Melissa Joulwan

Melissa Joulwan's favorite vegetable is cauliflower, and she has an abiding affection for Japanese sweet potatoes. Her favorite spice is cumin. Her favorite book is Jane Eyre. Her favorite city is Prague, and her favorite band is Social Distortion. You might have known all of that already if you follow her blog The Clothes Make The Girl.She was shocked to realize recently that she's now the author of four books (!) and a contributor to a New York Times bestseller: It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig. (The "Meal Map" recipes in that book came straight from her kitchen.)The Clothes Make the Girl is an unusual title for a blog that's about her tales of triumph and failure in the gym, in the kitchen, in life. She admits to being a sucker for the perfect little black dress and stompy black boots and sparkly what-whats. Her desire to be fit and healthy is almost matched by her love of punk fashion and high glamour.After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and food as the enemy, Melissa found the paleo diet in 2009 and has been happily, healthily following it ever since. That year, she also underwent a thyroidectomy. In the aftermath of the surgery and recovery, she became particularly interested in how diet affects hormones, body composition, mood, and motivation.These days, her workouts are just as likely to include yoga and meditation as lifting heavy things and trying to stay ahead of the stopwatch. She lives in Austin with her husband and collaborator Dave, and their cat Smudge. They're all moving to Prague as soon as possible. Also known as Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan.