Eat the Cupcake, Savor the Champagne: The “KISS” Series; Keep it Simple, Sweetheart, #1

By Sophia Elan

"I'm confident that anyone who follows her recommendations will lose weight, be healthier, enjoy increased energy, and be happier in their overall lives." Readers' Favorite 5 -Stars

 

"I love food; I eat carbs; I don't fear fat; I drink wine; I don't count calories; I don't count steps; and I don't belong to a gym." A unique description of a weight loss guide that encourages you to eat, drink and be merry…

 

That's exactly what "Eat the Cupcake" is intended to be - an unconventional, but common sense, approach to a common societal problem. 

If you're frustrated with food phobias, conflicting/confusing advice, fad diets, deprivation, and gimmicks, trust your intuition and give the "keep it simple, sweetheart"("KISS") philosophy a try. 

 

In her empathetic and relatable voice, Elan offers simple and empowering natural recommendations to achieve "smart weight loss" and look great, feel great, and be great. "Eat the Cupcake" is not only a decisively different "weight loss" book but the last weight loss guide you will ever need. This series isn't just another weight loss book, but a healthy lifestyle guide. 

 

Elan's strategy for sustainable weight loss is based on empowerment and a realistic lifestyle, not stress, fear of food, or deprivation. Instead of obsessing about calorie counting, fearing carbohydrates/fats, or thinking we have to exercise intensely or endlessly, Elan opts for an "Anti-Deprivation Diet" focusing on the nutrients we need to attain a healthy weight - and life - and a consistent but moderate exercise routine. Elan shares evidence-based tips to jump-start weight loss, boost metabolism and ignite fat burning.

 

This extensively-researched series provides 25 simple, proven strategies in each book to help sustainably lose weight, beyond the simplistic mantra to "eat less and move more." Elan gets to the heart of impediments to weight loss, beyond diet and exercise. She compassionately addresses the psychological reasons why we may struggle to lose weight and highlights overlooked factors contributing to weight gain, including stress, sleep deprivation, and digestive issues.

 

With a master's degree in natural health, ISSA certifications in nutrition and fitness, and her unique perspective from living in the Mediterranean for almost two decades, Elan shares practical weight loss insights and strategies to not only achieve a healthy weight but to also enhance overall mental and physical well-being. Weight challenges have a multi-factorial origin requiring a multi-factorial, yet simple, solution. To Elan, "diet" is a noun, not a verb. Elan's mission is to help others get off the diet merry-go-round by following the easily replicable, enjoyable lifestyle that has helped her achieve her optimal health while being at her fittest at 57.

 

"Eat the Cupcake" is the second book in Elan's "KISS" series, a collection of self-care made simple guides, utilizing Elan's trademark "keep it simple, sweetheart" philosophy. The "KISS" collection is designed to inspire and empower you to optimize your life, via simple, natural, proven lifestyle interventions. "Eat the Cupcake" encourages us to embrace ourselves, our food, and our lives. 

 

Self-care made simple. Keep it simple, sweetheart…

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mediterranean Me
• Release date: Jun 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223275114

Sophia Elan

Sophia Elan's journey is an inspiration to all those who seek to follow their heart and live their dreams. Sophia, a University of Chicago Law School alum and former corporate lawyer, left her career to feed her soul. "Sicilian Seductions" is the first novel in Sophia's 7-part Mediterranean-based "Happily Ever Now" collection, a testament to the power of following one's instincts and finding true happiness. Most recently from Napa, California, Sophia resides along the exquisite Turkish Riviera; she is blessed to be the living embodiment of a Mediterranean lifestyle, having lived in the region for almost two decades. Sophia's passions and natural health and fitness background provide endless inspiration for her holistic wellness Mediterranean Me brand. A conqueror of complex PTSD, Sophia also writes non-fiction with the mission of using her insights to enhance others' lives. Sophia is proud to have travel essays published in International Living, the premiere travel publication for retirees that fueled her own wanderlust. Sophia invites you to join her on her literary journey and embrace the magic of a Mediterranean lifestyle through her website, www.mediterraneanme.com.      

Book preview

EAT THE CUPCAKE,

SAVOR THE CHAMPAGNE

Everyday Wellness for Healthy Weight Loss

Simple, natural habits to look great, feel great, & be great!

Dedicated to You,

The Reader

In appreciation of your interest

In honor of your perseverance

In gratitude for your support

In anticipation of your success

In celebration of your journey

Sophia xo

Idon’t want you to just lose a few pounds in the short term. My goal is to help you achieve a sustainable healthy weight while becoming your happiest, healthiest, and most harmonious . Through education, extensive research, decades of observation, and my own experiences, I firmly believe that the best path to achieving a healthy weight is the same path to achieving optimal mental and physical wellbeing. A healthy weight is critical to your vitality, health, and longevity. I think that all too often, in our quest for a simple solution, we paradoxically overcomplicate things. We think that the relatively simple way can’t be effective and we clutch at snippets from the onslaught of information we’re all inundated with these days.

I’m alarmed by our staggering health care statistics and frustrated with our societal fixation on diet and categorically demonizing one macronutrient or another. This concern and frustration, combined with my education and certifications in health and fitness, and my unquenchable passion for natural wellness, is the genesis for my "KISS" plan and collection of books. I propose a compassionate and common sense, back-to-basics approach to help address our collective crises. As a society, we are overstressed, overwhelmed, overweight, over-drugged, exhausted, sleep-deprived, and suffering from an unprecedented amount of mental ailments and chronic degenerative diseases. It has become my mission to help change this trajectory in whatever way I humbly can. Unbiased information is power. I want you to be empowered.

Obesity is a medical condition and excess weight is a symptom of some underlying issue. We need to stop judging and start caring. I sincerely hope I can help you achieve your weight loss goals. I want to do more than that though. I hope to help you identify impediments to achieving your goals and catapult you to your rest of life best of life. That may sound lofty and ambitious, but if we don’t try, we certainly cannot succeed...

A COMPREHENSIVE, NATURAL, ACCESSIBLE APPROACH

TO

LOSE THE WEIGHT,

FEEL GREAT, LOOK GREAT & BE GREAT

Body, Mind & Peace

Health, Happiness & Harmony

THE PROBLEM:

OUR WEIGHT CRISIS:

THE SOBERING REALITY

THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY:

***Everyday Wellness for Healthy Weight Loss***

Self-Care is Healthcare

THE GOAL:

BE ALL YOU WANT TO BE

THE STRATEGY:

THE KISS PLAN TO

BECOMING EMPOWERED

PART I: THE POWER OF YOUR MIND & BODY IN CONCERT

Believe in Yourself & Embrace The Simple Pleasure of Nutritious Food

#1. Embrace Yourself

#2. Embrace Your Food

PART II: THE POWER OF PLANTS

Culinary Herbs/Spices, Essential Oils & Teas

#3. Ginger

#4. Red Chili Pepper

#5. Lemon Balm

#6. Green Tea

#7. Grapefruit Oil

PART III: THE POWER OF DAILY RITUALS

Smart Eating Habits for Smart Weight Loss

#8. Adopt a Gratitude Attitude

#9. Eat Without Distractions

#10. Eat Slowly and Chew Thoroughly

#11. Use Pre-Loading Tactics

#12. Eat Satiating Foods: Feeling Full with Less Calories

PART IV: THE POWER OF SAGE SUPPLEMENTATION

Support Your Nervous System, Energy, & Detoxification

#13. Ginseng

#14. Milk Thistle

#15. Psyllium Seed Husk

PART V: THE POWER OF YOUR BIOLOGY

Take Care of Your Body & It Will Take Care of You

#16. Hydrate

#17. Sleep: Promote Better Behaviors

#18. Optimize Your Microbiome: Variety is the Spice of Life

#19. Engage Your Brown Adipose Tissue:

Channel Your BATMan/BATGirl

PART VI: THE POWER OF YOUR PLATE

Nourish to Flourish

#20. The Anti-Diet: Anti-Stress Foods

#21.  Powerful Protein

#22. Common Sense: Protein & Label Savvy

#23. Resistant Starches: Your New BFF

PART VII: THE POWER OF MOVEMENT

Movement is Magic in Motion

#24. Movement is a Privilege; Use it, or lose it

#25. Aerobic Training: The Secret to Your Success

Foreword/Forwards

Welcome, I’m so glad you are here! I hope to educate you, motivate you, and celebrate you!

My keep it simple, sweetheart ("KISS") philosophy is simple and effective; smart weight loss requires a healthy lifestyle. A healthy life requires a healthy lifestyle. Weight and health are inextricably linked. I want to help you achieve your weight loss goals while crushing your overall health goals via easy, enjoyable, natural lifestyle interventions.

I promise you every single one of the recommendations I make throughout this "Cupcake" series is simple, straightforward, and accessible. Please do not be fooled by the simplicity of the recommendations. Be emboldened. Each of the recommendations is not only simple but has proven efficacy for supporting weight loss efforts. What’s more, the benefits of the recommendations go above and beyond weight loss support; they are designed to help optimize mental and physical wellbeing.

This is the beauty of the "KISS" plan: self-care made simple, weight loss made simple. I’m sharing 25 well-researched and thoughtfully chosen steps in each PART of the planned six-part series for you to select from to help you achieve a healthy weight. I truly hope - and believe -  that the suggestions throughout this series can collectively transform your life.

This is more than a weight loss book; it’s a way of life that can put an end to dieting and avoiding one class of macronutrients or another. It’s an anti-deprivation lifestyle that is simple and easily replicable. Diet is a noun to me, not a verb. It was important to me to select recommendations that would be accessible to most; our weight crisis is prevalent, and I hope in some small way to help improve the lives of as many people as I can. I poured my heart and soul into researching dense topics and distilling practical, proven tips so you don’t have to. All I ask from you is to believe in yourself, use common sense and be consistent. I truly believe this is the secret to your inevitable success.

Conventional approaches are failing miserably and have been for decades. We have an alarming increase in excess weight/obesity, diabetes, mental ailments and diseases, like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. We’re not just overweight as a society. We’re sleep-deprived, stressed, overwhelmed, often depressed or anxious, irritable or lethargic, and over(mis)treated and over drugged. I could have easily done a book with much fewer, more sensationalized, sexier, grab-your-attention, quick-fix tips, without explanation or reference, as I see so frequently and so frustratingly.

I want to pique your interest and help guide you to additional information to the extent you’d like to delve further. I’m my most motivated when I understand why and how things work and I want to provide useful, empowering information. My mission is not only to help you attain your weight goals, but to simultaneously help you enhance your overall health while you’re doing it. If you’re going to put effort into weight loss, I want to reward you with the most bang for your buck so to speak.

Most weight loss interventions focus on reduced calories or increased exercise. These are important fundamental factors, of course, but they are not the be all, end all; they fail to address why we may eat too much or move too little, and they don’t provide any insight into the role that other contributory factors significantly play in weight challenges and overall health.

Emotional challenges, traumas, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, digestive distress, nutritional deficiencies, toxic overload, liver conditions, and lymphatic stagnation can all significantly contribute to weight gain and difficulty losing weight; to the extent these factors are contributing to weight challenges, they must be addressed to lose weight. Yet, we barely hear about them, if at all.

We’re just told to eat less, move more, fear sugars, carbohydrates, insulin, or fats, etc. Sustainable healthy weight doesn’t come from a two-week smoothie plan, severely restricting your calories, fearing food, or categorically giving up pasta, pizza, or bread. Deprivation or doing something you find very unpleasant is not sustainable, and, well, isn’t very pleasant, is it? By obsessing about weight and fixating on macronutrients, common sense, intuition and nutrition seem to have been thrown by the wayside. Neither your worth, weight, nor health is dictated by what you eat.

To resolve our global crisis, I adamantly believe that we need to go back to basics. Our overarching goal should be our overall health and the strategy should be a common sense, evidence-based lifestyle approach, including nutrition, stress management, restorative sleep, regular movement, and simple support of our biology. If we adopt this more comprehensive strategy, we’ll collectively lose a lot of pounds, but, more importantly, we’ll gain huge benefits from enhanced overall mental and physical wellbeing. The healthy habits that can help you lose weight parallel the habits that enhance overall health.

Food is nutrition and I deeply believe it is one of life’s greatest simple pleasures. I want us to embrace food, not fear it; we need to replace scaring with caring. Let’s not focus on losing pounds, but gaining health. Let’s not focus on what we can’t eat, but what we should eat. Let’s not stress about food, but embrace nutrition. Let’s not focus on exercise for weight loss, but exercise for optimal mental and physical wellbeing and aging. Let’s quit being divisive with warring diet factions. Let’s collectively come together with a serious, accessible solution to a serious, collective problem.

The beauty of the "KISS" plan lies in its common sense approach. I want to help inform you to help reform your daily routine to transform your health. We desperately need a comprehensive plan to address the multifactorial origin of weight difficulties, as well as the skyrocketing incidence of weight-induced chronic ailments and diseases. Smart weight loss is a healthy lifestyle.

I’m not going to ask you to run marathons or do planks; to eat tofu and cabbage; to drink protein shakes; or to pass on your best friend’s birthday cake. Indeed, my title, "Eat the Cupcake, not the Cake," intentionally aptly reflects my anti-deprivation philosophy. If you want to do those things, you certainly can, of course. My philosophy is "choose to lose"; my goal is to introduce you to certain concepts and let you customize your lifestyle to suit your goals, your circumstances, and your desires.

I want to educate and motivate, not dictate. I want you to "freestyle" the lifestyle you find pleasurable and sustainable and help guide you to get there. Quite frankly, anything else is doomed to fail and is a waste of precious time, effort, and energy. I want you to achieve your goals; I want you to enjoy getting there; and I want you to sustainably reap the rewards of your efforts.

Think of this series collectively as a sort of weight loss menu. I want you to embrace the categorical concepts in each "PART," but expect you to pick and choose from the numerous recommendations I make. I tried to make the recommendations throughout the series more or less stand alone suggestions that you can adopt independently of the others.

