MAXINE GORDON meets the woman determined to change our mood with food.

THE menu sounds intriguing. There are salads to improve your skin; a take-out lunch to boost energy levels and fresh juices to pick you up. Adele Carnell is a woman on a mission to change the way we eat.

The mum of three has just opened her café-restaurant, Filmore & Union, in York’s Low Petergate.

The Tardis-like building, dubbed the “health kitchen”, opens out over two-levels with a 30-seat dining room on the upper floor.

Healthy food is at the heart of this venture, which is about to spread its wings to a sister outlet in Harrogate and a unit at York Station.

Everything is home-made with the freshest of ingredients and specials vary by the day.

Adele has the figure of a teenager and is the perfect advocate for healthy living. Not only does she practise yoga, she guards carefully what she eats.

The planned outpost for Platform Eight at York station has been inspired by her own difficulties in finding healthy food on the go. “When I commute to London sometimes the only choice is between a pasty or a white baguette. Quite often I would not eat anything all day because I refuse to eat rubbish,” says Adele.

She ran a wellness clinic before opening up Filmore & Union two months ago.

The name comes from two of her favourite streets in San Francisco, a favourite place. She travelled there recently with her nephew and business partner, Will Pugh, and was knocked out by the great places to eat.

“We were so impressed with the lifestyle over there,” says Adele. “It’s a lot to do with what is available which makes it easier to live a healthy lifestyle.”

This is where Filmore & Union’s philosophy fits in. Selling a range of fresh salads, soups, hummus and specials such as baked salmon, parsnip and smoked bacon cakes or shredded pork broth with mushrooms and tomatoes, the emphasis is on feel-good, look-great food. “You are what you eat,” says Adele. “If you put the wrong fuel into a car, it won’t run properly. It is exactly the same for your body.”

Mood-and-body-boosting menu ideas include a protein double whammy of turkey and beans at lunchtime to maintain energy levels in the afternoon or eating more avocado to improve skin tone.

Will, a chef who trained at the Michelin-starred Box Tree at Ilkley, is in charge of the ever-changing menus which cover breakfast, lunch and evening meals.

The licensed café offers a sit in and takeaway service as well as a take-home option, where people can pick up something healthy for dinner as an alternative to microwaving a ready meal. Healthy children’s meals are available too.

Many of the dishes cater for people with food intolerances, with plenty of gluten-free options and dairy-free alternatives too.

Those with a sweet tooth have not been forgotten – but, not surprisingly, the treats at Filmore & Union are a little bit less naughty.

“In our chocolate brownies and carrot cake we substitute agave syrup for sugar,” says Will. This syrup has a lower GI than sugar and because it is sweeter than sugar, you can use less of it in a recipe.

Will and his team also use low-fat cream cheese in the carrot cake.

“It’s not as sweet as the one at M&S but is still full of flavour and is one of our best sellers,” says Adele.

Making little changes to your diet and lifestyle can work wonders, insists Adele, who would eventually like to re-introduce her wellness advice into the business.

“If you want to improve the way you look and feel then you have to make some changes,” she says. “It could be having a healthy breakfast or a better lunch so you don’t fall asleep at your desk in the afternoon. A little goes a long way.”