Cheat days are great, but they don’t give you enough time to really see how the food you eat on cheat day actually affects you.

So after our Whole30, I started following the folks that put it together, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig of the website Whole 9 Life. Their whole philosophy is that nearly every health-related subject begins with one thing: the food on your plate. So when they wrote a book about it, naturally I picked up a copy and read it.

(I talked to Dallas about getting a coupon code for the book for you guys, and he said he didn’t have any, but the cheapest place to buy the book is Amazon.)

One of the best theses on healthy eating

When we read The 4 Hour Body, for the most part Tim Ferriss just tells us what to eat and what the rules are. He provides some examples of people getting results, and there is some science in there, but I never felt like he was telling me *why* this is a better way of eating.

In It Starts With Food, we begin with four standards for good grub:

• How food affects your brain
• How food affects your hormones
• How food affects your digestive health
• How food affects your immune system

Within these chapters, they do an excellent job of explaining how different foods affect our bodies in positive or negative ways. They only start telling you how you’re affected, but before you finish that section, you’ll already start to make decisions about your food.

You will begin to feel empowered. We all have trigger foods or strong cravings we can’t get over, and we feel like we’ll always suffer from them (which is why a lot of us love our cheat day so much). You’ll find out why those foods seem to pull you so strongly (it’s not totally a lack of willpower or discipline). Better yet, you’ll realize that if you can hold on a little bit, you won’t have to fight with them anymore!

Getting to the food

Once they cover the science, they start talking about food. They do hit a few of the foods we should avoid, but then they spend a lot of time talking about foods we should eat.

The last thing they go over is their Whole 30 program. The idea is if you eat only foods that treat you right for 30 days, you’ll be able to see for yourself how the other foods actually affect you. My wife and I realized during ours that we’re at least slightly gluten intolerant (I used to think I just had reflux issues). We also realized when it was over that after a week or two we didn’t even crave sugar anymore. If only we had kept going! Fortunately we’re back on it now.

How to win a copy

I really think this book will change your outlook on your ability to consistently eat healthy foods, and it may even change your opinion on what is healthy and what isn’t. But it doesn’t do it with rhetoric or rules, it does it with science and facts. You’ll feel empowered to beat your cravings, and you’ll start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Update: The contest is over! Congrats to Krissi for winning my copy!

Next month: I asked, and you all answered! Next month’s book review and giveaway will be Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle by Diane Sanfilippo!

It Starts With Food – Book Review And Giveaway! is a post from: Finding My Fitness

So I’ve been doing a lot of nothing for several days, which is why you haven’t seen anything regarding a new book giveaway. I think I’ll hold off April and pick it back up in May with It Starts With Food. Then in June we’ll have Practical Paleo!

Stay tuned!

Just a quick update… is a post from: Finding My Fitness

On hunger pangs during the day:

“That is a willpower issue, if you ask me. If you’re eating substantial amounts, and you’re getting adequate calories for the day, then the hunger that’s going on [between meals] is not your body saying ‘We don’t have enough calories to function.’ It’s your body saying ‘I’m not metabolically healthy, I want some glucose. I say you tough it out.” – Jason Seib

From Paleo Lifestyle and Fitness Podcast, Episode 26

I highly recommend subscribing to that podcast.

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. This can be a very important discussion for many of us. It could be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.

The Hunger Breakthrough You’ve Been Waiting For is a post from: Finding My Fitness

One of these could be yours…

You do?! Great! Because I want to give you some books!

To make sure I’m actually reviewing the books you want to know about, and the ones you’d like to receive a free copy of, I’m conducting a poll. Your participation is totally optional but completely helpful.

To find out more about these books, please click the links below.

Paleo Desserts: 125 Delicious Everyday Favorites, Gluten- and Grain-Free

It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways

Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle

Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook: Real Food for Real Life

Reader Poll: Which Of These 4 Books Would You Like To Have? is a post from: Finding My Fitness

Delicious recipes made quickly!

