This is a guest post by Flow Member, Caroline Zelonka, participating in The Reset.
After a full month of eating, drinking, cocktailing, and ignoring my expanding waistline, I am going into this Whole 30 Reset with high hopes.
My name is Caroline. I’m a writer and Flow Fitness member (you might have seen me on the elliptical, watching Pioneer Woman), and will be blogging about the Reset experience. It’s my first time doing a Whole 30, though I’ve tried almost every diet out there, starting with The Zone in the mid 1990s.
While I’d love to drop a few pounds, my main goal for my Whole 30 is to reduce inflammation. I’d love for my eczema to clear up, and my recurrent knee pain to subside. Not convinced my diet has anything to do with these things, but it can’t hurt to try. I was one of those kids who was allergic to everything, nuts especially, so I’m thinking eliminating potentially problematic foods might be helpful.
So in preparation for this week’s start, I stocked my kitchen. Coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, almond milk, chia seeds, eggs, raw walnuts, a bunch of frozen veggies and fruit. I live by myself, so this was pretty easy. I found good prices on a lot of these things at Trader Joe’s, but they also can be had at the South Lake Union Whole Foods if you are into convenience over cost.
I also prepped by making some chia pudding (one can coconut milk, one cup almond milk, ⅔ cups chia seeds, whipped and refrigerated overnight), and roasting some cajun-seasoned skinless chicken thighs and sweet potatoes. I also made a sweet potato Shepherd’s pie, subbing white potatoes for the sweets. (I prefer sweet potatoes, but I had picky eaters to feed that night.)
I’m going to try to go to the gym at least three days this week. Normally, I also walk to and from my house in Judkins Park to my office in SLU, but the extreme cold has made this unpleasant. (I take the bus if the weather is nasty, or if I’m late. Today it was both.)
Two days in, I feel pretty good, but I haven’t been confronted with any serious temptations yet. At my office, all we have left in terms of treats is a large bucket of candy canes. And I’ve cleared out my house pretty well, foisting off a jar of peanut butter and wedge of cheese onto my neighbor.
It was great meeting some of the Reset participants at the Kick Off at Flow. I’m collecting your tips and tricks for possible use in a future blog post. If you have anything you want to share, or ideas for a Reset blog post, please email me at czelonka@gmail.com.