USA Today Bestselling Author Tamera Alexander Blog: Cocoa Crack

What exactly is Cocoa Crack, you may ask? Well, so did I when I first heard about it this week.

First… I'm making some dietary changes. I'm fine. I'm not sick. I'm not having any "issues" (other than needing to lose a few pounds), but I've decided to go "primal" and gluten free. At least for a while. But I'm already feeling so great, I'm guessing I won't go back. Author and buddy Colleen Coble is the one who first introduced the idea of going primal.

Here's an excerpt from Colleen's blog post that really caught my attention:

So how do you go primal? You can do it in small steps and in any order except for the first item. It's primary and should be done first.

1. Give up gluten. This is not negotiable. Read Wheat Belly by cardiologist Dr. William Davis. The wheat we have today is not the wheat of the Bible. It's incredibly damaging to our bodies. Do this for a month and see how much better you feel. If you want to bread something, use ground flax mixed with just a little rice flour. I made fried chicken (fried in coconut oil) last week, and my gourmet son actually asked me how I'd made it because it was so good.

2. Add good fats like real butter, coconut oil and olive oil. Repeat after me: Real fats are my friends. Eliminate fake fats from your fridge like margarine. Again this is non negotiable. Margarine is incredibly bad for you. My diet is about 65% fat (which includes the fats in meats.)

3. Begin adding more greens to your diet. Start with a green smoothie if you hate vegetables. Blend together berries with spinach for example. Set a goal of 3 cups a day, then 6.

4. Add colorful vegetables and fruit like carrots, beets, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli and berries. Choose veggies high in sulfur. The cabbage family is especially good for you. Try to get in 3 cups a day including the fruit.

5. Switch from potatoes to sweet potatoes topped with lots of real butter. Yum! I adore sweet potatoes with salmon!

6. Start cutting back on other grains like rice and corn and legumes. Save them for a special occasion. It's not that you can never have them, but you want to cut out the inflammation in your body the majority of the time. They are higher in carbs so they drive insulin levels and fat stores. I save my carbs for Mexican! :)

7. Begin purchasing quality grass fed beef, as much as you can afford. Many can't afford to use only grass fed beef but it's your best option when you can.

8. Start adding organ meats like liver and onions. I know, I know. But they are super good for you and you'll develop a taste for them. I adore liver and onions. :)

9. Start eating less chicken and more fish. You want to get your Omega 6 levels down and your Omega 3 levels up. As you do this, you'll start getting comments like, "Wow, you look great. Are you using a new skin moisturizer?"

10. Give up fake creamer in your coffee and go for straight heavy whipping cream. You'll never go back! Consider adding some cinnamon to that coffee too--it helps your insulin levels.

Read up on the science behind eating this way. www.MarksDailyApple.com is a good site with tons of information and recipes. His book is great too.

Just to give you a taste of how great primal eating can be, here's the recipe for what we in the hcg community call Cocoa Crack because it's sooo good! (The recipe is included below.)

My protagonist in Rosemary Cottage is very into health issues so you'll see her talking about these things too! :)

Tammy here again! Over the past year, our family has already made some pretty dramatic shifts in our eating due to my husband's blood sugar levels, but my personal diet has still been LARGELY made up of wheaty carbs. I just love them. Always have. But I'm tired of feeling tired. And sluggish. And puffy. Not attractive. So...we're goin' primal!

Here's the recipe for Cocoa Crack. So easy. And so delicious!

Cocoa Crack

3T coconut oil

1 1/2 T cocoa

1 1/2 T xylitol or sweeten with KAL stevia to taste (will need VERY little stevia!)

2 T unsweetened coconut

walnuts or pecans