Eat Your Heart Out: All-Fun, No-Fuss Food

I needed to find a way to maintain my full-time love of food but balance it with a reset now and then in a way that wouldn’t disrupt my life, make me feel like I was missing out, or take the pleasure out of my meals.

I have always believed that food can and should be medicine, both physical and emotional. Great food feeds our bodies and our souls. I am not a nutritionist, but I have studied nutrition extensively and am a certified holistic health counselor and natural foods chef. More than relying on calories or grams of fat or carbohydrates alone to guide me, I pay close attention to the results of what I eat. How are my clothes fitting? How are my energy levels? How’s my digestion? How’s my skin? How’s my attitude? If I regularly have energy to work out, am sleeping enough, prioritizing fun and connection; if I’m proactively listening to my body and working smarter not harder; if I am comfortable and confident in my skin . . . this is what living well feels like. That is what I’m aiming for.

For the most part, I like healthy food with indulgent twists or comfort classics made a bit lighter. That’s how I enjoy eating. That’s my maintenance strategy. Over the years and out of personal necessity, I have become versed in the art of nourishing Rubenesque honeys who love to cook, love to eat, and would love to be able to breathe a little easier in their jeans. If you’re looking for a killer recipe for lightened-up turkey meatloaf with hoisin glaze or oatmeal coconut chocolate chip cookies, allow me to humbly recommend my last two books, The Happy Cook and Relish, where I shared my favorite recipes for celebrating a healthy balance at every meal.

But in order to press the reset button in those periods of my life when I felt overwhelmed and in need of an extra boost—so I could truly savor my meals long-term and still feel strong and happy in my skin day in and day out—I adopted a simple strategy. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s simple enough to stick with (even for me!), and it really works.

In reset mode, I eat whatever I please two days a week—usually on the weekends. And during the other five days, I eat clean using the following easy-to-remember rules: No gluten. No refined sugar. Limited dairy (choosing goat and sheep milk products). Simple. Oh, there’s just one more thing: it still has to be delicious.

Whether you’re looking to lose weight, reestablish healthy habits (or break bad ones), or just free up a little headspace that can get bogged down with constant negative self-talk, self-defeating patterns, and food fear that has no business being in your crazily delicious life, this is a formula that works.

My biggest realization was that a few very simple rules are the keys to intuitive, relaxed, clean eating and ultimate, long-term success. I needed a strategy for when I wanted to lose a few pounds or break any dependency I was feeling (on gluten, on sugar, and so on), one that could be as straightforward and enjoyable as the way I like to eat the rest of the time. I was looking for a guidebook that would be filled with sumptuously clean recipes I could count on to satisfy these same demanding taste buds of mine while helping me achieve my goals—and not make the process a second, third, or fourth job I really didn’t need. And since I couldn’t find that book on any shelf, I decided to write it.

Once it’s not a stressful, complicated decision every time you’re trying to figure out what to eat, you can finally relax and enjoy yourself on your lighter days as much as you do on your indulgent ones. Keeping it simple and enjoyable not only keeps you confident that you know how to make good choices, it makes you want to make them—which is the most likely way that you’ll actually follow through.

Primarily, I’ve based the simple “food rules” in this book on what I’ve done to achieve the easiest, most sustainable weight loss in my body. This is how I eat when I need to get back to an equilibrium where my body feels best, whether that’s after pregnancy, after a few weeks with too much stress or too much fun, after vacation, or just generally to reset. I also want everything in this book to be something you can sink your teeth into and deeply enjoy without ever feeling guilty or like you’re sacrificing. I want to show the abundance of foods that truly free the eater by making healthy meals easy, fulfilling, and obvious. And ultimately, the food in this book is delicious, so it doesn’t really matter that it’s healthy. You win either way!

I use this plan five days a week, for as long or as little time as I like, whenever I need to reboot good habits and rebalance my body. This book features many of the meals I ate to lose—healthfully, at my own pace—the fifty pounds I gained while pregnant with my fourth baby, Gigi, and I’ve found them equally valuable since then when I’ve been thrown off course by too much stress or too much celebrating or just letting bad routines take hold.

I usually follow this plan on the weekdays and use the weekends as a time to indulge a bit more. That’s often when we linger over meals as a family or have friends over, and I love being able to luxuriate in these moments and then jump right back on my plan on Monday. The beauty of this system is it’s totally sustainable and keeps the pleasure of eating delicious food front and center even while prioritizing your health.

NO GLUTEN. I really love bread, so skipping gluten is not my favorite part of this equation. But I have to admit, when I remove it from my days, my thinking is clearer, my digestion is better and bloating disappears, my skin glows more readily, my mood is more regulated, and I sleep better. And—likely because it makes it that much easier not to be tempted by the many delicious foods that contain gluten (bread, cake, baked goods, burritos, and so on)—removing gluten from my eating to make room for more nutrient-dense, filling, and protein- and fiber-rich foods is one of the most effective ways I see results in terms of fat loss and lean muscle build. With the exception of some gluten-free breads I’ll use for fast, open-faced sandwiches in a pinch, when following this plan, I steer clear of baked goods and other processed items that are gluten-free but still not exactly healthy. In general, avoiding processed, packaged foods is my goal. (I include a few of my favorite bread alternatives in this book—check out the Soups and Something Like Sandwiches chapter!)

NO REFINED SUGAR. In other words, I still eat fruit, but I skip the sugar packets. Although I use honey and maple syrup all the time in my regular cooking and love many of their benefits, I also left them out of this book. When I need to sweeten one of these recipes, I rely primarily on date syrup. I think you’ll see why once you’ve tasted it. It is made from pureed dates—and that’s it. You can buy date syrup online or at most health-food stores and supermarkets, but I’ve also included a recipe to make your own. Very occasionally, when a recipe requires a dry sweetener to really nail the mark, I use coconut sugar—an unrefined sweetener made by boiling and dehydrating coconut palm sap.

LIMITED DAIRY. When needed, I use a small amount of goat or sheep milk products, since many people with allergies and inflammation from cow’s milk can tolerate these alternative sources well. Eggs don’t count here, and I eat them regularly.

TAKE THE WEEKEND OFF. I usually choose to use the weekend, but whatever two days of the week are going to be most impactful for you and help fuel your resolve to eat well the rest of the time, take them! Savor the chance to linger over meals with an extra glass of wine or get your favorite fresh-baked pastry. The goal is living well, and treating yourself is a critical step in the process!

I remove gluten when following this plan for two reasons. Number one, gluten is a protein that many of us struggle to properly digest or experience some inflammatory response to. The more we can reduce inflammation in the body, the more we promote healthy aging, healthy detoxification, and healthy healing—all of which are helpful for the kind of longevity I’m looking to achieve!