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PREFACE

‘LET FOOD BE THY
MEDICINE AND MEDICINE
BE THY FOOD.’

Hippocrates

THE IDEA FOR EAT YOURSELF BEAUTIFUL was born from the hundreds of beauty and fitness questions I’ve been asked over the past 12 years as an international model. My career began when I was crowned Miss World in southern China in 2003 at the age of 19. Being immersed in an industry so obsessed with outward appearance, I fully believed that the various lotions, creams and serums I smeared on my face, hair and body were the key to glowing skin, luscious locks and eternal youth. The many make-up artists, hair stylists and other beauty professionals I worked with would excitedly talk about the outstanding benefits of whatever miracle products were the current cult favourites being touted by the racks of girly mags in every newsagent. So of course I bought into it all and spent a small fortune. I didn’t know any better and I believed the hype.

Beauty products do have their place and can make a big difference to our appearance and self-confidence. But much like the drugs of modern medicine, they tend to cover up any issues or symptoms rather than get to the source of the problem. As a teenager and in my early 20s, I spent many nights covering my spots with a blob of Sudocrem without thinking about why I was getting persistent pimples in the first place. It didn’t occur to me that an internal imbalance might be causing my breakouts. It was only when I began my training as a nutritional therapist in 2010 that I began to study and really understand the inner workings of the human body, a magnificent creation. It dawned on me that we literally are what we eat. Eating your vegetables to grow up big and strong isn’t just a line repeated to us by frustrated parents at the dinner table. It’s really true! As our biggest organ, our skin is a true reflection of the internal health of our body, and who doesn’t want healthy, glowing, beautiful skin?

I have answered so many questions from all sorts of people about the secrets to good skin, hair, nails, energy and weight loss. They all want to know what products to buy, what foundation is best for a perfect complexion and how to lose weight without feeling hungry. And my answer is simple: your diet is the best beauty secret you possess. You are in control of everything that goes into your body. All you need is a little time and patience to allow your body to heal and reap the numerous benefits of my tried and trusted way of eating, designed to give you the body, skin and hair you have always dreamed of. Best of all, it really isn’t complicated.

I understand how intimidating it can be to navigate the seemingly endless world of nutrition brands, superfoods, supplement powders, vitamin pills, high-protein diets, low-carb diets, fat and weight loss, so I have explained it all for you in this book. Whether you eat meat or just plants, are watching the pennies or are happy to spend, my advice suits every taste, budget and lifestyle. This isn’t about restriction. I don’t count calories or ever go hungry, and I don’t expect you to either. My food and health philosophy is all about eating high-quality, nutrient-dense foods that nourish your body and help to regulate your appetite, weight, hormones and cravings naturally. You will be feeling fully satisfied and bursting with health, vitality and boundless energy.

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It’s a true work of love and the result of many years spent on a food and health journey. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and have asked more questions than I’ve answered at times, but it has been absolutely worth it. I am delighted to share this journey with you as you bring out your most beautiful self.

In beautiful health,

Rosanna x

INTRODUCTION: MY STORY

‘THE FOOD YOU EAT CAN BE EITHER THE
SAFEST AND MOST POWERFUL FORM OF
MEDICINE OR THE SLOWEST FORM OF
POISON.’ Ann Wigmore

AS A LITTLE GIRL, my family called me ‘the cream monster’. I was utterly in love with the taste and texture of whipped cream and ate it on everything from my grandmother’s homemade treacle tarts and apple pies to bowls of crackling Rice Krispies and even with a side of gravy, mash and peas! At least I was an active child and my mum made sure we ate a healthy diet most of the time, with plenty of home-grown fruit and vegetables. At that age, I naturally had no idea of the impact of nutrition on the human body.

For most people, food serves two purposes: it should taste good and it should fill you up, providing energy. Big multinational food and drink corporations have made billions selling us taste and energy. Indeed, food should tick those boxes. Food that doesn’t taste good won’t exactly fly off the shelves. But the most important purpose of food is nourishment. The trillions of cells in our bodies all rely on certain nutrients to be delivered to them every single day via our bloodstream to help keep us alive. You literally are what you eat.

I clearly remember the first time I made the connection between what was on my plate and what my body was made from, and it was drawn from my lifelong love of animals.

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Rosanna with granny Maeve Davison, brothers Hubie and Michael and dog Milly in 1995

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Rosanna with cousin Genevieve Davison, friend Sarah and pet lambs

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Sarah, Genevieve and Rosanna with pet lambs

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Rosanna and dog Milly

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Rosanna with Harley Davison

My wonderful grandmother Maeve Davison, a former spy in the Cold War (yes, really!) and now a retired farmer, used to own a large flock of sheep. Each Easter, my parents brought me and my two younger brothers to her Wexford farm for a week or two, where we would help out with lambing season. All the heavily pregnant ewes were housed in a large barn, each in a spacious pen with a cosy straw bed, which we dubbed The Shepherd’s Hotel. With the help of the farmhand, I used to get stuck in with the lambing, rolling up my sleeves and pulling out a tiny squealing newborn. Bringing a new life into the world was a magical feeling. Some lambs were either rejected by their mothers or were orphaned if their mum died during the birth, so I was always given a number of lambs to care for in the first few weeks of their lives. A few times a day, I would prepare bottles of warm milk to hand-feed to the newborns.