I am going to ask you to believe in yourself, honor your body, use common sense, and be consistent  - not pristine, but consistent. Embrace yourself, embrace food, embrace your body, and embrace a simple lifestyle that can help you achieve a healthy goal while being the key to your health, happiness, and harmony.

I understand wanting to see huge results - like yesterday. Life doesn’t work quite that way though and nothing that is sustainable or worth achieving does. I get it; I’m an instant gratification type persona myself. The beauty is that the recommendations are simple; you can jump right in immediately and enthusiastically and instantly be gratified by prioritizing self-care and adopting these concepts each day, every day.

The "KISS" plan is healthier, and vastly more effective, sustainable, and pleasurable than severe calorie restrictions or fad diets. I want you to eat, drink, and be merry, instead of obsessively counting calories or tracking steps, spending your life at the gym, starving yourself, or fearing food ever - especially not all day, every day. I want you to live life to the fullest, prioritize and believe in yourself, and be happy!

You’ve got this and I have your back with a set of proven simple daily habits and practices you can seamlessly integrate into your lifestyle to support your healthy weight goals while enhancing your overall physical and mental wellbeing. I want you to be excited for each day and treasure the simple pleasures of life, and, for me, that most definitely includes food.

So, to the extent I have some sort of secret to success, it’s a combination of common sense and commitment, and this, my friends, is why I can "eat the cupcake"....

I KNOW I HAVE A LOT of front material before diving into the recommendations; the beauty is that you, as the reader, can skip around as you desire, and I, as the author, am free to write to my heart’s content. I obviously am a stream-of-consciousness type person! Feel free to jump straight to the recommendations if these sections are not applicable or of personal interest to you. I also know that I repeat certain facts that I think are important. I know readers don’t always read everything; indeed I just acknowledged you’ll probably skip around... Since each of the recommendations is intended to largely be standalone, I felt it was wise to repeat some fundamental information in a few places.

About the KISS Collection (and moi)

As I like to say, I preach what I practice. The lifestyle habits I suggest throughout this " Cupcake " series are evidence-based and I’m living proof of the efficacy of adopting them. They have served me well; at 57, I am at my fittest and my best, mentally and physically. I overcame a lifetime of physiological and psychological manifestations of stress and also traversed through menopause unscathed. I am relentless about doing everything I can to age well and enjoy life with abandon. I have a Master’s in Natural Health, and ISSA fitness/nutrition certifications, and have been passionately researching holistic wellness for decades. My education, research, and experiences have enabled me to profoundly believe and embrace the fact that the vast majority of chronic conditions (including excess weight), ailments and diseases are lifestyle-related and, for most of us, within our control. We can each master our health destiny . This is empowerment and cause for celebration.

The books in this planned 6-part "Cupcake" series are designed to give you actionable suggestions that you can start adopting immediately to help you achieve your weight loss goals. All of the recommendations have been extensively-researched and referenced and I welcome you to delve into the research yourself. My research has been - and continues to be - enlightening, but also extremely time consuming and a bit exhausting! I waded through the dense studies and research to distill user-friendly tips to easily incorporate into one’s lifestyle.

"Fed Up? Embrace Yourself" is my book dedicated to delving into factors - beyond food and exercise - that significantly contribute to the development of excess weight/obesity and the consequences and complications thereof. Factors like traumas, limiting beliefs, chronic stress, chronic sleep deprivation, digestive distress, micronutrient and phytonutrient deficiencies, oxidative stress, and chronic inflammation play a primary role in the development of excess weight/obesity, challenges to weight loss, and associated ailments and diseases, but do not garner the attention they deserve.

Having excess weight or obesity is frequently a symptom of an underlying mental/emotional/physical issue. If weight challenges are caused by these issues (individually or collectively), the affected person will struggle losing weight, regardless of how much they eat or exercise. If we don’t address the underlying issues, we cannot resolve the associated weight issues. A lot of the recommendations throughout this series and the "Cupcake" series are designed to help address those issues.

Instead of telling you to severely restrict calories or virtually eliminate a class of macronutrients (like carbohydrates or fats), I prefer to focus on the nutrients and other lifestyle factors that can help you address those issues and the associated weight challenges and complications. If you’re chronically stressed or sleep deprived or have digestive disorders, like so many, it’s not good enough for me for you to simply tackle your weight loss challenges. I want more for you. I want you to resolve those health-depleting issues as well. I want you to appreciate the interrelated nature of the impacts lifestyle factors have - for good or bad - on not only weight but energy, mood, and overall mental and physical wellbeing.

"Mediterranean Me: A Natural Lifestyle Guide to an Optimal You" is my comprehensive lifestyle guide with a focus on living and aging well generally; the