I needed to be more active outside of the house. After the lockdown of 2020, I found comfort in my new normal; Having a break from the daily commute to work and social obligations, I needed a mental reset. I needed to hit the reset button on my metabolism, but activity level, and change the way I viewed the food I consumed. My goal is to be more active until my birthday (November 6th–Team Scorpio!) to see if I wanted to keep any of these lifestyle changes.
What is the Body Reset Diet?
I ran across an article about The Body Reset Diet. The Body Reset Diet avoids full-fat dairy, refined grains, sugary drinks, alcohol, processed foods, and fried foods. Your goal is to eat five times a day by having a series of smoothies, snacks, and meals. Your activity goal is to move consistently from morning until night.
Body Reset Diet
Table of Contents
What is in the Body Reset Diet book 📖 ?
The Body Reset book has snack suggestions, smoothie recipes, and simple meal recipes for advanced phases of the meal plan. I purchased and downloaded Harley Pasternak’s book, “The Body Reset Diet: Power Your Metabolism, Blast Fat, and Shed Pounds in Just 15 Days” and began my journey.
What foods can you have while following the Body Reset Diet?
A cool feature in the Body Reset Diet book is that Harley provides a full shopping list to make purchasing your list of ingredients even easier and stress free.
Snack Suggestions
For the Body Reset, snacks need to have both protein and fiber involved, and be at or under 150 calories.
The Body Reset Diet Snacks must be:
- 150 calories or less
- have at least 5 grams of fiber
- have at least 5 grams of protein
- have less than 10 grams of sugar.
The book provides a full list of snack ideas that fit that criteria.
Some Body Reset Diet Snack Examples are:
- A Complete Snack (contains fiber and protein) = two tablespoons of unpopped popcorn kernels
- Easy combination = carrots and hummus
- Combination snack = Turkey Breast, Finn Crisp Crispbread Crackers, 1 teaspoon of mustard
Perfect Smoothies
Harley Pasternak believes that the Perfect Smoothie should have these components:
- a base: liquid (dairy milk, nondairy milk, water, etc)
- a lean protein: plain nonfat Greek yogurt or protein powder
- a healthy fat: nuts, seeds, or avocado
- a fiber rich carb: high fiber fruits or veggies
As you get accustomed to the program, you can use the “original” smoothies that he offers. You’ll see me reference those as: The White Smoothie, The Red Smoothie, and the Green Smoothie. From there, he also provides you with an extensive list of other smoothie recipes to choose from based on the type of smoothie he suggests you have. For every smoothie, he also provides alternative options for customizing any of the smoothies by food group and category. Allowing customizable options makes this program more sustainable.
Can you make your smoothies ahead of time?
You can! Blend. Store in a spill proof beverage container and refrigerate. When ready to serve, add ice, shake, and enjoy.
Tasty Meals
The Body Reset book provides a full list of simple meal recipes that are appropriate for the different phases of the meal plan. It also provides additional nutrition options for those doing this diet that are over a certain weight. If you exceed the weight limit, opt for the recipe with more ingredients to meet your nutritional needs.
Can you have coffee on the Body Reset Diet?
Unlike other ”cleanses”, The Body Reset Diet actually encourages coffee drinking. If you already enjoy a daily calorie free caffeinated beverage, keep doing it. Coffee will not only help give you energy, but also acts as an appetite suppressant. Just avoid adding in any sugar sweeteners or full fat dairy.
How long does the Body Reset Diet last?
The Body Reset Diet is a 15 day program done in 3 phases. Upon finishing the program, they also provide guidance on a maintenance program.
- Phase 1 – Days 1 to 5
- Phase 2 – Days 6 to 10
- Phase 3 Days 11 to 15
- Rest of your Life
For Phase 1, you’ll have 3 smoothies and 2 snacks a day, for 5 days. Your activity goal is to move a minimum of 10,000 steps a day.
For Phase 2, you’ll have 2 smoothies, 2 snacks, and 1 meal a day, for 5 days. Your activity goal is to still move a minimum of 10,000 steps a day, but you’ll also do a 5 minute no equipment home fitness routine 3 days a week. The workout includes four simple exercises that focus on your upper back, lower back, triceps, hamstrings, and glutes. You can choose a beginner, intermediate, or advanced workout.
For Phase 3, you’ll have 1 smoothie, 2 snacks, and 2 meals a day, for 5 days. Your activity goal is to still move a minimum of 10,000 steps a day, and you’ll still be doing your 5 minute home fitness routine. You’ll do the simple workout 5 days a week now though, instead of 3 days a week.
You would continue to follow the rules of Phase 3 for the rest of your life, but you would also have the freedom to eat and drink as you please for two meals a week. You would also extend your workouts to 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week, instead of 5 minutes.
