New Year, New You

*My review is my personal opinion. I was sent a copy of Cinch! to review and have been entered to win a gift card through One2One Network for participating.  This post may contain affiliate links.

From Cynthia Sass, the co-author of the Flat Belly Diet comes Cinch! - an eating plan that helps you live life normally while still watching what you eat. 

She starts out by outlining the plan - "Five pieces four times a day" meaning you should eat four meals that are made up of what she calls "the puzzle".  You have freedom within those puzzle pieces which include fruits & veggies, whole grains, lean proteins, plant-based fats, and seasonings. 

Then there is a jumpstart feature called the 5-day fast forward where she claims that you could lose up to 7 lbs. in 5 days.  You basically go on a detox for 5 days eating the same 5 foods over and over (in different combinations.)

One of my favorite parts of this book is that there is a whole chapter dedicated to chocolate!  In Ms. Sass' plan, she actually requires you to eat chocolate every day and goes so far as to give you recipes for some truffles.

Most diets hinder your social life since they restrict so much of your food intake.  In Cinch!, Ms. Sass gives you more of an eating formula rather than a strict plan.  This way you can live your life like a normal person instead of having to bring your sack lunch to a ladies' luncheon or order a dry salad while at a restaurant just to stay within a diet's confines.  In fact, she even outlines several popular restaurant chains and gives suggestions as to what to order that would be perfectly acceptable on this plan.  She's done the thinking for you!

There are recipes, menu suggestions, and all the necessary sciency bits that go along with the Cinch! plan.

I like reading diet books (not that I follow them) and most of the ones on my shelf have the same basic concepts:  drink lots, eat lots of fresh and raw produce, cut back on portions and this one goes along with that.  The Cinch! concept seems to be a very gentle way to ease yourself into a new healthy eating plan.