Cookbooks, Green Smoothies, & Fall Resets

It’s 6 am. The alarm’s buzzing. I brush my teeth, pull on some tights and a sweater, grab a book and my yoga mat, and sneak out the door down to the dock.

I read. I stretch. I hear a loon’s cry. I smile.

It’s 7 am. I head back inside, drink some water, exchange my book for earbuds and my Pilates note card, and take my yoga mat onto the side porch.

I work out. I wince. I’m glad when it’s over.

It’s 8 am. I drink a green smoothie, make the coffee, and wonder if this is really going to work. My body doesn’t like this new routine yet. My hips and stomach muscles ache. I’ve had a shoulder in and out of significant pain for weeks now. I miss my old morning walk/hike routine ~ it was so much easier.

This is my fall reset. I knew it was coming.

It happens every September for a lot of us. We feel the need to make some changes. And since everything else is shifting at the moment (summer to fall and all that comes with it), we figure it’s a good time to get our bodies into something new too. I’m no exception.

I got off track this summer and I’m still off track. I need help.

Here’s what’s helping me in my kitchen ⤵

Eat Smarter Family Cookbook by Shawn Stevenson is the book my health-food-loving friend Melissa recommended when I wrote to her in a panic a few months ago asking for recommendations.

The recipes are easy to make with ingredients that are easy to find. And there’s loads of information about true nutritional values, which foods help us improve our health and why, and how to get the most out of our food choices. I’m loving it.

Here’s what’s helping me in my earbuds ⤵

Eat Smarter is Shawn Stevenson’s part-memoir part-primer on nutrition. It’s chock full of food science and personal stories. And as someone who needs to know the why behind making healthy choices (and has to be reminded of it again and again evidently), I’m loving it. (Or, if the book is a little too much for you right now, Stevenson is also the host of The Model Health Show podcast. I’ve heard it’s good, although I haven’t tried more than one episode so far.)

Here’s what’s helping me on my TV screen ⤵

Salt Fat Acid Heat is Samin Nosrat’s phenomenal four-part series on Netflix for food lovers. It’s decidedly not a health food show at all, but it’s gorgeous and funny, and I’m watching this show and others like it for balance (we just started Somebody Feed Phil too). Because I tend to go a little overboard sometimes and burn out. I don’t want to do that this time.

Salt Fat Acid Heat is also a gorgeous cookbook, of course. I wrote about it last September on the blog, and I’m so sad that my copy is currently packed away in a storage unit because I would love to crack it open and cook something from it. Soon!

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Now I’m off to find a hammock in the sun and a good book or two that will last me all weekend. Whatever’s going on in your world today, my friend, whatever’s on your heart and in your mind this morning, I hope you know you’re not alone and you’ve got all kinds of love coming your way from me.

Sending peace, love & green smoothies,

Celeste

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