Harley Pasternak’s Body Reset Diet Phase 1
Phase 1 – Day 1
6:30a
Even while working remote, normally I wake up at 5am or 5.30am during the work week to get a good morning workout in. I’d then work on my personal website and social media accounts and then get a couple of things done around the house before I begin my workday. It’s suggested in the book that for the first 5 days, you only focus on your steps–no additional workouts.
Since my only exercise this week will be walking, I gave myself a bit of a break by waking up at a later time. When I awoke today, I started drinking my 50oz of water. Since our bodies dehydrate overnight, my first water in the morning is always the easiest to get through. I’m not a fan of cold water, so I just fill up my ginormous water bottle the night before and have it sitting on my nightstand for the next morning.
7.30a
After I finished my first 50 ounces of water for the day, I now treated myself to some coffee! Today’s coffee choice of the day was “How the Coffee Stole Christmas”, a gingerbread flavored coffee, by RetroFuture Coffee.
10:00a
After my 9AM Monday morning meeting, I made my very first Body Reset shake, the White Smoothie! Since I am over 175 pounds, I used the larger version of the recipe. It was really tasty and a recipe I’ll keep in my “Rolodex”.
11:00am
One hour after drinking my first White Smoothie, I started experiencing extremely intense stomach pains. I also had an internal burning sensation in my gut. TMI: after a 10 minute bathroom session and a diluted shot of Apple Cider Vinegar, my tummy aches lessened a bit.
12:30
My belly still ached from my first smoothie, but I didn’t want to hold off on my walk much longer. For Phase 1 of the Body Reset, your activity goal is to move a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. I didn’t want to rely on my movements around the house to achieve this goal. To accomplish my step goal, I decided it’d be best to walk around my neighborhood during my lunch break from work. I decided I’d walk a different route every day to be overly cautious. For Day 1, it took me 1 hour and 2.5 miles to get 10,000 steps in. My belly ache stopped halfway through my walk.
1:30pm
After my morning smoothie, my stomach finally started feeling normal again. For my snack, I chose popcorn as it was a quick option, so two tablespoons of unpopped popcorn kernels fit the rule.
2:00pm
My next smoothie choice was the Red Smoothie. The Red Smoothie recipe was even more delicious than the White Smoothie! I’d definitely love to keep this one in my permanent Rolodex of recipes.
3:00pm
For my next snack, I enjoyed a combination of turkey sandwich meat slices, crackers, mustard, and pears! I chose enough of each to hit the “150 calorie” rule. Crackers have their own rule with Harley. To qualify for proper nutritional rules, a cracker must have MORE THAN 5g of fiber PER every 100 calories. I purchased the Finn Crisp Crispbread Crackers from Amazon. Another option is Ryvita Original Rye Crispbread Crackers.
5:00pm
My next smoothie choice was the Green Smoothie. That shake was definitely not enjoyable at all. I held my nose, tilted my cup up high, and just got that smoothie into my body as quickly as possible. The smoothie recipes provided have substitution options in case you don’t prefer certain ingredients. For my next Green Smoothie, I’ll substitute the avocado for chia seeds, the pears 🍐 for apples 🍎, the lime juice for water, and I’d eat the grapes separately, in whole, outside of the smoothie.
Day 1 went as well as expected. I never felt overly hungry. My energy was sufficient. After a crazy “reaction” to the first smoothie of the day, and a horrible tasting smoothie to end my day, I felt that this meal plan and activity goal were easily attainable and sustainable during the next 14 days.
Phase 1 – Day 2
6:30a
Day two of the Body Rest. So far so good! I awoke and started sipping on my water bottle. I wasn’t exhausted from the day before and I already dropped 5 pounds of water weight!
7:00a
I showered, finished my first container of water and grabbed my cup of COFFEE.
9:00a
I started the day off with my White Smoothie and it was as delicious as the day before.
11am
For my first snack, I decided to have enough carrots and hummus to meet the “150 calorie” rule.
12:30
Now that I’m all fueled up, I started walking a new route which totaled 2.7 miles. I decided to do HALF my walk at lunch time and then do the rest of my steps after work.
1:00pm
I had the Red Smoothie as my second smoothie but with chocolate protein this time around. It was actually quite tasty! It tasted like chocolate covered strawberries!
3:00pm
My second snack was Turkey Breast, crackers (finn crisp), & pears to meet the “150 calorie” rule.
5:00pm
After my experience with the Green Smoothie yesterday, I decided to modify the recipe slightly, thanks to the modifications offered under every recipe in the book. I did chia seeds instead of the avocado listed in the original recipe. For the pears 🍐, I swapped those out for apples 🍎. Instead of lime juice, I measured out the same liquid levels as water. Instead of blending in the grapes, I just ate those separately since I love grapes! This altered recipe went down a LOT smoother and my taste buds enjoyed my modifications.
