grate the apple into the mixture and, stirring, add lemon juice to protect it from discoloring. Cut the banana into small cubes, add to the mixture with the honey (if desired) and mix with yogurt. Sprinkle the top with the minced nuts and a little cinnamon if you like. Instead of rolled oats you can use other cereal flakes such as barley, millet or buckwheat. These are available from wholefood shops. I find I don't usually add honey to my muesli because it is so beautifully sweet already, thanks to the soaked grains and fruit. You can also make muesli with soft fruit such as strawberries or raspberries, loganberries, red and black currants, blackberries or blueberries as well as with apricots, cherries, peaches, plums or greengages. Or you can mix your fruits together. Also you can make the muesli from dried fruit which has been soaked for twelve hours or overnight in spring water. But make sure you get sun-dried not sulfur dried fruits to which no glucose has been added (it is commonly added to figs for instance) or you can end up with a gastrointestinal upset. seasoning and spices Make use of all of the wonderful culinary herbs that are available: And the list of seductive possibilities seems almost endless: caraway, fennel, dill, chervil, parsley, lovage - the Umberiferae; summer savory, marjoram, the mints, rosemary, and thyme-the labiates, which have a strong aroma and are particularly useful for seasoning; the Liliaceae such as garlic, onions, chives and leeks; and three of my favorites, basil and tarragon and horseradish. Herbs have a special role to play in any ageless aging regime. They contain pharmacologically active substances such as volatile oils, tannins, bitter factors, secretins, balsams, resins, mucilages, glycosides and organic vegetable acids each of which can contribute to overall health in a different way. The tannins, for instance, which occur in many common kitchen herbs, are astringent and have an anti-inflammatory action on the digestive system. They help inhibit fermentation and decomposition. The secretins stimulate the secretion of pancreatic enzymes - particularly important for the complete breakdown of proteins in foods to make them available for bodily use. Organic acids have an antibiotic action and are helpful in the digestion of fats and the bitter factors, which are found in good quantity in rosemary, marjoram and fennel. They also act as a tonic to the smooth muscles of the gut and boost secretion of digestive enzymes. Use herbs lavishly in your meals and you will find you can create the most remarkable combinations of subtle flavors and aromas. drink yourself younger Coffee, although not completely forbidden on any serious program of ageless aging, is not something to drink daily. The occasional cup after dinner is not likely to do much harm. More than that and you are really undermining your potential for age-retardation not only because it contains mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds which cause oxy-stress and free radical damage but also because regular coffee tends to make cadmium (one of the heavy metals) build up in your system and can interfere with proper pancreatic functioning. It also leeches calcium from the bones. Tea is OK in moderation - no more than a cup or two a day - but there are other drinks which are not only good for you, they can be highly enjoyable as well. Alcohol is another substance you want to go easy on. Not only is it very high in calories yet practically worthless in terms of the nutrients it supplies, it also causes your liver to produce one of the most potent cross-linkers known - acetaldehyde. A glass or two of wine can be easily accommodated. More than that as a daily intake is likely to seriously undermine your effort. And make sure it is good wine. The run of the mill vin de table is full of toxic substances which your cells can do without. You'll find some delicious mixtures of herbs in ready-made tea bags if you comb through a few delicatessens and healthfood stores. Some of my favorites have names like Cinnamon, Rose, Almond Sunset, Creamy French Vanilla, and Red Zinger. They are great to drink for pleasure and refreshment the way most people drink coffee and ordinary tea. But there are others which are quite wonderful simply because they affect the body in specific ways. Lemon verbena, for instance, is a refreshing sedative, chamomile soothes the digestive tract, and both horsetail and solidago (goldenrod) are excellent natural diuretics. The teas I like best just before bed are orange blossom, which you make by boiling a few blossoms for 2-3 minutes in two cups of water, red bergamot and lemon peel, all of which are natural sedatives. This last tea comes from an Italian tradition. You make it by peeling the outer yellow skin off a lemon (which has been washed well) with a potato peeler. Pour boiling water over this and let steep for 5 minutes. Then strain and drink. a few recipes to play with Avocado Delight Dressing 1 avocado, peeled and stoned Juice of 1 