Those are two of the arguments I hear about both the slow-carb and paleo diets. Some people think they’re too restrictive (when I told someone I don’t generally eat grains, refined sugars, or dairy they asked me incredulously, “Then what do you eat?!”), and others say it’s just boring (especially when Tim Ferriss says in The 4 Hour Body that you should eat the same meals over and over.

I’m going to prove to you that it’s not boring. In fact, I’m going to tell you about some of the most amazing and interesting dishes I’ve seen.

Update: Check the end to see who won the book! You can also use this link to get free shipping when you order one!

Today I’m reviewing a cookbook called Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals by Mark Sisson.

Great review of a #paleo recipe book by Mark Sisson. @fmfblogger is giving away a copy! Tweet this!

More meal ideas than you can shake a stick at

I have to credit Brian from 4-Hour Body Zone for turning me on to these recipe books. They’re created by Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple, and they’re full of recipes created for what Mark calls the Primal diet.

Primal is a sibling of the Paleo diet, with the main difference being Mark’s OK with some dairy. See, there are different flavors of diets that follow the same general guidelines and are still effective. I’ve called slow-carb a close cousin to the Paleo diet because the only real difference between them is that slow-carb calls for legumes and not fruit and Paleo does the opposite.

Whether or not you’re following a strict slow-carb diet, if your primary goal is to eat protein and veggies and to avoid grains and refined sugars, this Primal recipe book is an excellent addition to your cookbook shelf.

Let’s take a look at some of the recipes

If you’ve poked around this site at all, you’ve probably stumbled across my Slow-carb Breakfast Burrito recipe. I can’t take any credit for that one – it came straight from Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals. There’s another recipe from the book that I’m going to post soon as well (with permission, of course), so look out for that one in the next few weeks.

In all, there are over 100 fantastic recipes with beautiful photos, great descriptions, perfect instructions, and even nutritional info for those of you who insist on counting!

The categories include:

• Breakfast (23 recipes)
• Lunch (21 recipes)
• Dinner (22 recipes)
• Appetizers and snacks (24 recipes)
• Sauces and toppings (10 recipes)
• and Rubs (10 recipes)

Here are some of the succulent recipes you’ll be able to enjoy from this book:

• Cauliflower Purée with Sausage and Poached Eggs
• Tropical Avocado and Shrimp
• Chorizo and Almond-crusted Halibut
• Chocolate Coconut Bark
• Spinach Horseradish Sauce
• Moroccan Rub
• and a whole lot more

Would I recommend it?

By now you should know what my answer to that question is: a resounding yes. Not only would I recommend this book, I’d also highly recommend Mark’s other recipe book, Primal Recipes.

Almost every recipe in both books is perfect for a slow-carb diet, and of the few that aren’t strictly slow-carb, 90% of them can be tweaked to become strictly slow-carb. However, once you get to know Mark Sisson a little bit, you’ll realize that he’s not going to recommend eating anything that’s going to keep you chunky.

And the winner is…

The contest was fun, and I plan on doing it again. I wish I had more books to give away!

The winner of this one is – Amy! I’ll be contacting you via email soon, so stay tuned!

You can still get the book

Even though I can’t get you one for free, I was able to get a link for free shipping. If you purchase from this link, you’ll get free shipping on everything Mark offers, even though the link won’t go directly to the book like the others will.

Get free shipping here!

It’s not really a coupon code, but it’ll get you free shipping.

Now it’s up to you: do you want a free copy of the book? Thanks for posting the link!

Book Review (and Coupon Code): Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals is a post from: Finding My Fitness

Winter is typically the season for packing on pounds. After all, the holidays are a time for eating, and beach season is long gone. But you don’t have to let your physical fitness fall by the wayside. You can stay in shape and have fun at the same time, simply by finding a challenging and exciting fitness class to get you through to the spring. Here are just a few great examples to consider:

Yoga

While not traditionally associated with losing weight, yoga has been shown to have tremendous weight management potential. A 2005 study at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle analyzed 15,500 healthy, middle-aged men and women, and found that those practicing yoga lost 5 pounds during the trial, while those not practicing gained 14 pounds. Yoga is also great for improving flexibility and managing stress.

Indoor Cycling

Spin classes have become very popular in recent years, and they continue to win new converts every day. The workout is performed on stationary bikes, and is one of the most rigorous cardio experiences you’re likely to find at the gym. Spinning equipment has even been featured on The Biggest Loser.

Indoor cycling burns calories at a rapid fire pace while also working the hamstrings, quads, thighs, calves, abdominals and even the upper body. If you want to burn fat and tone your body, indoor cycling is the way to go.

Pilates

Pilates has also become extremely popular in recent years, and in fact, it has more than 14,000
practitioners in the U.S. alone. The pilates method uses a variety of props and techniques to train the body and build a strong core. Pilates equipment can be costly, but your local fitness class may have all of the equipment you need, and pilates classes are also great for meeting new people.

Zumba

If you love to dance, and you love to burn calories, Zumba just may the class for you. Using Latin dance moves and high intensity cardio, Zumba will challenge you like you’ve never been challenged before. In fact, a single Zumba session can burn up to 1,000 calories!

Additional Classes

There are fitness classes for everyone. If you want to practice self-defense while working out, try a kickboxing class. If you’re into sports conditioning, try a boot camp class. There are classes designed specifically for stretching, relaxation, muscle-building and more. So whether you’re looking for abdominal toning, shoulder rehab exercises or just a high-intensity social experience, there is definitely a fitness class out there for you. The important thing is to get out there and get active!

4 Super Fun Classes To Keep You Fit This Winter is a post from: Finding My Fitness

Clutter sucks. Most people have a tremendously cluttered kitchen. Especially if you’ve ever been to a Pampered Chef party, you know that there exist gadgets for everything. The problem is the gadgets only do one thing.

I’ve fallen into that before. Some of my one-hit wonders include:

• an egg slicer
• an apple slicer
• and more

There is room for things that can only do one thing. For example, you really should have a thermometer. And a thermometer can’t be used for anything else. But a paring knife will not only help prepare your every day foods, it’ll also slice eggs and apples just fine. That’s the difference.

The following is my list of kitchen tools that will do 80% of the work you need to have done in your kitchen.

Two Knives

You really don’t need more than two knives: a big one and a small one. Or in more technical terms, a paring knife and a chef’s knife.

You don’t need to spend hundreds on knives, but don’t skimp on on them either. They’ll last you forever if they’re good. A cheap knife is a dull knife, and dull knives are far more dangerous than sharp ones. As an example, I’ve had a Farberware knife set for a while that I thought was OK. Until I got a Wusthof knife. It doesn’t even compare, and the only reason I still have and use my Farberware is because I already had it (and it has a sharpener).

These two knives are the most used kitchen utensils I own.

Paring knife
For all the small cutting, peeling, coring, etc.

My recommendation: Wusthof Classic 3-1/2-Inch Paring Knife

Chef’s knife
For chopping, dicing, slicing, shaving (meat, not your face), and all the big stuff.

My recommendation: Wusthof Classic 8-Inch Cook’s Knife

Thermometer

Say to no salmonella!

The fact is, especially if you’re relatively new to cooking, it’s just plain super hard to cook meats perfectly without a thermometer. There are some tricks, but it’s still invaluable to have a guide.

I used to have problems under and overcooking chicken. Either it would still be pink or it would be dry. Once I started using a thermometer, it comes out perfect every time.

If you and your S.O. like your steaks at a different doneness, a thermometer will make that precise.

I also use my thermometer when I smoke ribs on the grill. I don’t have one on the grill itself, and you lose so much heat opening the lid. The thermometer lets me make sure it’s always right.

Get one with a timer. That way you can pop it in the meat, walk away, and not worry that it’ll over cook.

My recommendation: Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer/Timer, Graphite

Blender

I’ve gone back and forth on this one, but I have finally settled on a hand-held blender. The reason is that you can do everything you could do with a carafe blender PLUS stuff you can’t do with a carafe blender.

Most of the time I’m using a blender to make soup or just quickly mix wet ingredients together. This is easily done with a hand blender. It’ll actually be easier to blend veggies with a hand blender because you won’t have to blend it in batches.

To impress your friends, a hand blender can be used to hyperdecant (rapidly aerating) wine. The right one will even act as a food processor (which makes chopping and dicing a breeze).

My recommendation: DeLonghi DHB716 380-Watt Tri-Blade 2-Speed Handblender

Microplane grater

When I first bought this tool from Pampered Chef, I thought it was simply a luxury item. It’s possibly the best grater ever.

I’ve used it for grating cheese (duh), but it’s also the best lemon zester I’ve ever used. I’ve also used it to shave chocolate, cinnamon, and other spices. It’s small, and it does a lot.

What I love about the microplane grated cheese is that you get all the flavor of an amazing cheese but you use A LOT less of it.

My recommendation: Microplane 40020 Classic Zester/Grater

(A note about that cheese I mentioned: if you want the best cheddar-like cheese you’ll ever try, pick some up. Kerrygold makes cheese and butter from pastured cows, and it tastes extremely fresh. I never knew a hard-ish cheese could taste so creamy! You can get it on Amazon, many grocery stores, and Sam’s Club.)

Two skillets and a pot

You really only need three containers in which to cook things. A small saucepan is not a bad idea, but it’s not super necessary. Here are the tree things you’ll want to have no matter what else you have:

Small non-stick skillet
Every day I make my breakfast on one of these. When I was single, almost every meal was cooked in one (the meat portion, anyway). A good non-stick skillet is essential.

My recommendation: As you know, cheap isn’t always fantastic, but it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Pick up one of these and you’ll be happy: Bialetti Aeternum 10″ sauté pan (the 8″ one is OK too, and a little cheaper).

Cast-iron skillet
Once it’s seasoned, a cast-iron skillet can’t be beat for cooking meat on the stove. It heats up evenly and becomes sort of like a mini-oven on your stove. They’re amazing, and they literally last for a hundred years. Buy one that’ll be passed down through the generations (I really wish I had my grandmother’s skillet).

My recommendation: You really only need a skillet, but the Lodge Logic Pre-Seasoned Combo Cooker is a great set to buy. You’ll get a skillet and a dutch oven, which would be perfect for hearty slow-carb stews.

Large stock pot

This is not for cooking noodles.

We often throw away a super healthy bit of animal: bones and marrow. But we should be eating bone broth! Not only does it make a delicious base for a never-ending soup, but bones are filled with nutrients that do our bodies good.

So get yourself a big ol’ stock pot, and get those broths cooking! A good aluminum pot will be just what you need. Pro tip: they’re also amazing for mixing kimchi together!

My recommendation: Winware Professional Aluminum 24-Quart Stockpot.

Tools for prep

There are just a few things left to round out your minimalist kitchen.

Mixing bowls
A few sizes are good to have. I’d go with a set of 3 Cuisinart CTG-00-SMB Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls. These come with lids, are super easy to clean, and stack like perfection.

Silicone spatula
Do NOT buy a rubber or plastic spatula. They melt (learned that the hard way). A metal one will scratch your beautiful non-stick cookware. A silicone spatula doesn’t melt and is really simple to clean.

To get the sturdiness of metal with the heat-resistance of silicone, get yourself a Kuhn Rikon SoftEdge slotted spatula. It’s a little pricey for a spatula, but it’s worth it.

Cutting board
I’ve heard that plastic cutting boards breed bacteria. I like my nice bamboo cutting boards because they look great, clean up really nicely, and from what I understand wood is much more sanitary than plastic. I’d go with the Concord CB-B02 Bamboo cutting board if I didn’t already have a nice set.

Spicing it up a bit

To really take your slow-carb kitchen to the next level, why not plant a small window herb garden? You can grow some really lovely herbs like chives, mint, oregano, and thyme right in your home. You don’t even need to get fancy. If you have a window sill and a couple of those plastic containers that lunch meat comes in, you’ve got a cute little herb garden waiting to happen.

You can buy kits, like this wooden planter box with seeds. An awesome resource for small-space planting is a book called Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail. She specializes in container gardens, and has some fantastic ideas.

If you’re interested in the kitchen list found in The 4 Hour Chef, you can see most of it on my 4HC Amazon List.

Now I have a question for you: What’s the one tool in your kitchen you can’t live without, and why do you love it so much?

Photo by Steve Johnson

The Perfect Minimalist Kitchen: How To Have A Professional Quality Kitchen On An Amateur Budget is a post from: Finding My Fitness

To be quite honest, so do I. I have not made the progress I’d hoped for since starting this blog. But this year is going to be different. For both of us.

The secret to success this year isn’t a magic pill or drink.

It’s not a specific diet program, fad or otherwise.
Tweet this!

Think about it – you’ve done enough research into what works and what doesn’t in fitness. And quite frankly, you’ve gotten tired of hearing conflicting stories. Some people will swear that whole grains are the way to go, and others (like me, for the record) think that grains help keep people fat.

Yet people lose weight just fine eating whole grains, just like people lose weight eating meat and vegetables.

On the other hand, there are people who eat whole grains who don’t lose weight, and there are people who eat meat and veggies who don’t lose weight. Even though they try.

So the secret isn’t even in the specifics of your weight loss program. Where is it then?

Consistency.

I hear it all the time.

“My biggest problem is staying consistent with my food and workouts.”

“It’s my lack of motivation that keeps me from reaching my goals.”

Let’s be honest: we know what we need to do (if you actually don’t, here’s a refresher). We know exactly what to eat, we even know what to do to work out. We know, because we’ve started it before. You probably even have it written down somewhere (it might even be hanging on your fridge since August).

It’s been driving me nuts. If I know what to do, why the heck can’t I be consistent enough to let all that work start to accumulate some real results?

Then it hit me: these things aren’t habits.

I’m biting off more than I can chew.

Consistency requires willpower, and I just don’t have enough. Turns out you might not either.

Willpower is finite

Did you know there’s research that heavily suggests that our willpower has limits, and it’s not necessarily our fault if we can’t say no every time?

Researchers put people in a room. There was chocolate and radishes. One set of people were told they could eat as many radishes as they wanted but couldn’t touch the chocolate. The other group was not given a restriction on what they could eat. After a time, they were all given a puzzle to solve (they didn’t know it was impossible). The people who had to exert willpower not to eat the chocolate quit significantly faster than the other group (abstract here).

The big problem we have with our willpower is that weight loss isn’t the only thing we exercise it on. Especially this time of year, when we have a bunch of resolutions we’re trying to keep. It’s no wonder most resolutions never make it to February.

And the truth is, you make time for what’s important, and the least important gets left for last. For many of us, that’s fitness.

Obviously you aren’t supposed to accept the fact that your willpower is finite and throw in the towel. So what are you supposed to do about it?

The one thing that’s ever worked for me before: make it automatic.

Change your habits

I’ve talked about automating your fitness before, but even I need a refresher. I think I’ve tried to do so much that I remained consistent with nothing.

Before my daughter was born, I tried an experiment. I just wanted to get some form of exercise every day, only for 5 minutes. The trick was the 5 minutes part. I always exercised longer, but I knew I only had to commit to 5 minutes. And it was the only thing I tried to work on that month.

I actually kept it up for 3 months! When Sofi was born, things got all out of whack, and I’ve kinda had to start over.

But the point is when I started to change one habit, it started to stick.

That’s what the key to your (and my) success will be this year: changing one habit at a time. (click to tweet this)

All you need is a dozen

Here’s the challenge for the year. Each month we’ll regroup to see how things are going and encourage one another.

(By the way, that accountability helps way more than you think, so I’m counting on you, and I hope you feel you can count on me.)

The challenge is simple: pick 12 habits, and work on one a month. At the end of the year you’ll have an arsenal of habits you’ve changed that will make a lasting difference in your life. No more yoyo-ing.

I don’t know what habits you need to change, so I’m not going to say “this month we’ll do this one, next month we’ll do that one” and so on. But I will give you some ideas to get the juices flowing:

• eat a solid breakfast every day
• walk 5-10 minutes a day
• take a walk during lunch break at work
• plan my food every week and eat from the menu
• make extra dinner so you have a healthy lunch
• eat one serving of vegetables at every meal
• drink a large glass of water upon waking and one before bed
• get to sleep 30 minutes earlier
• no computer/cellphone/TV an hour before going to bed
• remind yourself you can cheat on Saturday (but only on Saturday)
• encourage someone

Avoid negative words, like “no more chocolate” or “no more fast food”. Instead say something like “I will eat only one small piece of chocolate a day” or “freedom from fast food”. Keep it positive, and it’ll be easier. You’ll never stop seeing the pink zebra if all you think about is not looking at the pink zebra.

How not to forget your plan

There are three things you can do to make it more likely you’ll stick to your plan:

1. Accountability
2. Tracking
3. Rewards

When you’re accountable to someone, they’ll make sure you do what you’ve promised to do. As humans, we don’t like to let people we care about down, so find someone who cares about you and tell them you want them to keep you accountable this time. They should ask you periodically how you’re doing. This is the single most important reason I don’t eat chocolate from my coworker’s bowl anymore; I know my wife is going to randomly ask me about it, and I can’t lie to her.

To get some visual motivation, make yourself a chart to track your progress through the month. It could be as simple as marking an X on the calendar every day you comply with your plan. As you see how often in the month you were successful (or how little), you’ll be motivated to keep going (or start again). Bonus points for putting it in a very open place so that it serves as a form of accountability.

At the end of the month, when you see how well you did what you said you’d do, make sure you reward yourself. Determine beforehand what the reward will be. Maybe you want to run every day, so at the end of the month you buy yourself that pair of running shoes you’ve wanted. Maybe you take yourself and some friends to Cheesecake Factory for that delicious piece of heaven you’ve been purposing not to have. But remember, you only get your reward if you’re satisfied with your performance that month. (My wife’s letting me set up a fish tank when I complete my goals in January!)

Make it happen

Your job right now is to take 2-3 minutes to come up with the habits you want to change this year. Chances are you already have a couple in your mind. You don’t need to plan your whole year, but give yourself a good head start. Put them in the comments below to start the accountability!

This is going to be a very successful year for us! Go forth and be victorious (and don’t forget to add some of your habits to change in the comments).

(photo by Horia Varlan)

The Missing Piece To Your Weight Loss Puzzle is a post from: Finding My Fitness

Quite literally! It is the holidays, after all, right?

My favorite Christmas cheat recipe

I haven’t had all of the fudge in the world, but I don’t believe I need to. I make the best one myself. And I wouldn’t say it if I couldn’t back it up.

Several years and two jobs ago, a coworker brought in some fudge. It was really good, and probably contributed significantly to my holiday weight gains. Finally I asked him for the recipe, and what he sent me was what he called “Grandma’s BEST fudge”. I’ve taken what was his grandma’s best and made it even better.

I haven’t modified her base recipe. All fudge starts with a base, and it’s quite simple. But I don’t like to keep things at the base. My favorite thing to do with food is take a foundation and build on it. That’s where these recipes come from.

Folks at work say I should sell it. Multiple people on multiple occasions have said it. “It’s the best (freaking) fudge I’ve ever had in my life,” says the wife of one of my coworkers. They’ll pay many dollars a pound, they say.

And now you can make it, and I won’t charge you a penny!

Laying the foundation

There are two recipes I’m going to share with you today. Unfortunately the second was gone before I thought to take a picture of it, so you only see the first one.

But first, we need to start with the basic recipe. In this case, there will be two: white chocolate and chocolate chocolate. It’s simple:

Basic chocolate recipe

Ingredients

• 1.5 sticks of butter or margarine
• 6oz evaporated milk
• 2.5c white sugar
• 1c semisweet chocolate chips
• 2oz baking chocolate
• about 1c marshmallow fluff (half a 7oz container)

That’s what I use when I make it, but you can double it and it’ll come out a little thicker. The squares in the photo are probably 1″.

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, and add the milk as it’s going. Once it’s liquid, add the sugar and don’t stop stirring. Bring the mixture to a boil, and once it starts to boil stir for 8 minutes. Never stop stirring, or it’ll start to burn. Tip: usually I use Imperial margarine. Butter will harden better, but it seemed to burn easier. I’m going to go back to butter, though, once the season is over and practice some more.
2. After the 8 minutes, add the chocolate chips and stir well until they melt or mostly melt. Then add the baking chocolate (to give yourself a head start, you can zap it in the microwave a bit to soften it). Once that’s all melted, stir in the fluff.
3. To make removal and clean-up easy, line a 9×13 pan with aluminum foil and pour the fudge in. Let it cool in the fridge.

To make white chocolate fudge, use white chocolate chips and white baking chocolate instead.

Kicking it up a notch

Once you have the basic recipe down, it’s time to make things interesting.

Chocolate Mint

For the fudge you see in the picture, I did a basic chocolate batch but I added 1 tbsp peppermint extract after mixing in the fluff. While I let that cool, I started a basic white chocolate batch and added 1 tbsp peppermint after mixing in the fluff. Pour that on top and let it cool overnight.

Chai Latte

I made an espresso fudge once, and it was really good except for the espresso grounds (it’s different if they’re toasted for the purpose of eating; these weren’t). My wife at the moment only drinks decaf coffee, and she prefers instant. One day I had an idea to make my espresso fudge with instant coffee.

Then it hit me: chai would make an awesome enhancement to the white chocolate fudge, and I could get some instant chai mix to make it with.

So to make the chai latte fudge, you end up using the white chocolate recipe. The only difference is you add 3 tbsp instant chai latte mix (I got mine at the dollar store) before adding the sugar to the butter and milk. Stir it really well, get out the lumps, and then add the sugar. It will fully dissolve as it boils.

Merry Christmas!

There you have it. A wonderfully delicious, gluten-free cheat item that you can share with friends and family. They’ll ask you for it year after year. Maybe they’ll even pay you for it!

Let me ask you: what would your favorite Christmasy fudge flavor be?

Cheat Day Recipe: Chocolate Mint and Chai Latte Fudge is a post from: Finding My Fitness

Can you believe it’s almost Christmas?! I certainly can’t. It’s snuck up on us again. How does it do that?

There’s a good chance – a very good chance – that you has made some drastic improvements to their health this past year. That’s awesome! Wouldn’t it be great to give the gift of better health to folks you love?

Well, there sort of is a way. I’ve put together a list of items that would be great gifts for your friends and family who are interested in bettering their health and fitness. Maybe you’ll even want to give yourself one this year for being so good!

Books

Primal Blueprint Series
Mark Sisson runs MarksDailyApple.com, and he’s got some cookbooks that are really amazing. I currently have both of them. With the first book, the Primal Blueprint, you learn how to reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy”!

Buy this book now!

Buy this book now!

Buy this book now!

Follow this link to get free shipping on the Primal Blueprint!

Everyday Paleo Series
Sarah Fragoso has been running her awesome blog, Everyday Paleo, for a while now. She’s always got great recipes to share as well as tips on getting your whole family on board. She has two books: Everyday Paleo teaches you how to adopt a Paleo lifestyle in your family, from recipes to tips to workouts for busy schedules. Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook shows you how to prepare real food for your family and how to enjoy mealtimes with your family.

