30 Day Reset!

 What is a 30 day reset? It is a great way to eliminate all inflammatory foods from your diet and gain so much in return. I like to do this at least once per year for myself, even though I stick to a pretty healthy eating pattern during the year anyway. Sometimes it's nice to "reset" and really purge all the possible problem foods for a full 30 days. So what is eliminated during these 30 day?

Here's the list if you want to completely eliminate all potential inflammatory foods:
-All sugar - no sweets, candy, chocolate, sugar in coffee (and that includes sugar substitutes that aren't good for you anyway!)
-All grains - that's right, no bread, bagels, cereal, pizza, oats, rice, etc. (so many people have side effects from eating grains and they don't realize it until they  remove it from their diet)
-All dairy (Dairy can be inflammatory and cause GI issues for a lot of people, although I tend to tolerate some very well)
-Legumes (peanuts are included here - I know, no peanut butter??? It hurts)
-Industrial seed oils (vegetable oils, safflower oil, soybean oil, canola oil)
-All processed food
-All alcohol 

What can I eat?

-Poultry and Meat (chicken, beef, turkey, pork, lamb, duck - organic preferred when possible, and beef from grass fed cows is best)
-Fish (fatty fish is best, like salmon or sardines, and wild preferred over farmed)
-Eggs (pasture raised are best if you can find them)
-Any and all vegetables
-Any and all fruit
-Nuts and seeds (those lower in omega 6 preferred like macadamias nuts)
-Healthy fats (avocados, coconut, coconut oil, avocado oil, ghee, extra virgin olive oil)
-Drink plenty of water,  and black coffee and tea are fine (NO SODA!)
So here is a sample of what I might eat in a day while on this reset:

Breakfast:  two soft boiled eggs on top of some baby spinach, and maybe some fruit on the side (a banana, or strawberries, etc).    Those of you who know me well know that I bring this to work myself pretty much every day! Or you can make little egg cups with veggies for another quick portable option to take to work.  And feel free to break out of the box of thinking "breakfast food". You can eat steak and veggies for breakfast if you want. Do what works for you! Breakfast doesn't always have to look like cereal, bagels or waffles. 

Lunch: So many salad options to choose from! You can always just do a garden salad topped with your choice of protein (chicken, beef, tuna, etc), or choose from a chopped cabbage salad or brussel sprout salad (pictured below). Dinner leftovers are always a great choice too, as long as they follow the guidelines of the reset. The only thing with some of my salads that doesn't fit EXACTLY with the rules is the raw honey I use in some of my dressings. I am okay with letting that slide on my end, but if you want to be super strict with no sugar, then lose the honey for now. 

Dinner:  Again, tons of avenues to go here, but a couple examples of what I eat would be grilled salmon with a side of veggies (asparagus or broccolini) with cauliflower rice, or my warm taco plate (pictured below).  

Green smoothies are a great meal option or snack option.  Check out my post on green smoothies HERE. Look up different ways to make them for yourself if you need additional ideas. The possibilities are endless! And you can also pre-make your bags for the week of all your smoothie ingredients, put them in your freezer, and take out as needed to blend with your liquid of choice (water, coconut water, almond milk).

This is just a sample of what one day of eating could look like. After the 30 days, you can start slowly adding in those foods you have left out one at a time, and don't add more than one food every three days. This way you can see what foods may have been having an adverse affect on your health (GI upset, joint pain, skin issues, etc). This can be very eye opening! And the longer you can go without adding back in the sugar, the better off you will be. The beauty here is that you will find your sugar cravings decreased greatly after the 30 days, along with possible weight loss, better skin, more energy and better digestion. It's a wonderful thing!