lemon Juice of ½ orange 1 small onion, chopped finely 1 garlic clove, chopped finely Handful of fresh herbs – mint, parsley or basil Freshly ground black pepper to taste Blend all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and serve. Italian Herb Dressing 100ml extra-virgin oliv oil 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1-2oz fresh basil, chopped 1 tsp Marigold Swiss Vegetable Buillon or Rapunzel Organic Vegetable Bouillon Powder Freshly ground black pepper to taste Mix all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth, adjusting the flavour as necessary. Garlic Chicken Soup (serves 1) 150g lean, skinless chicken breast, but into small cubes 1 tsp fresh chopped garlic 1 level teaspoon Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon or Rapunzel Organic Vegetable Bouillon Powder 2 teaspoons chopped parsley and/or ½ teaspoon lemongrass or ½ teaspoon mild curry powder 180 ml water Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 3-5 minutes and serve. Fabulous Fish Soup (serves 1) 360ml water 1 teaspoon Marigold Swiss Vegetable Buillon or Rapunzel Organic Vegetable Bouillon Powder ½ tsp fresh chopped garlic ½ tsp chopped onion 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil or ½ tsp dried basil 1 cup broccoli 150g white fish ¼ tsp paprika Himalayan or Malvern salt to taste Pepper, to taste Put the bouillon powder, water, garlic, onion and basil in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Add the broccoli and cook for 5 minutes with the lid on.  Place the rish on top of the broccoli and sprinkel with paprika, salt and pepper.  Put the lid on and cook for another 5 minutes. Raw Humus 2 cups sprouted chick peas Juice of 3 lemons 1 tsp Marigold Swiss Vegetable Buillon or Rapunzel Organic Vegetable Bouillon Powder 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 3 tbsp tahini 3 tbsp chopped spring onions or chives Water to thin if too thick Put the ingredients, except the onions or chives, in a food processor or blender and blend thoroughly.  Top with the chives or onions. Hand-made Sausages 350g lean minced pork, chicken, lamb, beef, venison or wild boar 1 tsp Himalayan or Malvern salt, to taste 2 tbsp gram flour (chickpea flour) 4 cloves garlic (optional) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, coriander or sage ½ large onion, finely chopped Combine all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl and ix thoroughly with your hands.  Refrigerate until well chilled then separate into patties and cook in an oiled skilled until crunchy on the surface and cooked through. Flax Crackers 240g faxseed meal (or buy whole flaxseeds and grind them) 240ml water 30ml tamari or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce Himalayan or Malvern salt, to taste Fresh minced herbs A little chopped garlic Ginger, chilli powder, or cayenne pepper (optional) Combine the flaxseed meal with the water and let it soak for 1 ½ hours.  The water will change to a sort of gelatinous state.  Add a little more water if necessary, you want it to be gooey but not too runny or too thick.  Add the tamari, salt, herbs and garlic (or other flavourings).  Blend together.  Spread the mixture out, about 1/8 inch thick, and cut into squares.  Carefully lift the squares onto a wire mesh and bake in a slow oven until crunchy.  You can also make them in a dehydrator - dehydrate them for 4-6 hours, turn the mixture and dehydrate for a further 3-4 hours. Mulled Stuffed Apples (serves 2) Most of the nutritional value of an apple lies in its skin, or just below it, so wash apples well but don’t peel them. Softish apples are best for this recipe as their insides have to be scooped out. 100ml grape juice or red wine ½ tsp cinnamon 2 cloves ¼  tsp nutmeg 1 crushed white cardamom pod ¼ tsp allspice 75g blanched almonds 2 large apples Squeeze of lemon juice handful dates or raisins ‘Mull’ the grape juice or wine by putting it in a bowl with the spices and leaving for at least an hour.  Discard the cloves and cardamom and blend the remaining mixture with the almonds in a food processor or blender.  Slice the tops off the apples and keep them.  Remove the cores, saving small pieces to plug the bottoms.  Scoop out the apple pulp, leaving a shell about 1cm thick. Lightly blend the pulp with the juice and the almond mixture until smooth, adding a squeeze of lemon juice.  If the mixture is not thick enough, add a few more ground almonds.  Chop the dates or raisins and fill the apple shells with the dried fruit and almond mixture.  Replace the ‘lids’. Or, make stuffed apples with apple sauce and blackberries.  Blend the apple pulp with a little lemon juice, stevia and spices then combine it with the blackberries and spoon into the apple shells. Pineapple Blackberry Frappe This makes a wonderfully refreshing dessert as it stands, or it can be chiled to serve as a cool sorbet on hot summer days. 2 cups fresh pineapple chunks ½ cup blackberries Juice of ½ lime Place all the ingredients in a blender and liquidise.  Serve immediately.