Ever heard of a book prescribing a calorie minimum to achieve optimal health and fitness? That aims to make sure you’re getting enough nutrients and energy, rather than trying to restrict them – all while helping you heal your relationship with food? That’s where my new favorite book, Coconuts and Kettlebells: A Personalized 4-Week Food and Fitness Plan for Long-Term Health, Happiness, and Freedom, by Noelle Tarr and Stefani Ruper of the Well Fed Women Podcast, come in.
If there is ONE nutrition book I recommend you pick up this year, it’s this one.
This book is a GEM and a long-overdue needed addition to the health, nutrition, and fitness books space out there. While nearly every cookbook that has come out lately is focused on Keto, Whole30, calorie counting and macronutrients, and other arbitrary diet plans that are reinforcing the shame cycle (the restrict-binge-guilt cycle with food), Stefani and Noelle’s book aims to teach us that we need MORE nutrients in our diets, not less – and that we’ve all probably been under-eating for a long time in our pursuit of weight loss, which is holding us back from feeling our best and achieving optimal health.
Healing your relationship with food and getting to the root of your health issues at the same time can be a tricky business. Because on the one hand, healing your relationship with food and your body steers you in the direction of learning how no foods are off limits, food does not have morality, and yes/no foods lists no longer dictate how you “should” eat or how you “should” feel about yourself when you fail time and time again to stick to those arbitrary lists.
But on the other hand, getting to the root cause and healing from health issues, whether they be digestive, autoimmune, hormonal, etc., can usually suggest doing an elimination diet to see if any foods are aggravating your symptoms. And then we have the dilemma of “Which do I do? Try to heal my relationship with food, while eating foods that may be causing my symptoms to flare and make me feel worse? Or follow an elimination diet, which runs the danger of making me think that those foods are all bad and if I eat them, I’m self-sabotaging and making myself worse?”
This is another HUGE and extremely necessary topic that Stefani and Noelle tackle in their book. As a nutritionist, I do acknowledge that elimination diets with a therapeutic purpose, done within a specific time frame do have a purpose, and sometimes are a necessary step on the way to healing. However, the way that most people are using them now further perpetuates getting stuck in the yes/no foods cycle and making our relationship with food worse. Coconuts and Kettlebells outlines a plan to help you figure out which foods make you feel your best – by yes, starting with a targeted elimination plan of the “Big Four” foods that could be contributing to inflammation and sub-optimal health. But then, Stefani and Noelle teach you how to reintroduce these foods and transition into living with health, happiness, and freedom – putting a major emphasis on the fact that you should not be following the 4×4 elimination plan indefinitely.
I love this book because it not only teaches you how to eat well, feel great, and bring awareness to the shame cycle referenced above, but it targets both your physical and mental health: talking about how to optimize gut health and minimize physical symptoms, and also how to support your mental health. Stefani and Noelle talk about self-love, getting rid of morality around food, and the whole flawed concepts of “the wagon” and willpower. The book is one part nutrition, one part mental health and self-love + dismantling BS nutrition dogma, one part cookbook, and one part fitness plan that anyone can follow.
On the food side, Stefani and Noelle have even included a section and two dedicated meal plans for “Bread Lovers” and “Butter Lovers” – acknowledging that no one food plan works for everyone, and some people feel better eating more carbohydrates, while others feel great eating a diet higher in healthy fats. In the Coconuts and Kettlebells plan, you eat a minimum of 2,000 calories a day, aiming for a set minimum amount of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates depending on the plan you choose. The goal isn’t restriction here, it’s abundance and making sure you’re eating enough food to fuel your body and live a happy, fulfilled life.
I LOVE THIS BOOK.
Did I mention the recipes look freaking insane? I’ve only tried a few so far, but holy moly. Pumpkin Breakfast Muffins, Firecracker Salmon, Moroccan Lamb Meatballs, Lemon-Raspberry Mini Cheesecakes, and No-Bake Almond-Coconut Cookie Bars? I’m there.
Because Stefani and Noelle are the BEST, they’re letting me share one of the kicka** recipes from the book too – for Twice-Baked Breakfast Sweet Potatoes! Cue the droolfest, it’s fine.
- 4 large sweet potatoes
- 2½ Tbsp coconut oil or ghee
- 8 bacon slices
- ¼ canned full-fat coconut milk
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
- ½ tsp sea salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- 8 large eggs
- 1 tsp minced fresh chives, for garnish
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork and place them on a baking sheet. Roast until they can be pierced easily with a fork, about 1 hour. Set the sweet potatoes aside to cool, but leave the oven on.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt ½ Tbsp of the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until just crisp, 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Set the bacon aside on a paper towel to cool, then crumble it into small pieces.
- When the sweet potatoes are cool to the touch, slice them in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl, leaving the potato skins intact with a thin layer of potato behind. Set the skins on the baking sheet.
- Add the remaining 2 Tbsp coconut oil, the coconut milk, rosemary, salt and pepper to the bowl with the sweet potato flesh and whip with a handheld mixer until smooth. Fold in half the bacon pieces. Divide the filling among the sweet potato skins making a deep well in the center with a spoon to hold an egg. Crack 1 egg into the center of each sweet potato and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake until the egg whites are cooked but the yolks are still slightly soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Garnish with the remaining bacon and the chives.
Well, what are you waiting for? If you want some food and nutrition + mental health knowledge bombs with a side of amazing recipes,Coconuts and Kettlebells: A Personalized 4-Week Food and Fitness Plan for Long-Term Health, Happiness, and Freedom, by Noelle Tarr and Stefani Ruper is where it’s at.
Grab it on Amazon or wherever books are sold, and make sure to check out Stefani and Noelle on the Well Fed Women Podcast! (PS – you can also hear ME getting interviewed on their podcast about Managing Adrenal Fatigue and Chronic Stress HERE!)
