Cohen - Simas healthy indulgence: 100 revamped, guilt-free recipes to transform your life

Contents The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. Oprah Winfrey Acknowledgments Have you heard the clich it takes a village? Well, its true. I wouldnt be able to do what I do, nor would I have been able to produce this incredible book without my village. However, before talking about my village, let me mention a couple important people in my life. First is Kayla Sorensen, my beautiful daughter. You are the love of my life, my princess love, and a true gift from God. I am privileged to be your mother.

You are the biggest blessing in my life. I know I am here to guide you as your mom, but in so many ways I feel that you teach me whats really important in life. Then, I would like to thank my partner, the savvy Farhad David Rostamian, whose dedication, insight, and incredible eye for detailnot to mention his love for cooking and foodhas helped us make something above my expectations. David, in a way, I feel that you and I have co-created this book together, as your vision and leadership have been captured throughout the pages and have taken this project to a whole new level. Speaking of my village, let me introduce this incredible team. Minoti Vaishnav, my gratitude for capturing the essence of my work into words, I appreciate and thank you for your unique gift.

Our prop and food stylist, Leslie Rodriguez, your dedication to your craft and your no-nonsense attitude makes you an integral part of our team. Delaram Pourabdi, our amazing photographer, your artistic vision and photography skills have brought this book to life. It is a breath of fresh air to see how your photos captured the essence of my recipes and showcased them as the mouth-watering dishes they are. Madeline Hodges, our set designer, your creative approach to styling and designing dishes for photography was instrumental in transforming our vision on the set. Justin Hall, our skilled videographer, thank you for capturing so vividly all that happened behind the scene as we made this book. Melissa Duenas, I appreciate your detailed work on this project as it allowed me to focus on what I do best in writing this book.

Lastly, Kristine Lacayanga, thank you for assisting me throughout this project, from proofreading to preparing the final manuscript. Your attention to details and organizational adherence supported this project above and behind. I am also extremely grateful to collaborate with several world-renowned brands and professionals, including the extraordinary people that supported the creation of this cookbook. Robert Schuller and Nick Quintero from Melissas Produce (you guys rock), Sadaf foods, Alkaline heals you, Wellness to be, Justins, Gomacro, Primal Kitchen, Panorama meats, Eden foods, reCAP mason jars, Fitvine wine, Harmless harvest, Frontier co-op, Clover juice, Philosophie, The Berry man, Purely Elizabeth, Sari foods, Suja juicethank you all for believing in me and my work. Throughout my journey that led to the creation of this book, I have had the privilege of meeting and studying under the guidance of world-class mentors. The most impactful among them is New York Times bestselling author Marianne Williamson.

She has been the greatest influence in my growth both personally and professionally as her teachings have led me through my own life transformation. Marianne, I thank you for your brilliance, wisdom, and guidance. I am beyond grateful to call you my mentor and friend. Abigail Gehring and Leah Zarra and the entire Skyhorse Publishing team, I am grateful for your patience and grace as you steered this project from the outset, and worked with me to bring this book to the world. I am very happy to have had the privilege of having my first book published by Skyhorse and their elite team. I have had the good fortune of working with many talented professionals throughout my career.

Clyde Haygood, Shira Wintner, and Cynthia Salazar: I am indebted to your hard work and believing in me and my crazy dreams. To my good friends, Shirin Yadegar, founder of LA Mom magazine, and Shahriar and Atoosa Rad, this project would not have been possible without your kindness and generosity. You opened your doors and graciously let us wash, prep, chop, cook, blend, mix, spice, bake, burn, stage, design, photograph, record, and otherwise mess up your beautiful homesand let us do it over and over again. We are forever grateful. I was born into an incredible and loving family, one that taught me about the important blessings in life such as culture, food, community, Shabbat celebrations, and having strong roots and bonds, and for that I am truly grateful. To my mother (Tamar), brothers (Itzik, David, Avi), and sisters (Galit and Limor), I may not see you as often as I would like, but I want you to know that you have given me so much meaning and unconditional love as we grew up together.

And to my dad (Israel) and my loving grandparents who are watching over me from above: I love you, and I know you are proud of me. I truly have the best clients in the world to whom I would like to pay a special tribute. For starters, I wish I could mention each and every one of you. You have been with me for the past twenty years, and I cannot express enough how proud I am of all of you. When you look at me and tell me Youve changed my life, I know why I do what I do. Your transformation continues to be my greatest reward.

Without my hardships, struggles, breakdowns, and hard lessons, I would not be the person that I am today. All of those hard moments and difficult experiences in my life turned out to be blessings; they have resulted in breakthroughs, and I am grateful for having lived and learned through them all. Also, I want to personally extend my gratitude and appreciation to one incredible woman who inspired me to live my life in a way that I learned people around me are the ones who matter the most. Even though she isnt physically near me, she is someone that exuded such influence in my life which made me want to better my life and help better the lives of others. I idolize the life that she created for herself and for so many millions of others around the world. Oprah Winfrey, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being who you are and what you do for others, I commend you and look up to you.

So at the end, let me acknowledge all women out there, especially single moms who may have gone through or are currently experiencing the same hardships. I may not know you personally, but I walk in your shoes every day and encourage you to embrace each and every struggle with your inner strength and strong will. We share many common goals and strive to have balance in our lives. You are the backbone of your family and I salute you, your hard work and dedication. Wherever you are, I want you to know that I am wholeheartedly rooting for you as my soul sisters. Introduction Hi.

Im Sima, and I would like to welcome you to my world of Healthy Indulgence. I know what youre thinkinghow can Simas cookbook help me with my health and nutrition goals, especially with weight loss, yet still allow me to indulge? Well, as we discover in the healthy indulgences throughout this book, I promise you will enjoy the journey as much as the destination. But before we start indulging, you need to know who I am and what led me to create this cookbook. I was born in a small town near Tel Aviv, into a large family where I was the oldest of six children, living with my parents in a tiny two-bedroom apartment. I grew up in a rough neighborhood, an environment that toughened me up from a very early age and helped me withstand many of my future challenges. During my childhood, food was in abundance, but our lifestyle was very simple with no luxuries and access to only basic necessities.