It means the calories in/calories out model is a big, fat lie. 

It's a distorted and limited view of food that can lead to weight cycling and 

There are two main reasons for this.

One is that real food is self-moderating. That means that food, as your ancestors would understand, can't be overeaten and doesn't behave in your body the way more highly processed food does. 

Here's an example I teach in my weight loss programs:

Take a bowl of lentils (sub in any bean you really like for this example). You make a big pot prepared just how you like them. You eat one bowl and pretty quickly feel full. It's tasty, but no matter how much you like them, it's unlikely you'll down another. Plus, how many times have you sneaked into the kitchen for a late-night bowl of beans? I'm guessing never. 

Two is that real food behaves very differently in your body. A fiber-rich meal creates a protective barrier around your food that prevents about 30% of what you're eating from being absorbed for energy 😮

Think about that for a moment. Not only does real food make it simple to eat the perfect amount, but it also protects your body once inside. 

Real food is a game-changer. Your kitchen is the best place to access it.

Now you're starting to understand why making your own food every day is so damn important. 

Your kitchen is a tool for well-being, and I want you to feel confident to use it.

This course is equal parts kitchen intelligence, weight wisdom, and an eating system that centers on health without sacrificing pleasure.

If you could cook alongside an experienced home cook, what would she teach you to make simple, delicious, and nourishing meals?

Well, this 👇

COOK! teaches you to cook in systems so you can feed yourself real food every day without a huge mental load.

It's also a deeper understanding of the food principles that drive not another diet. That's the 'why' we're so devoted to real food.

There are a million YouTube videos on how to fry an egg, but there's nearly nothing about how you walk into your kitchen and make meals daily using real food.

That's what COOK! is all about. Helping you feel empowered to use and love your kitchen.

Eating real food is crucial to every life outcome that matters to you. It's nearly impossible to fulfill that mission with takeout and packaged foods.

Hence, COOK!

No, they're instructions on how to make a single dish.

Cooking three meals daily from recipes is unsustainable and exhausting. Consider how difficult it would be to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner from a recipe. Also, consider how much your health would improve if you could eat real food at every meal. See the rub?

You'd need to find one that appeals to you, accumulate the missing ingredients, and then follow the step-by-step instructions for each one. I'm tired just writing that out! No wonder people end up eating out so often or get lured into buying meal kits. 

Recipes make cooking a pastime. In order to feed yourself (and others) every day, you need intuitive cooking. A looser approach based on systems, ingredient categories, and blissful simplicity.

Recipes are useful for making specific dishes, learning new flavor combinations, and trying new techniques (although the latter often is better done by following a YouTube tutorial, many of which I include in this course). They are also great for quickly figuring out how long and at what temperature to cook food.

They aren't practical for the daily work of meal making, which is where the real gains in health come from.

Cooking in systems is how your kitchen will make sense to you.

Not at all. You'll create an inventory of ingredients and techniques you'll use over and over to create variations you thoroughly enjoy.

Cooking by heart, which is the best description I can give this process, makes for infinite possibilities. Part of the beauty of home cooking is that it's never really the same thing twice.

This course purposely tackles lots of options, techniques, and approaches so you never get bored with what you're eating.

The idea is to cook like one might make music, with fluidity. 

The know-how to make real food from your kitchen without a lot of fuss so you can realize long-held health goals.

And:

1. Access to the learning modules in COOK! including any and all updates. There will be chapter additions year by year as we explore new foods and new concepts.
2. Two members only cook-along workshops per year.
3. The ability to comment with your questions and dish suggestions inside the course.
4. One price for life. No monthly subscriptions or yearly re-ups. 
5. The confidence to feed yourself pleasurable, nourishing meals without a huge amount of forethought. In other words, food freedom.

Gadgets are aspirational clutter. Think about that pilates/weight machine/treadmill that ended up as a clothes-drying rack.

"But in this way, the Instant Pot sitting untouched on the shelf can also be a reminder of the unfulfilled promises of the single life-changing appliance. It is but a successor in a long line that includes bread machines, George Foreman grills, turbo broilers, coffee pod machines, juicers, sous vide sticks, and Sodastreams. Like the aspirational outfit that sits in the closet unworn, the Instant Pot can be motivation in a particular direction, or it can taunt as another thing that didn’t work, pushing us deeper into capitalism’s maw: If I buy this one more thing, my life can be better."

Here are a few other things that have failed to turn people into daily home cooks: fancy kitchens, more recipe books, produce (I see you with all that goodness rotting in the drawer), meal prep containers... I could go on. 