Buy this book now!

Buy this book now!

Practical Paleo
Diane Sanfilippo’s blog BalancedBites also has a ton of recipes, and she’s recently released a book called Practical Paleo. It’s a Paleo approach from the perspective of a nutrition consultant.

From Amazon, “Practical Paleo is jam-packed with over 120 easy recipes, all with special notes about common food allergens including nightshades and FODMAPs. Meal plans are also included” and support immune disorders, diabetes, digestive issues, heart health, fat loss, and even athletic performance.

Buy this book now!

The Paleo Solution
Another book I love is the Paleo Solution. Robb Wolf explains a lot of the whys that The 4-Hour Body left out (like why we should avoid grains, why dairy can be a problem, etc). You can get it in Spanish and English (I have both!).

Buy this book now!

Compre este libro ahora!

The 4-Hour Trilogy
And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the book that started it all (here, at least), and its companions in the series. If you don’t have either of these books, they’re worth every penny.

Buy this book now!

Buy this book now!

Buy this book now!

Digital Publications

I was trying to keep my book recommendations all actual books because they just seem better as gifts, but there are two I’ll recommend simply because people will appreciate them immensely after the holidays. They’re designed for quick fat loss, and that’s what a lot of people look for after Jan 1.

Eat, Stop, Eat

Buy now!

Eat, Stop, Eat is a book on intermittent fasting. Essentially it’s targeted eating (and targeted not eating) to maximize your body’s ability to burn fat. It’s what helped me lose 14 lbs in November that also won me $80!

Click here to get more info on Eat, Stop, Eat.

30 Day Total Transformation

Buy now!

Robb Wolf’s 30 Day Total Transformation is another short but effective book that discusses why our bodies need certain foods for optimum health. It’s sort of like Cliff’s Notes for The Paleo Solution, but it goes into some practical stuff too.

It teaches you some great workouts that don’t involve a gym, has a meal plan for the 30 days, and also has a shopping list. The whole purpose is to help you lose fat and/or build lean body mass in a month. Perfect for January!

Click here to learn more about the book.

Equipment

I really believe you can get great results without a gym and without equipment. But there are a couple things that will help dramatically. One is for your workouts, the rest are for your kitchen.

Workout

Click to buy a kettlebell!

Kettlebells are great because they’re a simple piece of equipment that you can do a TON of stuff with. In fact, I’m working on a post that discusses just that. It would be an awesome gift for someone who wants to work out but doesn’t want to pay for a gym. This is the kettlebell that I am buying next.

Kitchen
I’m working on a more detailed post for the perfect minimalist kitchen, but in the mean time, I’ve made a list on Amazon that has all those things and a few more, in case minimalism isn’t your thing. The list is from the Domestic chapter in The 4-Hour Chef and a couple recommendations of my own.

A couple highlights from the list (click the images to see the items’ info):

Click here to check out the list!

Apparel
Finally, something a little more silly. I had two shirts and a mug made a while back. If you’re passionate about a grain free lifestyle or real coffee, you must have one.

Buy a mug now!
Also available:
Strong women drink their coffee black

Buy a shirt now!

Buy a shirt now!

See the whole store here: http://www.zazzle.com/findingmyfitness

Have a great Christmas!

I do feel I should mention that most of those links are affiliate links, which means you help support Finding My Fitness when you purchase from them. They don’t cost you any more than they would if you purchased direct, but because I referred you, I get a small cut. I don’t recommend products and services I don’t or wouldn’t use myself because I would hate to recommend something that you ended up having a bad experience with.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas this year, and a very healthful new year!

What would you just love to find under your tree that would help you with your fitness goals in 2013?

Ultimate Fat-Burning Christmas Gift-Giving Guide is a post from: Finding My Fitness