Louise Hendon - 30-Minute Paleo Dessert Recipes: Simple Gluten-Free and Paleo Desserts for Improved Weight-Loss

Just because you want to be healthy doesn't mean that you should have to go through life without ever eating any dessert.

However, if you're like me, feeling and looking great is important enough that you don't want to put junk in your body anymore. Luckily - to adapt an already-overused clich - I think you can have your Paleo cake and eat it too. And the desserts in this book are one easy way to do that.

If you like, feel free to jump straight to the recipes and get started, but I wanted to give you a quick summary of why this book is different and what you can expect.

First, The World Has Changed

It's long been assumed that if you just ate desserts in moderation, then you'd be fine.

On one hand, I'm just not very good at moderation, but on the other hand, it really makes no sense. Why put even a small amount of poison in your body? That's not something I want to do.

Fortunately, it's a complete myth that moderation is a good way to go, and it's not true at all that desserts have to be made from toxic junk in order to be delicious. This is one of the things that being Paleo has taught me.

I can still make delicious food without harmful toxins, and you can too.

Also, mainstream nutrition and the media asserted for a very long time that chemically-manufactured, low-fat foods were the healthy way to go.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and you probably already know this. That's why all of my recipes focus on ingredients that are full of natural and healthy fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.

In other words, we're no longer living in a world filled with myths about what's healthy and what's not. We know now that real food and real ingredients have kept us, our grandparents, and our ancestors healthy for a very long time.

All of that brings me to this...

Why the Desserts in this Book are Fantastic

Above all else, there are 3 main reasons why the desserts in this book are different and better than most:

1. My Desserts will Make You Feel Better, Not Worse. I don't personally believe in or eat things like processed sugars, seed oils, gluten, or a variety of other toxins. So none of the recipes in this book contain any of those ingredients.
   As a result, my desserts are much less likely to cause digestive issues, to make you fat, or to make you sick. And that's really important to me. I want to take great care of my own body, but I also want to nourish my family and friends.
   I use only real, whole foods, all of which are 100% Paleo, such as coconut oil, local raw honey, coconut flour, and other nutritious foods.
   
2. My Desserts are Fast. This is almost as important to me as being healthy, because I know that if a recipe is really hard and takes a long time, then we probably won't ever use it.
   Every single recipe in this book requires less than 30 minutes of preparation time. And all but 5 recipes can be eaten within 30 minutes after you first start preparing them (most of those 5 recipes need a few hours in the fridge or freezer to set prior to eating)! I'm not kidding. It's that important to me.
   
3. Every Recipe is Tested to be Awesome. I can't tell you how many recipes I've tried from books where it's clear that the author just made some substitutions and never actually tested the recipe. This is particularly true for Paleo recipes, where people will often just guess that a Paleo ingredient will easily substitute for a "standard" one. It almost never works.

I've tested every recipe in this book until I was completely satisfied that it was awesome and delicious. You might like some recipes better than others, but it won't be because one of the recipes didn't work.

Please Don't Make These Mistakes

My recipes are very simple, very easy, and very good. But there are two mistakes that I see a lot of people make:

1. Not Following the Recipe Exactly. Obviously, I would never discourage experimenting. But when it comes to many of the Paleo ingredients (like coconut flour), a small change can make a big difference. So if you're trying any of these recipes out for the first time, try to follow the recipe as closely as possible. I've tested them a number of different ways, and the methods in this book work. Ive listed some possible substitutions in the Ingredients and Equipment chapter, but please note that all substitutions will change the recipe in some way.
   
2. Not Listening to Your Own Body. All of the ingredients in this book are natural, non-toxic, and nutritious. But that's not a 100% guarantee that your body handles every ingredient well. If you make a dessert and then feel bad after eating it, then your body probably doesn't tolerate one of the ingredients well. It might be the fiber in the coconut, it might be the phytates in the almonds, or it might be the casein in eggs. Whatever it is, listen to your body, because that's what really matters in the end.

Start with the Butter Cookies or Banana Bread

You can start wherever you like, but the recipes that consistently get the highest praise from my friends and family are the . Don't say I didn't warn you, though, because you'll have to make a new batch very soon after the first! :)