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(Image credit: Liz Vidyarthi)

From Apartment Therapy → A (Seemingly) Counterintuitive Trick That’s a Must for Small Spaces

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Growing up, I spent winter vacations in Vermont and learned to love the annual ritual of making snow cream with freshly fallen snow. All of the grandchildren would set a bowl out on my grandparents’ front stoop to collect falling snow, and my mother would whisk up a creamy base to fold into our stockpiles to transform it into sweet snow cream.

Living in Atlanta as an adult has made me appreciate this ritual even more, as we count ourselves lucky if we get a single snowstorm. Sharing the tradition with my own children has taught me a few tricks for making this annual treat more flavorful and longer-lasting than I remember.

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When I was a kid, I used to build a fort any chance I got: A rainy day was always a good excuse, but growing up in temperate Northern California, it really was a year-round activity despite the constant 74-degree weather.

It wasn’t the same fort over and over again, either. Every indoor structure had a very specific purpose and story. Sometimes I built a sheet-covered restaurant, or a faux log cabin, or a fort inside a fort in a chaotic town where post-apocalyptic chaos was erupting outside.

Fast forward a few years (okay, decades), and I grew up to be an interior designer. I assemble real rooms now, but I do wish a client would pay me to build a giant blanket hideout in the middle of an apartment.

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A snow day means you suddenly have the whole day to play in the kitchen — hurray! But a snow day also means you can’t run out for ingredients, so if you’re planning on a baking project, it needs to be based on what you already have in the pantry and refrigerator.

Flour, butter, eggs, maybe milk — what can you possibly make with these simple ingredients? Quite a few things, especially if you can sneak in a few other staples such as cinnamon (our easiest cinnamon rolls!) or maybe you have a few very ripe bananas on the counter just begging to be transformed into banana bread.

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It goes like this. I married at 23-years-old (180 pounds), and my wife Joanna and I had 3 kids by the time I was 28-years-old (190 pounds). During the kids’ younger years, we did what everyone else did. Run around with the kids, taking them to this sport and that club meeting. All the while not really paying any attention to ourselves. Fast food for dinner, hamburger, hot dogs, French fries, pizza and soda at the games as we watched. Working hard at our work and bearing the stress of moving up in a growing company, again not paying attention to myself. Long hours, a lot of times sedentary at a desk behind the keyboard. All the hard work payed off in my position at the company, but where did it take me?

I then found myself at 45 years old (217 pounds), miserable and feeling terrible every day. My oldest son Bryan was 21 at the time, and he decided to go into the Army. He went away to basic training at Ft. Benning GA. When he graduated we traveled from NY to GA to be with him. This was a life altering trip for me. During this trip all the pictures that were taken of our family with Bryan fresh out of boot camp all toned up and ready to conquer the world were great. I was taken back by the pictures of myself with him and how overweight I really was. It literally scared me to death, because that’s where I felt I was headed.

When I got home from that trip I told Joanna I need to take care of myself, so I am here for our kids as they get older. I was in a bad place and the only way out was for me to take the bull by the horns and make it happen. Joanna had bought a workout program from Beach Body called Power 90 by Tony Horton. I had been so inactive for so long this was challenging for me. I started very slow and did not overdo it. I also started eating better and made this my new way of life. The pounds started coming off, I called it my “eat less move more” program. The Power 90 program was actually perfect for me as I got started, not too intense and very doable as I could modify the moves as needed.

Bryan was sent to Korea for his first tour when out of training. When he came back from Korea a year later I wanted to surprise him and be in much better shape than when he went in the Army. I lost about 30 pounds the first year. I felt so much better, and it really put me in the right frame of mind to continue this way of life. I wanted now more than ever to get in the best shape of my life. I was now 46 years young.

Now feeling better, I needed to up my game and went on to P90X from Beach Body. This is actually when I first heard the name Mark Sisson because he did a piece on the video for the Recovery Drink, which I bought a lot of during this period. I now worked my tail off every day and followed the diet plan and used the supplements. I got the results they said I would get. I went from a size 36” waist to a 32” waist and extra-large shirts to medium shirts. I was now at 162 pounds and felt on top of the world, and nothing could stop me. I lost a total of 55 pounds.

Now at 47 years young I just figured I would keep this up for the rest of my life. Boy, was I wrong! After pushing myself harder and harder, I began to burn out. I just couldn’t keep up the pace. I kept the weight off but started getting injuries that set me back, just attributing it to the fact that I was not as young as I used to be. I continued with some Beach Body programs, but I started looking for something that was more sustainable for me.

One day I was online and came across Mark’s Daily Apple. I immediately recognized Mark Sisson from the P90X program and started reading what he had to say on the webpage. I was very intrigued and ended up ordering the Primal Blueprint book. Once I got the book I just couldn’t put it down because it made so much sense to me.

I have been following the Primal way of life for over 3 years now. I am 50 years young and absolutely feel the best I have ever felt in my life. I have had so many people ask me how I lost all the weight, but more importantly how I am keeping it off. There is no doubt I did work hard to lose the weight before finding Primal Blueprint, but it is because of Primal Blueprint that I have been able to maintain my weight comfortably. Fitness became such a part of my life I decided to learn more and become an AFAA Certified Personal Fitness Trainer. I still have my full time job but I have been helping friends and relatives work on their goals of weight loss. I am currently working on becoming a Primal Health Coach, I am starting Module #4 as I write this story.