6pm
Due to inclement weather, my second walk was walking the floors and stairs inside my apartment building. It was a nice change of pace and I rarely ran into any “neighbor traffic”.
Phase 1 – Day 3
6:30a
I decided to take a mid-week mental health PTO day to relax. I awoke and started sipping on my water. I still had energy and lost another .5 pound!
7:30a
COFFEE. Walked a new route today and since I had time, I did my full 10,000 steps in 1.5 hours.
9:30a
White Smoothie as delicious as the day before.
11am
Popcorn
1:00pm
Out of all the basic shakes, Red Smoothie is by far my favorite! I think it’s the raspberries and oranges 🍊!
2:00pm
I now have a bit of a headache. Even though I’m halfway through my water intake goal for today, I feel a bit dehydrated; May be my electrolytes. Not too sure; I took a pain pill to alleviate the issue.
3:00pm
Turkey Breast, crackers (finn crisp), mustard, & laughing cow cheese, is now my favorite snack. I could eat it everyday… and have!
5:00pm
Modified Green Smoothie: same modifications as yesterday, just added the grapes back in.
Started noticing an unexpected great side effect. My veins were looking amazing. Is that even a thing? They were bright, greenish-blue, and popping out and ready. This could be due to staying active: all of the walking and getting my blood pumping throughout the day. It could also be due to staying hydrated: Tons of water = your blood is thinner and flows better. Fruits and vegetables are heavily encouraged in this meal plan, and is great for circulation and the health of your vein walls.
Phase 1 – Day 4
6:30a
50oz of water. Done. Weight Loss = down another 1.5 pounds.
7:30a
Showered and finished my water. I was very hungry today, so I made my White Smoothie a bit early
8:30a
COFFEE
11:00am
During my grocery haul, I grabbed a lot of celery. I tried my celery as suggested in the book with peanut butter, but just can’t do it; The crunchy watery celery, plus the creamy nut butter is not a combination I enjoy. Thanks to the customizable suggestions, instead I had my celery with laughing cow cheese and a tangerine on the side.
12:00pm
I walked a new route today and did not enjoy it. I felt like the route was a bit too straightforward and didn’t have any challenges like hills or rougher terrain like my other routes. I’d probably only do that route again if I’m tired and just want to get some steps in.
1:00pm
Red Smoothie, with chocolate protein powder!
3:00pm
Turkey Breast, crackers (finn crisp), mustard, & laughing cow cheese.
5:00pm
I think I figured out what I don’t care for in the green smoothie; The lime juice! For the Green Smoothie: I added back in the avocado 🥑, pears 🍐, and grapes, but substituted the lime juice for water. Now it is PERFECTION!
6:00pm
Stress eating has arrived. I ate off the plan tonight. I knew it was stress eating, but didn’t stop myself. It wasn’t any “bad” foods; I had a cracker, cheese, almonds, raisins, and macadamia nuts. Too much of a good thing isn’t correct either. Tomorrow is a new day.
Phase 1 – Day 5
After a mini-binge last night, I admit that I was scared to check my weight this morning, so I admittedly hid from my fear and skipped weighing in this morning. I think that seeing an unexpected number may do more harm to my mental state than better.
7:30a
COFFEE
8:30a
White Smoothie
10:00am
Fiber One cereal snack
11:00am
WALK new route
1:00pm
Red Smoothie, with chocolate protein powder!
3:00pm
Crackers (finn crisp), clementine, & cheddar cheese
5:00pm
Green Smoothie, substituting the lime juice for water. PERFECTION!
8:00pm
Stayed up to watch wrestling on TV and “snacked” on: Crackers. Cheese. Raisins. Pecans. and Mini hard pretzels. I have to stop with the night time binges. It’s definitely self-sabotage.
Week one and Phase 1 went pretty well so far. I’ll be continuing on to week two of the Harley Pasternak’s Body Reset Diet and will continue to post about my experience!
References:
- Harley Pasternak’s book, “The Body Reset Diet: Power Your Metabolism, Blast Fat, and Shed Pounds in Just 15 Days”
- Original article: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/body-reset-diet#sample-menu
– Estee Denise “Nisey” Ratliff
I’ve lost over 100 pounds \o/. See my story here. I am NOT a nutritionist or a doctor. This blog is NOT meant to be a substitute for any professional guidance or counseling. The information I provide merely reflects my own personal experiences and is NOT meant to take the place of medical or nutrition advice from professionals. But it’s helpful and pretty…so enjoy!
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