“If you want to be happy, plant a garden. If you want to be healthy, eat a garden.”

Those words of wisdom come from supermodel Christie Brinkley’s recent book, Timeless Beauty: Over 100 Tips, Secrets, and Shortcuts to Looking Great, in which she dedicates an entire chapter to what she calls “enlightened eating.”

What is enlightened eating? It’s harnessing “the power of food to fuel your health,” according to Brinkley, who has been a self-described “lacto-ovo-pescatarian vegetarian” for most of her life until recently switching to a “mostly vegan diet.”

Brinkley hasn’t eaten land animals in 50 years, ever since flipping through her parents’ copy of Norman Mailer’s novel Miami and the Siege of Chicago at age 12 and coming across a graphic description of animals being killed in Chicago’s slaughterhouses. “I never touched another piece of meat again!” she says. “In a nice touch of karma, I have been reaping the health benefits of that decision ever since.”

For Brinkley, the switch was easy: She cares about animals so she could never imagine eating them. For readers who may feel intimidated by making such a commitment, she encourages them to change the way they think about food—to stop “deny-iting” and instead focus on making a positive lifestyle change. “Because when you stop thinking about what you CAN’T have (and lamenting it) and start thinking about what you CAN have that will fuel your body, that’s when you’ll be successful in maintaining your perfect weight and good health,” she says. “When you think about how valuable each bite can be, you’ll never want to DENY your body that advantage.”

To make sure you’re getting a wide range of nutrients, Brinkley advises that you “eat the rainbow” and include as many different colors of fruits and vegetables as you can in every meal. Here are some must-have superfoods that she recommends stocking your “enlightened kitchen” with:

• Apples: contain polyphenols, which can lower blood sugar and cholesterol
• Avocados: a good source of glutathione, fiber, and healthy monounsaturated fat
• Broccoli: chock-full of antioxidants that help fight inflammation and prevent cancer
• Cabbage: contains glucosinolates, cancer-preventing antioxidants
• Dark chocolate: contains flavonoids that can help lower blood pressure
• Dried tart cherries: a natural source of melatonin, which can aid sleep
• Fennel: a tasty source of vitamin C, fiber, folate, and potassium
• Garlic: contains sulfur compounds, which boost immunity and fight inflammation
• Kale: loaded with 45 different flavonoids
• Kiwis: bursting with more vitamin C than oranges!
• Legumes: the perfect protein package—high in fiber and iron but low in fat and calories
• Nuts and seeds: especially flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, which are packed with omega-3 fatty acids; Brazil nuts, which are a selenium powerhouse; and almonds, which are one of the most nutrient-dense of all nuts
• Olive oil: another source of monounsaturated fat
• Pickles and other fermented foods: contain probiotics, which aid digestion and boost immunity
• Quinoa: a gluten-free complete protein that’s also rich in antioxidant phytonutrients
• Red grapes: rich in resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant
• Steel-cut oats: proven to help lower cholesterol
• Tomatoes: rich in lycopene, which helps maintain strong bones and fight certain cancers

To make the switch to enlightened eating even easier, the book includes suggested meal plans and a helpful list of “unenlightened foods” (animal-derived foods) to avoid and the “enlightened foods” (vegan foods) you can use to replace them—as well as nearly two dozen colorful, beautifully photographed vegan recipes concocted by Brinkley’s personal chef, Gabriela Monteiro, including Roasted Cauliflower, Quinoa Pico de Gallo Salad, and Grilled Pineapple, to name just a few. Here are a couple of Brinkley’s favorites, to give you a taste (pun intended) of eating like a supermodel and looking like a million bucks at 62.

Lentil Curry Stew

Adapted from Timeless Beauty

1 1/2 cups uncooked lentils, rinsed

Water for boiling

2 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 Tbsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley + more for garnish

1 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk

Himalayan pink salt, to taste

• Place the lentils in a medium saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain and set aside.
• In the same pot, heat the coconut oil, then sauté the onion and garlic for about 4 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and cook for 3 minutes more. Add the cooked lentils, curry powder, coriander, pepper, parsley, and vegetable broth. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add the coconut milk and salt, to taste, and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve warm.

Makes 6 servings

Coconut Pudding

Adapted from Timeless Beauty

2 cups coconut milk

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 Tbsp. maple sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 pint fresh raspberries, + a few for garnish

1 Tbsp. maple syrup

2 Tbsp. dark chocolate chips

Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

• In a saucepan, mix the coconut milk, cornstarch, maple sugar, and vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches a pudding consistency. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to 4 individual serving dishes. Refrigerate, covered, for about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the raspberries and maple syrup. Cook over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon and mashing some of the raspberries. Cook for about 2 minutes, or just long enough for the raspberries to release their juices.
• Pour the raspberry sauce over the pudding and garnish with whole raspberries, dark chocolate chips, and mint. Serve while the sauce is still warm.

Makes 4 servings

Excerpted from the book TIMELESS BEAUTY by Christie Brinkley. Copyright © 2015 by Christie Brinkley. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Life & Style. All rights reserved. 

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