The principles of a healthy diet are simple: eat whole, colourful, mostly plant-based foods, including quality fats and plenty of fibre, and treat meat and fish as luxury items rather than staples. You’ll see this theme is woven throughout this book and I’ll also be dissecting exactly why these are so important by showing how this way of eating affects different conditions and parts of our body. Using the lens of science, the hundreds of research papers I’ve read and a good dose of common sense, I aim to demonstrate exactly why our food can be so impactful on healthcare today.

      Although I touched on the clear link between food and overall health in the first book, here I examine in more depth how food affects our mental health, making us think more clearly as well as protecting us from disease. I discuss the impact of nutrition on skin quality and even how our eyes are affected by diet. It’s a fascinating and overwhelming field, but after reading these chapters you’re going to be even more motivated to eat well for life, and the simple recipes to complement the science will ease you into a deliciously healthy lifestyle.

      On this journey we’re going to be talking about how simple changes to what you eat can protect and amplify your body’s own defences against ill health. Your immune system can be thought of as a complex network of specialised proteins, specific parts of the body and the population of microbes concentrated in your gut. I’ll walk you through how nourishing our bodies with incredible, accessible ingredients can ensure the correct functioning of our immune systems. What’s more exciting, however, is that the food choices I encourage you to make are culturally diverse and vibrant. The complex flavours found in widely available spices, for example, not only deliver exceptional taste, but have clear benefits to our health.

      Most healthy-eating books concentrate on heart health and weight, but it’s not commonly recognised that lifestyle and nutrition can impact the most important organ in your body – the brain. I’ll be introducing you to a way of eating that embraces quality fats plus a variety of colourful and exciting ingredients that have scientifically recognised benefits for the brain. Eating a diet according to these principles helps protect you from one of the worst diagnoses we as doctors have to deliver – dementia – while helping you achieve a sharper, clearer mind.

      I’ll also talk through the concepts of inflammation and oxidative stress, and tackle the uncomfortable subject of cancer. By covering all these topics, I hope to convince you that your diet is not simply something to manipulate to improve your aesthetic appearance or weight. We can certainly achieve those results with our lifestyle, but it is so much more important than just this. It is the very foundation for a happy life and for improving every aspect of your body’s function.

      ‘By approaching disease with a holistic perspective, of which food is a vital part, we can tackle the root causes of disease and help our patients truly live well.’

      I have high aspirations to create a movement that considers food as medicine. I mean this in the most literal sense. I am not a naturopath nor an alternative care practitioner. I’m an NHS GP with an interest in emergency medicine. But I recognise that there is a lot we as conventional physicians can learn from the lifestyle principles of ancient medicine. By approaching disease with a holistic perspective, of which food is a vital part, we can tackle the root causes of disease and help our patients truly live well. Our plates are more powerful than pills and it is a key starting point for lifestyle changes that can protect against disease and boost our health.

      Medicine is changing. Our global healthcare systems are struggling under the weight of treating lifestyle-related disease; without a lifestyle-related solution we must really address how we tackle this uncertain landscape. Now that we understand the molecular mechanisms by which dietary and lifestyle factors can affect chronic inflammation, mental health and the immune system we can confidently encourage nutrition as a health strategy. Judging from the medical conferences I attend globally, there has never been more interest in nutritional science and I’m hopeful that the future of modern healthcare has an immense focus on this subject.

      Since writing my last book, Culinary Medicine UK has taken shape and a few medical schools are pioneering this method of teaching their students the foundations of clinical nutrition, as well as how to cook. Governments across the world are seriously considering nutrition training as part of public schooling, and cooking classes for patients could become part of treatment within the healthcare system. This is the future of medicine and I’m glad to see it unfold in small steps, but we need to accelerate its adoption. By purchasing this book, reading it and applying it to your own life you are now part of this conversation and contributing to the mission.

      I believe my role as a health professional is to increase your awareness of the choices that will benefit your health. What you’ll find in this book is a diverse selection of recipes bursting with flavour, which will help empower you to make healthy meal choices that are easy to put into practice and infinitely beneficial to your wellbeing. They will focus on Speed, Simplicity of ingredients, incredible Flavour and high Nutritional value. This combination of information and recipes will keep you in flourishing health and I’m certain that you will find this way of life fulfilling and achievable.

      As well as showing you the benefits of food, I’ve highlighted ‘Lifestyle 360’ changes that are relevant to each subject discussed in the chapters. I’ll be talking through the evidence behind deep breathing exercises, meditation practices and the importance of sleep and exercise through the lens of different conditions. It’s essential that everybody reading this understands