Pure & Simple: A Natural Food Way Of Life By Pascale Naessens

Renowned Belgian bestselling culinary author who has sold 1.5 million books, former international model, and accomplished ceramic artist Pascale Naessens brings her passion for health and cooking with romantic flair to her first U.S. book, with more than 60 recipes that showcase beautiful, nutritious, and delicious natural foods.

In Pure & Simple, Pascale Naessens celebrates delicious meals, pleasure, and health with passion. Her method for staying happy, healthy and slim will help readers acquire new, conscious eating habits and freedom from carbohydrate addiction. With more than 60 recipes and a new up-to-date approach to eating, Pure & Simple creates a culinary movement. Naessens’ approach is building a lifestyle that embraces only natural, unprocessed foods that will leave you satisfied and with more energy.

With gorgeous images of healthy cuisine that inspire, Naessens’ latest book also exhibits her knack for design and her talent as an acclaimed ceramist. Her aesthetics are evident in the styling of her book, which she is solely responsible for, while her tableware designs adorn the pages of Pure & Simple. Naessens’ ceramic tableware line, Pure, is sought after by home cooks and top restaurants alike.

Pure & Simple shares delicious, simple recipes with a romantic flair that are designed to be shared with friends and family. More than a cookbook, it is chock-full of the latest nutritional insights, helpful tips, and inspiration for healthy eating. Mouthwatering recipes for appetizers, mains, and desserts make adopting this eating style entirely uncomplicated. Naessens emphasizes that what you eat is just as important as how you eat; creating a pleasurable eating experience is not only simple to achieve but something to savor as well. Naessens came to this realization after experiencing an eating disorder as a model, then delving into the world of health and nutrition and soon becoming a qualified health consultant specializing in traditional Chinese medicine. She is well versed in a wide array of health practices, including tai chi and shiatsu massage. Naessens also is a qualified restaurateur.

At its core Pure & Simple focuses on food combinations, demystifying this nutritional philosophy by providing a simple food combining chart with a simple philosophy: replace bread and potatoes with vegetables and fruit at every meal. This is her only rule —concentrated carbohydrates should not be eaten with concentrated protein. The basic series of food combinations in her meals include meat or fish + vegetables, carbohydrates + vegetables, or dairy + vegetables. And she doesn’t fear fat. Pascale’s very easy and simple recipes to prepare are more satiating than the classic high carb meals.

To Naessens, the terms “cooking” and “eating” are synonyms for “enjoying;” food should not be about a calorie war, but rather the pleasure of balanced, conscious eating should be celebrated. Her two conditions for acquiring new healthy eating habits? The food you eat must be good and you must be satisfied after every meal. You won’t need to count calories or restrict portion sizes. Simply choose healthy food consciously and enjoy what you eat. You will cook delicious food simply and easily. You can drink wine. You will be satisfied. And you will enjoy your food with pleasure.

A few of her recipes include:

• Salmon with Olive-Pistachio Tapenade and Tomatoes
• Fish Wraps with Soy-Sesame Dipping Sauce
• Seared Scallops with Sea Beans
• Cajun Chicken Salad with Guacamole
• Roasted Rosemary Lamb, Tomatoes, and Carrots
• Meatballs in Ginger-Soy Broth
• Goat Cheese Bites with Marinated Sesame Seeds
• Savory Lentil and Rice Crepes with Fresh Herbs
• Baked Peaches with Mascarpone

About the Author:

Pascale Naessens is a bestselling culinary author in Belgium. She has since become a leading voice for pure and healthy eating. A number of her books have already been translated into French, English, German, and Chinese. It’s said that Naessens has “taught her nation to eat healthily.” Her cooking and her lifestyle appeal to a broad public as demonstrated by the many Facebook communities where fans of Pascale’s Pure Kitchen share experiences and recipes. After completing her studies in economic sciences at the age of eighteen, Naessens traveled the globe as a fashion model. After five years of assignments in Paris, Milan, Madrid, Hong Kong, China and Tokyo, she returned to Belgium where she began a television career with the Belgian broadcasting corporation VTM, first as a presenter then hosting a series of home and lifestyle shows.

For more information, please visit: www.purepascale.com

Pure & Simple: A Natural Food Way of Life
By Pascale Naessens,
Abrams / April 4, 2017
U.S. $24.95 / CAN $29.95
Hardcover / 208 pages
73⁄8 x 93⁄8″ / 150 color photographs
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2617-0

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Healthy Eating During the Holidays

Six Tips for Quick and Convenient Healthy Eating
During the Holidays from a Holistic Chef

For many people, the holidays involve indulging in buffet tables loaded with lots of fattening, processed foods and sugary sweets.

For those of us who strive the rest of the year to eat a healthy diet while leading busy lives, it can be a challenging time. Not only are we busier than ever, we know that all those foods we usually try to avoid are going to give us indigestion, sap our energy, and pile on the pounds.

“It really isn’t hard to give yourself, your family and friends the gift of delicious, nutrient-rich meals over the holidays,” says holistic chef and certified healing foods specialist Shelley Alexander, author of “Deliciously Holistic,” (www.aharmonyhealing.com), a new, full-color cookbook featuring more than 154 of her favorite healing foods recipes and 50 pages of holistic lifestyle tips to increase energy and immunity.

“Instead of heading to the local supermarket, visit a farmers’ market, where you can buy fresh, local, seasonal and organic produce, along with other nutritious foods created by farmers and local food artisans,” she says. “You’ll have a much more enjoyable experience in addition to stocking up on all the ingredients you need to have handy. You can also find excellent choices at natural and health food stores.”

Nutrient-rich, whole foods that don’t have unnatural fillers and other additives, including seasonal, organic vegetables and fruits, wild-caught seafood, and pasture-raised, organic chicken and meats that come from well-fed, unadulterated, healthy animals, will completely nourish your body, make you feel better and ramp up your energy, she says. And you’ll find you won’t overeat, so it’s much easier to maintain your weight without counting calories.

Alexander offers six tips for quick and convenient healthy eating during the holidays.

• When shopping, check labels and avoid foods with a long list of ingredients. The best whole foods have one or just a few unprocessed or minimally processed, easily recognized ingredients, Alexander says. Among ingredients to avoid: chemicals, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, nitrates, MSG, genetically modified ingredients and preservatives (indicated by the initials BHT, BHA, EDTA and THBQ.)

• Set aside a few hours each week to prep foods to eat in the days ahead. Cut up produce and store it in airtight containers. Lightly wash produce before using with natural vegetable wash or use one part white vinegar to three parts water. Make several homemade vinaigrettes or dressings to last all week so you can make leafy greens and vegetable salads in minutes. Clean and marinate enough meat or poultry for dinners over the next few days.

• Start your day with a green smoothie. Cut and freeze organic fresh fruit to use in green smoothies. You can also buy frozen fruit that’s already cut up. Add organic kale or spinach, coconut water or nut and seed milks plus natural sweeteners such as dates or stevia for an energy-boosting beverage.

• For your holiday dinners, plan on making at least three to four dishes that are both delicious and nutritious. Good examples are pasture-raised, wild turkey with sage and garlic, baked wild salmon with lemon and herbs, steamed greens, roasted heirloom root vegetables drizzled with balsamic glaze, pureed winter squash soups, and desserts made with seasonal fruits, spices, and healthy sweeteners like coconut sugar or raw honey.

• Invest in a dehydrator. Dehydrate fruits and vegetables and raw nuts or seeds that have been soaked in unrefined sea salt water (which removes anti-nutrients, kick-starts the germination process, and increases key vitamins), and you’ll have plenty of on-the-go snacks with a long shelf life. Dehydrators are convenient and easy to use; Alexander recommends Excalibur.

• Make batches of fermented vegetables twice a month. Alexander recommends eating fermented vegetables every day to keep your digestive system healthy. They’re loaded with probiotics – the good bacteria your intestines need. Mix a variety of organic vegetables such as carrots and celery into brine with warm filtered water, unrefined sea salt, and cultured vegetable starter or liquid whey, and mix with shredded cabbage heads. Pack the mixture into sterilized glass jars and allow the vegetables to ferment for five to seven days. Once done fermenting, store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

“Stick to whole, healthy foods this holiday season, and you’ll feel so good, you won’t want to go near the buffet table at your office party,” Alexander says.

About Shelley Alexander, CHFS: Shelley Alexander has enjoyed a lifelong love of delicious, locally grown, seasonal foods. She received her formal chef’s training at The Los Angeles Culinary Institute. Alexander is a holistic chef, certified healing foods specialist, cookbook author, and owner of the holistic health company, A Harmony Healing, in Los Angeles.