One Sunday, I was called in for lunch with the family. Sitting down at the big country kitchen table, I was handed a large plate of roast lamb. I remember staring at the plate and then looking down at my own body, thinking that I’d just spent a couple of hours hand-feeding this tiny creature, and then I was expected to eat one, which would then become part of my own body. For an 11-year-old girl, it was a big moment of realisation. I pushed the plate away and haven’t eaten red meat since.

It was an ethical decision, but it ignited my interest in the huge effect that food has on how you look and feel. While I always ate the vegetarian option at school, I did eat chicken at home from time to time. But it just never felt right and I became completely vegetarian at the age of 19. Going vegetarian meant that I had to find more creative ways to eat in a family of meat-eaters, so I started cooking for myself and experimenting in the kitchen. I began eating a lot more raw and steamed salads and vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds and goat’s cheese. I read all about what nutrients vegetarians need and even swapped my cow’s milk for calcium-fortified plant milk.

I noticed a big improvement in my immune system first. I used to suffer from regular colds, sore throats and sniffles, but these started becoming more and more rare. Next, I found that my body became leaner and stronger. I did a lot of Pilates at that stage, but abs started popping up where they hadn’t been before. My pesky teenage spots also cleared up and my hair grew longer, thicker and shinier. I felt great! But I still knew little about the process of change and healing that my body was going through.

Worried about my iron and calcium intake, my mum sent me to a Dublin dietician, who insisted that I must drink three servings of milk a day to ensure I was getting enough calcium. For the next week I did as I was told, pouring milk on my cereal in the morning, drinking cappuccinos and glasses of milk and eating pots of plain yoghurt. By the end of the week, I had a blocked nose, a big bloated stomach and I had broken out in little white pimples all over my face. The effect it had on me came as quite a surprise. Wasn’t milk supposed to do a body good? So once again I reverted to plant milk and for the next few years I really enjoyed the increased energy, vitality and improved immunity as a vegetarian.

In my mid-twenties, I discovered the benefits of weight training and put myself on a high-protein, low-carb diet, convinced that it was the best eating plan for my new exercise regime. I ate this way for about six months but felt increasingly lethargic. I used to rely on black coffee, drink whey protein shakes and eat protein bars and egg whites, thinking that I would become lean and toned. But I actually started to look bloated and began to feel extremely worn out.

By this stage, I had started the first year of my three-year nutrition course. I began to learn about human biochemistry and the effects that foods have on our body at a cellular and hormonal level. I was shocked at what I was learning about the effects of dairy and excess animal protein on our health. As part of a college project, we each had to choose a diet to try for a week in order to be able to explain various popular eating plans to future clients. Some of my classmates chose Atkins, the Zone Diet or paleo, but I picked a raw vegan diet. I was apprehensive and expected to feel hungry and miserable all week, but I ate raw fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, coconut flesh and nut butters quite liberally for the week and began to feel really good. By the end of the week, my energy levels had improved, I was sleeping better, my eyes and skin looked brighter and I was starting to look leaner too. Initially all of the extra fibre had been a challenge for my digestive system, but it soon adapted. I felt so good, in fact, that I decided to continue for another week. I began to add in some cooked foods like steamed and roasted veggies and quinoa, but I stuck to the whole foods, plant-based lifestyle, high in raw foods and fibre-rich carbohydrates and with moderate levels of plant protein and heart-healthy fats.

The effect that this had on my health, well-being and appearance was profound. Within two weeks, my energy levels were soaring. I no longer felt tired and reliant on caffeine. Despite the fact that I was eating more food than I ever had before and not counting a single calorie, my body began shrinking fast and within three weeks I had gone down an entire dress size without even trying. My eyes began to sparkle and my skin looked smoother and fresher than ever before. Fine lines even began to disappear. My body was relishing the huge array of nutrients I had started to feed it. I finally felt that I had found the right type of long-term eating plan for me, one that never left me feeling deprived or hungry.

One of the most incredible benefits of eating a plant-based diet came after about six months, when I noticed a huge sense of calm and mental clarity. I used to be a big worrier as a child and suffered severe stress around exam times. Like a storm cloud clearing, I felt calmer than ever before and it seemed that nothing could rile me. My family noticed the change too. It also improved my athletic performance and recovery time, which greatly helped my training for the 2012 Ironman 70.3 half marathon along Galway Bay, which I ran in well under two hours.

Of course, these are all my own anecdotes and experiences. You will inevitably go through your own series of individual changes when you begin to work towards a way of eating to support your detoxification system and build a stronger, more beautiful body. After all, cosmetics and beauty treatments can only do so much. If you want glowing skin, glossy hair, stronger nails, increased energy, better sleep and to achieve the ideal weight for your body, then the changes must begin from within. What you put into your mouth every single day has the ability to change you and your life profoundly.

I have given you a little insight into my own journey of health, which is now both a deeply ingrained way of life and an ongoing adventure. If you are ready to begin your journey, I am honoured to be your guide.

Are you ready to eat yourself beautiful?