15 day body reset diet - day 4

i have to admit, i caved and snacked again last night after my dinner smoothie...  either i need to eat later, go to bed earlier - or i suppose just develop some self-control....

anyway, i woke up to day 4 feeling a little discouraged - if i don't have the will-power to make it through the first 3 days, how am i going to manage another 12?  just for kicks i decided to measure myself and see if there had been any change from day 1 - and lo and behold, i've actually lost an inch on my waist and hips - even with my delinquent nighttime snacking!  so how's that for some motivation?  plus, i pulled on my fave pair of skinny jeans fresh from the wash and instead of being extra "skinny" like they usually are right after drying, they hang perfectly!

so here i am starting day 4 feeling much more motivated and committed - talk about the power of immediate gratification....

today's breakfast smoothie may just be the yummiest yet:
- 1 pear, cored, skin on
- 1 banana, peeled
- 1 tsp ginger
- pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
- 2 tbsp protein powder
- 1/2 c ice
- water to blend (the book doesn't specifically include this in the recipes so i am making a point of adding it here)

spicy and tangy and yummy!  off i go to spend a few hours at the rink watching my son try out for the BC U16 team.  i'll take some ryvita and turkey slices to snack and a big mug of tea - today will be a good day!

15 day Body Reset Diet

i decided recently to try harley pasternak's Body Reset Diet - using well-balanced smoothies and meals designed to boost metabolism, drop fat and inches.  mostly i was motivated by just wanting to try something new!  i don't usually buy into celebrity trainers / diet gurus but then i found out that harley is canadian (plus), actually educated in relevant fields - exercise physiology and nutritional science (double plus), and appeared on jian's ghomeshi's program Q on cbc radio (triple plus - i love jian ghomeshi).

naturally, trying to find his book was impossible in local bookstores but yay for iBooks.

i stocked up on ingredients - lots of fruit, veg, unsalted nuts, greek yogurt and almond milk - and got a new blender (my bullet mixer wasn't quite up to the challenge), took some starting measurements and then kicked off the 15 days this week.

day 1: apple pie breakfast smoothie, sliced turkey breast and annie's organic gluten-free crackers for mid-morning snack, mixed berry lunch smoothie, carrots for afternoon snack and then a cool cucumber lime smoothie for dinner.  first thought - i was actually full all day!  plus, green smoothies are actually yummy.  oh and "cooking" with just a blender rocks!

day 2: pear spice breakfast smoothie, cut veggies for mid-morning snack, PB&J lunch smoothie, cheese and crackers for afternoon snack and then a sweet spinach smoothie for dinner.  but i was craving snacks like crazy at night - some habits are hard to break (i gave in and had crackers and cheese).

day 3: started the day with the white peach ginger smoothie (after getting up at 5 am to take my son to hockey...).  i'm heading to yoga shortly (even though technically the body reset diet suggests pausing all workouts and replacing them with 10,000 steps of walking daily - but i love my yoga).  i'm curious to see if it's harder to maintain this diet on a weekend while cooking for my son all day - will check in again soon and let you know how it goes.

is anyone else trying the body reset diet?  leave me a note and let me know how it's going! 

life is full of changes

so i started my day with a great webinar on change manangement - how to be an effective change leader when the people around you don't want to change.  it was part of the UK's NHS Change Day, hosted by helen bevan.  on the lighter side of things, i'm still adjusting to a recent change - the time change! i spent all of yesterday running perpetually late (which will be the focus of a future blog post...). but on a more meaningful front, there were some great insights from the webinar:

• rocking the boat (ie trying to make changes) can be fundamentally disempowering, as it makes us stand out, be different, not fit in - sometimes the urge to conform is stronger than the desire to make something change
• when we're frustrated by the inability to effect change, we risk becoming "radical" or "self-defeating" in the way we challenge the status quo (oh, i've been there before...)

so, how to be effective and successful in rocking the boat?  some suggestions from the webinar included:

• staying true to your values and helping others identify how their environment is - or isn't - aligned to their values
• have a strong sense of self-efficacy - in other words, know that you can make change happen
• be action-oriented, even if it's small - knowing "what" to do, and not just "why" to do it - and be specific!
• join forces with others - create a sense of "us" (but not an "us" and a "them", just an "us") and build a shared purpose

a couple of quotes that really resonated for me:

"if you want to go fast, go alone. if you want to go far, go together." - attributed to al gore (modification of an african proverb)

"there's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self." - aldous huxley

would love to hear what you think about change - can we "make" others change, or is it about inspiring and motivating? how is change an individual but also collective experience?