Haylie Pomroy - Cooking for a Fast Metabolism: Eat More Food and Lose More Weight

This book presents, among other things, the research and ideas of its author. It is not intended to be a substitute for consultation with a professional healthcare practitioner. Consult with your healthcare practitioner before starting any diet regimen. The publisher and the author disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects resulting directly or indirectly from information contained in this book.

Copyright 2020 by Brainstorming Sessions, Inc.

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

hmhbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-358-16028-1 (POB);

ISBN 978-0-358-16029-8 (ebook)

Photography by Michael Hulswit and Aline Ponce

Book design by Rita Sowins

Cover design by Tai Blanche

Front cover photography by Ghazelle Badiozamani

v2.0320

I dedicate this book to my children and to all those who have entered my kitchen. May you leave full, both in your belly and in your heart. The need and desire for food is universal, and as we break bread together, may this food nourish you so you may enrich others!

Growing up as a kid with severe food allergies, I began to distrust food in general at a young age. Whenever I ate the wrong thing, I would get rashes on my lips and eyelids and eczema on my elbows and behind my knees. I spent more time in soothing oatmeal baths than I did on the playground. It wasnt until college, when I found myself in the hospital on 16 mg of prednisone, that a good friend introduced me to a pioneer in integrative medicine, who she thought could help me. He reminded me of the power of holistic medicine and natural foods, which I had grown up with but drifted away from. He suggested I remove all sugar and processed foods from my diet and eat only whole foods. My eczema disappeared! Food fixed something even powerful steroids hadnt fixed, and that is when I recognized the direct correlation between my diet, my skin outbreaks, and my overall health.

With the goal of minimizing my allergic reactions, my first experiments with cooking were very basic, and the results were quite bland. I knew I had to be careful, but what I really wanted was to enjoy my food. Whenever I ate out at restaurants, I loved the taste of the food, but I hated what it did to my body. I wanted the food I made at home to be just as tasty, but without the uncomfortable aftereffects, so I began experimenting with natural ingredients to amplify the taste of the foods that were already making a noticeable, positive impact on my health. My personal journey sparked my passion for making food that was both outrageously healthy and incredibly pleasing. What saved my life became my lifes work.

Its easy to forget what food really is and what it can do. Convenience and speed have become such necessities in this fast-paced world, that spending evenings cooking complicated family dinners can seem foreign and unrealistic. But real, natural, whole-food cooking can be healthy and deliciousalmost effortless. It can be a vibrant, exciting, comforting, energizing, calming, health-creating, even spiritual part of your life right here and now. For me, the kitchen is my pharmacy, my classroom, and the center of my family life. Its where we all do our homework, where we celebrate together, where we commune. I designed my kitchen for this purpose, and I spend most of my time at home in that space, cooking, experimenting, sharing, listening, laughing.

Dont get me wrongIm a businesswoman, a mother, an avid horseman, a scientist, a clinician. Im busy just like you are. I dont want you to envision me slaving over a hot stove all day, my brow powdered with freshly ground flour. But thats not to say that I dont sometimes have multiple slow cookers and stockpots bubbling away in my kitchen, or that I dont sometimes feel inspired to cook multiple meals at once to be stored in stackable, labeled freezer containers. For me, prepping and consuming whole foods is a matter of life or death. I had to make peace with this reality first. Then, I completely fell in love with the whole process of finding the freshest, most natural foods, prepping them, cooking them, and freezing my own fast food so I always have something nourishing and delicious to eat. There are a lot of days when I just dont have time to do anything other than simply take something I made out of the freezer and reheat it.

The kitchen in my home is a place for delighting in food, not fearing it. Cooking has become a pleasure, not a chore. I wrote this cookbook to share that pleasure and the power and influence your kitchen can have over your health. Making a meal shouldnt be intimidating. It should be easy. Food shouldnt be a source of fear. It should be a source of love and a way to care for and nurture yourself and the people you care about. It can taste amazing while still being one of the most powerful tools you have in the defense of your own health. It can support your weight loss, as well as your efforts to improve your health and your mood.

But you wont find that kind of medicinal power in a package of processed food from a factory that you throw into the microwave and call a meal. Real food comes from the earth, and in its healthiest form, it almost always requires some preparation. It doesnt have to take hours. Preparing your own food is a way to take care of yourself and keep your metabolism fired up or wake it up if it has slowed down.

What About Your Metabolism?

What is this metabolism you may have been hearing so much about, and what does it have to do with your weight loss and health goals? Basically, your metabolism is the process by which your body turns food into fuel or substance (like muscles, bones, skin, and blood). A fast metabolism stimulates the body toward restoration, not degeneration. For weight loss in particular, a fast metabolism means your body is efficiently converting food and fat into fuel. A fast metabolism can help to melt away fat, flatten your belly, trim your thighs, and un-jiggle your upper arms, as your body taps into the energy stores you have been holding onto (in the form of fat), maybe for years. On top of all that, a fast metabolism can help other processes in your body work more efficiently, easing your digestion, sharpening your thinking, boosting your mood, and giving you the energy you need to accomplish all the things you need to do every day.

And the way to make it all happen? With food! Food can hypernourish the metabolic pathways that regulate everything from inflammation to digestion to weight loss. Since every biochemical process going on inside you is micronutrient-dependent, a wide variety of whole foods will most likely touch all those bases, get all systems working efficiently, and keep your metabolism burning the way its meant to burn.