How I Lite my Fire - 21 Days of Goodness

Wow, wow, wow! I just completed my Ultimate Reset and I want to start by sharing how great I feel. My journey to start the Ultimate Reset Program had been 9 months in the making, and it arrived exactly at the right time. My good friend Shannon invited Kendall and me to take the journey together, and we said yes!

I had reservations about switching my eating protocols because I had started a Ketogenic lifestyle in September 2020. I started Keto because I was experiencing inflammation that was causing pain in my joints, and I also had way too much fun in the Summer that resulted in my clothes not fitting at all and feeling heavy and slow.

THIS IS ME BEFORE KETO:

MY BACKGROUND

I have cultivated a consistent yoga practice that has kept me limber and strong, and I teach yoga at The Elements, which I co-own with my husband. Having recovered from an eating disorder, I haven't weighed myself in many years, and I typically go by how I feel. What is very important to me is that my food is congruent with the nutrition we teach. I was skeptical about the Ultimate Reset because most nutrition products out there don’t cover topics like water, spices, food combinations, and supplements. I was really surprised when I started to research how the program aligns with all the nutrition principles we believe in and that it is NOT a diet but a dense nutrition program. THAT sparked my interest!

I got even more excited when I learned that Darin Olien is the co-creator of the program. I have lots of respect for him, and I believe in his work! 

I received my Reset in the mail a couple of days after ordering it and I was so excited to open it and start learning more about it. It came in a very clean-looking package, organized and with an instruction manual that covered everything! We had scheduled to start the program on April 12, a couple of days after returning from a vacation, but more on that later.

THIS IS ME BEFORE THE ULTIMATE RESET

WEEK 1

My goodness, our flights were delayed so we ended up arriving home 1 day before the Reset and with a full day of work in front of us and not time to prep. I ordered groceries online and on Day one in the morning I began the task to separate groceries, cook, and organize because I was headed to Charlotte and Kendall was staying in Charlottesville. Instantly OVERWHELMED! Do not, I repeat, do not DO THIS! Ideally, we would have had the weekend to prep, but we had committed to start on Monday and so we did.

We went through the motions of prepping our food and we instantly remembered what it’s like to cook mindfully. The recipes are in no way fast food, you have to take time to do the work, and we did all of it from scratch. This was a lot for me this week because I was still trying to catch up with work and prepping felt like a full-time job. However, I can see how this is part of the journey and I was committed to it 100%.

I had been doing intermittent fasting for 5 months so eating breakfast was such a breath of fresh air, but with that also came not having coffee in the morning. I’m not typically rigorous about coffee, but having been on vacation I had more than the rational dose, and boy I started to feel all the withdrawal symptoms by day 3. The headaches were not paralyzing, but present from day 3-7. 

I hadn’t had grains in 6 months, so eating rice and quinoa left me a little bloated (or was it vacation?) and I wasn’t having regular stools this week. I particularly liked all the diversity of foods that we were eating, my favorite was the farina with walnuts, apples, and maple syrup! Even my daughter loved that combo, which is now a staple at home. By the way, I chose the vegan option from the beginning of the Reset, although there is a step-down option. I realized this week how small my salads had been in the past. The volume of vegetables we ate this week was amazing, and all that chewing gave my jaw a six-pack, lol!

I continued to practice hot yoga 5x this week and ran a few days. Although I felt lethargic from lack of coffee, I didn’t feel depleted by the exercise. As I said, I have cultivated this practice for over 10 years, so this wasn’t new to my body.

By the end of the week, I was starting to get into a flow and rhythm. Most important for me was to have my Shakeology prepped before I left at 2 pm for school pickup. I went directly to drop off/watch/work at my daughter’s softball practice/or games that went through 5 or 6. This was crucial so I would keep feeling satisfied throughout the day and not get hangry. Honestly, I didn't experience any hanger pains at all that week. I also had herbal tea at hand’s reach. Whenever I would start to think about food but it wasn’t time to eat yet I drank some. I feel that the warm liquid really satiated the need to chew food.

Sunday was particularly challenging because we host an outdoor yoga event that typically leads to brunch. We still hung out with our friends and I managed to stay on track, it all came down to being prepared and remembering all the amazing work I had done all week. The booklet has suggested ON-THE-GO meals and I ordered just that. I handled it with humor throughout the gathering and it was fun to be light and playful. 

By the end of the week, I started to see good bowel movements, yay! We finished the week super strong and I was so proud of myself!

WEEK 2

Having learned from last week, we prepped and we found some good shortcuts at Trader Joe’s. I recommend looking at the recipes, beyond the shopping list, to get a good idea of what you can buy pre-chopped, pre-cooked, roasted, etc. TJ’s has precooked organic beets that are a time saver. I really love the dressing recipes that I will continue to prepare well after the Reset.

We took an impromptu camping trip to the beach and the morning before we left I prepped and cooked meals for 1.5 days.

We brought along our kettle to reheat the soups and tea, and that was a brilliant idea! The highlight of that trip was taking Hot Yoga with our teacher Chris at Hot House Yoga in Virginia beach, Food-wise, grains were reduced this week and that felt much better for me and I noticed all the Ayurveda principles applied to the Reset, and how it moved into intuitive eating. This really resonated with me and I started to notice how my mind’s distractions correlated with the types of foods I was craving. Feeling bored=cheese, feeling excited=alcohol, feeling tired=carbs. It was fun to watch my mind go without having to succumb to its whining, take that mind!

I love, love eating fruit in the morning and the amount of it! 3 cups of fruit?????? Amazing! Having done keto for such a long time I had stuck to berries in the past, but I loved eating all the other fruits I hadn’t had in forever, WIN!

200 hr Advanced Yoga Studies

Brunch wasn’t an issue for us this Sunday because we were teaching the 200 hr hour teacher training. I did, however, prepare our food for the day, which we hauled with us to the training. I even brought the crockpot and made miso soup in one of the breaks, lol.

At the end of week two I was feeling REALLY good and some of the aches I had on my hips lessened considerably. I took a picture, check out the progress! I mostly saw the change in my hip volume but not in my heart size.😍

Week 3

HUNGRY!!!!! This week was difficult for me. Although I love the portion sizes of breakfast and lunch, dinners were smaller and also congruent with Ayurveda principles of eating two different types of foods at the same time. This really favored my digestive system, but I was still hungry. I did a double Shakeology on a couple of days that week and made some of the Reset approved shakeology recipes from the booklet and that helped out a lot.

Day 21 was particularly delicious and also bittersweet because I didn’t want it to end. I really love having a community of people that are moving energy in the same direction, and that helped me to stay accountable. I noticed that my skin has taken a new glow and I could see parts of my body (like my ribs) start to stick out. I hadn’t seen them in quite a while, haha.

Overall, I don't know how many pounds I shed, nor do I want to know. I’m really focused on how I feel energetically and I have to say that this Reset is the bomb! You don’t have to want to lose lbs or shrink your body to do this, this is not meant to be a weight loss program although the byproduct IS weight loss. I feel that every cell of my body is nourished and hydrated. My digestion time has improved, my bowels are timely and I can tell my overall processes are better because my sleep is amazing and I wake up refreshed, early, and ready to start my day.

Additionally, my concentration and thought quality are better. Thought quality? Less negative or self-defeating thoughts. 

I love this so much, I will take another round in June. Although I woke up this morning (day 22) and had my 3 cups of fruit, had an enormous salad for lunch, and will most probably look up a recipe for dinner from week 2.

The journey was easy on some days, difficult some others, but I wouldn’t change anything about it.

HERE ARE MY BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES

We’re restarting on June 14, Are you In?

With much Love,

Monica