Superfit Susan Reynolds hasn’t eaten hot food for seven years – and she says it’s the secret of good health.
She claims her strict “raw food diet” is the reason for her amazing health, and appearance – and the fact she could pass for 16 even though she’s 29.
Susan eats nothing but uncooked fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts, and beans. She wolfs down dozens of portions every day, including a cold soup made from a bag of spinach, a large bunch of herbs and an entire lettuce.
But, like every meal that passes her lips, it’s never hotter than room temperature.
Susan said she hasn’t always been healthy and used to gorge on “all you can eat” Chinese meals when she was a student at Edinburgh University.
She also loved nothing better than McChicken Sandwiches and used to enjoy crazy nights downing shots of vodka jelly as a teenager.
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However, all that changed when she got interested in yoga at the age of 21 during a six-month trip to India.
After coming home she became a vegetarian and trained to be a yoga teacher before stumbling across the raw food diet.
She said: “I went for something to eat in a cafe called Red Sugar in Edinburgh, which served raw food.
“The owners told me a bit about it so I went home, read up on it and decided to give it a go. The difference I felt in a day was incredible so I’ve done it ever since. I haven’t had a hot meal in seven years.
“The benefits include clarity, positivity, health, energy, radiance and the ability to make choices.
“Other things people have commented on include smelling good, great skin and youthfulness. People say I look good for my age. I’m also emotionally balanced and happy.”
Susan runs retreats through her company Twist and Sprout, teaching people about the raw food diet and healthy living.
Susan said she never gets cravings for cooked or junk food and stays disciplined at all times.
She said: “I feel if you sort out the emotional attachment to cooked food you don’t crave it any more.
“I focus on a very high liquid diet with lots of green juice, smoothies, soups and ‘elixirs’.
“I try to get as much leaf green veggies in to my diet as possible. I eat fruits for energy and sparingly eat fats from nuts, seeds and coconut.”
Last Christmas she prepared a raw feast for boyfriend Louie, 22, and her parents Marion and David. She said: “I made a fruits platter for starters — they loved it. We had raw mince pies made from nuts seeds and fruits for our sweet. I ate a giant salad with sprouted breads for my main course.”
Susan said her dad David grew up in Glasgow and is no stranger to a pie, despite keeping incredibly fit.
However, she said mum Marion also knows the power of healthy diets and even cured herself of ME 14 years ago by going on a sugar-free diet called the anti-candida diet.
Susan said: “Mum used to be practically bed-ridden but she reversed it with the sugar-free diet.
“She doesn’t have ME any more. I think her experience was one of the things that inspired me.”
Susan's Food Diary
5am: Wake up, drink 750mls lemon water
6:30-8:30: Yoga practice
10am: A litre of green juice made from blending a whole lettuce, bag of spinach and bunch of herbs.
11am-4pm: Snacks, including whole fruit (figs, mangoes, berries etc.), raw chocolate, green juice, and “superfoods” such as bee pollen, berries etc.
6pm: Large salad and/or green soups, or another raw dish created from fruits and vegetables, soaked nuts and seeds depending on what she feels she needs that day