Hello, I’m JAM!

When I was growing up my Mum made our evening meals from scratch and when we were thirsty we drank water – fizzy drinks were for birthday parties. For entertainment, we played games outside. At school, we had cookery classes: baking my first loaf was a landmark occasion and my Dad still talks about my madeleines.

On moving Away from home to study, I like so many others, reverted to factory-made, processed food such as: pasta, tins, and ready meals. Meals that filled me up – for a while, at least – but, contained little more than a combination of: simple carbohydrates, fat, and salt. A diet that afforded me what most people call “general good health” – I now know it could have been much better.

I was lucky – to put myself through college and university, I worked in restaurants; first as a chef and later as a waiter. During this time, I learnt many valuable lessons and began to understand what constituted a good meal – at least as far as presentation, flavours, and textures were concerned.

Since leaving university my life has involved many twists (interior/ furniture designer) and turns (restaurateur/ chef). A constant throughout has been my belief in the profound effect food has on our health. I just didn’t know why.

So, after my second restaurant I decided it was time to find out. I enrolled on a course with the sociedad española de nutrición ortomolecular and haven’t looked back. It fueled my passion for knowledge and desire to produce dishes that are both delicious and nutritious – meals that do more than just keep hunger at bay.  I continue to study and learn – most recently a course run by The University of Melbourne on “Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression”.

Nutrition is now receiving the attention it deserves. People are looking for ways to maintain a state of wellness and sidestep the circle of illness and cure: eat chicken soup to prevent illness – not only as a cure.

Unfortunately, for many, their diet is based on habit and influenced by fads and ever-changing messages from the diet and nutrition industry – leaving them confused and frustrated. Whereas, a little knowledge and insight would help them to make sense of the relationship between diet and health and equip them to navigate food aisles and decipher diet-related media headlines.

I would like to change this: to empower people with the knowledge to make informed decisions about their diet.

So, I’ve written MOLECULES for DINNER: a book in which you will discover:

How your ~37.2 trillion cells work.

How food is broken down and used by the body.

What antioxidants are – and how they work.

Why there is – and, has been – so much confusion surrounding fats, gluten, red meat, dairy, and grains …

My hope is that this deeper understanding will lead you to a cleaner, healthier way of eating that will become a natural habit for life.

JAM x