Penguin Books Australia

OK, I admit it. I am passionate about what goes into your body. I wasn't always like this through. Years ago I ate only foods that were frozen, or in a plastic packet, and I could not get through the day without my daily ration of crisps and chocolate bars. Growing up in the Highlands of Scotland, I loved my diet of mince and potatoes, fish and chips, custard and jam rolls.

And then I fell in love with an American, a health nut. I went to live near his home in Philadelphia, but I refused to let his weird ways influence my normal lifestyle. That is, until my 24th birthday, which is when everything changed. My boyfriend surprised me with an envelope. All it said on the card was that I was 'going on a long journey to a special place' on my special day. At that very moment, I had no idea as to just how long my journey would be. We jumped in the car and began the very long drive to an undisclosed location. During the six-hour-long drive, I imagined luxury hotel rooms with hot tubs, perhaps overlooking the mountains or prairie, by a river or a hot spring. After a few hours on the highway, I spotted a sign blaring, 'New York State Welcomes You'. I then started to imagine visiting the Empire State Building, Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, staying on 5th Avenue or Madison Avenue. My heart was pounding with anticipation. This Scottish lassie was on her way to the 'Big Apple' in this big country with this big man. Wow, what a birthday!

Just before the seventh hour we arrived at our destination. No Big Apple, no mountains and certainly no hot tub in sight.

"We are going to a macrobiotic lunch for your birthday," Mr America shockingly gushes.

"To a what?" I shoot back.

"You'll see," he calmly assures.

We entered a ramshackle hut filled with dozens of people sitting around makeshift folding tables and folding chairs with paper plates and plastic forks. The setting looked more appropriate for a tots' tea party, but here were adults of all ages, clearly from al I walks of life; some dressed smartly and sophisticated, others casual and relaxed. Was my boyfriend part of some scary cult, I wondered? My parents warned me about things like this before I left Scotland.

The programme finally commences. The keynote speaker, Elaine Nussbaum, a slight, soft-spoken slender lady with the most sincere eyes and a strong New York accent and author of a small underground book, titled Recovery, is introduced. She begins to tell her story and it turns out to be the most profound story of my life. I listen in disbelief first, then awe, and finally inspiration and hope.

Elaine was given two weeks to live. Every bone in her body had been riddled with cancer and she could barely walk, talk, breathe, sit or stand. The hospital sent her home to die. They could do no more for her.

On her deathbed, a friend decided to spoon-feed her an esoteric diet, called 'macrobiotic'. This incorporated natural vegetarian foods like brown rice, green vegetables, seeds, seaweeds, beans and lots of soy or 'miso' soups. Within one month, Elaine began to regain strength. Within two months, she felt like she was no longer ill.

She then went back to the hospital for tests and the doctors discovered that her cancer had disappeared in full. They had never seen anything like it, and I had never heard of anything so incredible. That's when my journey began, when I realised just how powerful food is. We indeed are what we eat. I was suffering with a litany of normal health complaints that we all know too well when we work and play too hard. I had headaches, tiredness, body pains, aches, spots on my face, I suffered from candidiasis, an insidious yeast infection and I was over my ideal body weight. When I stopped long enough to genuinely think about it, I realised that I was one of the least healthy persons I knew.

Today I see the same parallels with my own patients at the McKeith Clinic in London. When patients first arrive, they are usually poor eaters, many are overweight, and some are at crisis point. My goal with you, as with my patients, is to get you to know what is best for you to eat, and which foods will help you to lose weight, stay slim and improve your health for life.

You really can do it if you follow my plan. Do much of what I tell you most of the time, and you will surely be healthier, fitter, stronger, sexier and happier. That's my promise to you. I have treated literally thousands of people with fantastic, unprecedented results. People will travel from every region of the globe to get help. I've seen patients from just about every nationality and walk of life, including Hollywood stars, royalty, world leaders, footballers, and Olympic athletes. But they're mostly people like you and me. And they all have one thing in common: all of them, regardless of their background, are made up of what they eat! And those who eat horribly are generally, and not surprisingly, sicker than those who eat healthily.

My patients often have different goals: the athlete, for example, may want to achieve better performance; the housewife may need more energy; the office worker may need to strengthen their adrenal glands to be able to handle stress; the elderly man may need more constitutional support, and so on. But in every case, the food that goes in becomes the body's medicine, and if you feed your body the wrong stuff it'll simply lay down fat, lower your energy, sex drive, even your brain power.

In picking up this book you have taken the all-important first step on the road back to a slimmer, healthier you. You can choose the wrong drug or my correct prescription. It's your choice, but if you make the right decision your body is really going to thank you for it. And this is a prescription for the whole family, too, so don't feel isolated. It's simply going to be about changing a few habits and recognizing the harm that certain foods are inflicting on you.

After more than 15 years in clinical practice, I have found that the people who take decent care of their bodies, and eat the right foods, are generally the healthiest specimens. They are stabilized at their natural, healthy weight plus they are more energized, have better sex lives, are more relaxed about life, enjoy smarter brain function and are even, on balance, happier. This can be you too.

To a large extent, this book is about discovery and knowledge. If I can educate you and turn you on to the right foods, then you will have the best chance of being slim, well and healthy. I want you to benefit from my many years of research and successful treatments on thousands of people. Anyone can do it – just let me show you how.