Elkaim - The all-day fat-burning cookbook: turbocharge your metabolism with more than 125 fast and delicious fat-burning meals

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2016 by Yuri Elkaim and Elkaim Group International, Inc.

Photographs 2016 by Rodale Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Photographs by Mitch Mandel/Rodale Images

Clock illustration by Shutterstock

Book design by Amy King

Food styling by Carrie Ann Purcell

Prop styling by Stephanie Hanes

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN 9781623366070 hardcover
ISBN 9781623366087 e-book

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Dedicated to my wife, Amy, and our three boys, Oscar, Luca, and Arlo, who are always my best food critics.

And a special thanks to the thousands of women and men all around the world whove been enjoying my simple and delicious fat-burning meals for years.

My bio reads like a fairy tale.

Im a registered holistic nutritionist, fitness and fat-loss expert, and the New York Times best-selling author of The All-Day Energy Diet and the precursor to this book, The All-Day Fat-Burning Diet. In my early twenties, I was able to pursue my childhood dream of playing professional soccer. Later, I acted as the strength and conditioning and nutrition coach for mens soccer at the University of Toronto for 7 years.

Ive appeared almost everywhere in the media, including on The Dr. Oz Show and The Doctors and in Huffington Post and Mens Fitness, and Ive been fortunate to have helped more than half a million men and women transform their bodies and health over the past two decades. But dont be fooled by the glossy bios and write-ups that make me seem more than human. The reality is that Im just a husband and father whos struggled for years with my own cravings and bad food habits.

It all started when I was a young boy growing up on man-made processed foods, take-out, fast-food restaurants, and 2-minute microwave dinners. I rarely ate vegetables or fruit and instead navigated my way toward copious amounts of bread, cereal, pasta, and cheese. Not many colors were in my diet. It was pretty white and very unhealthy.

As the years went by I suffered with terrible asthma, eczema, and really low energy. I remember eating Shreddies cereal topped with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2% milk only to find myself experiencing terrible stomachaches for hours afterward. As a teenager, I had no idea what I was doing and I wasnt clued in to how these symptoms would eventually change the course of my life forever.

I wont bore you with the entire story, especially since Ive described it in detail in my previous books, but heres what happened in a nutshell: At the age of 17, I lost all of the hair on my body in just 6 weeks to an autoimmune condition called alopecia. At the time, neither I nor my doctors had any idea why this happened, but the answer surfaced after several years. As with almost all health problems, including carrying too much body fat, I discovered that what you eat is a major factor. Duh! It took me until my midtwenties to figure this out, and only after going back to school to study holistic nutrition.

Since then, Ive overcome most of my health issues and regrown my hair and lost it again several times, as tends to be the way with autoimmune conditions. But more importantly, Ive been able to empower a lot of people to take better control of their health and finally lose weight without overhauling their lives with my simple and realistic approach to eating and living well. Yet, even after all this, Ive still battled with my own dietary demons lurking in the closet from my unhealthy childhood eating habits. Pizza, burgers, fries, and chocolate are just a few of my vices and, on occasion, Ill give in and enjoy them.

Even though Ive never struggled with being too heavy, Ive helped thousands of men and women who have. I understand the struggles that youve faced. Perhaps youve eaten well and exercised regularly, yet still that stubborn fat wouldnt budge. Or maybe, like me, youve been held hostage to food cravings for most of your life, especially when things get really stressful. And I get it if you feel like youre out of control with your diet, like someone else inside of you is running the show. Whatever your struggle, Im going to do my very best to help you put an end to it with this cookbook. Yes, that sounds like a bold claim, and perhaps we wont completely eliminate whats been holding you back from losing weight and keeping it off, but we will certainly come close.

Okay, so its confession time for me.

Unlike many other perfectly healthy gurus out there who seem to never slip with their diets, Im no dietary saint. Yes, I eat well most of the time and love foods that make me look and feel my best, but Ive also cut myself a little more slack over the years. During the past 10 years, Ive tried pretty much every diet out there so I could better relate to my overweight clients who were considering the very same diets. Unfortunately, like so many others, I ended them within a few days or weeks simply because they werent realistic and sustainableat least not for me.

Im a self-proclaimed healthy foodie. I love great food. Even though I encourage eating gluten-free and more plant-based foods, you wont find me at a nice restaurant turning away a delicious steak tartare spread over nicely toasted crostini with a touch of Dijon mustard and a pickle on top. Mmmm.

When people ask me if Im paleo or vegan, I remind them that I dont believe in labels because they really limit us in this world. I consider myself a healthatarian (I guess thats a label, isnt it?) who simply eats real food in a way that resonates with my body, while occasionally (I mean weekly) allowing myself to go off course. I want to encourage you to do the sameif that works for you. And in this cookbook, Ill show you how to do that without further ruining your metabolism.