A couple years ago my daughter Stephanie had twin boys, Aydyn & Jaylyn. They are my motivation now, and I am working hard to stall the effects of aging by following the Primal Blueprint. I have big plans to be around a long time for them and whoever else may come along in the future. I already have them move frequently when they come over and lift heavy things. I call them a couple of little Groksters. We have plans of building them a play area in the yard this summer. The goal is to make this play area not only for them but for all of us so we can play together and benefit everytime we go out there. So we will be calling it our Primal Playground, for kids of all ages.

I want to thank Mark Sisson for breaking the mold of conventional wisdom and showing people there is a better way. I feel like I can follow this the rest of my life comfortably and avoid burnout. Not to mention the food is so much better than anything I have ever had. We now are very creative in our cooking and food preparation. We joined the local CSA and frequent the Farmers Market just about every week. We buy pasture raised chickens and farm fresh eggs regularly, since eggs are my favorite breakfast. The last 2 years I have also raised 2 grass fed steer on my neighbor’s farm. Our freezer is full of the best meat money can buy, and it is all local farm raised.

It has been tough getting everyone in the house to be interested in this way of life but the proof is in the pudding, and I intend to keep steady and to prove the point that when you do the right things and reprogram your genes to become a fat burning beast, life can be good and last a long time. When my kids are eating their pizza and drinking their energy drinks I tell them I am going to pick your nursing home instead of you picking mine. My new line to people is I want to make it to 120, and they say are you nuts, 120 pounds! I then say no—120 years. Live Long, Drop Dead!! I know I have a long way to go, but I am going to give it my all.

Being fit has allowed me to do so many more things and has enhanced my life tremendously. My youngest Son Tony got interested in hiking and wanted to climb the Adiriondack NY High Peaks. There are 46 peaks over 4,000 Ft in elevation. If you climb them all you attain the rank of 46er. We began a couple years ago and now have 7 summits under our belts. Joanna even joined us for one, a great family day out. Once we get to the summit I pull off a set of max rep pushups. Its awesome when you feel like you are on the top of the world!

My Father at 77 years young was having knee problems and needed full knee replacement surgery. Prior to surgery he wanted to get himself as fit as possible to minimize his recovery time. I gave him my Primal Blueprint book and put him to task reading and learning about becoming a fat burning beast. Of course he had watched my transformation but was still a little skeptical about the whole eat more fat thing. Once he digested what he read in the Primal Blueprint he put it into action.

He was 185 pounds when he began, and when he was preparing for his knee surgery he was 155 pounds. He lost a total of 30 pounds following the Primal Blueprint and could not believe the energy he had out on the golf course. He traded his oatmeal breakfast and peanut butter and jelly snacks in for bacon & eggs that ended up getting him through the whole front 9 with plenty of energy to spare. Here I am helping Dad with some upper body strength training after surgery. His knee is coming along fine also. It’s amazing how they can replace parts now a days. He has a golf date coming up in April, and I think he will make it.

I one day would like to meet Mark Sisson and tell him how much I appreciate all he has done for me with this program. Maybe I can make it to a future Primal Con.

Thanks for listening to my story!!

Best Regards, Chuck Ciaccia

The post When You Reprogram Your Genes to Become a Fat-burning Beast, Life Can Be Good! appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Grocery stores are the stuff of cults and obsessions — just ask anyone who has ever stepped foot inside of a Trader Joe’s. Our readers have shared their love for many a grocery store, including the big-hitters like Costco, Whole Foods, and Aldi, but there’s a new store coming to the United States that might just be the new favorite in town.

If you’ve ever been abroad, you might be familiar with Lidl, which describes itself as “a cross between Trader Joe’s and Harris Teeter.” This basically means low prices and great brands.

According to Yahoo, German brand Lidl will roll out 600 grocery stores along the East Coast by mid-2018. The earliest stores to open will be this summer in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The grocery chain has 10,000 stores in 27 countries currently, but it’s just getting started.

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Everyone knows the best part about fortune cookies isn’t the actual cookies themselves, but the tiny slip of paper that’s curled up inside the after-dinner treat. In fact, according to Time magazine, an ’80s survey revealed a quarter of people in the United States don’t even eat the cookie. It’s all about the fortune: Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they don’t make a ton of sense, and sometimes the feel eerily accurate about what’s going on in your life right at that moment.

Well, the writing on those tiny pieces of paper might now be changing.

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Who: Juley Le, co-founder of Drip Affogato Bar and blogger behind lifestyle blog Upperlyne & Co.
Where: New Orleans, LA

Although she grew up just an hour outside New Orleans, in a large Vietnamese family on the bayou, Juley Le has come a long way. She is the founder of Drip Affogato Bar, a sweet shop dedicated to one of our very favorite treats; the brains behind lifestyle blog Upperlyne & Co.; and, last but not least, a new mom.

We visited her in her brand-new apartment, which she shares with her boyfriend and her son, James, to get the inside scoop (ahem).

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Nothing says “comfort” like a Southern kitchen. And these days, Southern kitchen design is branching out way beyond the typical gingham and country store look.

Check out 10 of our favorite spaces, from sleek and sophisticated to cute and cozy.

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Move over, peanut butter and Nutella! Coconut toast — with its warm, gooey texture and sweet, nutty flavor — is the dreamy pantry dessert you’re missing this winter.

But don’t just listen to me: Make it yourself. It’s best while still warm. Take a big bite, close your eyes, and let the crust crackle and the sugary coconut stick to the roof of your mouth before taking your next bite.

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