Book excerpt: Eat and Grow Younger, first published in 1952, is a classic guide to healthier, more vital living by Lelord Kordel (1904-2001), noted author and nutritionist. Lelord was an early advocate of diets rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals, while reducing the consumption of starchy and sugary foods. From the publisher: If old age with its hardened arteries, diminishing energy and other depressing symptoms has seemed inevitable to you, this book will make you change your mind. No one needs to grow old prematurely, says Lelord Kordel, and this new book on nutrition proves that old age can be postponed. By following the simple dietary suggestions given here, you, too, can stay young. Premature old age is a deficiency disease as real as pellagra or scurvy. People look and act old long before they should simply because they've been existing on an improper diet. Lelord Kordel's informative text is exactly why the wrong kind of diet can make you look older than you are. Then he provides you with an eat-and-grow-younger program, complete with sample diets and recipes, expressly planned to keep your vital organs healthy and in good repair. These recipes are appetizing and easy to prepare. Also included are sample diets for gaining and losing weight, and tables of protein values for over 150 common -- and palatable -- foods.