We're so used to the idea of buying things to make us into the people we want to be that no one stops to ask, is that how it's done?

I'm pretty sure it isn't.

Who am I to say? I'm an expert in well-being and devote all my time to helping people create lives that produce healthy outcomes. What brings people to change is to expose the fallacies in their thinking and show them easy ways to incorporate healthy practices. In other words, not things.

This course is based on that idea. 

Each module is designed to be taken in 5-20 minutes. You can spend more time exploring the resources provided.  

The idea behind lifetime access is to explore at your own pace. 

Once you start taking in the material, you will have a period of learning and building skills.

The chapters are designed to be easily understood, and the additional resources provided can help you expand your learning as needed.

In the long run, you'll save loads of time and money (both in eating out and the health costs associated with a poor diet).

If self-care is important to you, making nutritious meals with ease should be at the top of your to-do list in bold letters. It's that important.

I don't know your kids or what they will eat. Well, that's not exactly true. The fact that we've agreed as a society on what amounts to 'kid food' is a problem.

I raised three children and I know first-hand that food is unbelievably unhealthy.

It's causing obesity to skyrocket in children and saddling them with long-term health problems. 

Our food system is now a diabetes-producing, compulsion-inducing, sugar-laden nightmare that creates a terrible burden for the whole of a child's life. 

I could make my answer less uncomfortable but it's something parents need to hear.

Kids need real food. Every day at every meal. Yes, there will be a learning curve. Yes, they might object a bit. They'll also learn how to take care of themselves for a lifetime.

Having said that, you will have the ability to customize to your family's preferences. The whole idea is to be flexible. I like beets but maybe your family thinks they're gross (roast 'em before you give them the brush-off). No problem, the same approach applies to any vegetable you like.

Learn the systems and techniques, and make them your own.

Lastly, cook with your children. It gives them agency, they learn self-care, and it's a beautiful way to spend time together. 

I know because that's exactly what I did. The kitchen is a life-affirming place to be when you know how to use it.

My hope is this course brings families together in good health.

Jeez, tough crowd.

The idea isn't to hand you a bunch of dishes (you're thinking of recipes) but to teach you how to make your own.

My food is awesome, FYI, but I'm sure yours will be even better.

The short answer is that it might. Eating real food every day helps you eat less naturally. 

Losing weight often requires addressing a variety of factors at once which our Weight Loss For Life program specifically tackles.

This course functions as a standalone product and as a companion to our popular weight loss program. Think of it as the 'How To Eat For A Lifetime' side of permanent weight loss and a part of your total well-being.

Real food improves every aspect of your health including sleep, mood, and brain health. You'll likely see your energy, sleep, and mood improve as well as save money. 

Plus, you'll enjoy your eating food that much more when you know each delicious bite supports your total well-being.

This course is divided into three main sections. 

• Welcome!
  • Meet your teacher
  • Why bother with home cooking? 
  • You aren't a chef, and that's a good thing.
  • How To Use This Course
  • RECIPE < SYSTEMS
  • How to read and use recipes.
• Nourishment Principles And Best Practices
  • Real Food Will Set You Free
  • The NAD Food Principles
  • Low Sugar Helps You Trust Your Hunger
  • Fermented Foods Lower Inflammation
  • Easy Ways To Ensure Moderation
  • Embrace Simplicity
  • Avoid These Common Kitchen Mistakes
• Essentials To Make Your Own
  • START HERE, GO ANYWHERE
    • Fat
    • Acid
    • Salt
    • Emulsifier
    • Now put them together 
  • Beans Are Always A Good Idea
  • Whip It Good
  • Roast ALL The Veggies (And Fruit)
  • Plain (Whole Milk!) Greek Yogurt Is A Kitchen Workhorse
  • A Good Salad Fixes Everything 🥗
  • Grain Bowls Are Modular, Delicious, and Adaptable 🍲
  • Greens Make Life Good
  • Put An Egg On It 🍳
  • Tinned Fish Is 🐟 The Power Move
  • Two Weeknight Chicken Dishes To Make On Repeat
  • Tofu Would Like The Freedom To Be Itself
  • It's Probably A Soup
  • Relish Your Condiments
  • Ground Meat, Elevated
  • Your Pantry
    • Tools I Recommend
    • Your Umami Cheat-Sheet
    • Build A Pantry - Shop In Ingredient Group
    • Genius Ideas

Please don't. 

The best thing to do is to start with what you have on hand and then buy as needed.

I'll make recommendations for tools that create more ease in meal preparation. You can decide as you learn what might be worthwhile for you.